"Geoff Cox" <gcox@freeuk.notcom> wrote in message
news:rugu64hh625k1uk3o8fks1u736pbgord6g@4ax.com...
> Hello,
>
> I have a PC with 2 SATA hard disks in it (logical C and D drives) and
> wish to replace the "C" drive with a new hard disk.
>
> How do I know which is the "C" drive in the case?
>
> I once before got the wrong and the PC tried to boot off the "D" drive
> which then made the files on this disk inaccessible.
>
> Thanks
>
> Geoff
If you open Disk Management, Disk 0, (which may or may not be your
boot disk), will be connected to SATA 1, and Disk 1 will be connected
to SATA 2. That's if they are connected to the Southbridge SATA
connectors. If your drives are connected to an additional SATA
controller, such as a jMicron its connectors will assume SATA 0 and
SATA 1.
>
>"Geoff Cox" <gcox@freeuk.notcom> wrote in message
>news:rugu64hh625k1uk3o8fks1u736pbgord6g@4ax.com.. .
>> Hello,
>>
>> I have a PC with 2 SATA hard disks in it (logical C and D drives) and
>> wish to replace the "C" drive with a new hard disk.
>>
>> How do I know which is the "C" drive in the case?
>>
>> I once before got the wrong and the PC tried to boot off the "D" drive
>> which then made the files on this disk inaccessible.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Geoff
>
>If you open Disk Management, Disk 0, (which may or may not be your
>boot disk), will be connected to SATA 1, and Disk 1 will be connected
>to SATA 2. That's if they are connected to the Southbridge SATA
>connectors. If your drives are connected to an additional SATA
>controller, such as a jMicron its connectors will assume SATA 0 and
>SATA 1.
>
Ian,
Thanks for the info.
Going to Disk Management I see that
Disk 0 is C:
Disk 1 is D:
but no mention of SATA - so far I haven't found anything to tell me
which is which drive when I open the case - have I?!
"Geoff Cox" <gcox@freeuk.notcom> wrote in message
news:rugu64hh625k1uk3o8fks1u736pbgord6g@4ax.com...
> Hello,
>
> I have a PC with 2 SATA hard disks in it (logical C and D drives) and
> wish to replace the "C" drive with a new hard disk.
>
> How do I know which is the "C" drive in the case?
>
> I once before got the wrong and the PC tried to boot off the "D" drive
> which then made the files on this disk inaccessible.
>
> Thanks
>
> Geoff
If the drives are not identical, you should be able to identify each in "my
computer", but then you'll have to be able to read the nameplate on the
drive to know which is which. You can also take a 50-50 shot, and just
disconnect one. The worst thing that'll happen is the machine won't boot.
Then you'll have to remove the non boot drive , in the bios, from the boot
order
On Sat, 5 Jul 2008 12:11:19 -0400, "RBM" <rbm@noemail.com> wrote:
>
>"Geoff Cox" <gcox@freeuk.notcom> wrote in message
>news:rugu64hh625k1uk3o8fks1u736pbgord6g@4ax.com.. .
>> Hello,
>>
>> I have a PC with 2 SATA hard disks in it (logical C and D drives) and
>> wish to replace the "C" drive with a new hard disk.
>>
>> How do I know which is the "C" drive in the case?
>>
>> I once before got the wrong and the PC tried to boot off the "D" drive
>> which then made the files on this disk inaccessible.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Geoff
>
>If the drives are not identical, you should be able to identify each in "my
>computer", but then you'll have to be able to read the nameplate on the
>drive to know which is which. You can also take a 50-50 shot, and just
>disconnect one. The worst thing that'll happen is the machine won't boot.
>Then you'll have to remove the non boot drive , in the bios, from the boot
>order
>
'afraid the drives are identical in make and size!
plus! as I said I had the previous bad experience with the 50:50
approach in that the PC failed to boot off what wa the D: drive but
after putting the C: drive back I couldn't access the D: drive.
Geoff Cox wrote:
> On Sat, 5 Jul 2008 12:11:19 -0400, "RBM" <rbm@noemail.com> wrote:
>
>> "Geoff Cox" <gcox@freeuk.notcom> wrote in message
>> news:rugu64hh625k1uk3o8fks1u736pbgord6g@4ax.com...
