Install an upsized "c" harddrive

I have Acronis T.I. 9.0. It has been working fine backing up my 40gb hard drive (XP SP2) to an external HD. I now want to replace my 40GB "C" drive with a 320gb drive. I'm a little confused by the clone instructions and what I have read on this forum. Can I not just run the Acronis "Automatic" cloning process from my existing "C" drive to the new unpartioned 320GB drive in an external UBS enclosure, then pull the existing "C" drive, and replace it in the desktop with the newly cloned 320GB and then just boot via the new internal 320GB "C" drive? Also, does the Acronis cloning process adjust for and resolve the 137gb barrier? I may be missing something, so any help would be appreciated.

 

mjrtop,

As you already have an image of your C: drive on an external HD, why not just restore that image to the new HD.

Remove old HD and replace with new HD. Boot to the TI CD and restore the image. See GroverH's guides.

 

1.you can either clone your 40gb to the external 320gb and them swap out the drives, just make sure the jumpers in the back of your 320gb is set correctly (master or slave). I've never encounted any 137gb barrier problems with true image or windows xp.

2.you can also use a saved image backup of your c: partition and restored that partition to your 320gb hard drive, true image will let you expand the partition to take up all the space. After the restore, swap out the drives.

Make sure you don't boot up the computer with the source and restored drive at the same time.
If the source 40gb windows xp has previously seen the 320gb hard drive, you might have drive letter change problems. If the restored drive hangs/loops at the logon screen thats a sign of a drive letter problem.

 

Brian as indicated above, use the restore feature as per 3rd line of my signature below. Or, if your preference is in cloning.

Be careful with automatic cloning. There have been reported instances of the source drive being cleared of everything and clone failed. Suggest you use the manual method and save your original drive. You might have an interest in this posting.

My guide to Manual Cloning using the TI Rescue CD.
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1232579&postcount=10

 

This is a great forum. Fast response and more importantly, knowledgable and informative. Thanks to BrianK, Jonyjoe and especially to GroverH and his guides. However, I need a little bit more help. This is the first time I have attempted either disk imaging or cloning, and knowing some of the horror stories , I'm a little paranoid. I followed GroverH's guide for "Manual Cloning'' and reached the point where Acronis was going to begin cloning and gave me a detail of the 3 step process it would perform as follows:
Operation 1 of 3
Copying partition
Hard disk:1 -> 3
Drive letter:-
Type:0xDE (EISA configuration)
File system:FAT16
Volume label:
Size:31.35 MB -> 251 MB
Cluster size:2 KB -> 4 KB

Operation 2 of 3 (Reboot required)
Copying partition
Hard disk:1 -> 3
Drive letter:C:
File system:NTFS
Volume label:
Size:37.21 GB -> 297.8 GB

Operation 3 of 3
Copying MBR
Hard disk:1 -> 3

This came as a surprise since I never saw it mentioned anywhere. The "Reboot required" concerns me since I'm not sure how that will function. I booted using the TI CD boot -up disk I made. Will the reboot be done automatically by TI? After "Operation 1 of 3" is completed, will I have two drives identified as "C" at the time of re-boot. One of the small things I know is that is a no-no. If TI doesn't auto perform the re-boot, do I re-boot again from the CD? Any help for this nervous TI newbie is appreciated. Thanks

 

Hello mjrtop,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for delayed response.

Please notice that, as can be seen from the list of operations, there is a hidden EISA partition on your hard drive (most likely placed there by computer manufacturer/vendor). It's strongly recommended to keep it the exact same size it is on the original drive, as resizing it may present boot problems.

The EISA partition does not have a drive letter assigned, and it will be the same way with its clone. So you do not need to worry about having two C: drives after operation 1 of 3.

When the process comes to operation 2 of 3, you will be presented with a dialog window asking if you want your computer to be rebooted to continue the operation.

You can find more information on cloning process in chapter 12 "Transferring the system to a new disk" of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home User's Guide.

Should you have any further questions concerning Acronis software, please feel free to submit a request for technical support or post any of them on this forum. We will certainly try to help you in resolving any issues.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov