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Duplicating Encrypted Hard Drive
Hi,
I have a hard drive that is encrypted by Microsoft BitLocker. The hard drive is running Windows 7 Ultimate OS inside the laptop and it runs fine except it hesitates to respond sometimes. When I checked System in Event Viewer, I saw some DISK related errors. So I decide to replace it with the new hard drive. BTW I could not fix the error using Seagate Seatools for Windows.
I decided to use Paragon Hard Disk Copy software to duplicate the hard drive so that I don't have to load OS and all other software and join the compute to the domain.
But Paragon stops copying with the prompt "There are errors ... do you want this errors to be fixed and continue?".
If I clicked YES, then it took hours, but eventually failed.
When I clicked No, then I saw an error "File system has allocation errors due to cross-linked files. Run OS build-in tools for checking and correcting this kind of errors.".
Is this because the original hard drive is encrypted by bit-locker?
After attaching this hard drive to my computer and tried open it in "My Computer", it was asking "Recovery Key" and I had to enter the key before starting HD duplication in Paragon.
So I am wondering if it is wise to do error checking on original laptop first and try to duplicate or I just can't duplicate encrypted HD?
I can always install OS from the scratch even though it takes hours to complete with all the software ...
I have a hard drive that is encrypted by Microsoft BitLocker. The hard drive is running Windows 7 Ultimate OS inside the laptop and it runs fine except it hesitates to respond sometimes. When I checked System in Event Viewer, I saw some DISK related errors. So I decide to replace it with the new hard drive. BTW I could not fix the error using Seagate Seatools for Windows.
I decided to use Paragon Hard Disk Copy software to duplicate the hard drive so that I don't have to load OS and all other software and join the compute to the domain.
But Paragon stops copying with the prompt "There are errors ... do you want this errors to be fixed and continue?".
If I clicked YES, then it took hours, but eventually failed.
When I clicked No, then I saw an error "File system has allocation errors due to cross-linked files. Run OS build-in tools for checking and correcting this kind of errors.".
Is this because the original hard drive is encrypted by bit-locker?
After attaching this hard drive to my computer and tried open it in "My Computer", it was asking "Recovery Key" and I had to enter the key before starting HD duplication in Paragon.
So I am wondering if it is wise to do error checking on original laptop first and try to duplicate or I just can't duplicate encrypted HD?
I can always install OS from the scratch even though it takes hours to complete with all the software ...
EncryptionHardwareWindows OS
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Christopher Jay Wolff
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Thanks for the points. BTW, taking an hour on restart is a typical symptom of cross-linked files. Your drive may be just fine, once cross-linked is repaired with chkdsk. So as I was trying to say above, Seatools and Paragon chose not to be able to repair cross-linked files. But chkjdsk will.
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@Chris
In fact, that was what I was trying to do. I went to the property of the C drive and perform a repair. It said that repair would being after I restart the laptop. When I restarted it, it was stuck at Logging off for a couple of hours and that is when I have decided to pull the plug.
In fact, that was what I was trying to do. I went to the property of the C drive and perform a repair. It said that repair would being after I restart the laptop. When I restarted it, it was stuck at Logging off for a couple of hours and that is when I have decided to pull the plug.
Smart move.
For the sake of the question thread, I am including a "note" at the bottom of the TechNet link from earlier.
Over and out.
For the sake of the question thread, I am including a "note" at the bottom of the TechNet link from earlier.
If you use the /f switch on an extremely large volume (for example, 70 GB) or a volume with a very large number of files (in the millions), Chkdsk can take a long time (perhaps days) to complete. The volume is not available during this time, since Chkdsk does not relinquish control until it is done. If the system volume is being checked during the startup process, the computer is not be available until the Chkdsk process is complete.
Over and out.
Repairing HD is certainly an option, but that will take a long time too and what if the problems are not repairable (like Seatools have determined). Besides this hard drive is screwed up so bad that restarting the computer/laptop takes an hour because it gets stuck at logging off.
So I have decided to install OS from the scratch and load all necessary application software.
Thanks all for your recommendations.