BleepingComputer.com: Messed with registry file

Hi all,

I'm using Windows XP pro and I have 2 hard drives on my comp ( CD-ROM aswell) Windows is on the smaller capacity HD which has about 1GB of free space. My other HD has almost 300G of free space. So I cloned my C drive (with EASEUS) onto my F drive. All worked out just fine but my computer was still booting from the smaller C drive.....Well, that's where I come in, to mess it all up So I kept fiddling with things hoping it would boot up from F or F would turn into C somehow. I followed EASEUS instructions to unload the source drive before boot up, but I got the blank screen" no drive found...blah...blah...I swapped the ribbon harness from C to F (leaving C disconnected) but received same message. My computer would only boot up with C connected. After messing around for many hours near midnight, I played around with the registry files using REGEDIT. I think somewhere under "MOUNTED DEVICES" I found a list with all the drives and letters. So I had this great idea to change the letter C in that sentence to F....by then my mindset was like" make this cloned drive work or bust!!" After the next boot attempt, Windows would make it to the logon screen but without the box where you put in the password. The screen doesn't seem to be frozen, I can move the mouse but it won't respond to ALT,CTRL,DEL. I've tried all F8 options e.g safemode,etc...and ended up with the same result. Oh and before I forget it, before I messed it all up, I converted my C drive into a NTFS to match the F drive (with EASEUS)...good 1 huh? I don't have a recovery disk, WindowsXP and I turned off the back up function to save space. So basically, I should have a perfect version of Windows sitting on my cloned F drive and if I could figure out a way to somehow get into windows or boot up from F, I might be ok.
I downloaded a few "boot CD's" but they didn't work either. Is there any hope? Thanks for all the input.

assuming the drives are IDE , after removing the original C:/ drive did you change change the jumper on the f:/ drive to master or cable select ,if the drives are SATA ignore this ,and go into the bios setup and make sure that correct drive is set to first boot, all this assuming that the EASEUS clone was done correctly

This post has been edited by caperjac: 25 January 2012 - 02:22 PM

So I cloned my C drive (with EASEUS) onto my F drive. All worked out just fine but my computer was still booting from the smaller C drive


as you know, this is where you went wrong form what i read on the Easeus site ,you were to remove the C drive before ever trying to boot computer again ,still trying to come up with something to try beside checking and changing master jumpers if the drives are ide .

this how it should have went for you .im sure you seen this stuff all ready .
http://www.partition-tool.com/copy-wizard/upgrade-system-disk.htm.



if the computer will still start from the orignal C:\ drive install ,you could ,i think anyway try doing a system restore back to before you started screwing with the register and if that goes good try cloning the F:/ drive again

This post has been edited by caperjac: 25 January 2012 - 02:49 PM

easiest method would be to disconnect your small drive. If you cloned it correctly you will boot right into windows on the new drive.

If its IDE make sure the jumper is on MA or CS

This post has been edited by akoch: 25 January 2012 - 03:20 PM

thanks for all your input and efforts. Easeus shuts down the computer when it's done with the cloning part, and that's when I removed the ribbon connector from C drive. I will have to look into the jumper settings...I'm not 100% sure but I think F drive might be a SATA....anyway it's a SEAGATE and the original C is a MAXTOR. I'll be back with my findings.
Thanks again and Aloha!!!

This post has been edited by compallbuzzup: 26 January 2012 - 12:07 AM

Ok...so the C drive is a MAXTOR Model 90845U2 and I can see a jumper that is installed all the way on the left.
My F drive is a SEAGATE BARRACUDA 7200.10 300 gig no jumper installed there and has one less row of jumper settings.
I experimented again...(oh no!!!!) I took the jumper and installed it where it was on my C drive. This time I got the Windows XP screen with the progress bar moving all the way to the end and then stopping there. I let it sit there for a while and ended up with the black screen "Drive not found" F2 or F12 options.........Just fixed it!!!!!!!! after the black screen I opted to go into BIOS (F2)and noticed (for the first time)that it listen my HD under Primary 00
I exited BIOS and then it booted up normally. At this point my old C drive is laying next to my computer.
Since I would love to have that drive formated and for extra storage, I will attempt ( oh no!!!) to re-install it and see what happens. Oh by the way.....I stole the jumper from my old C drive and put it on my F ( now C) drive.
I'll post a final report after I re-install the old C drive. Again, thanks for all the help....I think the jumper config was the deciding factor here.

going great ,good luck .the problem seems to have been the bios setup .because of you using a 2 different drive types ,ide and sata

Yes....formatted my old C drive ( now F) and everything works as advertised. Thanks again guys