Bootable XP Hard Drive Clone
I have an old noisy drive that I am replacing in old Levono Tablet PC. I don't have software disks or even an optical drive to install everything fresh.
Are there steps I can take or better software that I can use to clone the noisy drive to the newer drive?
My attempts so far seem to copy the entire contents of the original drive but the target drive is does not boot. It hangs at the black screen with flashing underscore.
I was able to setup a fresh install of Windows on a 3rd drive which is where I'm running Acronis True Image.
It seems as though the drive needs some sort of blessing before it will boot.
Are there steps I can take or better software that I can use to clone the noisy drive to the newer drive?
My attempts so far seem to copy the entire contents of the original drive but the target drive is does not boot. It hangs at the black screen with flashing underscore.
I was able to setup a fresh install of Windows on a 3rd drive which is where I'm running Acronis True Image.
It seems as though the drive needs some sort of blessing before it will boot.
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Awesome. Thank You.
a. How do I do that?
b. Why wouldn't the cloning process accomplish that?
a. How do I do that?
b. Why wouldn't the cloning process accomplish that?
ASKER
@flubster - I don't have a boot cd or optical drive at all. I'm trying to go directly from the failing disk. It does appear to copy ALL files and does not give any error messages.
@vguzman - My previous post was to you. I will follow the mbrwizard link. So far I have not been able to make mbrfix or fixmbr work. Hopefully the Wizard will do the trick.
@vguzman - My previous post was to you. I will follow the mbrwizard link. So far I have not been able to make mbrfix or fixmbr work. Hopefully the Wizard will do the trick.
Doing it from within windows and doing it from the simplified Acronis emergency recovery boot is very different. The acronis boot clone is so much better. Load up acronis and look for an option to create an emergency rescue/boot disk.
What version do you have? On some versions, you could just boot using the acronis cd. In others, you create a cd from within the program.
What version do you have? On some versions, you could just boot using the acronis cd. In others, you create a cd from within the program.
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My creativity may be killing me here. I will attempt to define what I have and what I am doing more explicitly.
Drive 1 = Failing 100gb (noisy, possibly bearings) This has all client data and applications and boots fine. It has been removed.
Drive2 = Working 160gb drive with fresh windows and not much else. Has been installed and boots fine. Has Acronis True Image and is the Drive I am using to start the clone, but not the source or destination of the clone.
Drive 3 = Working 160gb drive. After clone, shows all data including hidden utility partition but does not boot.
Question: A PC can only have one Active Partition at a time. Is there something about starting the clone booted into a regular instance of XP that keeps the clone from being "activated' as an Active Partition (even when no other drives are plugged in)?
I am currently recloning the drive and will try the mbrwizard in a couple of hours when clone finishes.
Drive 1 = Failing 100gb (noisy, possibly bearings) This has all client data and applications and boots fine. It has been removed.
Drive2 = Working 160gb drive with fresh windows and not much else. Has been installed and boots fine. Has Acronis True Image and is the Drive I am using to start the clone, but not the source or destination of the clone.
Drive 3 = Working 160gb drive. After clone, shows all data including hidden utility partition but does not boot.
Question: A PC can only have one Active Partition at a time. Is there something about starting the clone booted into a regular instance of XP that keeps the clone from being "activated' as an Active Partition (even when no other drives are plugged in)?
I am currently recloning the drive and will try the mbrwizard in a couple of hours when clone finishes.
ASKER
Clarification: Drives 1 and 3 are connected via USB/SATA cables for clone process.
The failed boot occurs after clone when Drive 3 is installed in the drive bay and all USB cables are unplugged.
The failed boot occurs after clone when Drive 3 is installed in the drive bay and all USB cables are unplugged.
using acronis you can create bootable media whether it be on cd or a flash drive if you do not have an optical drive then you can create the media on a flash drive the directions for this can be found at the following link. http://kb.acronis.com/content/1526. I hope this helps
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I used acronis often to clone HDDs.
You should have at least one normal working Windows pc with USB ports and enough local disc space.
