after restoring an image

Good morning,

First of all I want to thank the makers of Acronis True Image 10 because it just saved my 'butt'.

My four year old hard drive failed and after installing a new one I transferred my last hard drive image from my external drive to the new internal one and I was up and running.

However, I do have one curiousity question. After I had transferred the image from my external to my new drive I ran a CheckDisk on the new one.

I was surprised to see that the 7300 KBs in bad clusters that I had accumulated on the old failing drive were still recorded on the new drive.

Is this normal? Does that mean I transferred the same problems that caused my old hard drive to fail to my new one?

Any information will be appreciated.

Thanks and regards,

2harts4ever

 

ATI creates an exact image of your system and files. If there are errors in those files, including file system errors, then those errors will be replicated in the image.

You need to fix the file system errors before imaging. You can use chkdsk or one of the many third-party tools such as Norton Disk Doctor.

 

There is another way to overcome this problem if you still have the image of the old drive on your external.
Just run the restore again but this time with a small amount of resizing. So instead of checking the whole disk select the partition/s and the MBR individually. If there is any unallocated space on the new drive allocate it to the main partition. If there is not any such space reduce the size of the main partition slightly.
Then when you run CHKDSK again you will find that the brought forward baddies have disappeared!

I have not run this scheme myself but it is a known way to give the new drive a clean start.

Xpilot

 

Hi tuttle and Xpilot,

I appreciate both of your responses.

My main question right now is that since I have already restored the Bad clusters to my new Hard Drive from my Image is that going to harm the new disk?

Thanks and regards,

2harts4ever

 

It won't do any harm. It's just that good clusters are marked bad and so won't be used.

If you're running Vista, you can run chkdsk /b to rescan the "bad" sectors and get them back.

 

Hi MudCrab,

That is what I wanted to hear... lol

Xpilot had a good suggestion but I don't know if I have the expertise to pull it off.

Will the Vista fix you mentioned work with XP?

Thanks and regards,

2harts4ever

 

For XP you do chkdsk /f and because you are currently in the operating system you will have to push Y to do it when you boot up... or you can just do properties on your drive and go to tools, error checking /check now, and when you click on start it will want to do it when it reboots.

Good luck

 

Hi amunn,

Nope, didn't work for me. The Bad clusters that were originally on my failing disk still appear on my new Hard Drive.

Thanks and regards,

twoharts4ever

 

The XP version of chkdsk doesn't have the /b option. This was added in the Vista version. You should be able to boot from a VistaPE or Vista DVD and run chkdsk /b to rescan the drive.

 

Try "chkdsk /f /r"

Don't be amazing about the long execution time

EDIT:
It works with XP.
I suppose you have WinXP?

 

Hi MudCrab and MrMorse,

MudCrab,

I would be afraid that booting with Vista would mess up my XP system.

MrMorse,

Tried that already ... new drive still shows the bad clusters from the old drive.

Thanks and regards,

2harts4ever

 

My suggested solution in post 3 above will rid you of the brought forward problems.
There is plenty of guidance to be found as to how to do a restore with re-sizing and a bit of research will find several examples where users have solved the same problem in the past.
I do not have the time at present to find thr links for you.

Xpilot

 

Morning Xpilot,

I am and have been researching your suggestion since your post.

Thanks and regards,

2harts4ever

 

It shall work.
Even the best is to choose a partitionsize where Ti will be forced to change the cluster size (e.g. from 32 to 64).

 

Booting to a VistaPE or Vista DVD should not cause any problems on you XP system. If you boot to a Vista DVD, just select to do a repair and then start a Command Prompt. Don't select to do any automatic repairs. Also, I assume, you have already created a backup in case something goes wrong.

The /f and /r options for chkdsk will only check for any new errors. The new /b option introduced with Vista will make chkdsk rescan the sectors/clusters marked as bad and reset them to good if they are actually okay.

As previously stated by others, doing a restore with resize will also remove the sectors marked bad.

 

Good morning,

I think I am ready to take Xpilot's suggestion and try doing another restore using the same one as before, but this time doing it a partition at a time instead of the entire disk.

But I do have a few questions before I go for it.

(1) Do I have to get rid of the image I have on my new drive now or can I restore another copy right over it? If I get rid of the present one, how is this accomplished?

(2) The image I previously restored has both my C (system) and D (Compaq Restore partition) drives on the image. Am I correct that when I tell Acronis that I don't want to do the entire disk this time that it will then give me the individual drives to do one at a time?

