Missing Operating System after Clone of Dell X300

[axecreatives]

I used TrueImage on a Dell X300 cloning the original 20GB to an 80GB drive. Everything looks 100%, put after the process I get Missing Operating System. I tried FIXBOOT & FIXMBR, made sure the C Partition was Active. I think it has to do with some Dell Server Partition on the original drive.

I also do not have a CD ROM in the Notebook nor does it boot from a USB Key so my options are limited to Cloning from XP to the new drive in a USB enclosure.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Brian K]

axecreatives,

Is this link relevant?

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=270

Cloning to an external HD isn't always successful (uncertain reasons) and as your HD sizes are appropriate you could consider this image /restore approach.

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=168066

Your first partition should be a 40 MB Dell Diagnostics partition. Not copying this will give a hal.dll error, not a Missing OS error.

Let us know if it's successful.

[Brian K]

Sorry, I just realized you can't do that without a CD drive.

Dell laptops don't have the CHS problems that owners of certain brands experience so you may be able to do your image/restore in a desktop using an IDE adaptor.

[axecreatives]

Thanks for your input Brian.

I have tried everything, things I can't believe I tried. But it is coming down to buying a USB CD ROM in order to image out to a file & then image back to the new drive.

I think that is my only solution at this point.

I could not even get the Dell X300 to boot to a flash drive that my hp and and old Compaq Notebook boot perfectly from right into TrueImage. The Dell says Missing OS.

I hate Dell right now. Not to mention that you have to take the keyboard & palm rest out to get to the hard drive.

[Acronis Support]

Hello axecreatives,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/).

We are sorry for the delayed response.

Could you please let us know exact version and the build number of Acronis True Image you use, which you can find in the Help -> About dialog (it should be a 3 or 4 digit number)?

Please create Acronis Report as it is described in Acronis Help Post (http://wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=55317). Please keep both hard drives connected while creating Acronis Report.

In addition, please describe the actions taken to clone the drive appears step-by-step. Have you resize the partition during the clone procedure?

Then submit a request for technical support (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/my/support/). Attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with a solution.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov