So here is my problem. In 04 I got a dell computer with xp on it. 2 years ago I went to shcool and my 80gb hardrive filled up. I bought a new 160gb oem hd to run with it. last year I filled up that hd and I bought a 320 one. So I decided to install windows 7 which I got free from my school digitally on the 320 one and run the 320 and 160 hd together. I could not. I kept getting a bootmgr is missing. When I ran the 80 with either of them it worked. For some reason everytime I install a os on the harddrive they keep tellimg me bootmgr is missing, but when I run it with the original 80gb hd I can just dual boot xp with w/e os is on the other hd. All I want to do is run windows off either the 160 or 320 hd without having to use the 80gb hd. Does anyone know the problem. I tried copying bootmgr file to my other hd with the os installed and that still isnt being recognized. I also tried repairing with EasyBCD but have had no luck. I dont have the original cds anymore for xp. I have the Iso file from my school, but I do not have a dvd burner. Please help me

Did you ever have your XP system on the 160GB or the 320GB? What is the exact model and series of your Dell computer? Do you have the latest BIOS update? There used to be a 120GB hard drive recognition limit in the older BIOS's. I don't know if this may be a factor or not. Do you have all the Windows 7 drivers and system utilites?

I have never had xp on either. I had vista on one and I have windows 7 on another. Its a Dimension E510. My windows updates are to date, I dont know if they would update for me. I check online now. I have all t he windows 7 drivers and system utilities. I am running professional right now. Edit: The latest BIOS was in 07. I am not sure I have this BIOS but it has only one improvement 1. Improve OROM Intialization. Edit 2: I went to upgrade bios and it says i had that revision.

What's unclear right now is did you ever have any system boot up on the 160GB or the 320GB? To start you state Win 7 will not boot, but then you mention Vista right above. So, what you post is a little confusing. How are you installing Win 7? Do you delete any existing partitions and let Win 7 layout the hard drive?

The computer came with the 80gb harddrive WHICH had xp on it. I bought 2 hard drives since then. I did a clean install on of vista on the 160gb harddrive (I dont use vista anymore though so that's why i used the word had, sry if that confused you). On the 320 gb hardrive I did a clean install of windows 7. My problem is that I can only boot into windows 7 on my 320 IF , I have my 80 gb hardrive hooked up and using a program called EasyBCD.(I didnt state the use of EasyBCD before because right now I want to just use my 320 hd without it) I Installed Windows 7 on the hd using an iso cd from my school and magicIso program. I haven't deleted any partitions.

Hi, If you install Windows 7 in the 320GB hard disk when the 80GB hard disk is connected, the Windows 7 system boot files may be installed in your 80GB hard disk. Based on the current situation, I would like to suggest you refer to the following link for how to repair this issue: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927391 Note: Although this article applies to Windows Vista, it also can be used to fix the same issue for Windows 7. Regards,Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.