Disk Cloning?

Hello Alexey

Thanks for the reply, I will answer your questions in order.

1. The Acronis request # in my email correspondence with yourselves is 562101.

2. "After you clone your system drive to a replacement disk using Bootable Rescue CD, turn off the computer and install the new disk in place of the original drive the system boots up to the screen advising you to select Windows Safe Mode, Last known good configuration, etc. However, independently of which option you choose the computer reboots and the whole process repeats."

That is correct.

3. "After you restore the image of the entire system drive to a replacement disk and swap the drives systems boots to the same screen with only one exception - Windows logo screen appears. Then the whole process repeats again."

Not quite, there is no exception, the same thing happens as with the clone.

4. I have not used the Windows System Preparation Tool, as your faq article states that this is for migrating an operating system to different hardware and I do not wish to migrate to different hardware. For both cloning and imaging, I merely want to create backups of my system for the SAME hardware. Further I wish this to be a simple and quick as possible process, without the need for multiple operations as I would want to back up regularly and be sure the back up would work. Using an additional tool such as Windows Sys Prep makes this impractical, and I believe unneccessary, as otherwise your user manual would require this process for every instance of cloning and imaging.

5. Existing drives (2 internal C & D drive) are SATA. Clone is created to a USB2 attached SATA drive, which after cloning is placed into the machine to replace the C drive.
Images are created and stored on a USB2 attached IDE drive and then restored to the USB2 attached SATA drive which ithen replaces the C drive in the laptop.

6. I am using True Image Home 9.0 (build 3567)

Alexey, I stated earlier that the factory setup of the Toshiba Qosmio includes software called Qosmio Player to operate the cd/dvd and built in tv tuner without booting windows. This is installed in a hidden Linux partition that I am told is not even ordinarily visible to Linux. Please could you let me know whether this a possible cause of the cloning/imaging problems or if I can just ignore this.

I have also mentioned before that another owner of the same laptop as myself to whom I have spoken on the Toshiba Qosmio forum said he had problems with TI and that on speaking to Acronis support, you provided him with a special version of your software that was able to handle the complexities of this particular laptop. I would grateful if you could look into this, as this may be a problem you have already solved somewhere else.

Many thanks

Bill

 

Sadly I think you may be right Mark. I was just hoping for a simple way to back up my system before I made any further major changes. My laptop setup is quite complex and Media Centre can be temperamental, so as I have it running smoothly now I was keen to preserve it in case I need to go a back to it after adding additional media software.

I'm now convinced that the issue is my end, either with the nature of the Qosmio set up or some other problem, and not the TI software and hope that they can provide a solution.

Cheers

Bill

 

Alexey

Ref my previous post where I mentioned that another Toshiba Qosmio owner had problems with True Image. I have been in touch with him again regarding the fix he was given by Acronis and he told me that the person who resolved it at your end was a Mr Ivan Belinsky.

Perhaps my problem could be solved more quickly if you were to speak to Mr Belinsky.

Many thanks

Bill

 

I thought that there were 3 approaches: -

1. Clone : A sector by sector process that copies the entire contents of Source_Disk to Destination_Disk including Partitions, System and MBR

2. Image : A sector by sector process that copies the selected partition(s) from Source_Disk to Destination_Disk. If the partition contains a system then the system and MBR are copied to the Destination_Disk. For a Windows OS, if the physical area on the Destination_Disk is within the Boot Sector (usually the first physical partition on a disk) then the destination disk will be bootable.

3. Backup : A file-based process that copies data on a file-by-file basis (as opposed to a sector-by-sector basis) into a single backup file. Similar to (same as ? ) Windows backup. Appropriate for non-system files. System files that are in use at the time of the backup will not be backed-up.

Is my understanding correct?

 

Yes, at least without examining some of your details closely. Acronis was lumping your last 2 together under a functional description rather than discuss the operational differences provided by the two methods.

 

Hello once again Alexey

For your reference, I have replied to the email from Vadim about the previous Toshiba owner who had problems and the special version software provided by Ivan Belinsky in your support team. His supprt reference number regarding this issue was [Acronis #461748]

Bill

 

I have an eMachines and was also unable to clone that 2-partition drive. I finally deleted the restoration partition, then TI would clone properly.

 

Calling Alexey

I fear I am making no progress with the email support. Following my email giving details of your Mr Ivan Belinsky and the case no that referred to solving TI issues on another Toshiba Qosmio, I received this reply today:

I replied as follows:

Please could you therefore confirm that you understand that I am trying to either clone or image a drive for use on the same machine as the source drive, and confirm that you are nevertheless advising that I use the Windows System Preparation tool. If this is case then TI is not a viable solution for me to make regular back ups.

Kind regards

Bill

 

Bill, have a look at this thread (if you have not already done so), it might be an answer to your problem.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=130548

 

Thanks Mark, I hadn't seen that.

I'll give that a try later on and see if it works. I'm sure it's something fairly simple as the drive is always recognized ok and even starts to boot, so I just need to find out what it is that's stalling the boot process.

If that fails then I guess I'll have to give up on TI and try the other one.

Bill

 

Abraxus, I was just reminded by what I read in another post that your problem might arise from the enclosure that the external is in. If it is a 2.5 inch enclosure which relies on power from the usb port, then to power the drive fully, you may need the extra power pigtail, that comes with most 2.5 enclosures, to plug into a second usb port.

 

Thanks Chutsman, but after the first failed attempt I took no chances and used the extra connector, and just to eliminate any doubt I also tried with the drive in the secondary internal bay.

Thanks for pointing it out anyway.

Bill

 

I've split the last two posts off to their own thread here where that topic should get more attention.