How to do a good restore

My harddisk is giving problems. I need to replace it. The one I am using now has two partitions. One partion is called C and the other one is called D.
I tried to makean image of C, but that is not working, because the harddisk is to bad. I made also an image of D. On drive D there is the recovery software of my HP computer, so I need that software for my new harddisk.
The problem is, how do I get the HP recovery working again. I guess I have to make two partitions on the new harddisk. And what then? Do I have to install Xp or Vista first on the new harddisk? What I finally need is the image of drive D, but how can I restore this image? Then I have to install the software of Acronis True Image first?I hope somebody can help me out.

 

See if you can make the bootable True Image CD from the software that is installed on the bad drive. This CD has the basic Backup (also called Image), Clone, and Recovery features of the software. If you are able to make the CD, boot with it and make an Image of the entire bad drive asap, not just the C part or the D part, but the whole drive - you will need an external drive to store the Image - put the check mark against Disk 1.

When you get the new drive, install it in place of the bad drive, boot with the CD and use the Recovery function to restore the Image that you have on the external drive.

 

Robert66,

If you can't get a good clone or image because of hard disk errors (bad sectors, etc.) then you might want to consider copying all important files off to an external USB or other storage media for safe keeping.

Then run chkdsk /r on the C: partition (Windows will have to reboot to do it) and see if the errors can be corrected. I had a drive that I had to run chkdsk five times before it stopped finding bad sectors. After the last pass of chkdsk (with no new errors found) I was able to create a valid TI image of the drive.

Another thing to check (if the drive is just acting weird, or making repeated "spin-up" sounds) is the power connector. In two separate computers I've worked on, the connecter was bad causing intermittent power loss. Fixing the connector (or changing to a different one) solved the problem in both cases. There was actually nothing wrong with either drive even though running chkdsk would fail or report bad sectors.

 

If you are still able to boot into Windows, the HP will have a program to create Recovery Disks. This will basically copy the contents of your D partition onto DVD's.

Then if you can't take an image, and all you can do is drag and drop onto an ext. HD, you will still be able to recover your OS etc.

 

Ok first I am trying to get a good image of C and D of the bad disk.
I have a question about the new disk, do I have to format this disk first before I can restore? Do I also have to make two partitions on the new disk, C and D, before I can start the restore?
I assume Acronis expect two partions on the new disk before it can do the restore. Or am I wrong?

 

Robert66
If your restore is a full disk restore including all partitions, then no disk preparation needed.

However, if you plan on installing a new disk and only restoring one partition, then yes, you will need to create the two partitions in advance. ATI is expecting to see all the partitions when performing a one partition restore. You can use ATI "add new disk" function if preparation is needed.

If you suspect that you have bad sectors, you would probably getting betters results by restoring each partition individually but all in the same restore procedure--as mentioned in Note-2 of my restore guide--link below.

 

Well..I got errors when I try to make the image of the old disk. Partition C is that bad that the programm can't finish the image. It said for hours and hours still three hours to go, so I quit the programm.
I installed the new disk, I tried to boot the system but it is not working.
I can't boot, I got an error : Bootmgr is not there
So I can't boot Acronis, normally is was possible of the external disk to boot Acronis.
What I did now: I made two partitions on the new disk, C and D
I will install Xp on C, but ofcourse I need the restore of the external disk with Acronis on it. But Acronis won't boot.
Maybe it is possible to do the restore when I am working with Xp.
I guess I have to install Acronis on the C drive first then?
Other hints to get it working?

 

Update: I made two recovery dvd's with Vista of the HP software.
That worked fine, so I thought the solution was there, but after booting I got an error: The boot selection failed because a required device is in accessible.

Maybe I got that error because I changed ofcourse the bad harddisk for a good harddisk. When the recovery dvd's are not working because I changed the disk, then I don't know what the use is of this dvd's.
Anyway, I sent HP an email about this error, and I hope they can help me out so I can finally use the recovery dvd's.
If not...then I will install Xp on the new disk and upgrade it with Vista Ultimate, but then there is a chance I am missing driver of the pc.