Restore on larger hard disk changed disk size

MY understanding is that you now have a normal HD, with a crtl-f11 restore function. Media Direct no longer works the way it did, but it still works- right? (The MD3 no longer uses a HPA).

Everything being as it is, it sounds like you have a "normal hard drive"- with the added bonus of the ctrl+f11 restor system state from a new ghost image (right?). The reason this process used to mess up HD's is that once someone ghosted the whole drive, if they upgraded to a bigger drive USING the original HD's ghost image, this ctrl+f11 process would add the extra space to the HPA and then hide it- making the drive, for all intents and purposes, like the original ghosted one- if they didn't mess it up somewhere in the process.

Once you set up MD2 (go through the setup menus- it's normal even on the stock system as it's shipped from Dell) you'll have a normal HD, with the bonus of that ctrl-f11 function- which is kinda sweet really, and the MD2 and DSR partition (and Dell Utility tools) hidden from the OS, though "discoverable" in partition software, with out any special tricks to "find" them.

I've done it a few times and using the process it sounds like you tried, it's working fine -for me. I've updated the ghost image of the new HD (without that LBA-3; I never ghosted the original, just the partitions!!!!) and replaced it on the new drive so now when I do the crtl+f11 it restore my new drive to a complete previous working state with everything ready to go. MD works fine, but it's no longer hidden from partition stuff- it's just hidden from the OS.

I hope that helps!

 

Thank you for your Reply. I was just wondering why it Boots Into Windows and Loads Windows, THEN goes on To the Media Center. I Thought the Purpose was to Boot Quickly (without going Through Windows),To The Media Direct? I guess by Getting Rid of LBA-3, That is most probably causing This?? I suppose I'll just Leave Well enough Alone. I'm not Familiar with CTRL+F11...What exactly does that Function Do? Does it restore the Computer as it Was From Dell or can you pick a Specific Restore Point?? When would i Try this Function? Is it Safe To try it or will it mess up the Computer. Do i try it on the Boot up Screen?? Thank you very Much for your Time and efforts.

 

rayny2e,

See this for what LBA-3 does...

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=167401#21

Post #21.

 

Crtl+f11, unless a user wiped their hard drive after getting it from Dell, restores the system to it's AS-SHIPPED state. (The images it uses CAN be updated, fairly easy, using Goodell's PTedit tools and Norton Ghost2003, by the way!)



In detail:

"Dell Media Direct" is, as you and most of us know, Dell's attempt to have a fast-access minimum-startup just the bare-bones for multi-media sort of operating system. Their way of doing this, was to put a small partition on a hard drive with a sort of "safe-mode" operating system, sans everything but the required drivers to run multi-media functions (drivers required for the DVD player, slide show, presentation, music listening, pictures... etc =video card and sound card drivers, for instance).

Initially this was done, to my understanding, by putting an abbreviated form of the main operating system into a small partition and then the necessary minimum drivers for it to run multi-media functions, and then assigning that partition as part of the HPA (hidden in every sense of the word). They stored the information FOR where to FIND the boot-Partition-changing files for this small OS it in the LBA-3 sector (right? to change the partition to a "0C" =C: bootable! - yeah)... Meaning, unless you pressed, from an off position, the media-direct button, no data would ever be triggered by the partition information on the hard drive in LBA-3 and this small partition was never labeled as the OS main drive, so it was never accessed- HIDDEN OR NOT. If you DID press the media-direct button from an off-state, in an original-factory-set-up Dell, you computer would display the windows log-on, load windows (quicker usually, as -remember, it's just the bare-bones plus some drivers!) and then boot into media direct (giving you, on first time in this, the options to set UP media direct to find your media files or what have you- like display settings, etc...One could choose to set it up then or later on). The BOOT UP looks IDENTICAL to a windows boot up, because it IS a windows boot up!!! However, if you have a loaded system, like I do, and you hit the media-direct function (still working), it's significantly faster than loading the full OS. So, for all intents and purposes, call it starting in safe mode with media drivers and the media-direct program auto-starts in full-screen mode as well. That's really all it is.

