Oh what a Mess I've Made

Greetings:

Some day I'll learn - But until then....

Here's the details as I recall. I have a home built box 2yrs old with never as much as a reboot until this last weekend. That's when I decides to install a 2nd HDD to increase capacity and maybe speed. The 1st HD is 250G IDE primary master. Got a new 500 G SATA and with Acronis 9 and very little knowledge thought I would clone the original to the new and then use the old for extra room. SATA installed as SATA 1. I used the Acronis and allowed it to change the partitions proportionally and clean the old disk(I know, don't say it!) The clone went according to plan (according to the screen messages). Then the fun began. Knowing I should have removed the 1st disk from the system I went ahead and booted with it still in anyway. Obviously that was a bad idea. I wasn't done yet though. After removing 1st disk and trying to boot to SATA with no luck I have continued to compound the problem by trying to figure it out and apply fix after fix. I've been through the Windows repair scenario. Booted from the ultimate boot disk. I think that's when I probably screwed up the partitions and scrambled the mbr. I can boot with Acronis disk and from there I can see the files so I know they got transfered. Oh yeah- tried a restore w/Acronis. No good. Also I think I have 2 versions of Windows on it. one on 'C' and one on 'G'. Don't know how that happened. I didn't use the 'C' drive on original but rather 'D'. Heard that was more secure. I don't know how I got 2 but pretty sure I do. Lots of boot error messages later here I sit. Current message is 'Missing Operating System'.

I would really like to get this working without a clean install. In spite of my blunders, I can follow instruction. Anyone out there willing to try to help.

Thanks in advance

 

Are you absolutely certain the boot drive is plugged into the same motherboard connector? I know both all SATA connectors are primary but the message appears to be looking in a place different than what the boot.ini files is listing.

If the above does not fix,you may need to edit the boot.ini file and match the boot drive disk number to that in actual use.

Others may respond with different ideas.

 

I have an ASUS A8N-SLI mobo. 4 SATA connectors. I'm plugged into #1. BIOS lists it as SATA 1 master.

 

jtypeb,

Did you install SATA drivers to the IDE HD before you cloned?

 

No. At least I don't think so. Maybe try the Windows CD and install with F6when it asks for them? I have them on ASUS CD-I think

 

ATI will display which drives are connected to the intended boot SATA port.

Look carefully at the disk structure when you are in ATI using the Windows version not the CD recovery veriosn IF you can still boot.

The drive that is connected to the boot SATA port will be labeled SECONDARY MASTER AND THE OTHERS ARE LABELED SECONDARY SLAVE.

Assigned drive names that are unique if you can still get into Windows so that you will not get mixed up in the restoration process.

There is no such thing as all ports being masters on a SATA MB! For a SATA RAID ARRAY, you should have both drive connected to SATA 0 and SATA 1. for single RAID sytem or boot drives---USE PORT 0 ONLLY.

You still have the iimage on one of your drives so if needed, restore the new or designated system disk again but you may want to format it first but ATI should do that as part of the resotre. You can restore this thing as many times as you like--you arent going to mess anything up. Just go slow and relax and try to avoid the drive letter assignment issue for wihich ATI is very famous.

 

First off don't do any repairs to the mbr yet. If your using windows xp, more than likely you had your drive letters changed when you booted up with both hard drives installed.

My advice is to download the demo of "paragon justboot corrector", unrar it and use nero to burn the iso to a cd. Use that bootcd to boot up your computer. With the demo you can read the drive letter from your registry and also read the boot.ini file. Your system drive letter need's to be "D" since that's where you installed it originally. If the drive letter checks good, then you will have to check your boot.ini file and might have to edit it accordingly.

Your problem is fixable, I wouldn't try any destructive repairs with out first checking the 2 most obvious problems first. I wouldn't worry about the sata drivers yet, those should already be on the clone from the source hard drive. Even if you somehow mess up the mbr, that can be fixed.

directions on fixing drive letters
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=174958

 

I got the full version of Justboot instead of the demo. It attempts to load then I get "No swap space"
"Z: DOS\BIN Curser blinking...blinking

Nothing else happens

 

right now do you only have the sata drive connected? When you use any other boot cd windows/acronis does that cd load normally? if justboot corrector is the only one that doesn't load properly it might be corrupt.

