Unable to see Disk After Cloning

Hello All -

Version TI 10, build 4942
WinXP, SP2 on Presario Laptop

Completed clone to external hard drive within USB enclosure. Installed that hard drive into computer, replacing original disk

Now, when I boot up the laptop (without Acronis Boot CD), the laptop does not seem to do anything. I get a blinking - (dash) on the display and nothing else. It never gets to the Windows splash screen. If I were to boot with the boot cd, I can get into the TI program, but exiting out to boot into Windows, brings me to the same standstill prompt.

On the original drive, there is a jumper installed for master/slave, etc. The new hard drive (Western Digital Scorpio 80gig) does not need a jumper on it for master status.

Help / Thoughts anyone?

 

Is there other devices on the same ribbon cable, if yes, then you need to add the jumper for master in a dual drive setup.

The no jumper only applies if it is the sole device on the primary controller.

Since it is not working correctly, try applying the jumper as illustrated by their user manual.

 

pintalker,

Sounds like the new HD could be empty. With your old HD installed and the new HD connected via USB, does the new HD show in Windows Explorer? If so, does the file system data seem appropriate?

With the new HD installed, showing the blinking cursor on the monitor, can you see the new HD in the BIOS?

How much used space in your old HD?
How large is your old HD?
Do you have partitioning software?

 

After cloning to the USB enclosure, did you reboot into Windows with the USB drive still attached.

One rule of cloning is that Windows must never be allowed to see the clone drive while the original drive is still the boot drive.

If so, repeat the cloning and shut down and disconnect the USB drive before restarting Windows.

 

John,

I know you are familiar with this page.

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.htm

And it's what we should be doing. However in tests, I could clone a HD with TI and deliberately break both rules and the new HD would still boot. So it seems TI can get around these rules. On my hardware at least.

 

I recommend you get the demo of paragon justboot corrector, and boot up with that cd. This program will at least tell you if have a bootable windows os and whether your registry drive letters where changed during the restoration. When you get to the drive letter screen your windows system drive should be c: , if it's anything else than you won't be able to boot up. It's true that you can clone to an external drive from within windows with no problems, but on occasion the drive letters will change on certain configuration's.
I've never actually done a full clone to upgrade hard drives, I just make an image of my c: partition and restore that partition on the new hard drive active primary partition and I almost always get a good boot from the new hard drive, and I usually do it straight from the true image windows environment to an external usb hard drive, then I just swap hard drives. That might be something you want to try.

 

That's interesting. I haven't bothered testing these rules since in some cases they do apply.

I don't think it's TI that is getting around the rules since the problem when it does occur is due to how Windows assigns and remembers drive letters and is a Windows "feature."

When you got around the rules were you using an internal or external hard drive as the target for the cloning?

 

John,

I've never cloned to an external HD. I've read about too many problems.

I did my tests with TI and Ghost 9. The 2 rules certainly apply to Ghost 9. If you clone into a partition the new HD won't boot without fdisk /mbr. If you try to boot the new HD with the old HD attached, it won't boot. Again, this can be fixed by fdisk /mbr.

On the other hand, TI didn't obey these rules of cloning. Whatever I did, the new HD booted. That's good. But not every computer seems as compliant as the ones I used.

Dan Goodell has commented on this...

 

Hello pintalker,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Could you please create Acronis True Image Bootable CD (check chapter 10 "Creating Bootable Media" in the Acronis True Image 10.0 HomeUser's Guide for the instructions), boot you computer from it and perform the clone procedure?

If that does not solve the issue, please boot your computer from the original hard drive, create Acronis Report and Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post. Please keep both hard drives connected while creating Acronis Report.

Then submit a request for technical support. Attach all the collected file 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 a solution.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

PinTalker, if you determine that all the files were copied to the new drive, maybe a Repair Install of Windows would fix the problem. A repair install will keep all your programs and data intact.

 

pintalker,

Any news for us?

 

Sorry Gang - Have been out of the loop for awhile...

I am still having problems getting this clone done.. I ended up trying to re-clone the image to my external drive via USB, and am having a heck of a time now trying to make the image again.

Everytime I start the automatic clone wizard, it forces a reboot of the system. During that reboot, it analyzes the partition up to 100%, stalls for a minute or two, and gives a 'DISK NOT FOUND' message, press any key to reboot..

This is after I have added the disk (as drive E) within the Windows Disk Manager, and added thru the ATI 10 program as well. When I first started this, I had the same issue (disk not found) - then I got it to work(clone), although I'm not sure how and I ran into the other problem where it would not see it when the cloned disk was installed back into my laptop as the primary drive.

To answer earlier emails at least a little. I did try changing the jumper settings to every available position with no resolution.

I am going to try one more time tonite to try the clone process from the boot CD and see if I can get back to my original problem. If that doesnt go - I'll be sending files on over to Acronis to see if they can help.

Again - thanks to all, and I'll try and update when I can.

PinTalker

 

pintalker,

What you are attempting is notoriously unreliable. Cloning to an external HD. I suggest partitioning your external HD into 2 partitions. Write your C: drive image to the second partition. Put the external HD into your laptop and restore the image to the first partition.

 

Brian K -

I tried what you had last suggested - it worked, almost...

1) Created a backup image onto a (permanent) external USB HD
2) Installed newly formatted, blank HD into laptop
3) Restored image located on external USB drive to new/blank laptop HD
4) Running laptop from new drive (and typing this message) - all seems ok

I missed something somewhere, in that my 80g hard drive is only showing 40g total size (like my old installed drive).. Did I miss something in the restore/partitioning process? Can I reclaim that other 40g without having to re-restore the image backup? I am going to search the boards here and see if others ran into this (I would assume someone has), and see what they did, but at least I know that I could go this route if I ever need to do this again in the future...

BTW - JoneyJoe81 - Your suggestion regarding downloading the justboot corrector didnt help.. I downloaded the file, copied to CD - it installed the basic files (mouse drivers, etc) and then it just stalled and sat there - nothing to tell me that the program worked, didnt work etc.. I redownloaded from separate source, ran it again, and got the same results. I did not buy the product - thought I could eval/try without putting down the cash - glad at this point that I did not.

So thanks again to all - at least I got the 'clone' completed, just now have to figure out how to reclaim the other 50% of my drive..

-pintalker

 

pintalker,

Good news. When you look in Disk Management does your HD size show 40 GB total or 40 GB for the C: drive and around 36 GB of Unallocated Space?

 

Correct, ~40g of used at ~40g unallocated - Can I partition that unallocated area without screwing up and erasing the whole disk? Or, can I resize the original partition to claim that space (again, without erasing the original)?

I still have deleted my backup file from the other external HD and have not erased the original laptop HD, so if I do goof, I still have something to go back to...

 

Good. You can do either. You need Partition Magic or DDS for the latter. I prefer the former approach.

 

I forgot you can resize the partition by using the Secure Zone. Someone will let you know how it is done.

 

Use the Manage Acronis Secure Zone Wizard to create a small temporary Secure Zone (SZ) in the unallocated space on your drive.

Once the SZ has been created, use the Manage Acronis Secure Zone Wizard once more to remove the SZ and opt to assign the space it used to the main partition.

Reboot your system and you should now find you have eliminated the unallocated space.

 

All - Just thought I would close the loop here - I am happy to report that all is well.. I was able to reclaim the unallocated space per MTX's help, and am having zero problems with the backup image.. Thanks to all for your time.

pintalker

 

How Do I Claim Unallocated Space? Got it from another post link below

Clicks Here