The reason this is complicated actually is irrelevant, unless you really want to know HOW it works. You don't NEED to know to have it, fix it or make it work from a broken state, or to simply put it on a NEW pc- or even your old desktop. Dell just did some stuff on some of the older systems running Media Direct version 2 that made things complicated and difficult to explain to the average user. Perhaps their techs and coders were new or had some reason, perhaps just to make it hard for the user to fix or alter. Regardless, you do NOT NEED to know how or why it works, or even about the LBA-3 or what exactly an "HPA" partition is or HOW the OS can sometimes read it- you really DO NOT NEED TO KNOW to get things fixed or functional. It's just some tricky junk. Really.

If you've used media direct more than once, it would "shut off" by enabling a hibernation state- storing everything to the remaining space on that hidden partition. Hibernation? Why? Well doing that allows for even FASTER boot-up next time into the media-direct "function"!!! So it's all a bunch of small tricks to give the laptop users this nice function of media access. Great idea!

IT can be done without all these hidden partitions though!!! Capice?
Actually you can even put this function into any system, if you feel like it. It's simply a little tool to change the boot table to change the usual "C:" partition/drive to something else and label the abbreviated partition then to C: -and change it back when it shuts off. I'll leave the tutorial on how to do this to those of you who feel like explaining. >If you NEED this really bad then I'd recommend just getting Media Direct on DVD, Dell will probably give you something higher than version 3<

Back to the lecture...

Now when people "broke" the partitions up, or wiped their partition tables, such as with reinstalling the OS or using some 3rd party software to perform low-level formats (usually to get rid of the "bloat-ware" -things like AOL or other services and apps that we don't want on our computers.. ) the media-direct function would cease to work. Not because it was GONE (as it was hidden in the HPA section of the HD- which isn't read-able by most anything!) But simply because the information ABOUT how to send the OS boot to LOOK in this sector (on the original as-shipped factory HD's), for the rest of the requested OS boot info, but simply because dell hid the information ABOUT this HPA in the LBA-3, which is unusual. Kind of a proprietary thing they did, without much foresight, in retrospect (Why? Because it created all kinds of problems for the end user when they upgraded using the traditional methods for upgrading one's hard drive- such as ghosting the original drive and copying this over to the new one, and resizing the partitions)... There MIGHT have been a good reason to do this, or maybe simply a lack of skill and vision on part of the development team over at Dell. I'd say the later, as it's pretty tricky to do this sort of arrangement to begin with)...

So when we upgraded our disks, and installed a new OS- using just the PARTITIONS in the ghost and hot a ghost image of the whole DRIVE, things would continue to work. Media direct is no longer IN a hidden HPA partition (though this can be done if you are skilled enough- but really there is no reason to, short of just cool-ness of knowing it's almost impossible to break that media-direct because for all intents and purposes nothing can "get" to it unless it boots in via the LBA-3 code- something viruses won't know "how" to do, and also because -correct me if I am wrong- very few hostile things will ever be ABLE to even FIND the HPA, or the information within it, as even low-level code running on the machine don't know that there's code in there!!!)...

If the end-user ghosted the whole hard drive, they lost all the new space if the new hard drive was larger, simply because the ghost image would copy the data and partition sizes, then anything left over was assumed to be that HPA, and would be assigned to the HPA and "hidden" almost forever- effectively destroying the upgrade size for the average consumer end-user!!! Argh!!! (Though not lost, just really hard to fix- easier to just RMA it and get another drive and try it again for most people). Now we're all probably aware in this thread of this part- if not, hopefully this helped.

So the Media Direct is/was a function to allow access to media-files on the machine, at a reduced start up time, with a reduced size and minimum functioning operating system, holding just the bare-minimum drivers. Media Direct =fast loading, media access to all your usual media files on the rest of the HD, hibernates when you exit so it starts even faster the next time.

Like I said wonderful idea. Still is, if you like or appreciate this sort of thing.

