Vista - Hard Drive Migration problem??

Hi...

I have windows vista ultimate 64.... its on my Ide Maxtor 200GB... which is very noisy and seems to lock up....

So I went and got a Sata Seagate (my prefered brand)... and downloaded the Disk Wizard software from Seagate to migrate drives.... rather than having to lose all my data and operating system etc.

In and Ide to Ide situation, this works fine... you simply swap drives over once Disk wizard finishes....

But, when it finished and advised me to swap drives over... disconnecting IDE drive meant when I powered up PC, it would not boot, and gave me error message... NO IDE HDD Found!!!

Obviously the boot manager is still looking for IDE drive....

So I then proceeded to use Vista Boot Pro... but this doesnt seem to want to run on my machine?... it shows in Task Manager, but nothing on screen...

Not one to give up, I thought I would simply use the Vista Disc to boot to Repair mode....

I diconnected Ide drive... left Sata connected... powered up, disc started, got to Repair window... and it showed a window for drives which was empty... but had two tabs... install drivers and cancel... I chose to install drivers... from my motherboard disc as this contains the Raid drivers.. I assume thats what I need to install....
Anyways... was a waste of time, error message stating they failed... Chose the right ones...Via x64 etc...

If I leave the old Ide hdd in, I can boot to my Sata which now has Vista Ultimate 64... when I first booted to the Sata drive, Vista noticed the hdd change, and I had to reactivate Vista online.. which I did without trouble....

SO my question to all you clever people is, how do I boot to Vista Ultimate on the sata drive.... but without having to have old Ide hdd in at the sametime?.....

I know I could probably just reinstall Vista from the DVD.... but then I would lose all my data... and I just dont want to do that if I can help it.... infact it would be far easier to simply purchase a new IDE drive instead and not have this problem.....

Any help appreciated, especially from those x64 users, who have done this transfer.. and overcome it...

Thank-you in advance...

The best option is to unplug the IDE drive, enter your BIOS and change the
boot order to have the specific SATA drive first in your boot priority
(often 2 settings, one to set the HD as first, then a second to select the
specific SATA drive). After you save the changes, do a startup repair from
the install DVD. A few have had to run it more than one time.


"GrimReaperUK" <GrimReaperUK.36xpa3@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
news:GrimReaperUK.36xpa3@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net...

Thanks John,
I tried that many times...the sata is set to 1st boot.... still says no ide hdd on boot up... as for running Vista Repair / recover.. gets no furthur than Install drivers... doesnt even say what drivers.....

Have been looking at getting a replacement IDE instead.. a lot less hastle.... just hope Microsoft doesnt lock my Vista down... be the 3rd Hard Drive activated on same software...

I have tried writing to my Mobo manufacturer.. and also Microsoft, and even the HDD manufacturer... to see if they have any suggestions...... seems crazy that you can easily Migrate from Ide to Ide.... but no software yet to make Sata bootable after migrating from Ide...

I am using the Sata drive with Vista on(as long as I leave Ide connected, but not booted to)...so its not a drive fault, or drive not known issue... its simply the boot manager still thinking it should be seeing Ide 1st..... just wish the software program "Vista Boot Pro" had worked...... that supposedly allows you to easily rewrite the boot seq....

Time I learnt more Dos instructions... would know how to do this then.
This has certainly put me off Sata.... Ide is sooo much easier and less hastle..and all this just to run operating system...

Thanks...Grim.

You do a start-up repair, NOT a repair install

"GrimReaperUK" <GrimReaperUK.36yc73@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
news:GrimReaperUK.36yc73@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net...

Ok... a start up repair??? what is that??.....

I boot to Vista dvd it goes through a repair but halts at load drivers....

Its obviously not easy, Google is full of techies with similiar problems...

I have built many pc's and installed and repaired many operating systems..... this is beyond me, what people say WILL show doesnt.... not every BIOS is the same... people seem to forget that. Good boards Gigabyte etc have superb settings to choose....
current ASUS I am using is awful... very limited options....

Like I say, its easier just to buy another Ide to replace dodgy one.. and forget using Sata altogether.... at least that way I can have two or more ide's in same pc without any hastle.

Thanks...

On the Install Windows now page, in the lower left there is a 'repair your
computer' on the next page you will have a start-up repair along with
command prompt etc.
Do the start-up repair

"GrimReaperUK" <GrimReaperUK.36yju1@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
news:GrimReaperUK.36yju1@xxxxxx-mx.forums.net...

Thanks again John... your help is appreciated...

On this link... it shows what I am supposed to do....

Windows Vista Ultimate - Repair StartUp

About half way down.... it gets to the blue screen part where it says Repair Your Computer, on the next screen down , is where I cant go furthur.....select an operating system....in that area mine is blank......

I only have the Load Drivers or Next tab to press....

On that diagram, they are assuming you can access the C Drive... I can when old IDE is connected... but not when old IDE is disconnected and my SATA is my C drive, its just not visible...

If I then try to do this with old Ide connected, its not repairing the drive I want repaired... thus the SATA drive.... I need to be able to tell system to boot to Sata... unless I am missing something here??.....

Why is it so hard for Vendors to simply make it that if you want to Migrate drives whether that be IDE to IDE or IDE to SATA or even SATA to SATA, that they dont supply proper software to do the job in whole....
The seagate Diskwizard software has trasfered all my drive complete... and if it was an IDE drive would be booting okay...its simply because its a SATA drive ,that it is not being found unless Old Ide is left in, lots of people are having the same problem as me...

Until I can get past that "select an operating system to repair" page, I wont be able to then get to the Start up repair tabs shown a few pictures down....

Wouldnt be so bad if Vista booted quicker... but after each failed attempt , I have wasted 4 hours of time just on trying different options.... it may look pretty and have some fancy items, but its so much more unpleasant to work with....than XP Pro.

Oh yeah, forgot to say,

On the page it says, If you cannot see your operating system... I cannot....

Then choose to load drivers for your Hard drives.... I do that... and browse the Motherboard CD... but no matter what drivers I choose it fails?.... Its a seagate sata.. on an Asus motherboard... what drivers should I be using?.... It is running Vista Ultimate 64.....

Just off to see if..... "according to Motherboard book... the Serial ATA RAID onboard is VT8237R Southbridge"...... drivers with the same name are on the Disc....and if so , if they will load at the screen you mention.... here is hoping.....will post back if successful or not...

There are a few drivers on the ASUS motherboard cd.... it wont let me load any win98 NT5 or WinXP drivers for obvious reasons... says hardware incompatible....

So I choose the 2003x64 drivers folder... the only one it will allow me to attempt to load.... contained within is a file VIAMRX64, I then click this and it then shows me the following

Via Sata Raid Controller
Via VT6410 Sata Raid Controller
Via VT6421 Sata Raid Controller

ALL of these were tried and all state

The installation failed X < big red X




Out of curiosity, I left the old Ide connected and did the same routine, and it shows the hard drive and states it has a boot problem, and do I want it fixed... well obviously not...the boot problem is its now labelled D drive... as it is supposed to be old drive.....

This now seems to be just a case of finding the correct drivers to run SATA drive in the Vista x64 environment.....

Where do I look? Asus?... Seagate? or Microsoft?

This is why I always "usually" buy Gigabyte Motherboards..... never have this grief.... last ASUS board I will ever buy or recommend.

and thats as far as I am able to get...