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I have a PC with 2 SATA hard disks in it (logical C and D drives) and
>>> wish to replace the "C" drive with a new hard disk.
>>>
>>> How do I know which is the "C" drive in the case?
>>>
>>> I once before got the wrong and the PC tried to boot off the "D" drive
>>> which then made the files on this disk inaccessible.
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>
>>> Geoff
>> If the drives are not identical, you should be able to identify each in "my
>> computer", but then you'll have to be able to read the nameplate on the
>> drive to know which is which. You can also take a 50-50 shot, and just
>> disconnect one. The worst thing that'll happen is the machine won't boot.
>> Then you'll have to remove the non boot drive , in the bios, from the boot
>> order
>>
>
> 'afraid the drives are identical in make and size!
>
> plus! as I said I had the previous bad experience with the 50:50
> approach in that the PC failed to boot off what wa the D: drive but
> after putting the C: drive back I couldn't access the D: drive.
>
> can I tell which is which from the cables?
>
> Cheers
>
> Geoff
You're manual should tell you what plug on the motherboard is sata
connector #1 and #2.
You've already figured out C: is the first.
On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:23:23 -0400, Big_Al <BigAl@md.com> wrote:
>Geoff Cox wrote:
>> On Sat, 5 Jul 2008 12:11:19 -0400, "RBM" <rbm@noemail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> "Geoff Cox" <gcox@freeuk.notcom> wrote in message
>>> news:rugu64hh625k1uk3o8fks1u736pbgord6g@4ax.com...
>>>> Hello,
>>>>
>>>> I have a PC with 2 SATA hard disks in it (logical C and D drives) and
>>>> wish to replace the "C" drive with a new hard disk.
>>>>
>>>> How do I know which is the "C" drive in the case?
>>>>
>>>> I once before got the wrong and the PC tried to boot off the "D" drive
>>>> which then made the files on this disk inaccessible.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks
>>>>
>>>> Geoff
>>> If the drives are not identical, you should be able to identify each in "my
>>> computer", but then you'll have to be able to read the nameplate on the
>>> drive to know which is which. You can also take a 50-50 shot, and just
>>> disconnect one. The worst thing that'll happen is the machine won't boot.
>>> Then you'll have to remove the non boot drive , in the bios, from the boot
>>> order
>>>
>>
>> 'afraid the drives are identical in make and size!
>>
>> plus! as I said I had the previous bad experience with the 50:50
>> approach in that the PC failed to boot off what wa the D: drive but
>> after putting the C: drive back I couldn't access the D: drive.
>>
>> can I tell which is which from the cables?
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> Geoff
>
>You're manual should tell you what plug on the motherboard is sata
>connector #1 and #2.
>You've already figured out C: is the first.
On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:37:55 -0500, Joel <Joel@NoSpam.com> wrote:
>Geoff Cox <gcox@freeuk.notcom> wrote:
>
><snip>
>> 'afraid the drives are identical in make and size!
>>
>> plus! as I said I had the previous bad experience with the 50:50
>> approach in that the PC failed to boot off what wa the D: drive but
>> after putting the C: drive back I couldn't access the D: drive.
>>
>> can I tell which is which from the cables?
>>
>> Cheers
>
> You may not be able to tell from the cable *unless* you know which PORT
>the cable connected to. Example Port-0 is usually drive C: and Port-2 is
>drive D
>
> Of course with EIDE which you can connect up to 2 EDIE devices to same
>PORT, and drive D can be changed depending on how you FDISK your drive
>(partition). But drive C still on Port-0
>
> So, I guess it should work the same with SATA.
Joel,
I have just found a diagram of the motherboard on the Net and it shows
the two SATA sockets, SATA 0 and SATA 1 so I assume SATA 0 is the C:
drive and SATA 1 is the D: - could this be wrong?!
Geoff Cox wrote:
> On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:37:55 -0500, Joel <Joel@NoSpam.com> wrote:
>
>> Geoff Cox <gcox@freeuk.notcom> wrote:
>>
>> <snip>
>>> 'afraid the drives are identical in make and size!
>>>
>>> plus! as I said I had the previous bad experience with the 50:50
>>> approach in that the PC failed to boot off what wa the D: drive but
>>> after putting the C: drive back I couldn't access the D: drive.
>>>
>>> can I tell which is which from the cables?