NOTE: There is more than one version OF media-direct by Dell. The older ones used different code. It's worth noting that here, that if you upgrade Media Direct to anything above 3, you don't have to worry about, from my understanding, any of this funky stuff happening to your rig. In the NEWER versions (3+) of Media Direct, the Dell crew figured out their mistakes, and simply had the installer make a small partition (anywhere on the drive, as I recall) and it would do all it's "behind-the-scenes" boot table changes out "in the open" -meaning WITHOUT a HPA. That's all. The HPA hiding it in there is EXACTLY what has messed so many people's hard drives up. Now when you install Media Direct (by the way you can use it on ANY computer) it copies a small version of your OS into a small partition (does the user set this up, or is it automated now? I don't know!!! I had to install my own media drivers- like the video and sound card and whatever else I wanted to work- like my lan and such), and leaves space for the hibernation file, and tells the boot stuff where it is, so when you press the "media-direct" button you get an abbreviated operating system- which for the AVERAGE COMPUTER END USER just seems like the normal windows booting, with some functions "not working" (try it out- where the heck is your internet *chuckle* =you're not in your "normal" operating system!!!)...

The other function that got messed up- BECAUSE it DEPENDED on the partition information of the original set up to keep functioning, was the factory setting BY dell, to restore a computer, using it's original hard drive (or one installed by techs at the factory- who would do the above procedures like people have done in this thread) to it's ORIGIONAL RECIEVED STATE. That means they built a FUNCTION INTO the original computer, on the hard drive, to restore the computer to the FIRST TIME YOU OPENED IT AND TURNED IT ON. Yeah. If you got your original HD somewhere, and didn't know about it, or didn't somehow low-level reformat and wipe it, on there, in another hidden partition, is a ghost image of your OS and all the programs that your Dell SHIPPED with- just waiting to be triggered to restore your PC back to it's original shipped state.

This function can be accessed, should it be needed, or just for "fun", by pressing "ctrl+f11" in the middle of the boot-screen. You can TELL -if you haven't BROKEN this, by the small blue BAR AT THE TOP OF THE SCREEN that says "....DELL...." (Ii think it says "www.Dell.com" in black letters? I forget and I don't want to reboot right now to check- it's something like that).
If you press the ctrl and the f11 buttons while this logo is displayed, on a system where this hasn't been broken (usually what "breaks" it is partition table change- such as wiping the hard drive to try and "recover" the space that people noticed was "missing" in the final sizes of the shipped hard drives when they noticed it was smaller than it was supposed to be!)...then it boots into a dell recovery ghost app, which gives you the option to either "restore" to the shipped state, or "exit". You CAN BOOT INTO IT TO CHECK IT OUT WITHOUT RISK- as long as you exist and don't press the "restore" button.

To NOTE- the restore here is NOT like the typical windows system restore, which hogs resources and keeps track of all the changes to your hard drive, but rather it is simply a ghost image of your shipped system hard drive, with all the functions as it was the moment you opened it up. That is WHY a person can UPDATE it. If you keep the FOLDER and FILE STRUCTURE in the DSR and simply update the ghost image files, using the same file NAMES as the original ghost image, when you press the "ctrl"+"f11" rather than restoring to the SHIPPED factory state, it will restore your hard drive to whatever it was when you ghosted it! ALSO of note here- using versions of Norton Ghost newer than 2003 (so use 2003 or older) can lead to problems in this area, due to hard ware and software issues (as outlined above and in links in this thread) so stick to 2003 or older ghost (to be safe!).


The Dell Restore Function would often get broken, again, when people reformatted their hard drives. This function often would not be NOTICED for some time- until someone NEEDED it, and KNEW about it, and then tried to USE it. Like I said, you can safely TEST if it's there and working simply by hitting the "ctrl"+"f11" keys during the blue-bar log on stage... if you're even missing your blue-log-on bar then you can already know that it's not working.

OK
So we've covered the basic Media Direct reasons for existence as well as a bit of how it worked. And we've covered the how and why of the DSR Dell Restore function. The Dell Restore is/was the same in how it is hidden from the average end-user, as the Media Direct is/was- the images for this function are ALSO hidden from the usual operating system (if you go to drive management though, and look at your hard drives, you'll see in a normal Dell laptop two drives unlabeled and without any information- this is the Dell Utility partition- which holds the Dell diagnostic tools and basic stuff for customer service and tech support, and the DSR restore partition, for restoring the system to the shipped state with the images hidden in it. The Media Direct stored its files and mini-os in a HPA partition, the DSR and Dell Utility partitions just in normal hidden partitions- or unlabeled.

