Unable to backup clone dual boot XP Vista

Hi,

I have a dual boot PC with XP on the 1st partition and Vista on the 2nd (there is also a hidden IBM partition). I've tried both backing up and cloning the drive. When I restore the drive to a new hard disk, everything is successfully created but the boot loader cannot find the OS files in both partitions.

At this point I now have NO WAY of successfully backing up and restoring this disk in the event of a disk failure. Does anyone know of an alternative? Unfortunately I just paid for the True Image software....

Cheers,
Michael

 

You see this behavior from a straight clone of physical device A to device B?

Blue

 

Hello Michael,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please be aware that none of the currently available Acronis True Image versions supports Windows Vista. We will implement the support for this operating system as soon as it will be released officially.

Please also note that using Acronis True Image you will surely be able to backup\clone partition where Windows Vista is installed. Even if this partition has some kind of unsupported or corrupted file system (see this previous thread for details). However, we cannot guarantee that this particular Windows installation will remain bootable\function normally after you restore the backup or clone the hard drive.

Could you please clarify whether you have tried to clone your hard drive using the bootable rescue media?

Please remember that in order to clone or migrate your Windows system to a different hardware, you should first prepare Windows using Microsoft System Preparation Tool (Sysprep)http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/faq.html#30

Please note that we recommend you to unplug one of the hard drives right after the disk cloning process has been finished, since keeping both original and cloned hard drives connected might cause different boot or drive letter assignment problems.

What exact boot loader do you have?

If you clone your hard drive in rescue mode and the problem persists, please create Acronis Report in the way described below:

- Download and run Acronis Report Utility;
- Select the "Create Bootable Floppy" option;
- Insert a blank floppy disk in the A: drive and proceed with creation of the bootable floppy;
- Boot the computer from this diskette and wait for report creation process to finish;
- Collect the report file from the floppy.

Please keep both source and destination hard drives connected while creating Acronis Report.

Please create an account, then log in and submit a request for technical support. Attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with the solution.

Thank you.
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Tatyana Tsyngaeva

 

Hi,

No I have not yet tried cloning just using the acronis CD. However I have noticed another thread where someone may have had success with this. I will try it and see what happens.

If I recall correctly, True Image Home doesn't allow partition resizing during restore and since I'm trying to restore to a larger hard disk, I have to use something like Partition Magic after the restore is complete and I've booted into XP.

Cheers,
Michael

 

Hello Michael,

Could you please clarify what boot loader you use exactly?

Please also note that Acronis True Image 9.0 Home allows you to change the size of partitions during both disk cloning and disk\partition image restoration operations. You can find more information on how to perform these actions in sections 6.3.8 and 12.4 of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home User's Guide.

Thank you.
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Alexey Popov

 

Hi Alexey,

1) The boot loader in use is the Vista boot loader.

2) I tried using the Acronis boot CD to do the clone and I increased all the partition sizes at the same time. The clone work fine and the first partition (XP) booted perfectly. The second (Vista) partition booted and brought up the login screen, but after typing in my password it didn't get any further and over 10 mins started repsonding with errors.

My guess is the Vista (NTFS) doesn't like Acronis changing it's partition size. Any guidance in this regard would be appreciated!!

Regards,
Michael

 

Hi Alexey,

I just did another two clones using the boot CD.

1st) Cloned everything and increased the size of the XP and Vista partitions. XP booted fine. After the login screen, Vista gave a rundll32.exe error (same as before).

2nd) Cloned everthing "as is" - i.e. no partition resizing. Xp booted fine. Vista booted a little more slowly than normal but appeared to have to install drivers for the new hard disk. After a reboot, it seemed fine!!

So.... True Image appears to cause problems with Vista when resizing partitions.

Regards,
Michael

 

Hello Michael,

Please accept our apologies for the delay with the response.

As Alexey mentioned before we cannot guarantee that Windows Vista installation will remain bootable\function normally after you restore the backup or clone the hard drive since none of the currently available Acronis True Image versions supports Windows Vista. We will implement the support for this operating system as soon as it will be released officially.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

Hi Aleksandr,

I can appreciate the Acronis "official" position however I'm very interested in getting this working (since I currently don't have a satisfactoy backup solution) and would be more than happy to sign an NDA and help develop the product. I'm already a beta tester for a number of different products.

Feel free to send me a private message via the forums or go to www.smithers.name and complete the contact form.

Cheers,
Michael

 

Hello Michael,

We are very sorry for the delay with the response.

Please find the detailed instructions on how to become Acronis official beta-tester at the respective page of the Acronis web site.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov