Vista and XP Dual-Boot Bootloader

[calvin9556]

So here's the thing, I have one hard drive, partitioned into 3 drives (C: D: and E. Vista on C:, XP on D: and Vista recovery on E:. I installed XP second, and while trying to recover the Vista bootloader, accidentally ended up reformatting the C: and recovering Vista.
So now, my question is, how can I recover the XP bootloader without corrupting Vista? I tried EasyBCD, and then was going to try fixmbr command in the recovery console for XP, but the caution message just scared me...
Any advice would be appreciated, and also let me know if I should worry about the fixmbr.

Cheers,
Calvin

 

[Bodaggit23]

If you formatted C: then XP is gone.

 

[calvin9556]

Don't think it's gone: I put XP on D:, and Vista on C:. I formatted C:, so I think I just got rid of Vista.
Plus, when I look in "My Computer" in the D: (with XP on it), I still see all the Windows files.
Any other suggestions?

 

[Bodaggit23]

Did you in fact recover Vista?

The only way I know to install XP after Vista is using EasyBCD.

If Vista is gone, you'd need the XP disc to repair the boot loader.

 

[calvin9556]

So in other words, just boot off the XP CD and run fixmbr and take my chances?

 

[mep916]

No, if your Vista and XP partitions are still intact (it appears that they are), then use your Vista disk to do a startup repair. If successful, the vista bootloader will automatically create a boot menu entry for your XP (D) partition.

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/5c59f8c1-b0d1-4f1a-af55-74f3922f3f351033.mspx

 

[veilx]

so theres a scary message when you use easyBCD?... using that program would be my best reccomendation, just make a new boot selection on easyBCD, and select the drive the xp is installed in!... sorry if that dont help.

 

[tyttebøvs]

If XP's boot files (ntldr, boot.ini, ntdetect.com) were on C, you also need to recover those.