If you WANT to have Media Direct on your system, you can simply install it normally on a computer- you do NOT need it to be in a hidden HPA table anymore. If Dell is still working with talented coders, then you'd simply plug in the Media Direct CD/DVD and it will guide you through the whole process and do all the work automatically.

If you WANT to have a Dell Restore "Ctrl"+"f11" function (I think it's pretty cool) then it's a bit more complicated. All you gain from doing it is that cool boot-up function to restore your system to whatever is on the images you got in there. A PC owner can also simply CLONE their HD or make an image of it, at any point, and simply back it up to a DVD- and save this space on their hard drive for every day use as well. My image takes over 26gb, so I can use a few DVD's or use up a big chunk of my HD. 26gb of a 80gb drive is too much... but off the new 250gb drives, not so bad.

Look up in thus thread if you need to or want to restore a broken "Ctrl"+"f11" function to your hard drive. It's complicated. If it looks too difficult, then just make a ghost image of your hard drive, and burn it to DVD's. You'll have the same result in the end- if you run into needing to restore your system to a previous state, plug in the DVD's and restore.




Lengthy I know. I hope it helps. I had to read a lot and I was very concerned I'd screw up my computer- I didn't know ANYTHING about all this stuff when I began three months ago. Now I can wipe partition tables and rebuild MBR's and all that- (I even put my MD back in a new HPA copied from my old HD. LOL!) ...But maybe I can help my friends out.

Would I do it all over again? Naw... I think I'd just have someone tell me to make a ghost image of my OS and get a Media Direct CD/DVD from Dell, if I wanted that- or barrow a friend's to install it.

Yeah.
Much easier.
And

Same end result!

Peace!




-JP

 

P.S. I was thinking about this again.
1) REALLY, if you simply make a GHOST image of your system "C:" drive (not the whole drive, just the OS) and back it up to DVD, you do NOT need the crtl+f11 function. You save a LOT of ache and hassle with this- unless you already are here because you NEED it and messed it up.

If you WANT to store the image ON your hard drive OF the hard drive, and have this emergeny function available, then you might need to do some work to restore the ctrl+f11 back, or to a state that you want TO recover to when you DO press the buttons.

Or, again, just make a back up and store it on DVD elsewhere. Sooo much easier!!!!

2) You can install Media Direct a lot easier simply by upgrading to the latest version. It does not need anything special, like in the HPA or special locations ON the actual hard drive. It just needs to BE installed with the auto-installer. If you do a google search or call/email/chat with Dell you can get this on CD/DVD as well. (I do NOT think DELL provides DL's for it but you might find something on your own on the internet somewhere else... ). The main tool IN the Media Direct simply is the abreviated 2nd version of an OS that also has the necessary drivers with it to RUN your media functions.

How often do you use it? Do you REALLY need MD?
It's kinda nice sometimes- for those social events, presentations or just to watch a DVD in a vehicle without an adaptor jack. It does NOT save much in battery life, or anything else. But if it works it's kinda nice to have it for your media QUICKER than normal windows full-Operating System booting. That's all. Hibernate your system and it will start up in normal windows almost as fast, so...

You decide. 10-30 seconds too much?
Then install Media Direct.

if not, skip it all.
DVD your ghost images and store in a safe location, and enable hibernation on your HD.

Same end result.



-just keep those DVD's safe!

 

Wow...Thank you soo Much for taking all your Time for that very informative Information! It is very much Appreciated. I am going to Book mark this for future reference. I am sure you helped alot of People Here. I Wish i could get a copy of the NEW MD Ver 3.xx somewhere. Dell Told me it does'nt go to my computer!!! They sent me a few other discs but not even sure what's on Them?? Is there anywhere i can get a Copy of This,perhaps from another user?? I would greatly Appreciate it! Many Thanks again for all your Help!

 

Dell Media Direct

Well... I don't know what the legal situation is about obtaining a COPY of Dell Media Direct, of ANY version, from anyone- they TRY to limit the access to the people, but since you PAID for it already, it is a sort of GREY area. You are LEGALLY ENTITLED to a COPY of it, if you had one at some point: you PAID FOR IT already.

