Issues booting from Windows XP clone (IDE - SATA)

Hi guys,

Thought I'd running the following scenario I'm experiencing past you all and see if there is a solution!

I'm currently trying to attempt the following clone:
-Windows XP SP2 NTFS 40gig IDE HDD -> 250gb SATA HDD

I'm performing the clone from boot utilising True Image on 'auto' mode, and the clone reports that it is successful.

However, the next part is the issue! I disconnect the power cable from the old IDE HDD and turn the PC back on (so the SATA drive is the only drive connected and powered), the Windows XP loading screen appears then goes black and the PC restarts, and will continue this rebooting process (basically looping) without ever successfully loading into XP (I can't access XP via Safe Mode either).

I suspect there is an issue occurring, either with the fact that I've changed to a SATA based drive, or that the original partition has been extended to 250gb?

I do not believe there is an issue with Windows recognising the SATA drive as it is initially booting, and I already have a DVD-RW drive connected via SATA on the motherboard?

Any help would be muchly appreciated!

 

Hi and welcome to this forum,

I do it in the same way like you have done.
With one exception: I choose the cloning with MANUAL mode.
I leave the partition size as original.
After successful reboot I change the Partition size with DiskDirector.

And you don't change anything else from the hardware?
What is your hardware? (Mainboard, CPU)

 

This is a simple case of "partition ID drive letter change" . More than likely your source windows xp saw and ID'ed the sata drive and has given it a drive letter. This "partition ID" drive letter remains in the registry of the source windows.

When you restored windows to the sata drive, the windows "mounted devices" drive letter is c: (just like it was on the IDE drive) but the partition ID drive letter on the SATA drive remained the same (it didn't get changed to c: during the restoration)

example: source hard drive windows mounted device c: / partition ID c:
sata h:

restored drive windows mounted device c: / partition ID h:

The only thing that can fix this is a "boot corrector", it can change the partition ID drive letter in less than 5 minutes on a non-booting drive.
The other fix is to try and do a sector by sector clone.

All my external drives do double duty as spare drives which I can use as emergency restored drives at a moments notice, I've encountered this problem many times and just use a "boot corrector" to fix the problem. It works everytime.

You can use the free "savepart" boot cd to verify your drive letters, it's going to be the "spariso.zip" file that you need to download and burn to a cd.

 

@jonyjoe81
How do you declare this:
Darkscreamz disconnect the old drive and starts the PC.
Windows starts (!) and arrived the Windows start screen...

If there is a drive letter mismatch the message would be: NTLDR not found.

This is not a drive letter problem.

EDIT:

Cloning doesn't change registry entries. If though 'cloning' is not CLONING.

EDIT2:
The boot.ini is responsible for starting from the right partition.
There are three parameters important: disk, rdisk and partition
e.g.:
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

 

If you want a cloning example, you might try the procedures listed in My guide to Manual Cloning using the TI Rescue CD. This is work in progress but you might find it helpful. IMHO cloning is a less desirable & higher risk choice.

If you choose the cloning procedures, your best chance of success is to
1. Move the good original drive to either an external enclosure or to another internal slot as slave.
2. Attach new blank drive in same position as original.
3. Boot from the TI Rescue CD.
4. Perform clone . Remove CD and shut down.
5. Remove original drive .
6 Reboot with only new cloned drive attached.
7. After a successful booting with the new drive, old drive can be attached later as an addititional drive.

Other suggested reading:
clone or resize comparison.
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1299861&postcount=9

 

When this happens (Windows starts loading and then reboots) it is usually caused by a missing driver. Note that this is NOT a drive letter change; the symptom of a drive letter change is that Windows completes the boot process to the login screen, and then stops at a blue desktop without ever logging into the user profile.

It still could be the wrong SATA driver for the new hard disk. The first part of the boot process uses the PC BIOS to talk to the disk. Eventually Windows switches to its disk drivers, and that's where it may be getting lost.

darkscreamz: Does your motherboard BIOS have a setting for an "IDE Compatibility" mode? If so, switch the disk controller to this mode and then reboot. After you get Windows running, install the SATA driver in Windows, or use Windows Update to find it. Then reboot after switching the BIOS setting back to "AHCI" mode.

 

Do you know for certain that the SATA drivers were installed for the SATA hard drive in XP prior to attempting the clone?

Do you have a current backup image of the drive? If not, it's a good idea to create one just in case you end up needing it later.

Since you still have the original IDE drive, you could do the following:

1. Boot to the TI CD and reinitialize the SATA hard drive using the Add New Disk wizard. You could also use DD or any other partitioning software to clear the drive of any existing partitions. You don't need to create any partitions, just leave the drive as unallocated space.
2. Reinstall the IDE drive.
3. Disconnect the SATA drive.
4. Reboot to Windows normally (Windows should start okay).
5. Shutdown the computer.
6. Reconnect the SATA drive.
7. Reboot the computer normally from the IDE drive.
8. Windows should find the new SATA drive and install it.
9. Reboot the computer into Windows and then shutdown.
10. Boot back to the TI CD and perform the clone again.
11. Remove (or disconnect) the IDE drive.
12. See if the SATA drive will boot properly.

 

I've done several IDE to SATA restores and it has always worked perfectly and I've never installed SATA drivers or asked me for SATA drivers (if this was some sort of RAID configuration then that would be plausible that drivers are needed). The hard drive started to boot up, that means the motherboard recognizes the SATA drive. If the motherboard drivers where installed previously in windows, then they should be already present and will be available on the restored windows. From what I read, the SATA drive was already connected previously and windows xp had no problems recognizing it, that tells me the SATA drivers are already installed.

These are the directions to check the drive letters.

You can use the "savepart" utility, it is now available as a standalone ISO file. Just download the file that says "spartiso.zip" and use nero or imgburn to burn the ISO to a CD.

1.)bootup with the savepart cd, type savepart at command prompt.
2.)next choose "update windows2000/xp/vista registry" doubleclick on it.
3.)next doubleclick on the "disk number 0" this is usually the hard drive that has your partitions.
4.)next click on the partition that has your system (make a note of the drive letter, this is your mounted device drive letter) most default installations it will be "c".
5.)the next screen is blue and has directorys, here choose the "WINDOWS" directory and doubleclick on it.
6.)On next screen just double click on the partition shown.
7.)It'll take you back to the screen on step 4, doubleclick on the "C" partition.
8.)Finally your in the "drive letter to affect this partition" box. This is where it will show you the "partition ID drive letter" it should be the same as the "mounted device drive letter".

If these 2 drive letters don't match, then you hard drive will not boot.
http://www.partition-saving.com/