New Cloned HDD doesn't boot

[estheddy]

Hi all,

I used TrueImage 11 trial to clone a new HDD SATA (160GB) to replace the old one (89GB) on my laptop with XP.
The new HD was connected via USB as external drive.When the process vas finished and before rebooting I replaced the drives (the new one replaced the old) and rebooted.After the first splash of ACER I get a black screen, before the boot of windows and it stucks there.
Replacing the new by the old one everithing is going well and connecting the new clone via USB shows the new partitios and a complete clone, but it cannot make it bootable.

Why?

Thanks

[DwnNdrty]

Try what is being called a reverse clone. Put the new drive in the laptop first and the original in the enclosure. You'll have to do the Clone process with the bootable True Image Rescue cd. It's a good opportunity to test that the Rescue cd will work for you.

Be sure to give the drive unique names so you are absolutely sure which is the Source and which is the Destination. You don't want to make a mistake in this step.

[GroverH]

Very important:

In addition to what DwnNdrty has indicated:
Before first bootup after cloning, remove either the original or the clone.
You do not want Windows seeing both drives on first bootup after cloning.
After proper recognition, then you can connect the 2nd drive--if desired.

[Joe in PA]

Based on my experience with TI, doing any kind of cloning with USB in the mix is a recipe for trouble. The black screen is probably due to some kind of master boot record corruption, which TI causes on a far too regular basis.
If it's possiible, I'd do the cloning SATA to SATA.

[jonyjoe81]

If the "reverse" clone doesn't work, you need to check your drive letters on the restored drive.

With windows xp, when the restored hard drive hangs at the splash screen, that's a symptom that the system drive letter got changed during the restoration.

[estheddy]

Hi again.

First of all, thaks for your answers!!!

I tried the reverse mode, like this:

1)Created a CD with a bootable True Image, put the new drive in the laptop and the old one in the USB.
2)Start the laptop from the boot CD and start the process to clone from the outside drive (the old one, via USB) to the internal one (the new one)
3)Acronis calculate partitions and so on, and when it was ready to start............Surprise!!!

The fully functional 15 days trial version...only clones from windows and tells me to start windows to make the copy.

I can understand that a trial is not fully working, but it is anounced everywhere that that version is full!!!

So I'm here back.

I'm not ready to buy a soft that has to make a clone and doesn't and wich I have to tweak in order to make it work properly!!!

Any suggestions?

Note: I cannot do SATA to SATA.I don't have where to connect the new one!! (I have a laptop)
Note 2: How can i check/repair the name of the new drive if the laptop doesn't boot?

Thanks in advance

[jonyjoe81]

The only way that I have checked drive letters on a non-booting hard drive is to use a "boot corrector". It's a bootcd utility that boots up the computer and can read and edit the drive letters on a non-booting hard drive. The latest version (build 080121)is built-in to "paragon partition manager 9.0", this one works better on SATA drives.

You can also edit the drive letters manually using the windows repair console, but that is a little more complicated.

I used to recommend the demo of "paragon justboot corrector"(build 050609) as a tool too check drive letters, but I have recently learned that it has trouble reading SATA drives.

Either way you do it, you need to read the drive letters directly off the registry to get an accurate reading. If you verify that it is a drive letter problem, that's a simple fix. Just change the drive letter to what it's suppose to be and reboot, the computer than starts up completely.

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=174958

[estheddy]

I solve it!!!

Thanks to all of you !!!
I tried the "reverse clone mode" that DwnNdrty mentionned in that thread.
I installed the original drive in the USB external box and the new one inside the laptop.
I created a rescue CD disc of acronis and i went to the bios and put the CD drive in the 1st level of the boot order.
I started the boot from the CD and run acronis before windows start.
I told him to clone the external disc to the internal one.
(note that he recognized the two partitions of the external disc as D and F)
The internal(new) disc was cloned and the comptuter shuted down.
I extracted the USB disc (the old one, source of the clone), start the computer and.....Voila!!!

Everithing working ok!!!

Thanks to all again