Cloning C to D drive

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by hfhlt004, Jan 9, 2009.

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  1. hfhlt004

    hfhlt004 Registered Member

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    I have read and re-read the instructions and forum posts, but not sure I entirely understand the language Acronis uses. Is there a difference between cloning and imaging?
    At any rate, this is what I have done. I have moved the few important files I have--mainly pictures, favorites, and email addresses to a DVD.

    I purchased and installed a 2nd HD for my Dell XPS 410 which is identical to the original drive. I got help to create a dual boot. My original intent was to place Windows Vista on the 2nd drive, but I learned there would be too many incompatibilities.

    So I cloned the original C drive to the new D drive using Acronis TIv11. (I booted to each individually as a trial and both drives worked fine.)

    Then I established the new "D" drive as the boot drive in the bios.

    Now I was getting in over my head.............

    My new intention was to monthly, manually create a clone of the boot drive, now "D" to the other drive "C", and go on like that indefinitely. I know this is not the way most people perform backups, but my info does not change often.

    Now the questions.

    Since "D" is my boot drive, how do I change Acronis to do D to C drive?

    The problem I see of doing this is that I have to change the boot order in the bios each time, and at some point this will get onerous.

    Am I just spinning my wheels? Do you see any other problems ahead?

    To my embarassment, I have no idea how to get back from dual boot to normal boot and just go back to having 2 completely separate drives and do the normal backup process. I assume I will have to work in the Bios, but this is getting too complicated for this 70 y/0 brain. The help I got for setting up dual boot is no longer available.

    Any suggestions? My computer will no longer boot automatically with one drive removed. And I have not seen anyone post here or elsewhere who use dual boot for cloning and o_O B/U.
     
  2. DwnNdrty

    DwnNdrty Registered Member

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    Cloning and Imaging: The clone procedure produces an identical drive to the original which is immediately bootable. Imaging produces a compressed file, much like a Zip file, of the original. The Image has to go through the Recovery (restore) process before it will make a bootable disk just like the original.

    Please clarify one thing. You said you have a dual boot. Is each OS on seperate drives or the same physical drive?

    To avoid going into the Bios to change the boot drive, get what are called Mobile Racks, one for each drive, or just one if you don't mind replacing the drive in the one tray when you want to boot them. Typical Mobile Racks can be seen here:
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&Description=mobile racks&bop=And&Order=PRICE

    You have to have a spare 5.25 bay to install the Rack. If you get one rack and two trays, you can have a drive in each tray and insert whichever one you want to boot.
     
  3. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    hfhlt004,

    Just a few questions. What happens when you try to boot from one HD? Where do you see an error message? How is the HD connected when it is a single HD?

    I assume this all started when you cloned (copied) one HD to another. Did you keep both HDs connected after the clone process?
     
  4. hfhlt004

    hfhlt004 Registered Member

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    --------------------------------------------------------

    When I have only the boot drive attached to the system, I have the cords(?) attached to only one drive, with the other drive not attached. When I try to boot with only one drive attached (unplug the 2nd drive), I get a prompt to press F1 to continue, F2 to set up.

    If both hard drives are attached, it goes ahead without pressing any keys and boots normally into whichever drive I have set as boot drive. Currently that boot drive is the new added HD. That new drive is still labeled as "D" slave drive in the Bios. The original old drive is still labeled "C" or master drive, even though I currently have the "D" drive set as boot drive. Both drives are identical at this point, except I have change the wallpaper on one in order to tell the difference.

    I have hesitated to rename the drives--that is to label the new drive as "C" and the old original drive "D" because I'm not quite sure what I am doing, and don't want to do something I can't back out of. If I renamed, would the "new" C drive still appear as slave?

    As it stands at this point, I think I would just like to go back to the original configuration. That is, use the old C drive as boot drive and unattach the D drive, using it for backup only, without having an OS.


    Bob
     
  5. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Bob,

    Sorry, but this is confusing. Firstly, a matter of terminology. Drive letters only exist in the mind of the OS when it is booted. So when the computer is turned off, there is no C or D drives. It's better to call the HDs, HD0 and HD1. Then we understand each other. And it gets more confusing when cables are swapped because HD1 can become HD0.

    Labeling the drives is an excellent idea and does no damage. You can even change the names next week if you don't like your first choice. All drives (partitions) should be labeled.

    Can you do this? Can you boot from the original HD when it is the only HD attached in the master position (or are these SATA HDs) and jumpered as master? Do you have to press F1?
     
  6. hfhlt004

    hfhlt004 Registered Member

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    _____________________________________________

    XPsp3 OS is located on two separate HDs. HD0 and HD1. (As far as I can tell the clone duplicated another XP OS, at least it seems to function that way if I remove one or the other HDs and boot from one drive--after pressing F1 to make the single drive boot)

    Your idea to have a mobile rack installed sounds interesting.

    However, I have decided to reformat the new drive and go back to the regular b/u using Acronis and forget about doing the dual boot, cloning, etc.

    Thanks to all for your help.
     
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2009
  7. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello hfhlt004,

    Thank you for your interesting in Acronis True Image

    Look through Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 and it’s option OS Selector. Acronis Disk Director® Suite 10.0 includes new Acronis OS Selector — a powerful, reliable, and easy-to-use boot manager. It allows you to install 100 or more multiple operating systems (OSes) on one computer. You can boot an OS from any partition on any hard disk or have several multiboot systems on the same partition. This completely redesigned solution is now easier to use and faster.

    Check the following link for more info about OS Selector.

    Best regards,
    --
    Dmitry Nikolaev
     
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