Disc Cloning doesn't work

hi,

I have an external disk and had already made clones of my hard disk using True Image 9.0.
Now I tried to make another clone, the program starts and makes a restart, show some checks, another restart, some checks again, then without copying anything and without any error message the normal system restart is done.

How can I solve this problem?

Renate

 

What has changed since you were successful with the first clone? Have you installed any new software or hardware? Have you added any new USB device besides the external drive?

I think that I would uninstall TrueImage, reboot and reinstall it as a first step if the answer to the above questions are NO.

 

Where are you keeping all these clones? Or are you erasing the external disk every time to keep ONLY the latest clone? Or do you mean Image Backups?

In any case if you are running TI from within windows try doing the process using the bootable TI cd.

 

I am erasing the external every time to keep only the lates clone, I didn't change soft- oder hardware.

Now I tried several times again and then it suddenly worked, but I didn't change the procedure. Isn't the program made to start from within windows?

Renate

 

The basic concept of cloning sounds deceptively simple. I grab hold of a target disk and say to ATI, "I want you to put exactly the same pattern of 0s and 1s on this disk as currently exists on my drive C"

This is obviously easier said than done, particularly if drive C contains a running version of Windows so that the source drive is in a state of flux - but then ATI has to cope with this problem even when doing normal backup operations of drive C.

If, despite the technical difficulty of the task, ATI is capable of achieving the stated objective, why does cloning seem to cause so many problems?

At one stage I was thinking of using cloning for exactly the same reasons as outlined by abraxus in
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=128628

but having read several recent threads on the topic, I am inclined to steer clear of cloning altogether.

Perhaps I would understand the situation a little better if someone could answer a few basic questions...

(1) Does cloning reproduce parts of the disk that are supposedly not being used? This may sound rather pointless if you are envisaging reproducing a known good disk. But what if the disk is suspected of being corrupted with cross linked files and lost clusters? "Unused" sections of disk may contain valuable data and it would seem reasonable that a first step in trying to salvage data would be to make an exact duplicate before attempting any repairs to the file structure.

(2) Does cloning reproduce the position of each file on the disk? Does it take into acount that some files may be "unmoveable"? A program may require that a certain file be at a certain place. For example, this can be the basis of a basic program copy protection system.

I have studied the Users Guide, but it seems to be mainly concerned with migrating a system to a larger disk - and how to manage increasing partition sizes and so on - rather than cloning in the sense of producing an identical twin.

 

Why not make backup images of your hard drive instead of cloning? If the external drive is larger than the used portion of your internal drive, you can save several backup images. This is a far safer approach to backups.

Yes, TI will backup from within Windows, and I do that all the time. However, I am making images and NOT cloning my drive.

 

I thought that in case of a hard disk crash it would be much easier to get my pc work again with all my data and programs installed.

 

It should be just as easy to do it with images and the recovery CD and as jmk94903 said you should be able to have more than one image stored on your drive depending on its size. An image can use compression, only store the actual in-use space of the drive, not bother including the pagefile. A clone means the entire backup disk is used and you can only have one clone. You can also make copies of images and store them off-line on DVDs for another layer of security.

Imaging allows you to selectively backup your partitions. If you have a lot of data changes then backup the partition the data resides on. If there were no changes to installed applications and OS then don't bother to backup C. This assumes you have put some thought into partition/data layout on your disk.

One area, IMO, the clone is better is you can make the clone and then switch your PC environment to run from the clone which ensures that it is operational. However, this can be a bit of an effort since you don't want to have both drives connected until after the first successful boot.

The intent of cloning is to permit data transfer to a new disk - a one-time operation. Imaging is the intended method for disaster recovery. Like all good disaster recovery plans you must ensure it will work when you need it. We all are doing our images to be ready for the day the disk crashes but the truth is they don't really fail all that often.

 

Hi Renate,

Seekforever said it all clearly. Images are better for recovery.

I've restored images many times both to new drives and to return a used drive to a previous condition. It works.

 

Hello Renate,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for the delay with the response.

First of all, please note that there are two approaches available:

Clone Disk - transfers the entire contents of one disk drive to another;

Backup - creates a special archive file for backup and disaster recovery purposes;

Please take a look at this FAQ article explaining the difference between Clone Disk and Backup approaches in more detail.

Actually, Clone Disk approach is usually used to upgrade the hard drive (e.g. install a larger disk), while Backup approach is basically dedicated for the complete data backup and disaster recovery purposes. Since you are interested in backing up your hard drive for the disaster recovery purposes, we recommend that you to follow Backup approach.

Moreover, there are several advantages of creating an image over the disk cloning procedure such as: you can create an image without rebooting your PC, image creation can be scheduled for the particular point in time, Acronis True Image allows you to create incremental and differential images, image archive contains only the actual data and so it has a smaller size, images are ordinary files and so they can be stored on any type of the supported media, etc. However, the final choice is always up to your needs.

If you still wish to clone your hard drive for the disaster recovery purposes and the disk cloning procedure sometimes works and sometimes not then please make sure that you use the latest build (3567) of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home which is available at: http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/support/updates/

You can find the full version name and build number by going to Help -> About... menu in the main program window.

To get access to updates you should create an account at:
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/my/
then log in and use your serial number to register your software.

Please uninstall any previously installed build by following Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs -> Acronis True Image, prior to installing build 3567.

Note that you should create new Bootable Rescue CD after installing the update.

If the problem still persists with the latest build (3567) of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home then please check each partition of both source and destination hard drives by Windows utility:

- For Windows 9x please use Windows menu Start\Run then enter the command "scandskw" and test all drives;

- For Windows XP please use Windows menu Start\Run, then enter the command "chkdsk c: /r" "chkdsk d: /r" for every partition of your hard drive.

Note that you will need to reboot your computer in order to scan the system partition.

Please also download the latest version of Acronis drivers, install it with disabled logging and see if the problem still persists.

If the problem still persists after checking the hard drives and installing the update then please provide us with the following information:

- Create Acronis Report and Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post;

Please keep both source and destination hard drives connected while creating Acronis Report.

- Do you receive any error, warning or informational messages? What exact messages? When exactly do you receive them?

- Reproduce the problem and collect Acronis True Image log which can be saved from Tools -> Show Log -> Diskette icon;

- Try to perform the disk cloning process when your computer is booted from Bootable Rescue CD created using the latest build (3567) of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home and inform us about the result;

- Describe actions taken before the problem appears step-by-step.

Please submit a request for technical support. Provide the files and information collected in your request along with the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with the solution.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov

 

RE Cloning - have found it works reliable only if the drive you are cloning is not the "booted from" or active drive. If I want to clone my C drive and trust the cloned disk, I move it to the D position, boot off another bare bones disk in C, and then run the cloning operation.