Hi, I recently bought a new Hitachi 1TB internal hard-drive. I wanted to make a clean install on the new drive (D:), be able to dual boot my computer and leave my old 300GB HDD (C:) as the primary windows installation. After physically installing the new HDD, I noticed that "New found Hardware" and the the brand name flashed in the down-right corner. I thought I would see the new hard drive in my computer but I did not. I initialized the new HDD with the Computer Management window (right-click on my computer - manage) and I also formated it in NTFS (I had to change the letter my printer removable disk to attribute the new HDD with the letter D but I didn't do any other changes after that step). Now I could see and use it in my primary windows installation on the C:. I then installed a fresh copy windows XP pro with the installation CD I had for my C: but on the D: (Note: I have a Dell computer (and Dell re-install CD) and my current version of windows has SP3 while the installation CD is only SP2) (I also reformatted my HDD again during the windows installation in NTFS)Now when I try to boot to the new installation on my D: I get "Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could Not read from selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware." and another line telling me to refer to the windows and HDD manuals.My Boot.ini file at that point was:[boot loader]timeout=5default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetectsignature(ac516a5c)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional Clean" /noexecute=optin /fastdetectI looked up this page for help, but so far I am unlucky:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314477(The next steps I took by launching from the Windows CD and going to the repair console)I tried to use the bootcfg /rebuild but the boot.ini line for my secondary HDD still does not work.It gave me something like :[boot loader]timeout=5default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetectsignature(ac516a5c)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional Clean" /noexecute=optin /fastdetectI also tried changing signature() to multi(0) but it didn't work. (or trying pretty much all possible permutations of disk(), rdisk(), and partition() from 0 to 2.)I also tried to use expand F(dvd-drive):\i386\ntkrnlmp(I have a duo-core).ex_ D:\windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe and some other combinations but I when I login as D:\windows it simply fails to expand with a mesage like "could not expand" or as C:\windows I get "access restricted".I have not yet tried CHKDSK /R but since I made a fresh install on a newly formated drive... I didn't think it would work.I also Marked the partition on the D: as active (in the computer management) but it didn't help me.I made a repair of first installation of windows, strangely I couldn't repair the other one... Still doesn't work...My default windows installation still works great & I can see that windows has been installed on the D: but I'm out of ideas as of how to make the dual-boot work, can anybody throw me a bone on what to do?Maybe try to do something with the boot manager (whatever that is?) Create a new partition and use it as a boot manager? I don't really want to do that, since if I make any mistake I'll be unable to use my computer at all and dual booting should work without going through all that trouble... But I did find this page : http://technet.microsoft.com/fr-fr/library/ee829686%28WS.10%29.aspxCould a clean install of both HDD help? I hope I won't have to do that...Anyone has an idea?PS: I'm not such an advanced user so I need a step-by-step solution, thanks!Edit: I have also noted that I can't seem to see my new HDD in my BIOS... weird... Sata-0 is my old HDD 1 and 2 are my dvd-drives 3 to 5 are at "off" and there doesn't seem to be anything plugged-in. Also I have 4 Internal HDD bays. Now 2 are occupied.Edit2: I looked inside my case and activated the proper Sata in the Bios, after a restart it detected correctly the drive. Dual boot still doesn't work though... Could the fact that it was turn off in the BIOS while I was installing on the new HDD change anything? Hmm...

First off,xp or any windows OS should be on the partition C: C: is its default location, changing it to D: or any other letter conflicts with all installations..One would need to edit regedit and other areas to make it work..Also,when installing an OS,all other hds need to be physically unplugged from the pc,once the OS is up & running, then replug,otherwise,data gets installed in the wrong places."Expand DVD drive",expand it to what/where,& why would one screw with that noncense...Also,once a new hd is plugged in to the pc & running,most BIOS will place it (them) as 1st priority hd,adjust the BIOS for this..Last,read the owners manual,you can also get pc tips here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb491054.aspx

In case I wasn't clear enough: I had a windows XP Pro installed on my C:, bought a new hard-drive and installed the same copy of windows on it (D:). I believe this should allow me to dual-boot between the two different installs. Although for a reason I can't seem to boot from the one on my D:. Andrew I do not understand why you would go so far as physically unplug the other drive, the whole point of the operation is to build a boot.ini so that the BIOS knows there's 2 windows installations and let you choose (and not have conflicting problems between the 2 systems), someone correct me if I am wrong? The ''expand'' part of my first post refers to one of the solutions provided by Microsoft in the first link I included in my previous post (but that I can't seem to make work).Also this is the procedure I followed: http://www.ehow.com/how_5950826_boot-two-different-hard-drives.html(except I already had the first installation already done).Andrew by ''Also,once a new hd is plugged in to the pc & running,most BIOS will place it (them) as 1st priority hd,adjust the BIOS for this'', do you mean that by installing separately windows on each drive when the other isn't plugged I could choose which HDD to boot from by setting their priority in the BIOS once they are all plugged back? That is a too tedious task (since I intend to frequently switch between the 2 installs) and requires a computer knowledge the other users of the computer lack. It is unfortunately not a viable option.

In case I wasn't clear enough: I had a windows XP Pro installed on my C:, bought a new hard-drive and installed the same copy of windows on it (D:). I believe this should allow me to dual-boot between the two different installs. Although for a reason I can't seem to boot from the one on my D:. Andrew I do not understand why you would go so far as physically unplug the other drive, the whole point of the operation is to build a boot.ini so that the BIOS knows there's 2 windows installations and let you choose (and not have conflicting problems between the 2 systems), someone correct me if I am wrong? The ''expand'' part of my first post refers to one of the solutions provided by Microsoft in the first link I included in my previous post (but that I can't seem to make work).Also this is the procedure I followed: http://www.ehow.com/how_5950826_boot-two-different-hard-drives.html(except I already had the first installation already done).Andrew by ''Also,once a new hd is plugged in to the pc & running,most BIOS will place it (them) as 1st priority hd,adjust the BIOS for this'', do you mean that by installing separately windows on each drive when the other isn't plugged I could choose which HDD to boot from by setting their priority in the BIOS once they are all plugged back? That is a too tedious task (since I intend to frequently switch between the 2 installs) and requires a computer knowledge the other users of the computer lack. It is unfortunately not a viable option.EDIT: I MADE IT! Hmmm... Well I double checked in the recovery console the path of the new HDD with the Scan arc command. Tried booting again with the MULTI(0) in my boot.ini and it worked... I also had my windows install CD in. Perhaps that was why I couldn't boot, windows needed the CD to complete the install? Weird, I'm not sure what I did to fix it... but oh well, it works! Thanks for your ideas guys!

Are you still getting the original error? Or do you now just not see the partition with the second version of XP on it when you boot your computer? If that is the problem, I can help you with that easily!