Robert in CA wrote:
I had the chronology wrong the clones were created before the battery change.

Let's review; we started out fixing the Sea Monkey problem and resolved it by
downloading from the Admin Account, we also fixed the boot menu problem
on the 780 then we addressed the backspace key problem and we spent allot
of time and effort and checked everything and still could not find why it's not
working. We then agreed to move to cloning where it was going along fine with
no problems on the 780 #1, and #2 then started #3 on the 8500. All went well, I
had rebooted to show the desktop and it was logging off when I received the not
genuine message. This came totally out of the blue. We checked and it's licensed
and then changed the battery and its not been the same since.

Obviously #3 did connect at the time otherwise I couldn't of cloned it but whatever
the battery did it's affected every drive I connected to it afterwards as you said.
That's why #3 wouldn't connect even though I had just taken it out of the 8500 and
why the WS external hd did connect because it was created long before the battery
change. That's also why the Patriot Key works because it isn't tainted.

So #3 and #4 needs some work so that the 8500 recognizes them. I can go into the
DOS screen and enter the commands but can I safely logoff?

I see what you're talking about now with the Active. Hmmm strange,..on the 8500 it's
in the Recovery partition and on the external Western Digital hd in I: partition. How
weird? I hadn't noticed that before.

The bottom item is the WD external hd with the Mrimgs for the 8500 so we don't want
to touch it! I was just showing you that it connects just as the Patriot Key does.

So do you want me to put #3 or #4 and enter the commands in DOS? Remember #3
is the only backup hd I have for the 8500 and #4 has no OS. So which do choose.

If I bought new hd's would they work since they haven't been tainted and we could start
fresh? That might be a better option.

Robert

You are allowed to re-clone.

If the attempt to clone to a particular drive didn't go well,
you can remove the contents.

For example, install disk to be "cleaned". Boot Macrium CD.
Open a Command Prompt window using the black icon in the lower left area.

diskpart
list disk === verify the target disk is present
select disk 0 === safety first, always check targeting
clean === this removes partition table, instantly
exit

Notice just how deadly diskpart (command line disk management thingy) is!!!
All it takes is one typing mistake, selecting the wrong disk, could
spell trouble. These are good reasons, for only a disk drive
needing erasure, to be present at the time.

This would cause the one and only disk drive to appear empty
and never before used. The 8500 UEFI BIOS should not be sniffing it
at this point, so it won't boot from it. It would complain there
was no boot drive.

If you have a recent-enough Macrium CD, there should be
a shutdown option around the lower-left area somewhere.
But it's not a very polite shutdown though (doesn't kick out CD).
You can open the tray and remove the CD, before selecting Shutdown,
because Macrium and similar CD constructs, they load the media
content into RAM and accessing the CD is then not necessary.

At this point, you can consider what your next step is. Remove
drive from 8500, place in enclosure ? Install 1TB original drive,
ready to be cloned ? Boot from CD, clone over ?

After the clone is finished, you can even switch over to the
Command Prompt window again, and use diskpart to "review" what
is what.

diskpart
list disk === to review in your own mind, what's in the machine

select disk 0 === examine each partition, check the Active flag
list partition
select partition 1
detail partition
select partition 2
detail partition

select disk 1 === examine each partition, check the Active flag
list partition
select partition 1
detail partition
select partition 2
detail partition

exit

The diskpart interface is a bore, that's for certain. But it
can give the info needed sometimes, before a next step.

These are examples of things I might do, if wishing to verify a
cloned item, before shutdown and moving my materials around
for the test-boot.

You have your note paper. You're keeping track of what each
drive is for, what step you're at currently.

You do the planning, I provide the mechanics... :-)

Paul