Can't Boot Of Secondary Hard Drive

[BluerjB]

i installed windows 7 on a 2nd hard drive from the 1st hard drive. which means me downloading a copy of windows 7 the making it into a virtual drive and installing it from my first hard drive to the second hard drive.

so my problem is whenever i take of the first hard drive i cant boot of second hard drive. is there a program that allows me to make a boot file for the second hard drive?

I'm running windows 7 32bit

Thanks

[Allan]

You downloaded W7 from where?

[Geek-9pm]

Your first post is lacking some essential details. To save some time let me make a guess at which you might have done and how you should have done it.
Let's say a user are ready as Windows Vista on a good running computer. And then he buys another hard drive and gets a trial copy of Windows 7. Of course, it is kind of late now to be using the trial copy of Windows 7. Still, it is possible to install it and try it out just to see what it does.

So the user would in style the second drive into his desktop computer and make sure it's working properly. Perhaps even doing a format using his existing wiendows Vista . If everything goes well he will install Windows 7 off a DVD he has made from the ISO image provided by Microsoft as the download. The installer will see there are two disk drives and the user will select the new blank drive. Windows 7 will do the logical thing, install Windows 7 on the new drive and provide a boot loader that will allow the user to select between the two drives at bootup time.

There is nothing especially new or on about this arrangement. This is how Microsoft operating systems for the desktop had been doing dual-boot for the past few years. The system assumes, logically, that you're not going to change the hardware configuration after the installation. And that is the key of the problem this user has. He thinks he can just remove the original drive now that he is installed Windows 7 on the second drive. It doesn't work that way.
Disclaimer: all this is just a wild guess based on the limited information to the original poster provided. My apologies for any confusion given by my quick response.

[BluerjB]

You downloaded W7 from where?

At a place where i can get it for free

[Allan]

Right - that's what we figured. Sorry, we can't help.

[BluerjB]

Your first post is lacking some essential details. To save some time let me make a guess at which you might have done and how you should have done it.
Let's say a user are ready as Windows Vista on a good running computer. And then he buys another hard drive and gets a trial copy of Windows 7. Of course, it is kind of late now to be using the trial copy of Windows 7. Still, it is possible to install it and try it out just to see what it does.

So the user would in style the second drive into his desktop computer and make sure it's working properly. Perhaps even doing a format using his existing wiendows Vista . If everything goes well he will install Windows 7 off a DVD he has made from the ISO image provided by Microsoft as the download. The installer will see there are two disk drives and the user will select the new blank drive. Windows 7 will do the logical thing, install Windows 7 on the new drive and provide a boot loader that will allow the user to select between the two drives at bootup time.

There is nothing especially new or on about this arrangement. This is how Microsoft operating systems for the desktop had been doing dual-boot for the past few years. The system assumes, logically, that you're not going to change the hardware configuration after the installation. And that is the key of the problem this user has. He thinks he can just remove the original drive now that he is installed Windows 7 on the second drive. It doesn't work that way.
Disclaimer: all this is just a wild guess based on the limited information to the original poster provided. My apologies for any confusion given by my quick response.

OK.. ill be more specific. first i installed windows 7 on the 1st hard drive i had from a USB because i don't have any CD/DVD drive and it worked. but after a while the OS began to slow down. so i decided to take my other hard drive and install windows 7 on there too so i did. all i did is download it from a website (not trial) which is an ISO. then i mounted it with virtual clone drive so i don't need to use a DVD drive and then i installed it on the 2nd hard drive. but i think the problem is that the boot files are written on the 1st hard drive. so when ever i remove the 1st hard drive and try to boot off the second hard drive the computer wont boot off of it. my question is how do i make it so the computer boots of the 2nd hard drive without having the 1st hard drive attached?

thanks if you guys need my computer specs I'm going to provide it.

Thanks again

[BluerjB]

Right - that's what we figured. Sorry, we can't help.

Which is mediafire.com coz i uploaded my copy on there so if i scratch the CD/DVD i wont have to buy a new one. and i don't like to waste space on my hard drive. but i have the serial though.

[Geek-9pm]

ut i think the problem is that the boot files are written on the 1st hard drive. so when ever i remove the 1st hard drive and try to boot off the second hard drive the computer wont boot off of it. my question is how do i make it so the computer boots of the 2nd hard drive without having the 1st hard drive attached?

That is right. In a two-drive system only one drive is set as the boot drive. With a notable exception. If both drives were installed independently, each without the other present. the BIOS boot menu can be used.

Too bad you do not have a DVD drive. If you did,m and if you had a proper copy of Windows 7, you can easily repair the installation by the recovery process in Windows 7 install DVD.. It is something like the process in Windows XP, but not the same.

