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I've used XXClone (free) to make a bootable copy of my Windows XP Professional installation to a second (IDE) internal drive. On boot-up I'm now presented with the option of using either HD; so far so good. But if I disable the primary drive by disconnecting its cables, and make the other the master, the system won't boot. I get an error of the type "Disk read error."

I've tried all the combinations of jumpers and cable connections to the second drive that seem to make sense (and some that don't) but always get the same result.

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The whole object of the exercise was to have an alternative drive ready to go if the primary failed, but that's not working.

Anybody know why this is happening and how to fix?

josemon maliakal
2012-12-14 18:32:35
try updating your bootmanger using bootsect.exe
Irving Rambaud
2012-12-14 13:56:09
Check the status in BIOS..
Alan Wade
2012-12-14 12:09:20
If you have your XP disk then you can have a go at fixing the MBR which is the Master Boot Record.To do this first make sure the original (primary) drive is disconnected.Next, restart your system with a) the cloned drive attached and b) your Windows XP disk in the CD/DVD drive.Boot from the CD and let setup load.At the prompt press 'R' to enter the recovery console.Allow the recovery console to load and when prompted it will ask for an istallation number, this is normally 1, enter that and if needed type in your Admin password.At the next prompt type 'fixmbr' you should now have your damaged/new MBR replaced.Type 'fixboot' and allow that to run.Try rebooting your machine and let us know how you get on.
Sanjeev Jain
2012-12-14 16:10:38
Thanks for suggestion
Abba Jee
2012-12-14 10:29:24
it's because probably you didn't set your partition as ACTIVE your going to boot from , where there's only one DRIVE your using,on the other hand when you use both drives it finds the Active partition, show the boot menu , when you unplug the drive which have a partition set to active , disk read error may occur
Ahamed Yaseen
2012-12-14 10:28:44
I was experienced same problem... Try ubintu live cd and download easy bcd to edit boot mbr...
ha14
2012-12-14 10:12:00
check in BIOS hard drive status
Jim Chambers
2012-12-14 06:20:33
I hope that the 32 characters at Name location isn't your router security code?
Jeffrey Shaffer
2012-12-14 04:44:45
One thing to look at is the clock. Is the time on the computer the current time. I have discovered that it the time in some instances isn't right then things can't syncronize.
Jim Chambers
2012-12-14 04:23:28
Sound like boot manager is on primary drive (you see both when booting with both drives installed). Can you boot into cloned XP drive when both present?