Cloning a drive I cant boot to a computer

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by matladu, Jan 22, 2008.

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  1. matladu

    matladu Registered Member

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    I have a sata drive with Windows XP SP2 that I cannot boot to a
    laptop since that laptop is hosed. I pulled it out of the laptop and bought
    a new laptop but the drive bay is not compatible even though both are
    SATA drives. Their connector configuration is different.

    Now if I buy Acronis disk cloning software, would it let me clone
    the hard drive by connecting it to the new laptop via an USB
    connection.

    Does the disk cloning component of Acronis True Image software
    allow cloning two SATA hard drives connected to a laptop via
    USB ports ?

    TIA
     
  2. stevewa

    stevewa Registered Member

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    it should allow it, but your biggest problem seems to be how to get your old sata hard drive to connect to a usb disk connector so you can plug a usb cable on it.

    is the old hd from the hosed laptop a mini hard drive or a regular 3.5" sata hd? if it is regular, you should be able to put it into an usb external drive enclosure, plug a usb cable to it, and the new laptop will recognize the drive and give a drive letter. then when you clone the drive in true image, you would day use that hd as the source, and your internal new laptop drive as the destination.

    but my experience shows that laptop manufacturers are like girlfriends, they all have different size body parts. :-*
     
  3. dantz

    dantz Registered Member

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    There's also another issue: If the new laptop is not identical to the old one then there will be driver issues galore, and it may not boot up. You can't just clone boot drives between computers with dissimilar hardware. Acronis Universal Restore can do this, but direct cloning usually doesn't work. (There are, however, exceptions. Mainly, it depends on how dissimilar the hardware is. There's quite a bit of information on the web about how one might accomplish the transfer.)
     
  4. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello matladu,

    Thank you for your interest in Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    Acronis True Image does allow cloning of a drive connected via USB. However, please notice that, as pointed by dantz, if the new computer has different hardware configuration, the system might not boot since it lacks the correct drivers installed. Acronis solution for transferring of a system to different hardware is Acronis Universal Restore. Acronis Universal Restore technology provides an efficient solution for hardware-independent system restoration by replacing the crucial Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) and mass storage device drivers.

    Note that Acronis Universal Restore is a plug-in for corporate versions of Acronis True Image and in your case we would recommend that you use Acronis True Image Echo Workstation.

    Acronis Universal Restore is used with image archives and you can find basic instructions on how to use it here. Detailed instructions can be found in the Acronis True Image Echo Workstation User's Guide.

    We recommend you to download and install the free trial version of Acronis True Image Echo Workstation to see how the software works on your computer. With the trial version of the product you will be able to fully use the Windows version for 15 days. The bootable rescue media will be limited to restore function.

    Please also be aware that the trial version of Acronis Universal Restore is not available on Acronis web site. In order to obtain the trial version of Acronis Universal Restore please contact Acronis Support Team. Explain your wish to obtain the free trial version of Acronis Universal Restore and provide your personal information (full name; phone number along with the area code; company name, if any) along with the link to this thread. We'll provide you with the free trial version of Acronis Universal Restore as soon as possible.

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

    Thank you.
    --
    Marat Setdikov
     
  5. matladu

    matladu Registered Member

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    The old laptop is a Dell Inspiron 9400 and the new one is a Dell Vostro 1700 both are 17in laptops.

    They are similar laptops but the old laptop drive is not compatible with the
    new one. Thats why I bought Acronis True Image 11 to clone the old laptop drive.

    I will be cloning the hard drive tomorrow since I need an adapter to connect the laptop drive to the USB port.

    The only difference I know off between the laptops is the first one has Intel graphics accelerator while the new one has Nvidia 8400GS video card.
     
  6. ckhawley

    ckhawley Registered Member

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    Acronis is great, and I'm sure their pro product would do exactly what they claim. However, if you've already purchased True Image 11, you could almost certainly hook up the old HD via enclosure or other drive-USB adapter and clone away. Then, boot your new laptop from the XP media and perform a REPAIR install.

    The XP setup will recognize the new machine's hardware and update the OS accordingly, leaving the rest of your configuration in tact.

    Alternately, your system might just boot directly after being imaged, but things will be slightly messed up (typically just video, sound and networking stuff.) From there, run the Dell driver CD. They typically do a great job of recognizing/installing correct drivers. (unfortunately, default config w/most Dell systems is NOT to send that little gem of a CD and just include it on the hard drive, but it's free if you select it)
     
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