I had 2 hard drives, one with WinXP and the other with Linux. I got a new hard drive for my Win XP installation, and I need to know exactly how I go about doing this. I have the drive installed, formatted, and WinXP copied over to it.

Maxtor 20 GB 5400 RPM (Linux)
Maxtor 30 GB 7200 RPM (WinXP)
Maxtor SATA Diamond Max Plus 9 120 GB 7200 RPM (New drive)

u have to edit the /etc/lilo.conf file ...im dual booting my atholn xp(slack and xp) and this is my lilo.conf
run pico /etc/lilo.conf to edit as root

# LILO configuration file
# generated by 'liloconfig'
#
# Start LILO global section
append="hdc=ide-scsi hdd=ide-scsi"
boot="/dev/hda"
message = /boot/boot_message.txt
prompt
timeout="1000"
# Override dangerous defaults that rewrite the partition table:
change-rules
reset
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
vga="773"
# Normal VGA console
# vga = normal
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x64k
# vga=791
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x32k
# vga=790
# VESA framebuffer console @ 1024x768x256
# vga=773
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x64k
# vga=788
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x32k
# vga=787
# VESA framebuffer console @ 800x600x256
# vga=771
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x64k
# vga=785
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x32k
# vga=784
# VESA framebuffer console @ 640x480x256
# vga=769
# End LILO global section
# DOS bootable partition config begins
default=Linux

other = /dev/hda1
label="DOS"
table = /dev/hda
# DOS bootable partition config ends
# Linux bootable partition config begins

image="/dev/hda1"
root="/dev/hda2"

image="/boot/vmlinuz"
root="/dev/hda2"
label="Linux"
read-only
# Linux bootable partition config ends

-----------------------------------------
ok now ill tell u what really matters here...

1) boot =/dev/hda tells lilo which hard disk to boot from ...depending on which hdd linux is installed in u have to change it...but i dont think u have to touch it cause ure already booting linux fine

2) the other thing that matters is
other = /dev/hda1
label="DOS"
table = /dev/hda

my xp is the first partition on the first hard disk...hence /dev/hda1...i think u said that u installed it on another hard disk...depending on that change accordingly..
add the label line too
and the table line seems to be the hdd that its located in

so im guessing u have to add this

other=/dev/hdb(u may have to use '1' here...not sure)
label="DOS"
table=/dev/hdb

...thats it

tell me if it worked..

ive been so busy i haven't been able 2 mess with it till now. I have no clue how to use pico. when I type pico /etc/lilo.conf logged in as su or in root, I just got an empty page with New File at the bottom.

you don't have to use pico. log in as root and use any editor your comfortable with. then follow the instructions that ganja_guru gave above.
good luck.

problem....I don't know how to use any editor :-/

Just read your post again. If you typed pico /etc/lilo.conf and you got New File, then you definitely have pico, but you don't have a /etc/lilo.conf file. Sorry, but sometimes we overlook the obvious. I'm not familiar with SuSE, but could you have GRUB installed as the boot loader rather than LILO?

I thought I had Lilo, but now that I think about it, it might actually be GRUB.

I have proven to myself from many attempts that I can't configure GRUB. I've posted for help and nothing worked that I was told to try, so I gave up on GRUB and installed LILO. I read and looked and found out how LILO works and can now configure it okay.

You may want to search Google/Linux and LQ for dual boot with GRUB or some similar terms until you find the answer. It's been asked and answered countless times. Sorry I can't help with GRUB.

Oh well.

http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Multiboot-with-GRUB.html

http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Linux+Win9x+Grub-HOWTO/

http://www.gnu.org/manual/grub-0.92/html_mono/grub.html

http://www.mcc.ac.uk/grub/grub_toc.html

Enough?

Well, I just went ahead and did a fresh install, cuz I didn't have all that much stuff yet so it wasn't too hard to reinstall. I'm on the new install now and have everything up and working

I have reluctantly done a "fresh install" several times myself, even though I didn't want to do so. This is the Windoze mentality, of which I suffer!

One thing to remember. If you have to do a fresh install again, don't format your /home partition, and all your settings will still be there. I reinstalled Slack because it was much quicker than fixing a problem I had, for which I couldn't find or get an answer. I left the /home partition as it was, and my email, Mozilla favorites, and most all the settings were still as I'd set them before. Try that on Windoze. It won't happen.