Can't Get TI Home 2009 to make a bootable clone

I am another frustrated new user to Acronis, and appreciate any help I can get.

I have tried 2 different ways to make a duplicate bootable hard drive and both have failed. First here's the scenario. I have a 100GB hard drive that I would like to make an exact copy of (which would be bootable). I have a USB drive and I have an "ultra bay" which is is a device which I can put a 2nd hard drive into, in place of the CD Drive on my laptop. I am using Acronis True Image Home 2009 on a Thinkpad T60.

Attempt 1: I used the cloning feature, where I booted from the "Original HDD" and had a blank drive in the Ultrabay. Then I clicked "proceed" I got a pop-up telling me I will need to reboot and it very quickly tells me the task is completed and it shuts down. Upon reboot it gets passed the Thinkpad Logo Splash Screen and then goes black. After some attempts I can reboot the PC, but the Clone was not made. After reading multiple forums I tries disconnecting the USB drive and I disabled the HDD Power ON Password. Still would not work.

Attempt 2: I used the Backup Feature to make a full backup with MBR to my USB Drive. The disk image was not 1 file but 19 separate tibs. Then I put the blank HDD in the main drive bay and booted using an Acronis Boot drive I made. Using the restore wizard I said to restore to the blank drive, to make it primary and to make it active. There was a also vague/poorly worded dialog box regarding where I think it was asking for the source of the MBR. The manual was mostly silent on this topic too. This may be the cause of the problem, but I said to pull the MBR from the USB drive (since that is where I backed it up to and the MBR of the current drive was blank). The restore took about 2 hours. I verified the copy but the hard drive does not boot. It gets as far the Thinkpad Splash screen and then has a flashing cursor in the upper left corner.

Acronis may have renamed my new C: drive to something else. Is that the problem? If so, how do I fix?

Is it the MBR issue above, and if so how do I fix?

What am I missing here? I have read the manuals, the forums and it is still not working. HELP!


I have read multiple posts on this forum and see that others have had a history of similar problems but I have not been able to glean a solution to my problem. Thanks in advance for you help!!

 

Since you have an IBM, see this thread:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=1357901#post1357901

 

I would start again with a blank target drive. You can delete the current contents using 2009 as illustrated here.
How To Delete Disk Partitions Using TrueImage Home
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=213446

Assuming that your backup archive is one that is a disk option backup (which includes all partitions on the disk), then I would restore by checking the disk option as pictured below. Restore should be performed when booted from the TI Rescue CD.

Target disk should be in its boot position before performing the restore. Remove all other drives before first bootup after restoring. A disk option restore includes the restoring of the MBR.

 

BrianK Thanks for your guidance.

I don't have an external USB Drive Enclosure. Is that set up in the Thinkpad post above the only way to make a clone/backup&Restore an image? I have a Thinkpad T60, an ultrabay (drive enclosure that temporarily replaces the CD Drive) and a USB. I can have two drives installed at the same time and connect to the UBS drive, but then I can't boot from the CD. I am hoping to make a duplicate copy, either by cloning or doing a back and restore of the image. However, I am short on time and funds and hoping there is a way to do it without getting the external USB enclosure for the HDD.

I believe (but am not certain) that my Thinkpad has an invisible partisan for recovery, but I am not sure if TI 09 sees that or not. The user in the post you referred to, said TI could see if, but I am not sure how to check. Thanks for your help!!!

 

GroverH:

Your post started with an assumption, so let me clarify how I did the backup and the restore
.
When I did the backup, I chose the "Back up my PC" option, I chose to back up the Disk (Disk 1) and selected the "sector by sector" option. And the target was a folder on my USB drive. The backup created 19 Tib Files on my USB drive.

For the Restore, the sceen you showed does not match mine. So let me exlpain my experience. I launced from the CD, with the USB drive connected and the the blank drive in the Laptop. The backup wizard had me point to the TIB files on the USB. And then in the "Restore Method" tab I selected Whole Disk and selected the sector by sector option. In the Content Selection, there is no BOX to select for the DISK 1 as it shows in your screen shot. Perhaps you are using a different version. This is TI Home 2009. There was only for the NTFS drive and the MBR and Track 0. When I select these two boxes it creates two new dialog boxes as part of the Wizard (Settings on C and MBR on DISK 1 are the titles of the new wizard steps). In Settings on C, I pointed the restore to go to the new drive and said for the partition to be Primary and Active. The next Wizard Step was the one that was a bit confusing. First off at the top of the window it says "Specify where MBR will". It seems like the phrase was cut short. I think it is supposed to say, "Specify where MBR will come from" or something like that. It gives me the options of Disk 1 (the USB Drive) and Disk 2 (the blank target drive. I selected Disk 1, because this is where the MBR was backed up to. Perhaps this is where the set up that BrianK suggests above in his Thinkpad Post (but for which I don't have the right hardware) would allow me to point to the original drives MBR.

The Resulting Drive from my efforts seems to have all my data on it, but it does not boot, as described in my orignal post.

