Disk Cloning not working

1 Using TI 10 - latest build on a Vista Business 64 bit version PC- using the bootable CD- it will clone one hard drive (IDE) to 2nd HD (SATA) but upon cloning- it required a Repair to Vista (which I did not go through since I had TI 11 so figured that would work).

2. Tried TI 11-using latest build (downloaded) = making a bootable emergency CD was impossible - it said the CD was always busy- so I created an ISO and then used Roxio 9 to burn the ISO (which I do all the time form MSDN stuff).

Using the bootable CD, as a boot, it cloned and finished fine. I removed the original IDE (all are removeables so just unlock and take them out) and let it boot to the SATA cloned disk that was created. It will start Vista, says preparing desktop and then it ends up with a blue screen with nothing on it. You can at that point hit cntl-alt-delete and get the Vista screen (shutdown, task manager, switch users, etc) but it will not do anything else.

PC is a Tyan motherboard, 2 AMD Operteron chips, 2gb memory, 400 gb IDE, to 500 gb Sata (used the automatic proportion control).

This (TI 10 bootable CD) used to work fine on this Vista machine with IDE to IDE but usually had to activate again- always a pain- having to call Microsoft. ... changing to SATA since it is faster.
Yes it is the real Vista 64 bit version of the software from MSDN.
Any suggestions?

 

I have found that when you end up at this blue screen in Vista, you can start Task Manager. Go to File > New Task and type "Explorer" in the "Open" box and you should end up at the desktop.

Once there you can do some troubleshooting. Open "computer" and look at the drive letter assignments to see if they differ from the source disk. You should also be able to get to a command prompt to do further troubleshooting.

My problem turned out to be that the drive letter for the system partition had changed because I did something stupid. It was fairly easy to fix once the problem was understood.

From reading your description it seems that you did everything correctly, so the clone should have worked. However, was the complement of hard disk drives the same before and after cloning, other than you switched the source disk for the clone? If there were other drives present before but not after then that could be one source of problems. First boot with the clone but having the source disk attached is one sure way to produce these symptoms, but it doesn't sound like you did that.

 

KOlo- that was a cool trick- and yes the drive is E instead of C but trying to get to Computer Admin/Disk Manager did not work the first time - to change it back to C. Any other thoughts?

Yes only 1 drive is currently in the machine (the new SATA) but it did not automatically change to C drive like replacing the IDE drive does. I set the CMOS to boot from the Sata first...

 

Well, as a certain proponent of "drive letter changes" would say, download Paragon Just Boot Corrector, make the bootable cd of it, boot with it and you will be able to change the drive letter.
I've never had to use it myself so can't give details on its workings.

 

What drive was getting assigned the C: drive letter?

Is there only one partition on the SATA drive (the Vista partition)?

Is the Vista partition marked Active?

Did Vista on the IDE drive "see" the new SATA drive prior to doing the clone procedure?

 

inventor00:

To help out here it would be nice to know the partition structure on your disk. Is there any way to post a screen shot from Disk Managment console? The Windows system partition should be getting first priority for the C: drive letter. One thing you could try is to boot back into the system and instead of starting Explorer, start regedit. Delete the registry key HKLM\System\Mounted Devices and reboot. If the boot files are on the system partition and it is primary and active, then Windows will assign it the C: drive letter on first boot. Make sure that your clone is the only hard disk connected for that first boot.

 

When I was cloning, the IDE drive was the C and D drive. After the clone,
I booted from the IDE drive and it did see the Sata drive. Unluckily after I took the IDE drive out , the Sata still remained E and F drives, and did not automatically change to C drive. The Sata is active, and primary.

Should I try the TI version 10 bootable CD and then do a Vista repair?

 

I see what happened. The advice in my previous post should fix the problem. No need to re-do the clone nor to use Paragon Just Boot Whatever...

 

Since it is only loading part of Vista- you log in but then it cannot find your login so you get a temp logon, so to speak. You cannot run computer management/disk management nor regedit- I tried from both Task manager and also the command line- as it cannot find them - even when you know where they are. It cannot seem to run the from the E drive.

 

Really? I could swear that I remember running regedit when I had the same problem, but maybe not. There is a way to mount an external registry hive from another installation of Windows, but that may be more complicated than needed.

Another way to solve this is to repeat the clone process. When it is finished, shut down and remove the source drive. Boot with only the clone connected and you should be fine.

The original problem came about because you booted Windows with two identical disks with the same disk ID. That confuses Windows. I'm not certain exactly what happens next but I assume that it changes the registry entries of the clone so that there aren't duplicate drive letter assignments.

 

That was my feeling- so I am 2 hours into the cloning process (using the TI 11 bootable CD) and I will remove the IDE drive before booting into Windows so it only sees the SATA.

 

I still curious if there was another drive assigned the C: drive letter. Vista was assigned E: (should have been C, but you didn't say if C: was assigned to anything.

If it was, you may need to remove (or disconnect) that drive before you boot the first time.

 

No other drive was C drive but first clone time- I did let it boot on the IDE drive before I removed it ,so it took the IDE as C drive and never set up the Sata drive as C drive automatically when the IDE was removed.

2nd time: I re-cloned the IDE to the SATA with bootable CD from TI 11 , removed the IDE drive before it ever booted on the IDE. So the first time after cloning it booted on the SATA drive ,and it did set it up as drive C and All is WELL!!!

IT worked!!! The Sata drive is now C drive!! Yeah!! I was just running out of room with all the videos I have been rendering.

Thank you all for your help KOlo and MudCrab!!!

 

Now on to the next PC- changing the IDE's out to SATA drives. This next machine always got confused about IDE so get rid of IDE and go to Sata where I can control it. Now that the cloning using TI 11 works using the CD , I will use the same trick on this next PC.

Thanks again everyone.

 

It is standard proceedure to remove or disconnect the original drive before letting the newly cloned drive boot for the first time. After the first boot, you can reconnect the original.

 

I made a mistake somewhere. I cloned to a 2nd hard drive on my Dell XPS using Acronis v11. This went well. A Dell tech helped me set up dual boot, so I did not have to switch cables to do a boot. This is not a normal Dell tech function, and the tech I talked to today refused to help me..

Everything seemed to be perfect except even when using the cloned as my primary drive. But when I tried to use my DVD drive the drive failed work-- I got a long cryptic DOS message which I did not understand. When I rebooted back to my 1st drive, the DVD is fine.

Now, my question is, what did I do wrong. I really prefer not to try to tamper with the DVD, since it works on the master drive. Can I repeat the cloning process over the 1st clone. And if I am set up for dual booting, what can I expect to happen when I try the cloning again.

Note: I am using XPsp2. My computer is still under warranty.

 

Sorry, I erred. The clone and DVD drive works fine. My issue is with my security suite, Windows OneCare and using their backup method. I will contact their forum. Apparently, I can't use the same backup DVD set that I used for my 1st drive.