Bootable Clone

I am using TI V9.0 build 3677. I have bought a new 400G SATA Samsung HD and I am trying to make a bootable clone of the current C: onto this new HD.

All seems to proceed well, I power down. Disconnect the old C: drive. But then the new drive refuses to boot "Error loading operating system".

I have re cloned a second time but still no boot. What am I doing wrong?

XP Home, all MS updates. SATA HDs

Regards
Doug

 

Hello Doug,

Assuming you've set the boot order in your BIOS correctly or moved the cloned HD over to the original HD's SATA controller then I can't see you've done anything wrong. However, cloning in Windows mode can be somewhat temperamental so it would be worth booting from the Acronis rescue CD (Full) and try cloning from within the Linux rescue environment.

Regards

 

I bought V10. I then create the recovery CD and booted from it. I then cloned my current C: drive. Then I removed this old C: and then plugged the clone drive into the SATA port that the old C: was using. All files look like they have been transferred.

Still the same problem, 'Error loading operating system".

I then tried to to make it bootable by booting from the XP install disc and ran bootfix. That didn't help.

Extremely disappointed, particularly as I spent more money buying V10

Regards

 

This could be entierly wrong, but you didn't have to load any drivers onto the new disk before adding the image. I am using a raid on my HD & i have to load the driver before doing a restore

 

Doug49,

Have you done a Google search? That error seems to be a BIOS issue. Do you have the latest BIOS update so your computer supports 400 GB HDs?

Did you clone into Unallocated Space?

 

I didn't load any drivers on the HD. It is not in a RAID configuation. I have run the Samsung diagnostics, without finding any problems. I checked my BIOS and it is the latest.

The cloning has transferred all the contents of my C:, abt 150G. It just won't boot.

The boot.ini is identical on both HDs, as it should be. The ntdlr files are also identical.

Thanks for the help John and Menorcaman

 

Hi Brian,

I do have the latest BIOS upgrade, but I really don't know whether that means I can handle a 400G HD. I have been pondering that very issue. My current drive is 300G.

I have been searching with Google, but to no avail.

"Did you clone into Unallocated Space" I don't know what this means Brian. I did fully format the new drive before the clone.

Regards and thanks
Doug

 

Doug, that's weird. If you can use a 300 GB HD then a 400 GB HD should be OK. See

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=149517

You really have the wrong error message for this but it should be tried. Be back shortly. I'm cooking on the BBQ.

 

Great sausages.

Doug, this page also mentions partition issues as a cause.

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000730.htm

Apart from time, you have nothing to lose by cloning as I outlined in the other link. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

http://www.computing.net/os2/wwwboard/forum/1437.html

See Response #5. It's worth trying before you reclone. If it works you will know immediately. You must use a Win98 boot floppy, not a WinXP. If you don't have one....

http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

Download Win 98 OEM. Double click the file and it will extract to a floppy. Boot from the floppy and at the A: prompt type fdisk /mbr. Press Enter. You won't see anything happen. It just goes back to the A: prompt. Then see if the OS boots.

 

Hi Brian,

Thanks for helping. I'm not sure that I understand what is being said. I did get a 98 boot floppy with fdisk on it. But how do I run it? If I boot from the floppy I get the A: prompt. Will fdisk seek out the HD? If I type C: it won't go to C: (NTFS). Or do I run fdisk in a DOS window?

Re the other points. I have been very careful to never have two bootable drives seen at boot up. I learnt that lesson before .

If you can help with fdisk I will do the clone again. But later tonight. The clone takes about 45 mins (150G).

Thanks again,
Doug

 

Doug, you will have the new HD installed. Boot to the floppy and you get an A: prompt. You don't want a C: prompt. When you type fdisk /mbr and press Enter it writes new boot code to Absolute Sector 0 on the HD but that is not important. What is important is the 4 bytes after the boot code, the DiskID, are zeroed. You then remove the floppy and reboot. WinXP will recalculate new partition signatures and maybe BINGO.

see Method #3

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.htm#method3

If this works you won't have to reclone.

 

Another possability, when you fire up FDISK, check to see if the c drive is bootable, I cann't remember the exact phrase but when you go in it will be obvious

 

OK Brian,
That's exactly what I did with the 98 version of fdisk, without fixing the problem.

I'm an old person and after numerous attempts over 3 days I am becoming very frustrated and confusion is setting in. I will need to leave it for a day or two and then come back with a clearer head.

