New Hard Drive - Want to Clone C: only

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by curlysir, Jan 2, 2007.

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  1. curlysir

    curlysir Registered Member

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    I have installed a new hard drive and want to clone/copy only the C: drive from the old drive to the new. I have a retail version of TI 10.

    I only want 1 partition on the new hard drive and I want my current c: drive on the new HDD.

    The clone feature copies the entire drive into new partitions on the drive. That is not what I want. I could clone the existing disk and then use a partitioning software to eliminate the unwanted partitions but I prefer not to do this.

    What is the best and easiest way to accomplish this with TI10?
     
  2. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Easy. A few questions. How large are your HDs and how much used space is on your old HD? Do you have partitioning software? Do you have any hidden partitions on the old HD? What is the partition order on the old HD (from Disk Management)? Do you have an external HD? Do you have a floppy drive? SATA or IDE HDs?
     
  3. GroverH

    GroverH Registered Member

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    What brand computer (Dell or HP with hidden partitions?, etc) and what type partitions do you have which you do not want to include?
     
  4. curlysir

    curlysir Registered Member

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    Old hard drive is 250G with a 90G, 110G, and a 60G partition. with free space of 60G, 90G, and 50G. No hidden partitions. Disk Management shows the old hard drive as Disk 0 c,d, and e. This is actually a raid 1 with 2 SATA WD HDs. I intend to eliminate the c: drive and use for data storage only.

    New hard drive is 74G WD raptor.

    Computer is a self built Asus A8n-SLI Deluxe. Have floppy drive and external HD of 250G capacity.

    I have partitioning software (Partition Magic 8.01) and have used it before.
     
  5. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Easier than I thought. You are obviously on top of this.

    Defrag your C: drive to shift the data to the start of the drive. PerfectDisk is the best for this. Better than Diskeeper. Then create an image of your current C: drive, writing the image to your D: or E: drive. Install the new HD in the boot SATA position. Boot to your Acronis CD and restore the image to the 74 GB of Unallocated Space on the new HD. It doesn't matter whether you restore the MBR or not. Remove the old HD for the first boot but it's probably not necessary.

    Instead of D: or E: you could write the image to your external HD.
     
  6. curlysir

    curlysir Registered Member

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    Seems fairly simple. Will try tomorrow. When I boot up on the Acronis Cd what will the drive letters be for my old drive? And will the boot up CD support USB drives?

    Currently using Diskeeper. What problems will this cause?

    Thanks for the help and quick response.
     
  7. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    From the Acronis CD the drive letters will probably be messed up. Just go by your drive labels. Your USB HD should be seen.

    Diskeeper should be fine for you. It's just in marginal situations that PerfectDisk is needed. You need to have all of your C: drive data inside the 74 GB mark which I'm sure will happen. You can create the image from Windows. If you have any data beyond this point, the restore will fail.

    Keep us informed of your progress.
     
  8. curlysir

    curlysir Registered Member

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    Mixed results so far. Made a backup and restored successfully.

    Windows does boot up but freezes after loading. I think it has to do with the drive letters when loading programs. It will not load up correctly in safe mode either.

    I think is has something to do with the startup programs. I have disabled all start up programs and I am making another backup/restore operation.

    More to follow.
     
  9. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    curlysir, when do you see the freeze? Is it at the WinXP logo stage or earlier or after the desktop? Any error messages?
     
  10. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    I don't understand RAID. I've never used it. Do you have to "break" the RAID before you create an image that will be used on a non RAID HD?
     
  11. curlysir

    curlysir Registered Member

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    After the desktop appears.

    The error message is "Generic Host Process For Win32 Services has encountered a problem and needs to close".

    I was able to get windows to respond and thought the problem was solved but I just rebooted and got the same message.

    I am going to trouble shoot this for awhile and then attempt to change the boot drive letter from f: to c:

    Anything to be aware of or watch for before I do that?

    I am beginning to think a complete xp reload is the best thing?

    I would like to avoid this as I just did this about 2 weeks ago before I decided I wanted the new raptor hard drive. The price of progress? I guess:p

    I end up formatting and reloading about once a year due to self inflicted damage. But I was hoping I wouldn't have to do it again so soon.
     
  12. MudCrab

    MudCrab Imaging Specialist

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    curlysir:

    In my opinion it's not worth the trouble to change the windows boot drive letter. If the original drive was C then the restored image will point to C. It sounds like the restored version is saying the windows/boot drive is F.

    If your mother board supports this, you could try and change the drive detection order so that the new raptor drive is detected first. Then windows would see it as C and the restored image should work. The way it is now, it seems that windows is detecting the C, D and E partitions on the raid array and then assigning F to the raptor.

    If you keep it the way it is, the boot.ini file will probably need to be edited since the physical disk has changed.
     
  13. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Where does the F: drive come from? If your original OS was C: then we certainly want the new OS to be C: drive too. It could be due to booting with all HDs attached. I may have mislead you. Is the old OS partition still C: drive?