I've seen that error before when using justboot corrector, I think it occur when I used the self-buring file to burn the ISO. You might try to unrar the justboot file and it will unpack to an ISO. Use nero or another ISO burning software to burn-it to a cd.

 

Yes-SATA is the only drive and Yes-Other boot disks load normally. Justboot was a self burning file which I did. I went back and downloaded the demo too. It self burning too and neither work-Same error. Part of the purchase is a CD which they will mail. I dont know what unrar is. Could you explain?

Much Thanks

 

A rar file is a compressed file format similar to a zip file, if the file you have downloaded is a self extracting file all you have to do is double click on the file and choose a destination folder for the extracted file(s). If not you will need a program that can extract rar files such as Winrar. Do Google on .rar to find out more.
Although I do not know anything about sata drives I have noticed that in jkb242 post above he states that your drive should be connected to port 0 and you state that your drive is connected to port 1, could this be your problem?

 

I had the same problem witih Just boot same error message and I did not use the iso image from Paragon. It would seem that AT disk partitioner would do the same job as paragon. The folks who make Paragon Just boot are off shore and are producing certain pieces of software for Paragon but will not be sold under the Paragon site, which is why you cannot find it there.

I feel certain the software works if you can get it to run.

 

Hi Again

Long work day so no action on my end. jkb242- to be clear I dont have a raid setup. The SATA is installed in connector 1 on the mobo. There are 4 available and labelled 1 through 4. Bios detects as SATA 1 master. The IDE drive and the SATA drive were not booted together. Or were they?? I don't know. I did have the IDE hooked up but disabled in the bios. I dont know what port 0 is. I thought that was a raid setup which I've never done. I will try to find a .rar utility to try to get justboot burnable. Short of that I may have to wait for the CD they mailed. Anything else I could look to do?

 

jtypeb,

You mentioned you didn't install SATA drivers to the IDE HD before you cloned. Unfortunately this must be done.

http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/company/inpress/2005/02-28-en-smallbizpipeline-trueimage.html

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=294

 

I have winrar in my computer but I think any rar software will run it. Even trial software should be able to unrar it. You just right click and press extract here. The demo that I unrar produce a 5.06 mb ISO file. Have you tried the original cd of justboot you made on another computer? If the program you burn works on another computer than, there is something else wrong.

I tried the full and demo today on 3 different computers, and it worked on all of them. But it should at least boot up to the main screen, from there it will only show you all the hard drives that have operating systems in them.

Incidently, I did do one IDE hard drive to SATA hard drive restoration before and it went perfectlly, the restored drive booted up the first time. I didn't installed any sata drivers before or after the restoration. From my understanding, when you first install windows, when you install the motherboard drivers, they are installed at that time, when you clone and install that clone on the same motherboard, those drivers will already be there.

 

many motherboards have a preferred port for connecting the boot or system SATA drive and that port is often port 0 regardless if you are using two drives as a RAID array or just single SATA drives. Unless you need to restore to the SATA drive, and have IDE ports, you could simply avoid the SATA driver issue and designate restore the IDE drive connected to the prrimary port of the IDE bus. I may have missed something in your original objective but if you wanted to end up with the SATA as your boot drive, then you have to restore to tIDE dirve--get into windows then clone the IDE drive to the SATA drive that way, the drivers will be contained in the image since the SATA drive will be connected to the system when you make the new image. none of this takes that long to do and I can assure you, you will spend days trying to figure out a short cut. Remember, your image is still good but you may have to use it to restore the IDE drive and start over.

Best of luck!

 

I downloaded winrar and extracted the justboot files and burned the iso disk. The good news, I did that right as it works on my other computer. The bad news, it doesn't work on the one we've been talking about. Same message...No swap space.

What's that mean?

