Disc won't boot after mirroring

[Majestic100]

After using DD (10.2117), have problem when using mirrored disc as boot disc. What happens is that the PC freezes on start up and still freezes up when reset/restarted. The solution has always been to use CD recovery console to fixmbr. Once this done boots OK. Any reason why the mbr is getting corrupted when using DD???

[MudCrab]

What OS are you mirroring?

Are you doing a partition copy?

Is it to an external USB drive?

Are you doing the procedure from Windows? Windows is famous for "knocking out" clones and mirrored drives because it won't tolerate identical drives.

You might also try updating to the latest build of DD (2,160).

[Majestic100]

In answer to your questions.....

1. What OS are you mirroring?

XP Pro

2. Are you doing a partition copy?

Yes. On-line drive has 2 partitions. Partition 1 is for O/S and Programs whilst Partition 2 is used as storage for downloads etc. I may copy one or both at a time.

3. Is it to an external USB drive?

No. Both drives are caddied ATA for easy swapping. I found out that if I have my 1GB USB memory stick attached DD won't perform the copy function on reboot. DD doesn't like attached USB devices it seems

4. Are you doing the procedure from Windows? Windows is famous for "knocking out" clones and mirrored drives because it won't tolerate idential drives.

Yes. Both Drives are indentical manufacturer and size. Earlier versions of DD seemed to cope OK

5. You might also try updating to the latest build of DD (2,160).

An option I'll look into

[MudCrab]

Have you checked the "mirrored" drive for errors? (Run chkdsk /r on it.)

Perhaps it has developed some bad sectors.

Do you get the same problem if you boot from the DD cd and do the copy from there?

[Majestic100]

been testing by formatting then running check /r via DD before copying partition. Seems to work OK. Discs booting after mirrowing

Thanks for advice and help