TI Question (Dell)

Hello,

I’m thinking about purchasing a copy of True Image 9 in attempt to clone a Dell 8400 250 gig sata hardrive and still have the ability to use the ctrl-f11 option after it is cloned.. I used the search function and found an interesting topic.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=108656&highlight=dell

In the above topic the individual was cloning an additional drive connected to his / her pc. I want to clone to an usb 160 gig external HD. So the question at hand is: Is it possible to format and partition the external HD into 2 partitions then clone the original Dell HD to the external partition #1? Then use say partition # 2 of the external for just random documents and files, but still be able to restore another HD in case the one in the dell 8400 does bad from the clone on the usb external partition on # 1? Hope this makes sense and not to confusing of what I would like to accomplish.

If this possible would I use the same steps as mention in the above link, or can someone tell me the step by step procedures.

Thanks in advance.

 

Sorry, you can't do what you want to do because Dell's PC Restore function (CTL+F11) only works as long as the master boot record of your hard drive remains unmodified.

Cloning to your 160GB drive is not doable. Adding a second partition changes the mbr. Therefore, booting from that drive will prove that the Dell PC Restore function fails.

Nor, can you pre-partition the drive and then clone to it. TI will want to create a clone, which is by definition, an exact copy of the original drive (except for upsizing new partitions), and TI will wipe out any existing partitions, etc. on the target drive as it clones to it.

What you can do is to create an entire drive image of your internal drive while Dell PC Restore still functions and permanently store it on CD's. Also, create and store the same image in one small partition (about 5GB) on your 160GB USB drive. Then you can safely mess around with both drives to find a doable alternative that works for you.

 

Thanks for your response.

Well I stumble across an 80gig sata drive (Thanks Todd). So can I install this into my sons system and then clone my original 250 to the new 80gig HD? The system was just reloaded so shouldn;t be that big (OS and few files). Then I could just leave the 80 gig hooked up, then run like a weekly clone just so if the computers original HD craps out I could purchase a new HD or whatever and be right back in the fight….

Should I following the same instructions in https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=108656&highlight=dell be sufficient for what I want to do.

I apologize for all the questions. I just want to make sure I got a handle on this thing before I start messing with it, considering I dont want to loose the F11 function of the dell restore.

 

Sorry, again! Unfortunately, TrueImage CANNOT successfully clone a Dell-imaged hard drive to a smaller drive, in my experience.

Although TI can successfully clone a larger drive with an OS partition and what I call a data storage partition to a smaller drive , it fails to do so with drives with the Dell hidden partitions. After cloning, these drives fail to boot and/or fail to activate Dell PC Restore (CTL+F11).

All you can do at this point is create an entire disk image of your 250GB Dell drive and store it somewhere safe.

Also, you cannot clone a drive and then run both at the same time in the same machine under Windows. As to whether you can clone to a different computer's drive, you can, but you may have to run MS SysPrep if the hardware is very different (as it sounds like yours may be). As for whether the cloned drive and the original in different machines could run at the same time on the same network, probably not without first running SysPrep (which is what it's designed for).

TrueImage is only good for two things with Dell-imaged drives when you want to retain Dell's PC Restore function:

1) Clone to a different drive of the same size or larger.
2) Create and store an image of the entire hard drive while CTL+F11 still works.

As far as I can see, that's it!

 

One more question here and I think I’m done. You have been extremly helpful and patient.

I think I will do what your suggested above,how does this sound? Say my internal 250 craps out, can I buy a replacement drive 250 gig or bigger and then restore from the image stored on the external USB and still have the F11function on the new drive that should work right? Have the F11 function and all my program / updates / configuration be the same.

Thanks

 

To be sure, you'd need a 250GB drive. If you buy a bigger drive, you can restore to it and have full functionality but you wouldn't be able to create an additional partition to use the extra space without destroying the Dell PC Restore function. Any repartioning changes the mbr which breaks the Dell function. The only way you can retain the functionality and move to a bigger drive is by cloning to it.