>>>
>>> Cheers
>> You may not be able to tell from the cable *unless* you know which PORT
>> the cable connected to. Example Port-0 is usually drive C: and Port-2 is
>> drive D
>>
>> Of course with EIDE which you can connect up to 2 EDIE devices to same
>> PORT, and drive D can be changed depending on how you FDISK your drive
>> (partition). But drive C still on Port-0
>>
>> So, I guess it should work the same with SATA.
>
> Joel,
>
> I have just found a diagram of the motherboard on the Net and it shows
> the two SATA sockets, SATA 0 and SATA 1 so I assume SATA 0 is the C:
> drive and SATA 1 is the D: - could this be wrong?!
>
> Cheers
>
> Geoff
I can give you an approach, but it isn't completely foolproof.
When it starts up, there will be a menu with hard drives in it.
The drive letter (C:) is shown to the left of the rest of the
drive identity information.
Start the Quick Bench running, by clicking the "Run Test" button.
When you get to the "Random Access Test", the head on the disk
will fly around, and the drive will shake a bit. The drive with
the shakes, will in that case, be the C: drive (because you selected
C: from the test menu).
Why isn't the test foolproof ? Because the vibration shakes the
whole frame of the computer case. I tried my C: drive and
my E: drive, and I could feel the shaking in the C: drive in
both cases. So it'll be a judgment call, as to which one is
doing the shaking, during the Random Access test.
The C: drive is not related to the SATA port. Your C: could be
connected to SATA 0 or to SATA 1. Perhaps looking at the drive
serial number in the BIOS, or with a utility, and looking for a
sticker on the outside of the drive, with the same information,
would be another way to do it. I have one drive, that does have
the serial number printed on the outside. And a more recent
drive from the same company, where there is no serial number
on the outside. I bet that saved a whole penny of manufacturing
cost, by not printing the serial number on it. And makes it
real easy to determine if the warranty is still valid, if that
drive dies on me (fat lot of good a serial number stored on
the platters is going to do, if the drive fails).
On Sun, 06 Jul 2008 02:33:29 -0400, Paul <nospam@needed.com> wrote:
>I can give you an approach, but it isn't completely foolproof.
>
>Download a copy of HDTach.
>
>http://www.simplisoftware.com/Public...request=HdTach
>
>When it starts up, there will be a menu with hard drives in it.
>The drive letter (C:) is shown to the left of the rest of the
>drive identity information.
>
>Start the Quick Bench running, by clicking the "Run Test" button.
>When you get to the "Random Access Test", the head on the disk
>will fly around, and the drive will shake a bit. The drive with
>the shakes, will in that case, be the C: drive (because you selected
>C: from the test menu).
>
>Why isn't the test foolproof ? Because the vibration shakes the
>whole frame of the computer case. I tried my C: drive and
>my E: drive, and I could feel the shaking in the C: drive in
>both cases. So it'll be a judgment call, as to which one is
>doing the shaking, during the Random Access test.
Paul,
the above sounds terrifying!
>The C: drive is not related to the SATA port. Your C: could be
>connected to SATA 0 or to SATA 1. Perhaps looking at the drive
>serial number in the BIOS, or with a utility, and looking for a
>sticker on the outside of the drive, with the same information,
>would be another way to do it. I have one drive, that does have
>the serial number printed on the outside. And a more recent
>drive from the same company, where there is no serial number
>on the outside. I bet that saved a whole penny of manufacturing
>cost, by not printing the serial number on it. And makes it
>real easy to determine if the warranty is still valid, if that
>drive dies on me (fat lot of good a serial number stored on
>the platters is going to do, if the drive fails).
On Sun, 06 Jul 2008 02:33:29 -0400, Paul <nospam@needed.com> wrote:
>The C: drive is not related to the SATA port. Your C: could be
>connected to SATA 0 or to SATA 1. Perhaps looking at the drive
>serial number in the BIOS, or with a utility, and looking for a
>sticker on the outside of the drive, with the same information,
Paul,
I couldn't find any ref to hard disk serial numbers in the BIOS but
there was this info.
