Cannot access new hard drive in DOS

[paultaylormusic]

I have just bought a new Fujitsu 60GB hard drive for my laptop.
 
BUT, I cannot access either the old or new drive within DOS.
I have created a DOS startup disk within XP and that works fine, I reboot and up comes the A: prompt, but when I type
C:
I get an error message saying ' Invalid Drive Specification'
Therefore I cannot access my new OR old drive to format it and get it ready to install XP again.
 
PLEASE HELP!!! I am desparate for some aid...I need to get my pc up and running again to record some music...A HUGE thanks to anyone that can help..
Paul Taylor

[GX1_Man]

You do not need to boot from a floppy to setup a hard drive for XP. Just set your boot order in the BIOS to boot from CD first, insert the CD and restart the machine.

You didn't bother to post the make/model number of the laptop so we have to guess about those details. What processor? Is the drive compatible with your laptop is the next question. Is the hard drive seen in the BIOS?

[paultaylormusic]

Thanks for the info.
Yes the drive is seen by the bios, both drives are when I swap one fo the other.
The make and model of the new drive is...
FUJITSU Mobile MHT2060AT - hard drive - 60 GB - ATA-100
The old one is exactly the same apart from it is 40GB instead of 60GB.
Apart from what you already said, surely there should be a C prompt when I type C:, there is if you load XP and then open a command prompt so why not one when I boot to DOS?
My Laptop is made by PARS....
Any more info needed let me know.
Thanks again for your help...
Paul

[Frankie]

If you are trying to access a brand new hard disk before it has been partitioned and formatted (say by booting a floppy disk and typing "DIR C:" you will get this error. The hard disk must be partitioned and formatted before you can use it.

[paultaylormusic]

How can I do this?

[Frankie]

Well its already been said really. if you set cdrom as your first boot device in your bios, then boot your computer with xp disk in, it will direct you from there. A screen will come up allowing you to partition your drive then format it. It will then go on to install Windows XP. If your still looking at fdisk and format using boot up disk then look at this link below.

http://www.5starsupport.com/tutorial/partition.htm

[paultaylormusic]

Thanks so much for your help.
The only obstacle I can see now is that the XP cd I have got is only a reinstall disk that came with my laptop setup. I would assume that I am going to have to buy a full copy of XP in order to format and partition my hard drive? Is this correct.
Paul

[Frankie]

Not sure what you mean by reinstall disk. If that came with your laptop and its an XP disk i dont see why you cant reinstall XP using that disk. More details about what you mean by reinstall disk. As this name tells me you should be able to do just that reinstall. What happens when you boot computer with the Xp disk in and have cdrom setup in your bios as first boot device.

[paultaylormusic]

I suppose you would call it a recovery disk, I have only used it once and it re installed XP. I was never sure if it was the full version of XP as I had the PC made for me by a company that specialises in music PC's, and i know how people can rip you off by only installing THEIR version of windows and not actually giving you a copy.
On this note, I have actually tried messing about with the Boot up sequence in my BIOS by changing it from A to CD to Hard drive and the only one that ever got me anywhere is the floppy...to the A: prompt.
When I set the BIOS to check the CD first OR the Hard Drive first it came up with a screen with a small box in the middle asking me which device did I want to boot from and listed the three options (floppy, Hard drive,CD) and every time I picked one that wasnt the floppy it would just go back to the same screen with the box in it....any ideas?

[Frankie]

If you have a licence number on your laptop somwhere, then you could borrow xp of someone and use your licence number to install xp, you dont have to buy a copy of xp just get somone to borrow you there copy. Its just the old hard drive you have, has probably got a hidden partition with information on that the recovery disk looks for thats why its not working with the new drive. You see the recovery copy is looking for this same hidden partion with the information on.

[paultaylormusic]

Aaahhhhh thanks alot mate, that would explain everything...I  think I have seen something about a hidden partition somewhere, and yes I have got a Microsoft code under the laptop...ahhh I didnt know I could use anyones copy....Nice one. I shall try it out this weekend and let you know if it works....thanks again for all your help.
Paul T
www.myspace.com/no_otter