I don't have a copy of my MD here, as I am traveling, and on the other side of the world from my own Personal Copy of it, so I just DL'd a program like "Azureus" off the internet to get around this annoyance and BS on the part of Dell, and had some friends help me out. OBVIOUSLY I have MD- as I OWN a Dell XPS m1710 with all the bells and whistles! These programs are legal, but that is about all that is legal to say- peer-to-peer sharing is legal, or a grey area. There are programs out there that in themselves violate no copy-right protocols, but what they DO can be a violation- such as with "Azureus" -so that part is up to you: what you DO with the software you try out, own or DL off the internet it up to you. Programs like "Azureus" are not illegal, so talking about them is ok, even in forms like this. It's one way to deal with the rediculousness around obtaining a back up copy of one's Dell Media Direct install DVD.

Google it if you need to know more.

 

An excellent overview of the problem, by Dan Goodell.

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/hpa-issues.htm

 

I apologize if this is an unnecessary or old bump, but I am about to upgrade the hard drive on my Dell Inspiron E1505, and was led here by Apricorn's tech support.

The problem is that I have very little computer lingo knowledge, so a lot of what's being said is flying way over my head, and I'm utterly confused as to what I'm supposed to be doing. That said, I have a couple questions:

1) Can I just uninstall Dell Media Experience and sidestep this entire problem?

If the answer to 1 is no, then:

2) Can someone please dumb-down to layman's terms what is on www.goodells.net/dellrestore/hpa-issues.htm, and explain what it is that I'm supposed to do?

Thanks very much for any help.

 

BlueArmyMan,

A very appropriate question. I'll make it as simple as possible.

Download this file...

http://www.acronis.com/files/support/mbrautowrite_en.iso

and burn it to a CD using ImgBurn...

http://www.imgburn.com/

Boot to the CD. You will see "Press any key to rewrite MBR". Press a key and you will be instructed to "Press ENTER to reboot" so remove the CD and press ENTER. Your computer will boot to WinXP.

This replaces the Dell MBR with a generic MBR. Dell MediaDirect will no longer work but you expected that anyway. Now clone your HD.

From Dan's page...

Any questions?

 

Thank you so much, Brian K. That procedure is something that I can process without issues. You've saved me a metric ton of frustration and hair pulling over this problem.

 

Hi
I reviewed the following as I have a Dell Inspiron E1705 w/HPA and MediaDirect.

Early on I managed to "break" the MediaDirect by using a partitioning software that apparently changed the boot record. Pushing the MediaDirect button boots into windows, not the abbreviated Windows OS.

When I look at LBA3 using Roadkill's sector editor, I don't see the "XDLR" or anything like the images posted, so I'm assuming if I clone my present drive to my new larger drive, I should be OK?

Just to be safe, I'm thinking of burning the ISO that will write a generic MBR to my current drive. If I understand correctly, I'll lose the ability to boot/restore from a cloned utility partition which is fine.

Can someone confirm I understand correctly and how to proceed?

Thanks very much,
Joe

 

Brian K, I tried what you said in your post and I'm still stuck. I was on the phone several times with Acronis, but to no avail. One guy agreed to do what you said, but then also said I needed to do another step by using a Seagate tool or Hitachi Feature Tool. Here's my problem:

I do NOT have Media Direct. But I did buy an EZ Bus DTR external drive in October and cloned my hard drive on my Dell, which is about four years old. Today I tried to clone again, but it wouldn't write to the EZ Bus. It failed trying to write to a sector. The guy at Acronis told me it had to do with a hidden partition on the Dell. He pointed me to http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/hpa-issues.htm
which had much too much in it for me. I've seen that link posted on this forum. Your post sounded so easy and sounded like it would fix the problem.

When I tried to run it, I got a message saying it would rewrite the master boot record automatically and I should remove the data medium & reboot if that wasn't what I wanted to do. Or press any key to rewrite the MBR. I pressed a key. Then I got another message saying 'no commands for booting the operating system and press any key to reboot. It kept looping between those two messages so I have no idea if it rewrote the MBR.

