TRUE IMAGE 9.1, Disc Clone, Problems

Hi,
I have tried cloning a 60GB SATA 2.5" HDD to a 320GB 2.5" HDD. The source disc is on a DELL Inspiron 6400 laptop running Win XP SP2 & the destination disc is housed in a 2.5" caddy connected to the USB ports. When I run the cloning app. everything seems o.k. Destination disc appears to be partitioned o.k. with primary partition showing as 281GB etc. However when I tell the program to proceed (reboot) it momentarily flashes up that the process was cancelled. However it still reboots the laptop and seems to carry out the cloning operation o.k. Now when I put the cloned disc in to the laptop I just get a blue screen warning of hard disc problems. SO then I take out the cloned disc and attach it to another desktop P.C. using the USB caddy. The disc does not show up on My Computer but it does show up on Disk Management. (Healthy but no format). HOWEVER, the worse part is, that the disc now has a primary partition of only 58GB not 281GB. No matter what I then try, I can not find the missing space. It does not show up as unallocated using Acronis Disc Director nor on XP Disk management. I can not get the full 320 GB back.This has now happened twice on 2 new 320GB Toshiba Drives. Can anyone tell me what may be going wrong and how can I get my disc space back?
Thank you.
Regards

 

That's a very common problem where the larger drive is only the size of the smaller drive after cloning. You have a couple of options:

1. Make the bootable Rescue Media cd and do a "reverse clone" where you put the NEW drive into the laptop and the original in the external case. Boot with the cd and do the clone.

2. Again using the bootable cd, make a Backup Image, instead of a clone, and store that Image on another external drive. Swap the original for the new drive in the laptop and restore the Image to the new drive.

To get back the disc space, follow this proceedure:
================================
If you have already cloned/restored your drive and just want to regain the missing (unallocated) space proceed as follows:
1. Make the bootable True Image Rescue cd, if you have not already done so.
2. Boot with it and from its main menu choose Manage Acronis Secure Zone.
3. Create an SZ of any size less than the missing unallocated space. Do not accept the default to activate the Startup Recovery Manager.
4. OK back to the main menu.
5. Go right back into the Manage ASZ.
6. Choose to Delete the SZ.
7. When asked what to do with the space, accept the default to append it to the existing partition.
8. Back out to the Main Menu, Exit the process, quickly remove the CD and reboot the system (if it doesn't self reboot).
====================================

 

Hi DwnNdrty,

I will try that tomorrow. Just 2 questions before I do. Since the failed clone attempt, I have deleted the partition and re-partitioned (Only 58GB available) and formatted the NEW (clone) drive. Will the recovery disc still work in this case? And should I try get the space back first and then try the "Backup image" process or would I do the "Backup image" process first and then try get the space back?

Thanks for your help.

 

Yes, the bootable True Image Rescue cd doesn't care what is on the hard drive. Just make sure you laptop's boot priority is set so it will boot from the optical drive ahead of the hard drive.

In either the Backup or Clone processes, True Image will wipe out everything on the Destination drive, so it doesn't matter if you've created a partition on it or not - it's going to wipe it out.

 

rollo66,

Annoying isn't it. You now have a small HD when yesterday you had a large HD. Courtesy of the way Dell install their MediaDirect. Your HD has been truncated to 60 GB. And it's happened on two HDs.

This thread explains what has happened.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=167401

Let me know if you would like specific advice. Basically you need to zero LBA-3 on both large HDs and remove the HPAs. Then you need to clone in a way so it doesn't happen again.

 

Ahhh ... so it's one of those Dell Media Direct situations again ... in that case follow what BrianK pointed out.

 

GroverH has a section on how to avoid the Dell problem when you clone again.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/supportfiles/gh_acronis_partition_resize.pdf

You can either change the Dell MBR or zero LBA-3 on the old HD before you clone.

Good luck. I'll be out of town for a few days but you should have it fixed before I return.


PS.... I suggest performing a reverse clone. New HD mounted internally (leave it unpartitioned), old HD in the USB enclosure and boot to the TI CD. Remove the external HD before the first boot to the new HD.

 

Thanks for all the input and help. There is quite a bit of reading for me to get through to ensure I do this job properly and since the owner of the laptop requires it in a couple of hours and will be away for the next 2 weeks, it is probably best to let her take it away with old 60GB drive in there. When she gets back in 2 weeks we will have a go at installing/cloning her new larger hard drive. Will let you know how I get on then. ( If this thread hasn't been closed)

Thanks again.