Clone partition?

I have a 250GB HDD that is divided up into C: and Z: partitions. C: contains the OS, program files, etc. C: is currently a 125GB partition, the rest belongs to Z: which is only data.

I would like to move my C: drive to a new separate 80GB HDD and leave the current 250GB drive intact, merging the former 2 partitions into one. The object is to have the OS and all apps on the new HDD, which would become C:.

I have tried using the Clone Disk tool, but it runs into trouble because the new (80GB) HDD is smaller than the current 250GB HDD and there isn't enough room on the new HDD to transfer everything over.

I realize that technically speaking the Clone Tool is for "drives" not partitions, but can what I want to do be accomplished within TI10, or am I out of luck?

 

Just make an image of C and restore that to the new 80GB drive. You can store the image on Z. As long as you are using less than the 80GB size of the new drive, there shouldn't be any problem.

After you restore the image to the 80GB drive, shut down and disconnect the 250GB drive. Set the boot drive to be the 80GB drive, then boot to the 80GB, new C drive. After Windows realizes that this is the proper boot drive, you can reconnect the 250GB drive.

 

Well, things have gone from bad to worse.

I started to make an image of C: onto a part of Z:, but the size was a little big so I used a partition manager to resize C: to about 40GB, leaving the leftover as unallocated space. I rebooted to allow this operation to happen and it went through fine, saying 100% complete. It wanted to reboot and asked to press any key to continue, and this is where I think it starts to go south. I only have a wireless bluetooth keyboard which isn't accesible during boot-up, so I grab a USB keyboard and plug it in, but that doesn't work. I try a USb to PS2 adapter but still nothing. So I'm locked out and the system is waiting for a keystroke that I can't deliver. So I press Reset. What else can I do?

It seems to be OK though, I get into Windows and try making the image again. Only this time it fails, saying that there are bad sectors on the drive that have to be repaired before it can image it. So I dump out and restart with the Windows CD in, load the Repair Console and run CHKDSK. It says that it can't run because the disk is RAW. What the...? So I run FIXBOOT. It says it's successful, but it still won't read anything off C:. I EXIT.

The PC posts, BIOS load, then it gets to the screen just before it says Windows, and it hangs. The HDD light is on, but it's not accesssing. There is just a flashing cursor at the bottom of the screen. There is no activity for many minutes so I reset again, but same thing.

Desparate, I throw in a BartPE disc. It is showing C as a 10MB empty drive with only a BOOTLOG file on it.

Now I think I'm seriously screwed. I don't want to try FIXMBR for fear that it will wipe out the Z: partition table. But I can't access anything on it now.

So I install XP fresh on my new 80GB drive, and that's what brings me back today. I think my 250GB drive is in serious trouble and I'm desparate to get access to the files on there. I'll live with re-installing all my apps, but the data on Z: and the contents of My Documents on C: are desperately needed. I realize this is maybe outside the scope of TI10 at this point, but I'll take whatever advice I can get. Thanks in advance.

 

Bloaty,

Interesting problem. How much data (total) do you have on the Z: drive? Before you do further damage (you have already lost your C: drive) I'd copy the data to your 80 GB HD using BartPE. So at least your data is backed up. If there is a *.tib in Z: drive, leave it (don't copy) and we'll try and recover your C: drive later.

Let us know when your Z: drive is backed up to your 80 GB HD.

 

Thanks for the reply. Nice to know there are other people out there on a Sunday afternoon thinking about this stuff.

The Z: drive was a 120GB logical partition, filled to about 1/3, maybe less. It unfortunately is not accessible even from within the BartPE. The file management utility lists only C: and only as a miniscule size. the BIOS read the full disk capacity and the Windows Disc Manager utility lists it as full size too, but as a FAT system. Believe me, if I could get at the Z: partition now, I'd have it burned to 12 DVDs already, but alas, it seems to have disappeared. I am 90% sure the partition table has been corrupted and/or damaged to the point where the partitions aren't recognized any more.

Currently I am analyzing the disk with Active@ Partition Recovery app, trying to see if any data is recoverable. I'll keep you posted.

 

Bloaty,

The best partition recovery tool I've found is on the Acronis Disk Director Suite CD. Recovery Expert. It's far better than Partition Magic recovery. I've never seen it fail to recover deleted partitions.

 

Actually, I tried with DD10 and it doesn't even see a second HDD. It's listed in Windows Explorer as F:. The product I mentioned before both saw it, and itemized every file on it. Because it was the demo, it couldn't be recovered, but that's still miles ahead of DD10.

Maybe I'm not using it right, but I'm about 30 mins away from buying the Active@ product.

 

Your app sounds very promising. Did you run Recovery Expert from DDS10? It takes ages to find the deleted partitions. I can't understand why DDS didn't see your second HD. Are you running it from the boot CD? Anything strange about the second HD in the BIOS? I understand the second HD is seen by Windows and your app.

 

I don't know why either, but F: isn't even listed in the right pane of Recovery Expert, so there's nothing to scan.

I'm not running it from a boot CD, I'm just running within Windows.

Mysterious and disappointing.

 

Want to try DDS from a boot CD? That's how I used it for Partition Recovery. I never use it from Windows.

 

Heck, I'll try anything once. What makes you think I'll get different results from a boot CD?

Care to walk me through that?

 

I don't have it on this computer but "somewhere" there is a choice for Create bootable disk or something like that.

I don't know if it will let you see that HD but I'll be surprised if you can't as it's seen in the BIOS.

 

If you already have the bootable CD, boot to it and choose Full version. Assuming you can see the HD then Click Recover Partition on the left (I'm relying on my memory) and follow the Wizard.

 

I've found my CD if you have any questions.

 

I've just deleted the C and D partitions from a test computer so I'm going to use the DDS CD right now to recover those partitions.