Resize / clone partition Windows 2003

I'll give a brief overview of the problem, then list the things that I have tried with the results and then if anyone has any suggestions, I'd be most grateful!

Network setup: 2x Windows 2003 domain controllers - A & B. A is the global catalogue server. A also runs exchange 2003.

On A, there are 2 drives. C: and D: - C: contains the system data. D: contains everything pertaining to exchange. Both disks are dynamic.

C: develops a bad block - so I figure time to swap out the drive - pronto!

First thought was to mirror C: , break the mirror and presto - problem sorted. No - you can't mirror a disk with a bad block.

Second thing to try was to take a ghost of C: and install it onto a fresh new disk. This kind of worked, but exchange wouldn't mount as it couldn't find the GC etc - it seems that in loading up off of the new C: Win2k3 recognises that something has changed, and something fails somewhere.

So - I put it all back together, with the original, failing C:

So - my question is - can I either clone C: in a way that will let me just replace it with another drive, and all will be well - or, alternatively - seeing as the bad block is in the last 5% of the disk, if I could resize the partition I could then mirror it, and all would be well.

I have Disk Directory 10.

Thanks for any help folks.
M

 

Hello manicguitarist,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Partition and Disk Managing Software.

Please be aware that the resize of a partition with bad blocks may cause the complete data loss. The recommended workarounds are the following:

- Clone the whole hard disk drive to a new one resizing the partition with bad blocks;
- Create an image archive of the partition under consideration and restore it with resizing;

It is highly recommended to replace the faulty hard disk drive as soon as possible.

Please note that you can perform these workarounds using Acronis True Image 8.0 Server for Windows. We can recommend you to download and install a trial version of this product.

Please visit Acronis online store to purchase the full version of the product.

Please also note that we have a flexible system of discounts and the amount of the discount varies depending on the number of copies you want to purchase.

In case you are planning to purchase many copies, please contact our Sales Team at sales@acronis.com.

Thank you.
--
Kirill Omelchenko