Error loading OS after installing a new HDD

[Milla]

Hey guys.

I was told to see if you guys could help me, after failed attempt of asking for help in 3 different forums. So this is my problem:

I have a WD 100GB, and bought a WD 250GB. I partitioned the 250 into 120+130, which I believed would help me get around the 137 barrier. I'm not even sure if it works. But anyway,

I installed the 250, made the partitions and started XP. Set my 100 as my slave, and started to copy the data I wanted to keep from one to another. 1/10th of the way into copying just my MP3s, the computer rebooted. Since then, the computer tells me "Error loading OS". Both master and slave are being recognized, I also set that it boots from the 250, not the 100.
I don't know what else to do. This is not the first time I have problems setting up this HDD. First, the partition I made was always full, even when I had NOTHING in there. Then, it rebooted while copying files over. Now this. I'm lost with what else I can do.
My MB is ~4 years old, and I tried updating the bios, but someone told me it costs $60 to do that, when I can buy a 133-ata card or something like that for cheaper, which would fix the problem.
This is my first time dealing with HDD, so I'm trying to read other people's troubles and troubleshooting manuals, but with no luck. Any help would be appreciate it!

Thanks in advance,
Milla

 

[Nodsu]

First, partitioning will not help you around the 137MB barrier. If you have that problem then you need a BIOS update - there should be one for your computer considering its age.

Second, there is no way you can boot from the new drive if all you did was copy files to it.

 

[Samstoned]

the bios must be able to use the large drive ??
look for bios upgrade that may be all you need to do

48-bit LBA tech
if you go with the new pci card it may not be bootable
use the smaller drive to boot from (ide 0 ,0)
reformat the larger for your data
so the 100gb will have your MBR
I don't like putting my eggs in one basket
scary thought.

 

[Milla]

Nodsu, I know I can't boot from one drive if I just copy things over. I have Windows XP installed.

Samstoned, I wanted to get rid of the 100GB once I had this all set up. That's why I wanted to copy over the only files I needed.

Ok, maybe this will help. How do you update your bios exactly? You download the files, then you run them while on Windows. Correctly?

 

[Nodsu]

Many motherboard makers support flashing the BIOS from Windows but the tried and true method is creating a DOS bootable floppy and run the BIOS flashing program off that.

See the BIOS page of your motherboard for exact instructions. Remember, a mistake while flashing the BIOS may render your motherboard unusable.

 

[Milla]

Err, thanks Nodsu. I quit. I'm going to get some professional here to help me. I can't let my computer sit there with no resolution for the problem.