If the only way to do this is with the configuration BrianK suggests, I may be in trouble. But if there is a way to do this with my configuration, that would be great. Thanks. Let me know if the info I provided above gives you ideas of someting else to try.

 

The MBR comes from the original drive from which the backup was created and is placed on the new drive receiving the restore.

Perhaps you have small usb thumb or flash drive. True Image can make that bootable so a CD drive is not needed.

 

Chris,

GroverH's suggestion of a bootable USB flash drive is your best choice.

I have used one of these. It works for laptops, desktops, IDE, SATA. A poor man's external HD enclosure.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002

 

How big a thumb drive do I need to get this to work? Is 1GB enough?

 

OK. So ignore my post above. I tried it and it seemed to work.

Trying it now...

BrianK - Any advice on the "reverse clone" you mentioned in that ThinkPad post?

GroverH - Do I still need to remove the parition on the "new drive" from my earlier attempts?

 

I created the True Image Thumb Drive. But when I try to boot with it, I get a message saying "Missing Operating System". Any ideas?

 

You can try the method linked in my signature and also the ones on my website and see if you can get the flashdrive booting.

I assume you set the flashdrive as the booting device or selected it via a Boot Menu option.

Have you successfully booted from any other flashdrives on this computer?

 

A reverse clone only applies if you are using a USB external HD. Both of your HDs are internal.

 

OK. Read the guide. Created the USB Flash. It would not boot, so I created one from one of your images. At step 5A it wanted a reboot. Afer the reboot, Windows does not recognize it.

How do I assign a drive letter? Where is "Disk Management"? Is that a function of Windows XP, or of Acronis. I am using Acronis TI Home 2009. That does not seem to be a function of this product either.

Each time I get passed one hurdle, it seems there is another...

 

BrianK

Assuming I can get a USB Flashdrive to boot, and I have the new and old hard drives installed, should I be trying to create a clone? Or am I trying to restore the previously created Disk Image that is now stored on an external USB Drive? If the latter, when the it asks where I want to restore the MRB from, am I pointing to the old drive, even through the rest of the backup is coming from the UBS drive?

 

The MBR comes from the original drive from which the backup is created. When restoring, the MBR is to be restored to the drive receiving the restore. Whatever drive you restore the MBR to will assume the MBR identity of the orignal disk.

There are multiple ways to open the Disk Management program depending upon your version of Windows and its view options. Program located at %windir%\system32\diskmgmt.msc

An easy method to open the program is to paste DISKMGMT.MSC
into the RUN or SEARCH windows.


GroverH - Do I still need to remove the partition on the "new drive" from my earlier attempts?Yes, that is my suggestion as mentioned in post #2. This will improve your odds of success.

 

If you can't assign a drive letter using Disk Management and/or the flashdrive still doesn't boot, try booting to the Safe Media version of TI and doing the restore (make sure the flashdrive is plugged in before you boot the TI CD).

If you have access to Vista, the Diskpart method may work better for you.

 

GroverH

Ok. I'm making progress... I was able to create a USB Flash Drive that will boot the Acronis SW. And I was able to remove the partion from the "new" drive that would not boot. So I am ready to try again, but I am not sure which is the best scenario...

1.) With New Drive in the HDD Bay and the Old Drive in the UltraBay, try to create a Clone?

2.) With the New Drive in HBB Bay and the Old Drive in the UltraBay, and attached to and external USB drive loading the Previously stored Image?

(In either scenanio I am booting from the Flash Drive).

Before you answer, consider the following, I have moved some files around (My Documents kinds of stuff). Does that make a difference to the MBR?

I need to finish this project tonight and given that it can hours for these tasks to run, I don't won't to go down the wrong path. Which of the two scenarios above should I try? Thanks again for all your help!

 

Would you mind telling what the solution was?

Cloning (#1) will probably be faster than using the USB drive since the interface is probably faster.

If you use #2, I would just put the new drive in the HDD Bay and leave the old drive out. Just restore the image from the USB drive.

If it were me, I'd try to Clone first (especially since you have an image backup already in case you need it).

That has nothing to do with the MBR.

 

MudCrab has given you good recommendations. If you want more info about cloning, you can check this guide below which illustrates how to resize during cloning.
Manual Mode Cloning PDF

 

I used the Syslinux 256 file, and this one worked.

I had a 1GB Flash Drive which seems to have now been reduced, I supposed I can reformat when done with this project.

 

Thanks guys. I was able to make a clone.

I used MudCrabs' USB Thumb Drive Images to make a bootable USB Flash Drive. (The Syslinux 256 file was the one that worked for me).

Then I had the blank HDD in the Boot position, and the Old Drive in the Thinkpad Ultrabay. I booted with the Thumb Drive, and then the Clone function worked properly. I chose the manual settings, but it looks like the automated settings were the same.

Note to anyone reading this: The Trial Version of TI Home 2009 disables this clone feature. A little pop-up tells you when you select "proceed". So you will need to have an active licence.

 

Thank you Chris for your patience & perseverance. All of us are glad for your success.