IDE Channel 0 Master -[ the DVDRW]
IDE Channel 0 Slave - [the DVD]
IDE Channel 1 Master - [S_ATA1-Hitachi etc]
IDE Channel 1 Slave - [S_ATA2-Hitachi etc]
(NB the S_ATA1 and S_ATA2 above)
also
x SATA Port 0 configure as IDE Sec. Master
SATA Port 1 configure as IDE Sec. Slave
Looking inside the PC case I can see that
SATA0 socket is connected to the top hard disk and
SATA1 socket is connected to the bottom hard disk
Does above tell you whether the top hard disk is the C: drive?
In message <8pm074t14njamris9b4o5682ehf3otu8i4@4ax.com> Geoff Cox
<gcox@freeuk.notcom> wrote:
>I have just found a diagram of the motherboard on the Net and it shows
>the two SATA sockets, SATA 0 and SATA 1 so I assume SATA 0 is the C:
>drive and SATA 1 is the D: - could this be wrong?!
It could. Open device manager, find the disk drives and open them, see
if the "Location" field gives you any clues. If the "C" drive is the
lower number then SATA 0 should be the "C" drive.
You may not see locations of "0" and "1", spending on how the
motherboard is designed, I've got an older mobo here where SATA drives
start at 4, IDE drives take 0 through 3, despite being labeled as 0
through 3 on the motherboard.
On Sun, 06 Jul 2008 04:48:08 -0600, DevilsPGD
<spam_narf_spam@crazyhat.net> wrote:
>In message <8pm074t14njamris9b4o5682ehf3otu8i4@4ax.com> Geoff Cox
><gcox@freeuk.notcom> wrote:
>
>>I have just found a diagram of the motherboard on the Net and it shows
>>the two SATA sockets, SATA 0 and SATA 1 so I assume SATA 0 is the C:
>>drive and SATA 1 is the D: - could this be wrong?!
>
>It could. Open device manager, find the disk drives and open them, see
>if the "Location" field gives you any clues. If the "C" drive is the
>lower number then SATA 0 should be the "C" drive.
cannot find a location field!
Cheers
Geoff
>
>You may not see locations of "0" and "1", spending on how the
>motherboard is designed, I've got an older mobo here where SATA drives
>start at 4, IDE drives take 0 through 3, despite being labeled as 0
>through 3 on the motherboard.
"Geoff Cox" <gcox@freeuk.notcom> wrote in message
news:t37174dfath300hrgjr6uu0k9f7h4a50f8@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 06 Jul 2008 02:33:29 -0400, Paul <nospam@needed.com> wrote:
>
>>The C: drive is not related to the SATA port. Your C: could be
>>connected to SATA 0 or to SATA 1. Perhaps looking at the drive
>>serial number in the BIOS, or with a utility, and looking for a
>>sticker on the outside of the drive, with the same information,
>
> Paul,
>
> I couldn't find any ref to hard disk serial numbers in the BIOS but
> there was this info.
>
> IDE Channel 0 Master -[ the DVDRW]
> IDE Channel 0 Slave - [the DVD]
>
> IDE Channel 1 Master - [S_ATA1-Hitachi etc]
> IDE Channel 1 Slave - [S_ATA2-Hitachi etc]
>
> (NB the S_ATA1 and S_ATA2 above)
>
> also
>
> x SATA Port 0 configure as IDE Sec. Master
> SATA Port 1 configure as IDE Sec. Slave
>
> Looking inside the PC case I can see that
>
> SATA0 socket is connected to the top hard disk and
> SATA1 socket is connected to the bottom hard disk
>
> Does above tell you whether the top hard disk is the C: drive?
>
> Cheers
>
> Geoff
The common convention is that Drive 0 connects to the lowest
numbered SATA connector, but it's no guarantee. You've
already determined that your boot drive, C:, is Drive 0.
Something in you original post that puzzles me, is that you
said booting off D: made the files inaccessible. If a bootable
drive is not present, the BIOS boot process should give you
an error message and suspend. If you do have boot files on
D:, the best thing to do is rename them so that if the system
does try to boot from D: it will give files not found errors and
halt the boot process, therefore no harm done, and you know
which HD is C:.
>Something in you original post that puzzles me, is that you
>said booting off D: made the files inaccessible. If a bootable
>drive is not present, the BIOS boot process should give you
>an error message and suspend. If you do have boot files on
>D:, the best thing to do is rename them so that if the system
>does try to boot from D: it will give files not found errors and
>halt the boot process, therefore no harm done, and you know
>which HD is C:.
the above happened some time ago on a previous PC.
