Clone my Laptop w/Macrium

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by pratzert, Nov 16, 2016.

  1. pratzert

    pratzert Registered Member

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    Hi All.

    I have a Dell Inspiron 1420 Laptop with a 250GB hard drive.

    I want to upgrade it to a 500GB drive and was hoping for it to be a simple thing to use Macrium to Clone the existing drive, install the new larger drive and restore the clone image to the new drive.

    But Macrium has other ideas.

    I thought the easiest thing would be to clone the image right onto my Sandisk 256GB memory stick. But Macrium doesn't offer that option, it seems to want to clone to CD's only.

    So I tried hooking up my external WD 3TB hard drive, but I got an error message that the media wasn't compatible. I assume because of the cluster size difference once you go over 2TB storage.

    So... what are my options? Is there a way to force Macrium to clone the HD to that Memory Stick ?

    Thanks for the help.
     
  2. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    pratzert,

    Is it a UEFI or Legacy/MBR system? Which OS is installed?
     
  3. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Pratzert, if the WD has been prepared for use on the System, you can use the "Folder" option under DESTINATION and send your image anywhere you'd like on any internal/external SSD/HDD... there shouldn't be a problem.

    If the WD has been formated using GPT, it will show up as a 3tB external HDD, if formatted as an MBR-based disk, it will show up as a 2tB external device... either way, it should work
     
  4. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    ...and that SanDisk device, if it's the EXTREME model, it will also show up under the "Folder" option for use. EXTREME's show up as "Local" disks rather than "Removable" disks... it's the REMOVABLE UFDs that Reflect cannot write images to.
     
  5. pratzert

    pratzert Registered Member

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    Hi Again BrianK.

    It's legacy and Win 8.1 is o the laptop.
     
  6. pratzert

    pratzert Registered Member

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    Hi Froggy.

    Thanks for that info.... I will try my luck again.

    Regards.
     
  7. pratzert

    pratzert Registered Member

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    Froggy,

    Thanks again for the insight.

    It sounds like this should work !

    Regards.
     
  8. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    pratzert,

    The word "Clone" means different things to different people. I try to avoid the term. What you need is an image. In Macrium don't select "Clone this disk". Select "Image this disk".
     
  9. pratzert

    pratzert Registered Member

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    Brian K.

    OK. Image it will be !

    I agree there is some confusion between the terms Clone and Image.

    I had always though that a clone would be an exact copy of anything and everything on a Disk sector by sector.

    And an Image was a copy of everything but not necessarily an exact copy of each sector.

    In any event, I am installing a new, larger HD in my laptop and want to copy the OS, settings, files etc. from the smaller HD to the new HD.

    I know an image will be much quicker to do. I prefer fast and simple....... :.)

    Thanks for the help.

    Regards.
     
  10. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Pratzert, just don't forget to use the "Restored Partition Properties" LINK after you've selected which disk your image is being restored to (it'll be at the bottom LEFT of the window). Reflect usually uses the old partition size as the DEFAULT... that properties LINK mentioned above will allow you to change that upon restoration.
     
  11. pratzert

    pratzert Registered Member

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    Thanks Froggy ! That's a great tip. I want to make one large partition so I will make that adjustment.

    BTW. I just looked and the 256GB Sandisk memory stick I have is an "ULTRA" not an Extreme.
     
  12. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Not sure about the ULTRA. Just place the stick in your machine... if it mounts as a LOCAL disk rather than a REMOVABLE disk, your in!
     
  13. pratzert

    pratzert Registered Member

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    Froggy.. Thanks ! :)

    Oh... should that mem stick be formatted NTFS to make an image ?

    It's formatted exFAT right now, but I will change the format as needed.
     
  14. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    NTFS will give you the most flexibility as far as image sizes and their mgmt are concerned. Did the stick wind up being a LOCAL or REMOVABLE storage item?
     
    Last edited: Nov 19, 2016
  15. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Don't forget the other partitions.
     
  16. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    The "ever teaching" Brian... always worried about his imaging students :D

    He did mention earlier that he imaged his whole disk... which, with Reflect, will do all resident partitions... but your point is VERY IMPORTANT!
     
  17. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    TRF,

    I don't think the image has been created yet. Did I miss a post?
     
  18. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    No... it was the way he did his previous image. I just figured he'd do the same thing again.
     
  19. pratzert

    pratzert Registered Member

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    OK... I formatted the 250GB memory stick to NTFS and it still shows up as a removable storage device.

    And I have not yet done any imaging.
     
  20. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    If it's a REMOVABLE, you will not be able to image to it. The REMOVABLE status comes from the Windows "discovery" process when it interogates the device. This status is burned into the device's FirmWare.

    You won't be able to use that stick to image to with Reflect :(

    Other imaging software does image to REMOVABLE devices. There are many requests into Macrium to change the way it deals with REMOVABLE devices...
     
  21. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    WARNING!
    -------------

    It turns out that only SOME Sandisk Extremes were configured as FIXED drives so that they would work with "Windows to GO" under W8.1. They have since changed that so newly manufactured Extremes are, once again, REMOVABLE devices. The ones that are configured as FIXED have a package declaration that says "Compatible to Windows 8"

    Be VERY CAREFUL here...
     
  22. pratzert

    pratzert Registered Member

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    Dang-It !

    So now what are my options?

    Am I stuck creating an image using CD's ?

    It's not the end of the world I guess. I can just format the new drive and install any programs I want, then copy over any files I want that I will backup onto an external HD.

    It's just that using an image would have been easier.

    Thanks.
     
  23. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Pratzert... do not yet despair :D

    I was just getting ready to try a workaround for your problem and discovered the following (I am using v1549, BTW)...

    To insure Reflect doesn't image to a REMOVABLE UFD, I mounted one and started an imaging process. Lo and behold, it started its imaging (not cloning) process without issue. I didn't let it run to completion (partition was too big to wait for) but it was running away. You should give it a try on your newly NTFS formatted ULTRA.

    There may be some confusion at hand as far as Reflect and UFDs are concerned. The thing we know for sure is that Reflect CANNOT image an actual PORTABLE UFD... that's way different than imaging TO a UFD.

    Lemme know what happens...
     
  24. TheRollbackFrog

    TheRollbackFrog Imaging Specialist

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    Joy in Pratzert town!!

    I just finished the above operation with a smallish partition and Reflect images just fine using a REMOVABLE UFD as a target device for IMAGES... hope this helps!
     
  25. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    TRF has resolved this issue an you can write your entire drive image to a UFD. That would be my preference too.

    But let's say you only had a small UFD or no UFD. What could you do with an imaging method?

    Connect your new large HD to a USB port with an adapter.
    Create 2 partitions on the new large HD. The first partition needs to be larger than the old HD.
    Create partition images of the old HD, writing the images to the second partition on the new large HD.
    Swap HDs in the laptop.
    Delete the first partition and restore the partition images to the free space just created by deleting the partition. Make sure you also restore the First Track.
    Delete the partition containing the images.
    Slide and resize the partitions to fill the drive.

    Fortunately, you don't have to do this.

    Another method is the reversed clone. (Often works better than a standard clone because a reversed clone gets around geometry issues as the new HD is seen in its correct geometry because it's installed in its "final resting place".)

    Swap HDs in the laptop.
    Connect your old HD to a USB port with an adapter.
    Run the "Clone this disk".

    In this context, cloning is making a direct copy without making an image.
     
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