Windows 7 is an outstanding product. If you need a low-cost version of Windows 7, you need to check with an educational institution in your area.

Patronizing sites that offer unauthorized Dloads of major software is a bad idea. And I do not just mean the legal and ethical issues you may have. What I mean is Webmasters who promote that kind of thing have very selfish motives and they have no respect for you. They consider you a sucker.

FAQ about MS Windows 7.

[BluerjB]

That is right. In a two-drive system only one drive is set as the boot drive. With a notable exception. If both drives were installed independently, each without the other present. the BIOS boot menu can be used.

Too bad you do not have a DVD drive. If you did,m and if you had a proper copy of Windows 7, you can easily repair the installation by the recovery process in Windows 7 install DVD.. It is something like the process in Windows XP, but not the same.

Windows 7 is an outstanding product. If you need a low-cost version of Windows 7, you need to check with an educational institution in your area.

Patronizing sites that offer unauthorized Dloads of major software is a bad idea. And I do not just mean the legal and ethical issues you may have. What I mean is Webmasters who promote that kind of thing have very selfish motives and they have no respect for you. They consider you a sucker.

FAQ about MS Windows 7.

if i use windows recovery on a flash card is it possible to add a boot file in the 2nd hard drive?

[patio]

Topic Re-opened on request.

[Geek-9pm]

I see the topic is still open.

How to put full boot loader on a second Hard Drive.
This discussion is specific to the official release to the official release of Microsoft Windows 7. This may or may not apply to the trial versions of Windows 7.
The first step of course is to power down the computer completely and remove the first hard drive out of the system. Turn the power back on, go into the BIOS and make sure the drive that had been the second is now the only one in the system and it will be the default boot drive after the CD-ROM. Next, placed your Windows 7 DVD into your combo CD/DVD reader and reboot the system when you get the message to press any key and let the Windows 7 installer begin.
At this point Windows 7 installer should realize you already have Windows 7 is installed on the only hard drive in the system. It will then attempt to repair or recover that installation. If it is successful you will then have a complete boot loader on the second drive, which is now the only drive.
Unlike some versions of Linux, Windows 7 will allow the single drive to be either be the first or second in the physical hardware array. Logically Windows 7 sees the only drive as the boot drive.
Reboot the system at least two times to make sure it is working normally. Then power down and put back in your first drive and configure the BIOS to your preferences for the boot order.
The BIOS should have an alternate boot menu available to you. On some systems this is done by hitting F8 before the Windows loader starts. On others it might be the F12 key. See your documentation. With each hard drive having its own full boot loader, you should be able to boot either drive independently whether not the other is present.
This this procedure requires use of the installation DVD in order to make a repair on the boot sector of the drive of interest. Now if sing a USB device as a DVD  emulation that should also work. However, I have not tested a DVD emulator with the Windows 7 installation DVD.

We hope this is of some help to you.
And by the way, there is some new information available about a trial version of Windows 7 that is available for some users.

[BluerjB]

I see the topic is still open.

How to put full boot loader on a second Hard Drive.
This discussion is specific to the official release to the official release of Microsoft Windows 7. This may or may not apply to the trial versions of Windows 7.
The first step of course is to power down the computer completely and remove the first hard drive out of the system. Turn the power back on, go into the BIOS and make sure the drive that had been the second is now the only one in the system and it will be the default boot drive after the CD-ROM. Next, placed your Windows 7 DVD into your combo CD/DVD reader and reboot the system when you get the message to press any key and let the Windows 7 installer begin.
At this point Windows 7 installer should realize you already have Windows 7 is installed on the only hard drive in the system. It will then attempt to repair or recover that installation. If it is successful you will then have a complete boot loader on the second drive, which is now the only drive.
Unlike some versions of Linux, Windows 7 will allow the single drive to be either be the first or second in the physical hardware array. Logically Windows 7 sees the only drive as the boot drive.
Reboot the system at least two times to make sure it is working normally. Then power down and put back in your first drive and configure the BIOS to your preferences for the boot order.
The BIOS should have an alternate boot menu available to you. On some systems this is done by hitting F8 before the Windows loader starts. On others it might be the F12 key. See your documentation. With each hard drive having its own full boot loader, you should be able to boot either drive independently whether not the other is present.
This this procedure requires use of the installation DVD in order to make a repair on the boot sector of the drive of interest. Now if sing a USB device as a DVD  emulation that should also work. However, I have not tested a DVD emulator with the Windows 7 installation DVD.

We hope this is of some help to you.
And by the way, there is some new information available about a trial version of Windows 7 that is available for some users.

Thank you... This make allot of sense. I'll try the put the windows installer on a USB and see if that will work out and report back if it worked or not..

Thanks for the reply's and sorry for all the misunderstanding