Windows 7 startup problem

[howdoweplaythis]

Above is my current harddrive setup. I have an 80gb ide with xp installed, and a 500gb sata partitioned into two partitions with windows 7 installed into the smaller partition.

If i unplug the IDE, or change the SATA drive to the first boot device, i get an error saying "NTLDR.exe is missing". It MUST go through the dual boot menu in order for me to boot windows 7. why is this?

I notice the win xp partition is "primary and active", whereas the win 7 partition is only primary. does the partition need to be primary and active for me to boot from it?

I want to format my IDE drive and use it for storage, but i cant now!

Any help?

Thanks!

 

[Jonmor68]

Turn off power, Disconnect IDE drive, restart, enter the bios screen change drive order CD/DVD first boot device, 400 GB SATA second boot device.
Insert Windows 7 dvd, run setup choose Startup Repair.
When up and running, reconnect the IDE drive make sure that the SATA drive remains the first hard drive to boot in bios, make changes if needed save settings and restart, all should now be ok to format the drive.

 

[howdoweplaythis]

i had to run the startup repair a few times, but it worked a treat in the end. thank you