I have a number of questions here, all related to one central issue which may be outside the scope of EasyBCD and dual booting support, but I can hopefully get some help answering them...
I have installed Vista Ultimate in a multi-boot setup of the following characteristics: A single 500 GB SATA drive; an original XP installation on the first primary partition of the disk - this partition contains all my boot files; a second XP installation on a logical drive in an extended partition; the Vista installation on a logical drive in that extended partition; and a data partition on a logical drive in that extended partition.
I am getting a repeated error message from Vista after I install drivers or make system changes (such as network domains, new user accounts, etc.) and then restart the system. The error message is that "The disk structure is corrupt and unreadable." It then recommends running chkdsk to correct errors. When I run ckdsk it deletes a number of index entries, then aborts with the message that "there is insufficient disk space to fix MFT". The system then boots into Vista and VIsta runs fine except that certain disk activity (on any drive) generates the "disk structure is corrupt and unreadable" message.
If I run chkdsk from the XP installation, it fixes the errors and everything runs fine again until I make changes within Vista.
So my questions are these:
1. Is the fact that Vista is installed on a logical drive in an extended partition a possible cause of this issue?
2. My understanding is that the only primary partition required is the one with the boot files, and that other OS's can be installed on logical drives - am I incorrect in my understanding of this?
3. Is there any confusion being generated by the assumed drive letter assignments? Both the original XP and the new Vista installations see themselves as the C drive when they are active, and assign the other OS's to another drive letter. My data folder is consistently identified as drive 'W'.
4. If these are not the cause, is anyone aware of what may be the cause?
5. Should I just delete the Vista installation and start over? I haven't installed any applications or spent a lot of time on this install, and am reluctant to do so while this problem is still present.
Thanks for your help.
I have installed Vista Ultimate in a multi-boot setup of the following characteristics: A single 500 GB SATA drive; an original XP installation on the first primary partition of the disk - this partition contains all my boot files; a second XP installation on a logical drive in an extended partition; the Vista installation on a logical drive in that extended partition; and a data partition on a logical drive in that extended partition.
I am getting a repeated error message from Vista after I install drivers or make system changes (such as network domains, new user accounts, etc.) and then restart the system. The error message is that "The disk structure is corrupt and unreadable." It then recommends running chkdsk to correct errors. When I run ckdsk it deletes a number of index entries, then aborts with the message that "there is insufficient disk space to fix MFT". The system then boots into Vista and VIsta runs fine except that certain disk activity (on any drive) generates the "disk structure is corrupt and unreadable" message.
If I run chkdsk from the XP installation, it fixes the errors and everything runs fine again until I make changes within Vista.
So my questions are these:
1. Is the fact that Vista is installed on a logical drive in an extended partition a possible cause of this issue?
2. My understanding is that the only primary partition required is the one with the boot files, and that other OS's can be installed on logical drives - am I incorrect in my understanding of this?
3. Is there any confusion being generated by the assumed drive letter assignments? Both the original XP and the new Vista installations see themselves as the C drive when they are active, and assign the other OS's to another drive letter. My data folder is consistently identified as drive 'W'.
4. If these are not the cause, is anyone aware of what may be the cause?
5. Should I just delete the Vista installation and start over? I haven't installed any applications or spent a lot of time on this install, and am reluctant to do so while this problem is still present.
Thanks for your help.