OS transfer to larger Hard Drive?

[turbine]

I have a pc with a dual boot configuration: XP 32 bit and Vista 64 bit on my one hard drive. I’ve now just installed a larger capacity hard drive and wanted to ‘move ‘ vista 64 to this larger drive and keep Xp solely on the smaller hard drive. So the salesman sold me Norton ghost to copy the vista to this new larger drive. Great.
Now I have a situation when I start the pc it gives me the option of 2 vistas and 2 xp boots. So I thought I’d use vista and just format the vista partition on the smaller drive (in hope that the OS I’m using to format is on this larger HDD). But no matter which option I use to boot the pc (from the 2 vista options available when I start the pc), right clicking on the drive in ‘computer management’ does not give me the option to format (it’s just greyed out in the panel).
What’s the correct way of setting up a dual boot from a secondary hard drive installation (via sata cables), with XP being on the smaller drive and vista on the larger (without having to reinstall either OS).

Thanks in advance.

 

[McGuywer]

Looks like it's already buggered up.
It will still work but rather reload the OS's.
You can have a look at www.nirsoft.net if you do not have the product keys.

Rather reinstall now.

 

[ponder]

I have a pc with a dual boot configuration: XP 32 bit and Vista 64 bit on my one hard drive. I’ve now just installed a larger capacity hard drive and wanted to ‘move ‘ vista 64 to this larger drive and keep Xp solely on the smaller hard drive.

So the salesman sold me Norton ghost to copy the vista to this new larger drive. Great.

Why? Leave the OS on the smaller drive and just move your data to the bigger drive. You don't need a big drive for your OS.

Sucker.

 

[vinodh]

What seems to have happened is that the boot loader is STILL on the small drive. your 2nd installation of Vista and XP is on the big drive but the boot loader is on the small drive. It can be fixed by editing and transferring the boot loader but I wouldn't bother.As mentioned in the previous post, it would be easier to backup and re-install.

 

[San-DraX]

I second that notion backup, and re-install your OS's....

 

[Skerminkel]

What on earth are you doing with Vista?

 

[turbine]

ok thanks guys,

Gonna do it the long way then. I suppose that Ghost program was wasted bucks: bugger!
Will it make a difference if I load Xp 32 bit or Vista 64 bit first?

btw (with a chuckle from Skerminkel's post): I bought Vista 64 cos at that time it was the only 'advanced' 64 bit- but hell its clumsy! As a matter of interest: does anyone recommend windows 7 32 and 64 bit over my current two OS?

 

[ponder]

As a matter of interest: does anyone recommend windows 7 32 and 64 bit over my current two OS?

Yes. If you have the ram go for 64 bit

 

[SouthBit]

Highly recommend Win7 over Vista. 32 or 64 bit, either way.
Install the oldest OS first, so first install XP, then Vista (or 7) and use its boot loader. Piece of cake.

 

[ponder]

Wrong thread...

 

[Roger.Wilco]

Gonna do it the long way then. I suppose that Ghost program was wasted bucks: bugger!

Maybe it was just a wrong selection somewhere. I've used Norton Ghost a couple of times to transfer a OS between different sized harddrives, never had any issues before.

 

[SouthBit]

Maybe it was just a wrong selection somewhere. I've used Norton Ghost a couple of times to transfer a OS between different sized harddrives, never had any issues before.

Ghost works wonders for something like this. We use it every day for that purpose. +1 vote for Ghost.

 

[Arthur]

Acronis True Image is even better. I prefer the business version, called Acronis Backup & Recovery.

 

[No-Rules]

you can remove the option for the second bootup.
when you right click on mycomputer go to properties, advance, starup and recovery and set the default bootup.