Safe to reformat old hdd w/ WinXP?

[XionII]

Greetings, folks.
I have 2 HDDs installed currently, one containing Win7 (C) and one containing WinXP (D).
When I first installed 7, I tried simply disconnecting the old HDD, and windows refused to boot at all. I am wondering if simply reformatting drive (D) it is the way to go, or if there are other steps involved, because I do not really want to screw up my system.

Here's the Disk Management utility window:


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Thank you.

 

[WR2]

Hello xionII;
Sounds like your Master Boot Record (MBR) is on your old HDD.
To fix that disconnect the old HDD, boot up with the Win7 install disk and choose Repair your computer.
How to Repair Windows 7 Installation


To add WinXP back to your boot options download and install EasyBCD.
In EasyBCD you would add a New Entry & choose the Windows Tab.
From there you would choose the NT/2K/XP type and choose a name for boot menu choice
Check Automatically Detect Correct Drive and you should be able to use the Add Entry button.

 

[XionII]

Thanks for replying, WR2...
I booted up the Win7 DVD, and hit repair windows... It did not detect my HDD!
The HDD, Western Digital 1 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD10EARS, did not come with anything but the HDD, and western digital has no drivers posted on their site.
Is there any hope?

 

[WR2]

You can try switching the SATA cables between the HDDs or going into BIOS and setting the boot order there.

 

[WR2]

What motherboard are you working with?

 

[XionII]

MSI 770-G45
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Socket-ATX-Motherboard-770-G45/dp/B002ZV6VEQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1296322538&sr=8-2

I tried both switching the SATA cables, and changing the boot order, and the combinations of those two things. To no avail.
If I were to select the default OS driver file for HDDs, would windows repair then detect my HDD? If it's a possibility, do you know which driver file this is, and where?

 

[XionII]

I solved the problem of the Windows 7 DVD not detecting my HDD, and along with that was able to fix the MBR. The method I used was very risky, as it involved setting my (C) Drive as Active, then re-booting w/ the windows dvd in. Fortunately, as I had hoped, the Windows 7 DVD detected my HDD, fixed my problem with the Master Boot Record, and all is now well, my system is 0% reliant on my (D) drive, and 100% on my (C) drive, woohoo!
(I'm very glad that worked out for me!)

I cannot advise others who have the same problems to do this, because it is very possible you could make your system unable to boot at all, no matter what you do. You should only do this as a "last resort", as I did, and at your own risk.

 

[XionII]

Best answer selected by XionII.