I know this clone function works for other people! And I can normally, but slowly, work thru my computer problems.

I wonder whether it is something with my PC. AMD 4800 dual.


Thanks and regards

 

Hi John,
Yes I am a little confused with FDISK. At the A: prompt I type fdisk /mbr. The A: prompt comes back without any messages, and Brian says that this is what should happen. Brian and John, if the cloned drive is not bootable, and I am in a 98 boot, how does the fdisk do anything to the non bootable disk? I would have thought that the DOS boot doesn't know about the HD.

Where my knowledge is totally lacking is what makes a HD bootable. All I know to check for are the correct boot.ini and the ntldr file

Regards and thanks,
Doug

 

Doug, bad luck but it was worth trying. Would you mind trying cloning the way I described to BarryGM. At least that will get around the partition issue associated with "error loading operating system".

Also, keep thinking about a possible BIOS issue. Let us know your progress. Interesting for us. A pain in the butt for you.

 

Doug, I just saw your last message. fdisk /mbr doesn't touch the C: drive on the HD. It only affects the first sector of the HD, Absolute Sector 0. Otherwise called the Master Boot Sector.

The floppy disc does know about the HD even if it has no files on it at all. You can zero the whole HD and fdisk /mbr will still do its job.

 

Hi Brian,

Yes I will do the next try tomorrow and report back how it goes. I easily get to a point where I get so agitated that I start making silly mistakes, and I just need to take a break.

The SATA ports om my MOBO are buried deep down and I have put them in and out so many times that I fear that I will start getting contact problems

Regards
Doug

 

Doug, is your main HD, the bootable one, connected to SATA port 0?

Could I ask why you need to access the SATA ports on the MB? I just unplug the HD end of the cable.

 

the SATA ports on my MOBO are labelled 1 thru 4. My current C: is on the one labelled SATA1.

I have tried other options, but I have the C: on SATA1, the cloned drive on SATA2.

The back of my C: is about as hard to get to as the SATA ports. When the clone finishes, I unplug C: and put the cloned drive into SATA1, often via the plugs on the MOBO.

My MOBO also has 4 RAID SATA ports, but these are not being used. (and, of course, no RAID drivers)

 

OK. Your port 1 is equivalent to my port 0. Your plugging makes sense. Out of interest, when you unplug a HD, do you unplug the power cable as well?

I see you have both HD connected at present. In Disk Management, does the new HD show as 400 GB?

 

Hi Brian,

I have only one HD plugged in at the moment, but I have been into Disk Management, and the "new" HD does show it to be 400G when it is connected. And Windows Explorer also shows the capacity to be 400G

Re the power cables, no, I don't disconnect them. Not sure whether it is important but when I do a reboot, as part of this cloning, I physically totally shut down the PC ie I have a power switch on the power supply which I turn off, after the BIOS turn off has happened.

Regarding the SATA ports 1-4 (or 0-3), in the past it hasn't mattered which SATA ports I used. eg C: would happily run on SATA2. But for all these tests I am using SATA 1 and 2 for cloning and only SATA1 (your SATA 0) to try to boot the cloned drive. Hope this is correct.

I am becoming disallusioned with cloning, but tomorrow is another day! I don't know where you are. I'm in Brisbane Aus, and it is getting late for me, so I will be closing down in the next 15-30mins

Once again, thanks for helping.

Doug

 

Lennox Head, just over 2 hours from you. Bed time for me too.

I must say that I have done many clones in testing and even though they have all worked, I don't use the technique in practice. I restore images to a new HD.

See...

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=151920


I just remembered, I have to turn SATA ports OFF in the BIOS if they aren't connected. Otherwise I get an error. Your BIOS may be different.

 

Lennox Heads ...a lovely part of the world!

Re images, it may be the way for me. I tend to regularly stuff my HD. So, at the moment with a healthy HD of 150G, I wanted to put aside a healthy HD with all my current stuff. Why a whole 150G? Far more programmes than I will ever use, and lots of holiday videos.

Night
Doug

 

I'm still at it. This looks promising but I don't have those settings. Do you?

http://www.techspot.com/vb/all/windows/t-43072-Error-Loading-Operating-System--XP.html

http://whocares.de/2004/12/28/error-loading-operating-system/

http://forums.legitreviews.com/about5243.html