I can't see the external drive in 'My Computer', but I can see it in disk management. Acronis told me I had to format the external drive, but there is no way they could figure for me to do that.

Then they tell me to start the cloning process and pull the cable on the external drive right after it clears, but before it starts writing. Not easy to do with the computer running in nanoseconds.

So now I'm stuck with an unusable external drive.

I told Acronis that I don't have Media Direct but he said the Dell HPA problem is still there and that's what needs to be fixed. I'm probably in over my head.

Any ideas?

Rich

 

Joe,

I missed your post. If you haven't already started, follow the instructions in #110. You can't go wrong as it doesn't matter if you have or don't have a HPA. No harm will be done.

Do you have all zeroes in LBA-3?

 

Rich,

If you don't have MediaDirect then you don't have a HPA. The hidden Dell partitions aren't a problem with cloning. Just a few questions..

Your Dell laptop is operating OK?

How large is the internal HD? How much Free Space is present in the C: drive?

How large is the external HD?

In Disk Management, how many partitions are on your internal HD?

In Disk Management, how many partitions are on your external HD?


You can't see your external HD from My Computer. We'll fix that first.

 

Hi Brian. Glad you came online. Almost 11pm here in Atlanta.

"If you don't have MediaDirect then you don't have a HPA. The hidden Dell partitions aren't a problem with cloning."

I had a feeling the Acronis guy wasn't telling me what I needed to do.

"Your Dell laptop is operating OK?"

Yes, no problems with the laptop.

"How large is the internal HD?"

40GB

"How much Free Space is present in the C: drive?"

16.4GB

"How large is the external HD?"

It's an EZ Bus DTR 250GB

"In Disk Management, how many partitions are on your internal HD?"

Two. One is a 39MB FAT (healthy EISA Configuration). The other is 37.21 GB NTFS Healthy (system)

"In Disk Management, how many partitions are on your external HD?"

Two. One is 251MB FAT Healthy (active). The other is 232.64 GB unallocated.

Acronis was telling me I can't format because of the 251MB partition.


You can't see your external HD from My Computer. We'll fix that first.[/QUOTE]

 

Rich,

Is it OK if we delete that partition on your external HD? Is there anything useful there?

Let's assume it's OK. From Disk Management...

Right click in the 251MB FAT partition and click Delete partition
Click Yes
You will now have around 233 GB of Unallocated Space

Right click in the Unallocated Space and click New Partition
The Wizard commences, click Next
Select Primary partition, Next
Leave the partition size alone as it should be the full drive, Next
Put dot in Assign the following drive letter and accept the letter, Next
Put dot in Format this partition, Accept NTFS, Default Allocation Unit size, Type in a Volume name eg EXTERNAL
Next
Finish
Wait for it to format

Let me know when this has been completed.

 

I have no idea what's in that partition, but I'm sure I don't need it on the external drive.

"Right click in the 251MB FAT partition and click Delete partition"

Therein lies the problem. A right click on that partition only brings up a 'help' option. There is no option to delete or format on either of the two partitions. The Acronis guy wanted me to start the cloning process and pull the USB cable after the erasing step and before it started to copy anything. The first thing it copies is the 251MB FAT partition.

Now you know my dilemma. Acronis says I have a hidden partition that needs to be removed as well as having to get rid of the MBR or rewrite it with a generic MBR, which your post 110 says how to do and I did that. But I still can't see the external drive in My Computer and I can't do anything with it in Disk Management. I'm stuck.

 

Here's another option .... if you have the bootable True Image Rescue CD. If not you need to make one right away.
With the external connected, boot with the Rescue CD and when the True Image menu comes up, selece Add New Drive. Hopefully the external drive will be seen. Choose this drive as the one to be added. Acronis should then proceed to partition it. When done, exit from the TI menu and reboot to Windows (after removing the cd).

 

D&D, I do have a bootable CD, but it's not True Image. The software that came with the external drive was Apricorn's EZ GiG II. I booted it up, but there was no option to add a new drive. But here's what I did:

1. Apricorn told me to start cloning and then pull the USB cable after it erases and before it starts copying from the internal C drive. I did that.