Get a USB to HDD adapter, so you can connect the old HDD directly via USB to your Win pc. Create an image of your old HDD, destination the local HDD of the Win pc. Then disconnect the old HDD from your USB adapter and connect the new HDD. Restore the image to the new HDD, put it into your tablet pc and that's it.
Worked fine for me several times.
If you have a Windows pc with enough appropriate internal connections (on the mainboard), then you could even connect both (old and new) HDDs internal and clone on the fly with Acronis.
Cheers
Indi
You should have at least one normal working Windows pc with USB ports and enough local disc space.
Get a USB to HDD adapter, so you can connect the old HDD directly via USB to your Win pc. Create an image of your old HDD, destination the local HDD of the Win pc. Then disconnect the old HDD from your USB adapter and connect the new HDD. Restore the image to the new HDD, put it into your tablet pc and that's it.
Worked fine for me several times.
If you have a Windows pc with enough appropriate internal connections (on the mainboard), then you could even connect both (old and new) HDDs internal and clone on the fly with Acronis.
Cheers
Indi
I used Acronis Migrate Easy
ASKER
Unbefrickenlievable...
The several clones that I have done since opening this question have resulted in the partitions cloning but not mounting. I don't really even know how to get them to mount. When I check them on my Mac the partitions don't mount but show up in Disk Utility. This is step backwards from where I was. The odd thing is that the clones that mounted (but didn't boot) were created with the Acronis TrueImage 11, but Acronis sw would reboot and go into a black screen with a simple ASCI screen showing the cloning progress. Hopefully this was the same result as creating an Acronis boot disk (which I was not able to do.) The last few tries did not trigger that reboot into ASCI screen, but instead gave me a regular Windows progress bar. I don't know what triggered the difference. But it is now making partitions that don't mount. Any thoughts?
MBRWizard saw these partitions, but did not make them bootable. BTW, this product seemed to have a checkbox for making a partition Active. It actually indicated that the partition was active.
I am trying Easus Backup Todo Home (free). Hopefully I will get a visible partitions at least.
The several clones that I have done since opening this question have resulted in the partitions cloning but not mounting. I don't really even know how to get them to mount. When I check them on my Mac the partitions don't mount but show up in Disk Utility. This is step backwards from where I was. The odd thing is that the clones that mounted (but didn't boot) were created with the Acronis TrueImage 11, but Acronis sw would reboot and go into a black screen with a simple ASCI screen showing the cloning progress. Hopefully this was the same result as creating an Acronis boot disk (which I was not able to do.) The last few tries did not trigger that reboot into ASCI screen, but instead gave me a regular Windows progress bar. I don't know what triggered the difference. But it is now making partitions that don't mount. Any thoughts?
MBRWizard saw these partitions, but did not make them bootable. BTW, this product seemed to have a checkbox for making a partition Active. It actually indicated that the partition was active.
I am trying Easus Backup Todo Home (free). Hopefully I will get a visible partitions at least.
ASKER
FINAL ANSWER:
Creating the Boot Disk in EaseUs Todo Disk Copy (free version) and doing a clone from there, got it done.
Although Acronis True Image was acting like it was booting from a baremetal non windows boot disk and doing the clone, it did not get the job done. No MBR fixes worked including MBR Wizard ($7) but it looked like good SW. As mentioned the clone claimed to be successful and all data appeared to be copied. Also the hidden Utility partition did work, just not the main partition.
Thank you ALL contributors. Wish I could assign more points.
Creating the Boot Disk in EaseUs Todo Disk Copy (free version) and doing a clone from there, got it done.
Although Acronis True Image was acting like it was booting from a baremetal non windows boot disk and doing the clone, it did not get the job done. No MBR fixes worked including MBR Wizard ($7) but it looked like good SW. As mentioned the clone claimed to be successful and all data appeared to be copied. Also the hidden Utility partition did work, just not the main partition.
Thank you ALL contributors. Wish I could assign more points.
You need to copy the MBR from old PC