On Sun, 06 Jul 2008 09:12:19 -0500, Joel <Joel@NoSpam.com> wrote:
>> cannot find a location field!
>
> It may be hard or too small to read, and you haven't tried hard enough.
>Cuz I am vey sure there should be labels for just about all parts on the
Joel,
Sorry! I missed the Location info - it was on the General tab page
using Device Manager/disks.
the first hard disk listed has Location 0 (0)
the second one listed has 1 (1)
What does this mean, together with the BIOS info? How do I tie
together the Location 0 with either SATA0 or SATA1?
IDE Channel 0 Master -[ the DVDRW]
IDE Channel 0 Slave - [the DVD]
IDE Channel 1 Master - [S_ATA1-Hitachi etc]
IDE Channel 1 Slave - [S_ATA2-Hitachi etc]
(NB the S_ATA1 and S_ATA2 above)
also
x SATA Port 0 configure as IDE Sec. Master
SATA Port 1 configure as IDE Sec. Slave
"Geoff Cox" <gcox@freeuk.notcom> wrote in message
news:2k52749c2samafibb09fem6mpejr40hh3n@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 6 Jul 2008 13:02:31 -0400, "Ian D" <taurus@nowhere.com> wrote:
>
>>Something in you original post that puzzles me, is that you
>>said booting off D: made the files inaccessible. If a bootable
>>drive is not present, the BIOS boot process should give you
>>an error message and suspend. If you do have boot files on
>>D:, the best thing to do is rename them so that if the system
>>does try to boot from D: it will give files not found errors and
>>halt the boot process, therefore no harm done, and you know
>>which HD is C:.
>
> the above happened some time ago on a previous PC.
>
> Cheers
>
> Geoff
Well then, pull the cable from the SATA 1 connector. If
the PC boots, or not, you now will know which physical
drive is which. Another way to resolve this is to use a utility
which reads the SMART info from the drives to find the
serial numbers, although that will require pulling the drives
to read the SN's, unless you can read the top drive's SN.
>Well then, pull the cable from the SATA 1 connector. If
>the PC boots, or not, you now will know which physical
>drive is which. Another way to resolve this is to use a utility
>which reads the SMART info from the drives to find the
>serial numbers, although that will require pulling the drives
>to read the SN's, unless you can read the top drive's SN.
>
I have just used Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test software which tells me
that I have
00 ATA Secondary Master HDT etc and the serial number is R3CA etc
01 ATA Secondary Slave HDT etc and the serial number is R3C9 etc
so I now have 2 different serial numbers and can check these against
the physical hard disks.
But! How do I move from this to knowing which is the C: drive without
trail and error booting?
So far I don't seem to have any info from XP Pro to connect the
logical C: drive with SATA 0 or SATA 1 socket....or do I?!
"Geoff Cox" <gcox@freeuk.notcom> wrote in message
news:e4h274hlnb48dfse0c5jl0tfl8tvk3o6lr@4ax.com...
> On Sun, 6 Jul 2008 17:16:53 -0400, "Ian D" <taurus@nowhere.com> wrote:
>
>
>>Well then, pull the cable from the SATA 1 connector. If
>>the PC boots, or not, you now will know which physical
>>drive is which. Another way to resolve this is to use a utility
>>which reads the SMART info from the drives to find the
>>serial numbers, although that will require pulling the drives
>>to read the SN's, unless you can read the top drive's SN.
>>
>
> I have just used Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test software which tells me
> that I have
>
> 00 ATA Secondary Master HDT etc and the serial number is R3CA etc
>
> 01 ATA Secondary Slave HDT etc and the serial number is R3C9 etc
>
> so I now have 2 different serial numbers and can check these against
> the physical hard disks.
>
> But! How do I move from this to knowing which is the C: drive without
> trail and error booting?
>
> So far I don't seem to have any info from XP Pro to connect the
> logical C: drive with SATA 0 or SATA 1 socket....or do I?!
>
> Cheers
>
> Geoff
You've already determined by using Disk Management that
Drive 0 is the C: drive.
