Clone 160 GB to 500 GB

Hello Forum Members,

I have a Dell 9100 with XP Pro and a Sata 160 GB Hard drive. XP Pro w/SP 2

The hard drive from Dell includes 2 hidden partitions. A partition to reinstall the operating system in case of problems and a diagnostic partion.

I have just purchased a 500 GB Seagate SATA Drive and have installed it in computer, but have not formated or partitioned it in any way.

I also have a PATA drive (maxtor 80 gb) installed as additional storage

I want to clone the 160 gig to the new 500 gig and most importantly, I want the full capacity of the new drive (500 gb) to be recognized after the clone operation. I will then later reinstall the original 160 gb as additional storage device.

Questions......will the 2 hidden partions on the original drive interfer with the clone operation?

Will the PATA drive cause any problems? Does it need to be removed first?

I have never did anything on this order and any suggestions at all, will be greatly appreciated

Thank You
John Farrow

 

During the Cloning procedure once you make sure the Disk volume name is checked (TI should default to having it checked) everything will be transferred to the 500 gig including the hidden partitions.

The 80-gig doesn't have to be removed - just make sure you choose the correct Source and Destination drives when asked to do so.

While I haven't used TI on anything as large as a 500, normally you first have to use the "Add New drive" feature. This will partition and format the new drive. But during the Cloning you will get a screen that tells you something to the effect that "your new drive already has partitions on it, do you want to continue or choose another drive - the existing partitions will be destroyed". I've always found this odd since TI will not see the drive unless it is partitioned.

Of course, you have to choose,"yes", to destroy the partitions you just made with the "Add New Drive" feature, so that the Cloning will copy the partitions the Source drive has.

 

Hello John,

Thank you for your interest in Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please note that Clone Disk option in Acronis True Image 9.0 allows you to move the entire contents of one hard drive to another one. Your hidden partitions will be cloned without any problems.

We recommend you to remove your PATA hard drive at first.

Please note that we also recommend you to unplug one of the hard drives right after the disk cloning process has been finished, since keeping both original and cloned hard drives connected might cause different boot or drive letter assignment problems.

You can find more information on how to use Acronis True Image 9.0 in the respective User's Guide.

If you have any further questions please feel free to ask.

Thank you.
--
Tatyana Tsyngaeva

 

peppercorn,

Your Dell restore partition will almost certainly be unusable after the clone but that shouldn't matter because you have imaging software to make your own restore backup. The diagnostic partition doesn't matter either because you can run diagnostics from the Dell CD.

I delete both of these partitions soon after the Dell computer arrives.

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/

 

Chutsman,

I haven't tried to clone with TI. It doesn't see Unallocated Space? Only partitions?

Ideally cloning from Windows should be done into Unallocated Space so Windows doesn't see a drive letter before the clone.

 

Ahhh! Brian, Brian ... that's where all the "fun" is ... in the cloning! I prefer NOT to do anything with TI from within windows and rely entirely on the Bootable Rescue CD.

And even when you get the "Done Successfully" message at the end of whatever procedure you did, don't assume that it was successful ... test it out, even if it means buying another hard drive. I have had the "successful" message only to find the Cloned or Restored drive did not boot.

 

Chutsman,

You have colleagues in the Ghost camp too. The group who don't trust imaging and "Copy Drive" from Windows. I'm in the "trust" group and I image and restore non system partitions from Windows.

I'd agree that cloning (Copy Drive) is more likely to be successful done outside Windows. But done correctly from Windows, it's fine. I haven't tried it with TI, only with Ghost 9.

I like fun too but we both like a good result.

 

I said that with "tongue firmly planted in cheek" so-to-speak . Seriously, though, the software really should not give so many people so many problems. Heck, some of the things the end users are asked to do, they ought to be paid for supplying the information they are asked for. You almost have to be a geek to get around some of these problems and that isn't right.

 

Chutsman,

I must be slow today.


For problem free Ghost 9 cloning from Windows you need to

: clone into Unallocated Space
: choose drive letter of "None"
: set drive active (for booting OS)
: copy the MBR

Naturally, a lot of people slip up by doing it differently.

Are there equivalent steps for TI?

 

Last night to become familiar with TI9, I made a disk image of the 160gb SATA drive to a PATA 80 gb drive that was used for additional storage.

This morning the dell 9100 wouldn't boot beyond the "wondows is starting up" screen.

I removed the connectors from the 80 gb drive to see if that was the cause. Now the computer wouldn't even turn on! Nadda!

I hooked the connectors back up and booted up to the hang up again. Shut down, safe mode, restore, no effect, still hangs.

I Booted into setup and set the PATA drive to none and then shut down. Removed the connectors again and finally it worked ok.

Does all this mean if you do a full image to another drive, that you must removed that drive? Strange.

I am a little afraid to start the drive CLONE now after this. Which was the main reason I bought TI9.

 

On the previous message I had to reregister to get on the forum. I am peppercorn.

 

Acronis' reply was just about 100% correct for what you want to do. Some of the other replies are not quite correct.

1) Remove the PATA drive.
2) The two Dell partitions are Dell Diagnostics and Dell PC Restore, both very useful. If they work before you clone your drive then they will work after you clone your drive if you follow Acronis' instructions. You boot to Diagnostics with F12 and you do a complete Dell PC Restore with CTL+F11. Clone them anyway. You may be able to repair them. (They take up so little space they can be ignored or deleted later if they don't work.)
3) Create your Acronis TI Rescue CD.
4) Install your new 500gb drive as the master.
5) Reconfigure your old 160 as the slave.
6) Disconnect external devices from your machine except keyboard & mouse.
7) Boot with the TI Rescue CD.
8 ) Select Clone Disk - no other disk preparation is recommended or necessary.
9) Follow the prompts and allow TI to automatically/proportionally resize/upsize partitions for the new 500gb destination disk. DO NOT DELETE PARTITIONS ON THE SOURCE (160gb) DRIVE.
10) Upon clone completion, follow the prompts to completely shut down and DISCONNECT the old 160gb drive.

You should now be able to successfully reboot to the new 500gb drive. After you verify it works properly, restart and decide whether you want to wipe out the old 160 to use it for storage. Don't try to boot from it unless you disconnect the 500 first. Use the TI Add Disk feature to delete and repartition the old 160 drive.

 

Bobdat,
Thank You so much for the Step By Step Instructions. One question...Does the 500 gb need to be formatted and partitioned before making it the master?

Peppercorn

 

No. Cloning automatically sets it up. #8 above tells you that no pre-formatting is necessary.

 

Mr Bobdat,

IT WORKED!

Thank You so very Much!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Glad it worked for you. Have fun!