    Could you try this. Remove both SATA HDs so you only have the 74 GB HD. See if it boots. It likely won't. Then boot to a Win98 floppy and at the A: prompt type fdisk /mbr and press ENTER. You won't see anything happen. It just goes back to the A: prompt. This clears the DiskID and allows the OS to become C: drive. Does it boot properly now?
     
  14. curlysir

    curlysir Registered Member

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    The F: is from the 3 partitions on the originial HD. You're right the system would not boot without the other HD attached. I just got finished cloning the HD and everthing appears to be ok except I now have to try my luck with the partitioning software. If this doen't work I will restore and try the fdisk/mbr.

    Something in the system didn't like the operating system being on F:. It would boot but kept getting the generic host process for win32 service error.

    The clone went smooth. I do wish that TI was more flexible on the partition sizes on the new HD.

    Thanks for all the imput from everyone.
     
  15. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    If you restore again, make sure both SATA HDs aren't connected for the first boot. Then the 74 GB OS will acquire C: and fdisk /mbr won't be needed.

    If you still have the OS on the 74 GB HD I'd try fdisk /mbr now. With only the Raptor connected.
     
  16. curlysir

    curlysir Registered Member

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    I tried that on the last restore after I disable all startup items and it would not boot. Would get to the blue window XP screen and lock up. If I do this again with a new drive I will do all the operations booting from the TI disk and not format from within windows. Once windows saw the drive as F: it kept it there.

    I have already cloned the drive and everthing appears to be working. I'm fairly sure the fdisk /mbr would have fixed the problem. I'm convinced that the problem was the boot drive being f:. I will put the fdisk /mbr in my file of fixes for future problems.

    Now to repartition my HD into one big partition. I have already renamed the extra partitions on the new drive to Y and Z and the old drive partitions to X, D, and E. All is well right now.
     
  17. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Good news. So the Raptor is C: drive now?
     
  18. curlysir

    curlysir Registered Member

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    Yes, after the clone operation it became C: Obviously clone does more then restore on the C: drive.

    Should have restored then used the fdisk /mbr.
     
  19. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Sorry, I'm not clear what you mean by "clone". Did you run the restore image process again and disconnect the SATA HDs before booting to the Raptor?
     
  20. curlysir

    curlysir Registered Member

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    I cloned the drive with the Clone function of TI 10. It Created 3 new partitions on the new hard drive like the old hard drive except different in size.

    I tried the restore image process before I did this and it would not boot without the SATA Hd connected. And with the SATA HD connected I got hte Win32 Services error. I think this was related to XP seeing the drive as F:.

    After the clone operation I had 2 unwanted partitions. I then merged these partitions into one and then expanded C: to the full size of the HD.

    I now have C: on the new HD as 1 partition. The old Hard Drives are in a RAID 1 and will be used for Data storage.

    This was quiet an experience. Next time will be easier if I don't forget everything.
     
  21. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Very ingenious. Nice working with you.
     
  22. joesuncpa

    joesuncpa Registered Member

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    How long did the clone take? I'm trying to clone a 50gb drive to a 160gb drive and it seems to take a long time like its locked up so I've been exiting and retrying.
     
  23. curlysir

    curlysir Registered Member

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    It did not take a long time on mine and there was not much data on 2 of the partitions.

    But the HD was only 74 Gb. It will take longer on a 160 Gb drive. Give it a little longer next time.
     
  24. Doug_B

    Doug_B Registered Member

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    Glad you got everything set up to your satisfaction. I also have disk partitioning software and had been using it successfully for quite a long time prior to purchasing ATI9, including using it sporadically to copy/backup partitions. I have a lot of confidence in the partitioning software and now utilize both applications to their strengths; I use ATI for partition image backups and restores (the latter so far only in test mode, knock wood), and leave partition manipulation to the partitioning software. I feel no loss that I can't do it all in ATI. :)

    From the few restore tests I have done, I have learned that it is best to ensure after an ATI restore, via my partitioning app, that all partitions exist and are in their proper place on all drives, the proper partition is active, and the visible/hidden status of all partitions are what they should be, before I boot into windows.

    Doug
     
  25. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello curlysir,

    Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    We are sorry for the delayed response.

    I'm glad to hear that your were able to complete the clone operation and boot the cloned drive successfully.

    As for the back up/restore operations and "Would get to the blue window XP screen and lock up" upon booting, please note that most likely you have experienced the same issue as described in this threads: auto logoff problem, Re: Mr. Therefore, please have a look at these threads and try to perform the actions described there.

    Please also be aware that after the disk cloning (restoring the system partition to the new drive) is finished you should unplug one of the hard drives prior to booting into Windows for the first time. The point is that keeping two identical hard drives (hard drives having identical digital signatures) connected at the same time is "unpleasant" for Windows and might cause a number of boot and\or drive letter assignment problems. After you boot into Windows from one of the hard drives at least once, please feel free to turn off the computer and connect another disk.

    Thank you.
    --
    Aleksandr Isakov
     
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