In message <d26274ludeic703p1vsekck44ao3lit7tj@4ax.com> Geoff Cox
<gcox@freeuk.notcom> wrote:
>On Sun, 06 Jul 2008 09:12:19 -0500, Joel <Joel@NoSpam.com> wrote:
>
>
>>> cannot find a location field!
>>
>> It may be hard or too small to read, and you haven't tried hard enough.
>>Cuz I am vey sure there should be labels for just about all parts on the
>
>Joel,
>
>Sorry! I missed the Location info - it was on the General tab page
>using Device Manager/disks.
>
>the first hard disk listed has Location 0 (0)
>
>the second one listed has 1 (1)
>
>
>What does this mean, together with the BIOS info? How do I tie
>together the Location 0 with either SATA0 or SATA1?
On absolutely every motherboard I've seen, the order will be the same on
the hardware as in device manager's "location" field.
I have opened My Computer and right clicked on the C: drive and
selected properties.
Then selected the "Hardware" tab, double clicked (or right click and
properties) on the first drive listed and then selected "Volumes" and
then "Populate". This gives me Drive 0 for C:
Doing the same for the second listed drive gives me Drive 1 for D:
So far so good but just to help clear my confusion - how do I know
whether Drive 0 above is the physical drive connected to the SATA 0 or
the physical drive connected to the SATA 1 socket?
I would seem osensible to assume that Drive 0 is the physical drive
connected to the SATA 0 socket etc but I am not clear how I can be
certain of this?
>On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 10:53:53 +0100, Geoff Cox <gcox@freeuk.notcom>
>wrote:
>
>Hello all,
>
>Some thing new, to me at least!
>
>I have opened My Computer and right clicked on the C: drive and
>selected properties.
>
>Then selected the "Hardware" tab, double clicked (or right click and
>properties) on the first drive listed and then selected "Volumes" and
>then "Populate". This gives me Drive 0 for C:
>
>Doing the same for the second listed drive gives me Drive 1 for D:
>
>So far so good but just to help clear my confusion - how do I know
>whether Drive 0 above is the physical drive connected to the SATA 0 or
>the physical drive connected to the SATA 1 socket?
>
>I would seem osensible to assume that Drive 0 is the physical drive
>connected to the SATA 0 socket etc but I am not clear how I can be
>certain of this?
ah! I have just found and used smartmontools software and
smartctl -i c: gives the serial number of the drive attached to SATA0
socket and
smartctl -i d: gives the serial number of the drive attached to the
SATA 1 socket ... so I think I'm there once I have doubled check the
serial number on at least one of the physical drives!
On Mon, 07 Jul 2008 08:13:18 -0500, Joel <Joel@NoSpam.com> wrote:
>Geoff Cox <gcox@freeuk.notcom> wrote:
>
><snip>
>> I would seem osensible to assume that Drive 0 is the physical drive
>> connected to the SATA 0 socket etc but I am not clear how I can be
>> certain of this?
>
> *Unless* you find that all of the advices/answers given to you by others
>are invalid, I can say that your same technique (I snip it) just won't lead
>you to Rome.
>
> And if you trust and follow one of our answers then you should have the
>problem solved in the first day if not within few minutes on the first try.
Joel,
I probably did seem to be going round in circles for a while!
>Hello,
>
>I have a PC with 2 SATA hard disks in it (logical C and D drives) and
>wish to replace the "C" drive with a new hard disk.
>
>How do I know which is the "C" drive in the case?
>
>I once before got the wrong and the PC tried to boot off the "D" drive
>which then made the files on this disk inaccessible.
>
>Thanks
>
>Geoff
Maybe it's been mentioned, but what SATA controller do you
have, does it support hot-plug?
What if you just boot windows and unplug the SATA connector
from one to see what happens? If the OS still runs and
pagefile/etc is on same drive, either the other volume
disappears or ?
I just can't believe this thread has gone on so long, surely
you can just unplug one drive and try booting the other if
nothing else is as expedient? Perhaps you gave some reason
not to, but isn't that the shortest path to the goal? If
you unplug the drive that is not holding OS, the OS drive
should still boot. If you unplug the drive that isn't
holding OS, obviously it won't boot.
I can't say what your prior problem was, but simply having a
system try to boot off the "D" drive should not make the
files inaccessible. If the "C" is unplugged then you have
no chance of that OS installation being changed.
which is the "C" drive? 
Linear Mode