 

will other cd's windows inst/acronis bootcd etc bootup on this computer without giving you any error's?

Maybe you can unplug all the other hard drives (leaving only your sata plugged in) and see if that can get it to bootup.

 

Windows install loads. Acronis 9 retail installation disk loads. I can access full or safe screens. From full screen I can see all the files on all partitions. This from the backup tab. Important: This is not a rescue disk as I didn't make one. This is the retail install disk. I also downloaded and burned an image disk from Acronis at the sticky on this web page. This loads with instructions on rebuilding the mbr. I haven't used it but it would work. Also Version 3.4 of Ultimate Boot Disk loads and will work.

 

I forgot to say. There is only 1 hd hooked up. The new SATA. Controller enabled and all looks normal in the bios. Dont know if the SATA drivers are installed but I have the disk with them on it.

If I put the Acronis retail disk in and use full screen, when I click on the recovery tab it show the drive and all partitions. This seems to show an installation of windows os on both the 'C' and 'D' partitions. In my original setup I had windows installed on 'D'. 'C' was basically empty. Very confusing

 

The retail disk is a rescue CD. It is the same an any other download except your retail version may not be the most current version of Version 9.

In order to have the most recent update for version 9, you would need to register your retail version; log in your personal account and then download the most current v9 update. An un-install is recommended prior to any new install.

This provides very little info on which to base a response.

If you have a full backup, you control the restore so the old C is restored to the new C and the old D is restored to the new D. In other words, you replicate your original installation. Before we go any further, tell us what type backup you have. Do you have a full disk backup--one that includes all the partitions on the 250GB drive? Where is it stored?

If you have a full disk backup, you should be able to use the retail V9 install/rescue CD and do a disk restore back to your 250 and get it running;, then load the required drivers, etc; and then start all over with the SATA from the beginning while retaining your old 250 with all its data intact.

Give us an update.

 

I removed the boot hard drive (only hard drive installed) from a computer and try to bootup with the justboot cd, it got to the main screen and had the message "no hard drive found" then it went to the dos screen with z:dos\bin message on it, didn't get the no swap space message.

In the bios of most sata motherboards, there is a setting to set the sata drives up for ide compatibility. Maybe you can see if changing that setting will make a difference.

 

jonyjoe81 - I looked in the bios and the manual for the motherboard and found nothing like you describe. Could it be called something else?

GroverH - I dont know how to clip quotes frm your post and put them in a box like you did but here are answers to your questions.

1.) Glad to here it functions as a rescue disk. I thought so. It loads fine

2.) The image i was referring to is a utility for fixing the mbr - found in the sticky: Read this before you post from Acronis support on the 1st page of the forum. I burned it and it loads ready to use. I have not used it.

3.) Right after the cloning went haywire, I used the bootdisk and did what I thought was a restore. This was directed at the new SATA disk and I thought it would basically re install everything. It didn't change anything.

4.) RE: Backup - I just got the software and only backed up once or twice. Im not positive what all I backed up but I know I backed up all of my 'D' drive(where windows was) I may have backed up all but frankly don't remember.
The backup was to another partition on the IDE drive I cloned. It is visible when I look at partitions/files with Acronis boot disk.

I hope this information helps. I am grateful for all the interest

 

To put quotes into your post, here is how.
(quote=jtypeb) the text here(/quote) But change the () to []

Since Windows was on D, this means the boot.ini file is listing it as Partition 2, but you installed D into the first partition.
Can you use your ultimate CD and edit the boot.ini file and change it. I think the change will be obvious. Use Notepad or a text editor. Do not use word or wordpad. It's worth a try.

Your grief here is mostly because your backup did not include all partitons. Acronis was expecting two partitions to be restored but only one was. Keep a copy of the original boot.ini file for security.

 

GroverH - I have the ultimate boot CD. I'm afraid I'm not very savy with the use of it. Could you give me some instruction? I have a 2 year old version.

By the way - Just spent 15 minutes trying to put some qoutes around something like you instructed. Can't figure that out either...Having a good day. cheers