"Unable to load operating system"

[Mr Optimistic]

me neither

reports its size Ok doesn't it ? Think its a corrupted FAT. Worth trying something like this I would have thought.

The simplest way to repair or re-create MBR is to run Microsoft's standard utility called FDISK with a parameter /MBR, like
A> FDISK.EXE /MBR

FDISK is a standard utility included in MS-DOS, Windows 95, 98, ME.

If you have Windows NT / 2000 / XP, you can boot from startup floppy disks or CD-ROM, choose repair option during setup, and run Recovery Console. When you are logged on, you can run FIXMBR command to fix MBR.

You would need to disconnect the newer good disk for this so that it was trying to boot from the problem disk.

Failing that:


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