Cloning A Hard Disk Drive for Upgrade

[Hew Jaz]

Hi Folks

Any advice on the following problem please?

I wanted to clone my existing hdd both for increased storage and also the possibility of the existing one failing.

Norton Ghost 10 was supposed to do the job, but it hasn't. I can see where I think the problem lies, but am unsure as to how to fix it.

The original drive is C: with as far as I'm aware no actual partitions - ie: it is simply listed as C: without D: or E; etc. However, there is 31MB which looks like a partition but without a letter. It says it is healthy, and has an EISA configuration while the remainder of the drive has GB NTFS and is also healthy.

After using Ghost to clone the drive, I assumed it would copy everything as in the original, but it hasn't cloned the EISA section. The result is that when I restart the PC using the new drive as the master, I get an error message telling me there is an error with the drive configuration. I don't seem to be able to access the EISA part - right clicking just brings up a help option, unlike the C: drive which offers formatting amongst other options.

I have googled the problem, but most sites refer to Win 200, while I'm running XP Home with SP2.

So I'm confused, and at a loss as to what my options are.

Any help would be appreciated.

Many thanks

HJ

[Keef]

That other partition is almost certainly a "restore" partition - it has the Win XP install routines, instead of them being on a CD. It's a frequent trick by PC manufacturers that saves them the cost of a blank CD to write your backup install routine, and screws you up for cloning the hard drive.

I solved it the easy way by buying a Win XP Pro install CD, and copying everything off the existing HD, knowing it wouldn't boot or run. When the PC's HD died, I spent a happy day installing, loading, and copying - and muttering at Mr IBM for saving a few pence for the blank CD. the "restore partition" was, of course, also dead because the HD was dead.

I've not tried it for years, but copying the whole HD to the new one, then running "SYS E:" (or whatever the new HD is) worked for me once upon a time.

[Mac the Knife]

Keef is right.

What you need is a raw sector-by-sector copy

Norton will apparently do this for you - see - http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ghost.nsf/docid/2001111413481325?Open&src=&docid=19 - with the appropriate switches.

I'm an Acronis feller myself, so can't give you any more info about Norton or Ghost.

:ok:

Mac

[PPRuNe Pop]

I agree with Mac. Acronis is outstanding and fits almost any situation.

You can even download it free if there is a promotion running. Worth a search on that.

[spannersatcx]

I've just installed a new HDD (SATA) using ghost 9, make sure you check the boxes to copy the MBR and expand to fit new HDD.

In my experience when you copy the old to new HDD you can't just get it to boot you have to do a repair installation of XP (booting from the cd), this doesn't entirely work, but it does make the system bootable and once in windows you can then fix what's not working.

It seems far easier to do an ide drive rather than a SATA though.:{

The only problem I have now is that when it boots it says this is not a genuine copy of XP, well I can assure you that it is. I've got to try and work out how to get rid of this annoying thing now? Any clues, is it a case of calling MS and getting a new cd key?:ugh:

[Mac the Knife]

Linux is easier

dd if=/dev/hdb of=/dev/hdc

and Bob's your uncle (none of that activation nonsense either)

:ok:

[Hew Jaz]

Thanks for the replies so far...

Ghost 10 doesn't seem to offer the option of the various switches unfortunately. It's set up more as a "click here" job.

I could try "sys c:" and see what happens although I'm not familiar with that option or the likely results or indeed what I should do..

I did make sure MBR box was checked, but I think the expand hdd one wasn't. I may have misunderstood the option, but I read it as expanding the existing drive to occupy the destination drives unalloctaed space, which I didn't think I wanted to do?

All advice accepted though...!

Thanks so far,

HJ
:ok:

[Mac the Knife]

"Ghost 10 doesn't seem to offer the option of the various switches unfortunately. It's set up more as a "click here" job."

Few GUI (Graphical User Interface) apps these days expose the command-line switches that can be used to execute them from a console*, but they're often there, just hard to find. Very useful, since they frequently let you do things that have not been incorporated into the GUI and far faster. It appears that Ghost 10 does in fact have a CLI (Command Line Interface), with the switches documented in some pokey cormer of their website.

I think these - http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/sunset-c2002kb.nsf/0/78ce796c73b409da85256ee500610bb0?OpenDocument&seg=hm&lg=en&ct=us
- apply to Ghost 10

*console - this means the command-line interface, like old-fashoned DOS - you know, the black screen with the C:/ prompt. Or [me@linuxbox me]$ _ ;)

As I said, I don't know Ghost, but I think that the -clone switches shown here - http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ghost.nsf/docid/1998082413392025 - are the ones you need.

I'm not being intentionally obscure, but this is sometimes the only way to make computers do what YOU want, not what some cute interface thinks you might want.

Mac

Edited to add: Radified have what looks like a very comprehensive guide to Norton's Ghost here - http://ghost.radified.com/

[spannersatcx]

I agree with Mac. Acronis is outstanding and fits almost any situation.

You can even download it free if there is a promotion running. Worth a search on that.

Brilliant, did what ghost couldn't do. Now have a new HDD, cloned from a previously full drive, booted straight away no problems, didn't have to reinstall xp which ghost couldn't handle. Best of all it was a free download.:)

[exeng]

Acronis disk image cloned the old disk very succesfully for me. The new disk booted up completely normally.

Regards
Exeng

[Hew Jaz]

Help! I searched for a free Acronis download and found one. But it won't install unless I register. I have tried registering but it fails to register and tells me to try again later. I have done so over a few days, but am still unable to register. Unfortunately I, and the install can not proceed any further.

Would anybody have a link to a working (freebie) download that I could try please? A pm is fine if preferred.

Manythanks

HJ
:{

[Hew Jaz]

At the moment, Acronis seems to be my friend! The installation problem was overcome by disabling the Firewall (seemed a bit strange to have to do so, but..) and thus registration was permitted.

Have cloned a hdd successfully and pc has booted (after a little tweaking with the boot order, but only minor).

Acronis has done what Ghost 10 was unable to do. Thanks for the advice on that.

Have another query now but am about to post in a new thread.

Thanks to all for info / advice.

HJ
:ok: