How I did a successful clone on my Sony laptop

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by Fourdogs, Sep 6, 2006.

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  1. Fourdogs

    Fourdogs Registered Member

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    This is my attempt to help others who may want to do the same.

    First, let me say that ATI worked like a dream. My Sony PCG-K33 came with a Hitachi 60 GB 4500 RPM hard disk. After 1 1/2 years, I had very little room left. I bought a Seagate 120 GB drive, 5400 RPM, 8 MB cache to clone my old drive to. I did much reading, before buying ATI and found that it was highly recommended from several sources, so I bought it and a Adaptec 2 1/2 inch USB 2.0 HD enclosure. Before trying to do the job myself, I asked for tips and suggestions on this board. There were a few replies, but none really helpful and the manual covers so many situations, that do not apply to my need, that it is very confusing. This is how I cloned my drive. IMPORTANT: Please see my addition an the bottom of this post.

    1. Installed ATI on the laptop.

    2. I placed the new 120 GB HD in the USB enclosure. (DO NOT initialize or format the drive before cloning).

    3. I booted my laptop and shut down all running programs in the system tray. I had Norton AV, Webroot Spysweeper, ZoneAlarm Pro, and Norton GoBack. It would be best to disconnect from the internet before closing your AV and firewall. In my case, I just had to slide the switch that disconnects me from my wireless router.

    4. I launched ATI in windows.

    5. I plugged in the USB enclosure containing the new Seagate HD.

    6. I clicked the "clone" option and followed the prompts to clone the old drive to the new one. (One reboot required, it told me when).

    7. It took approximately 45 minutes for the cloning operation to complete. As soon as it finished, I disconnected the USB external drive enclosure and shut down my laptop.

    8. Next I removed the new Seagate HD from the USB enclosure and put it aside.

    9. I removed the battery from the laptop and swapped out the two drives.

    10. When I booted my laptop with the new HD in it, ATI put up a blue screen that said it was assigning a drive letter to the new drive, (remember that the new HD was not initialized or formatted), and my laptop said that it "found new hardware", then said "the new drive has been installed and is ready to use".

    Smooth as silk and no problems at all. Thanks, Acronis. It could not have been easier and I now have double the HD space that I had before.

    ADDITION TO THIS POST:

    I was using ATI 9.0 Home. Be sure to DL and install the 3677 patch from the Acronis web site.
     
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2006
  2. Tommy

    Tommy Registered Member

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    Thanks for that as i am planing to change my HD in my Sony PCG-K23 as well in the next time. Running out of space. How much did you pay for the Seagate 120GB drive; i think it shout fit into my Vaio as well. Here in Argentine they have incredible high prices.
     
  3. atrader

    atrader Registered Member

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    Did you do a default ATI install (including management console) or the workstation only ?

    I'm trying to find out how to clone my laptop (windows 2000) onto another laptop running windows XP. I posted
    a message in the forum and also sent a inquiry to Acronis support. However, so far, I got no replies at all ...

    Thanks !!

    ATrader
     
  4. bottom

    bottom Registered Member

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    @atrader
    when You do "cloning" the destination hd will be deleted/overwritten !
    a destination system "running win xp" would be completely destroyed,
    after cloning however You could (try to) update win2000 to XP again,
    but that's not really recommended...

    @Fourdogs
    don't understand why point (10=ati assigning drive letters) should be necessary ?
    did You have startupmanager/secure zone installed on the old hd ?


    bottom
     
  5. Fourdogs

    Fourdogs Registered Member

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    The seagate HD was $159 USD at Circuit City. This week, Office depot has a 120 GB Western Digital HD on sale for $89.99 USD, after rebate. In store price is $139.99 USD, then a $50 rebate. The seagate has a 5 year warranty, 1 year on the western digital. My sony has a panel on the bottom that gave me direct access to the hard disk. Any 2 1/2 inch IDE drive should work for you. I hope this helps you.
     
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2006
  6. Fourdogs

    Fourdogs Registered Member

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    No, I did not. I had the standard, default installation of ATI installed. I think that it was because the destination HD had never been initialized or formatted before the cloning operation. I could be wrong about that. Maybe ATI help could explain it. I used the default option on ATI, and it is still working perfectly, after three days.
     
  7. Fourdogs

    Fourdogs Registered Member

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    Default install of ATI from disk. I'm not sure how what you want to do will work out unless both laptops are identical. Cloning includes all settings for hardware and drivers. You may end up with a laptop that is unusable. Just my opinion.
     
  8. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    You opinion is 100% correct!
     
  9. dld

    dld Registered Member

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    Fourdogs... You cloned from within Windows. Do you think the cloning would have worked equally well for you had you cloned using the Disaster Recovery CD?
     
  10. Fourdogs

    Fourdogs Registered Member

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    Sorry, I have no idea. This is the first time that I have used ATI to do anything. Considering all of the problems that I see posted on this board, I was really happily surprised that it went as well as it did. I hope that I never have to use disaster recovery. I am not a ATI guru, just a happy user. There seems to be many knowledgable others on this board. I hope that one of them can help you. Good luck.
     
  11. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    Based on what I've read on this forum, I'd say that the Recovery CD is even more likely to work if it recognizes your hardware. Never done either though.
     
  12. dld

    dld Registered Member

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    I've cloned using the Recovery CD with no problem. I've never tried cloning from within Windows although I have tried creating an image from within Windows. I would think that in both cloning and creating an image from within Windows the computer will have to reboot before finishing the operation. By cloning and image creation using the Recovery CD you avoid the computer rebooting.
     
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