(3) What I am hoping to do by doing this restore a second time is:

(a) ridding the new drive of the bad clusters transferred to it from the old drive and

(b) to restore all the unallocated space currently showing on my new drive.

Am I correct in my thinking that by doing what Xpilot has suggested this will be done?

(4) When I am trying to resize the new drive to its correct size do I have to tell Acronis what size to make C and D or does it do that on its own?

Sorry for these seemingly stupid questions but I really don't want to mess this new drive up. If doing this is above my computer savvy I will just be content to have the former bad clusters reside on my new drive and be content with all the unallocated space.

Thanks and regards,

2harts4ever

 

It would be helpful to us if you were to post an attachment showing us a screen capture of your Windows Disk Management disk display.

This will show the size of the drive and even more importantly, it will show which if the first physical partition and which is the second partition--plus it will show whether you have any other hidden partitions.

Whenever you perform your restore and reach the , Partition Selection Screen, the partition selected first for restore will be whichever partition is shown first in the Disk Management display. It may be your "Compaq Restore partition" or it may be your system partition. Whichever is shown first in Disk Management will be the first partition selected and sized when you reach the Partition Selection Screen.

The guide listed on line 3 of my signature can help but it is just a guide. The partition restore sequence above will override the example shown in the guide.

The "Compaq Restore partition" size should not be resized. Are you wanting the system partition to take up all lthe new space?

Since you are having a problem it would be best to delete the existing partitions so the entire space is unallocated. This link will show you how.
How To Delete Disk Partitions Using TrueImage Home
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=213446

The partition deletion can occur when booted from the Rescue CD. For safety sake (prevent user error), I would suggest no other drives be attached during the partition deletion exercise.

The restore should take place with the old smaller drive not being attached.
The new larger drive mounted where the old drive originally was located.
The backup archive located in an external usb drive or other internal drive.

Your response to the above will make it easier for others to provide assistance.

And don't forget you have the option of performing simulation or test runs all the way up till you must choose between the Proceed or Cancel option. Do not click the Proceed button while you are just practicing.

 

Morning GroverH and all,

Here is the screen capture of my Disk Management display:

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-10/1084983/DiskManagementImage.gif

Yes.

Thanks and regards,

2harts4ever

 

Your attachment shows a much easier solution in resizing your partition. You can ignore my previous comments.
Your solution is a simple restoration of your backup choosing only to replace drive C. You do not need to do any deletion or restoration of the recovery partition nor track 0.

Boot from the TI Rescue CD.
Simply do a C partition restore. When you get to the restore screen "Size & Position" where your old partition sizes are listed. Simply slide the sizing bar to fill up all the space.

Before leaving the "Size & Partition" screen, you must change the size listings to match the below.

Space before=0
Partition size =292.83 gb
Space after = 0

Respond to the subsequent prompts but nothing else but needs to be replaced.

Do some practice sessions and you will see what I mean.

The PDF listed below is very similar to what you need but input your own disk size values.
http://grover.tabinc.com/gh-temp/rcbmrb-pdf-rev2.pdf

Ignore all comments or instructions on the pdf. Just go by the illustrations for what applies to you.

 

Hi GroverH, Xpilot, MudCrab, MrMorse and all,

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!

The directions given in GroverH's last response did the trick.

I have now moved all the 'unallocated' drive space on my new drive into my C Drive and I am now utilizing all the disk space available on my new hard drive.

I am sorry for the delay in posting the results but once I finished successfully restoring my C Drive to its correct disk size I went ahead and brought my Microsoft Security updates up to snuff and then updated all my other security programs.

Then for my final test I went ahead and ran a CheckDisk. The results are just what I wanted ... the Bad Clusters on my old failing drive didn't make the trip to my new one this time around.

I thank you all for your patience and the extra nudging some of you gave me in this thread to get me to try this in the first place.

If anyone wants to know the merits of Acronis True Image or this forum ... send them my way!

Thanks and regards,

2harts4ever

 

It's always nice when a posted problem is resolved. A picture is worth a 1000 words--so the story goes. It certainly helped here.

Your next step is to perform a new disk option backup which is to include both C & D. Should you have a disk failure, it is the disk type backup (all partitions) which can help you the most. Always maintain at least one reasonably currenct full disk backup--for that "just in case" situation.

 

Hi GroverH,

I am going to do it right now.

Thanks again,

2harts4ever