Difficulties Cloning Laptop HD to USB HD

I recently purchased a new 80GB HD in order to install into my laptop to replace my 30GB one that no longer has enough room.

I purchased an external 2.5" USB HD case placed the 80GB HD into the case, got Acronis True Image 10, and tried to clone my 30GB HD.

The process started fine, I needed to reboot, so I did. Got to the Blue XP screen, and TI started going through the process. IT only got as fasr as checking the partioning (I guess for the C: on the laptop) and then I received and error, it said:

ERROR: Disk not found

What is the issue?

Do I need to format and partition the new HD that is in the USB case before I clone the 30GB HD to it?

Or is there some other issue??

I do not have a CD-R on my laptop so making a backup image is nearly impossible.

 

No, you do not need to format and partition the new HD. As stated in the User Guide: "If the program finds two disks, one partitioned and another unpartitioned, it will automatically recognize the source disk as the partitioned disk and the destination disk as the unpartitioned disk. In such a case, the next two steps will be bypassed." (13.3.1 in ATI10) An unpartitioned disk is necessarily an unformatted disk since you must partition a disk before formatting.

The only reservation I have about the procedure you followed is that you don't mention disconnecting the source disk before rebooting. Once the cloning is finished and your computer powers down before rebooting, pull the USB cord connecting your external drive to your laptop, shut down the laptop, remove the source drive, install the target drive, and boot your laptop. To be safe and if you have time, get the approval that's it's safe to remove the external drive before pulling the USB cord.

Read the following Dan Goodell article to understand why this has to be done. I don't know if the error you're getting is because you didn't do this. In any case it won't hurt to try the procedure I've described.

One last comment. You don't say if this is a trial version of ATI10. If it is, then it may not be fully functional as far as cloning is concerned.

 

I am using ATI10, trial...which as I was told was a 15 day fully functioning version.

Before the cloning even occurs however, I am asked to reboot the system. On the blue screen it shows something about analyzing the partions(I'm assuming the source disk.) and then sends me the error stated above and prompts me to reboot. I am not sure why it does this, but it doesnt even go through the cloning process.

 

Read this thread.

 

well...that answers that and I feel like an idiot.

 

You could try ATI7 free:

http://www.acronis.com/mag/vnu-ati7

The User Guide is here:

http://us1.download.acronis.com/pdf/trueimage7.0_ug.en.pdf

 

Worked like a charm... !

 

Great! Out of curiosity, did you follow Dan Goodell's advice re: not letting Windows see two C: drives?