2. I went into disk management and followed Brian's steps to add a new partition.

3. I can now see the external drive E in My Computer as a 'new volume'.

Now I need to clone my C drive, which is all I'm wanting to do for backup purposes. However, before I do that, I need to know more about this HPA and hidden partitions and rewriting the MBR and whether or not I have zeroes in LBA-3 (?), etc. I don't want to clone and then be right back to where I was and have the same problems the next time I want to clone. The next time I want the EZ GiG II software to erase everything and create a new clone of my C drive.

Thanks for the help. I couldn't do what you suggested, but I managed to do something to get Windows to see the external drive.

 

Well, you got the external drive recognized again ... that's the main thing. But I think the feature you want from True Image is the Backup, not Clone. With Backup, you will create an Image of your drive which you can direct to the external drive. And with Backup, you can have as many Images as will hold on the external. Clone lets you do one and only one Clone per drive.

 

Maybe you can help me understand this a bit more. I put off getting an external drive for a long time although my buddies kept telling me to get one. What I wanted to be able to do was to clone my internal drive such that if there was a failure I could boot up from the cloned external drive. Two of my buddies swore they could do that, although neither of them had ever done it. I believe that I am not able to clone my C drive with EZ Gig II and boot up from that drive.

So....let me see if I understand you. I get the one clone per drive. It means if I clone 30GB from my C drive to the external drive there is nothing else that I could put on the external drive. Is that correct?

As for backup, do I understand that I can do a backup of my C drive as many times as I want to the external drive? So if I have 30GB on my C drive and 250GB on the external drive, I could create 8 backups on the external drive. Not that I would do that, but is that correct? If so, then I could make a couple of backups to the external drive, although I don't see the value in doing that. When I was working I would tell my customers to do three backups, (the old grandfather, father, son scheme) and put at least one offsite.

The EZ Gig II software allows me two options:

1. Disk imaging where I can 'create an image' or 'restore an image'. Would this be what you refer to as backup?

2. New disk deployment where the only option is 'disk clone'.

 

Rich,

You are almost home.

You have cloned the Dell Diagnostic partition. No problem. It's only 1/3 of a GB but we'll get rid of it later. There is no hurry.


DwnNdrty wrote..

I strongly agree. Your mates gave bad advice.

Have a look at this thread by GroverH. Download his "Beginner's Guide to creating a basic full disk archive." That's what you should be doing for backup.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=168165

Forget the HPA issue. It doesn't apply to you.

You should check your C: drive and E: drive for bad sectors. From a Command Prompt, run chkdsk /r on each drive. Any errors?


Edit: Name change

 

Good morning Brian. Must be about 9am in Australia?

You responded to Don. I'm guessing that is DwnNdrty (?) who was helping me. I'm new to this forum so I'm going to try my luck figuring out how to do the quotes in pieces. Sorry if I screw it up.

Yeah, I think I remember the Acronis guy saying something about the diagnostic partition. I have been able to format the E drive (hooray, I gave it a letter), but it shows 71.1MB of used space. Would that be the diagnostic partition that is still on the external drive?

Tried to run the chkdsk and got a message saying it couldn't lock down the drive because it was in use by another process. I shut down all the windows and disconnected the WiFi adaptor. Same problem, so there must be a process going on in the background. Actually, there are probably a few processes going on.

Also, I imagine running that command will check the C drive. How do I direct it to the E drive? I thought if I just keyed chkdsk it would give me options, but it doesn't.

 

Rich,

Apologies. I had just written a reply to Don and must have used his name again.

We're on DST and it's now 06:58.

Just Windows hidden folders. It's normal.

The diagnostic partition is the 251 MB partition. 1/4 GB and not 1/3 GB.

You have to reboot your computer for chkdsk /r to work. Keep answering Yes at the prompt.

At the Command Prompt type E: and then press Enter. The prompt will now be E:\> Now type chkdsk /r and press Enter. It will probably do its work in Windows but may request a reboot.

To find the report after the computer has rebooted, right click My Computer, Manage, Event Viewer, Application. In the Source column find Winlogon for the time that your computer restarted. Double click Winlogon. There is a Copy icon. Paste the report in your next post.