HD Cloning Help Needed - Argh!

On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:58:03 -0700, EricG
wrote:

LOL - You're all going to be very upset with me!

What's the most basic question you should ask before any other when dealing
with electronic equipment? IS IT PLUGGED IN?

Apparently, in shuffling hard drives last night, I pulled the cable from the
motherboard. As soon as I plugged it back in, I could boot from my original
hard drive.

However, when I tried to boot from the new drive, I got a message like "No
Operating System", and nothing happened. So now I have another mystery to
solve, and if you have any ideas about why it's telling me that, please chime
in.

Currently, I have both drives plugged in:

Old Drive:
System Drive (C 13.9 GB
Data Drive (D 92.8 GB

New Drive:
System Drive (H 75.6 GB
Data Drive (I 502 GB

The old system partition is using 14,634,000,384 bytes.
The new system partition is using 14,587,978,424 bytes.

When I attached the new drive by itself on the Master connection, with cable
select, I got the "No Operating System" message...

I have done a cursory look, and it appears all the files on both partitions
are there.

Are there any simple reasons why the new drive is not bootable?

Run Disk Management, and check the status of the H: partition. If it's
not active, make it active.


Thanks again,

Eric

"Brian A." gonefish'n@afarawaylake wrote in message ...
EricG wrote:

When I attached the new drive by itself on the Master connection, with
cable select, I got the "No Operating System" message...


If the drive is detected then it sounds like a missing or corrupt startup sector and or MBR (Master Boot Record). You use the
fixboot and/or fixmbr command in the Recovery console to correct it.

Missing MBR code is also a good possibilty. Some BIOS's incorrectly report
"No Operating System", if the MBR boot code is not present. (usually meaning
the end of sector sig).

"Brian A." gonefish'n@afarawaylake wrote in message ...
EricG wrote:

When I attached the new drive by itself on the Master connection, with
cable select, I got the "No Operating System" message...


If the drive is detected then it sounds like a missing or corrupt startup sector and or MBR (Master Boot Record). You use the
fixboot and/or fixmbr command in the Recovery console to correct it.

Missing MBR code is also a good possibilty. Some BIOS's incorrectly report
"No Operating System", if the MBR boot code is not present. (usually meaning
the end of sector sig).

I checked in the Disk Management utility, and it said the drive was Active
and "Healthy"

I ran the error checking tool and it found no problems.

Eric

"Bill Blanton" wrote:

"EricG" wrote in message ...

However, when I tried to boot from the new drive, I got a message like "No
Operating System", and nothing happened. So now I have another mystery to
solve, and if you have any ideas about why it's telling me that, please chime
in.

Does the BIOS report the correct size of the new drive?

Open disk management and do a right mouse click on the new system/boot
partition. Select "Mark partition as active" if that option is available. Shut down,
recable without the source drive connected, and try again.

I checked in the Disk Management utility, and it said the drive was Active
and "Healthy"

I ran the error checking tool and it found no problems.

Eric

"Bill Blanton" wrote:

"EricG" wrote in message ...

However, when I tried to boot from the new drive, I got a message like "No
Operating System", and nothing happened. So now I have another mystery to
solve, and if you have any ideas about why it's telling me that, please chime
in.

Does the BIOS report the correct size of the new drive?

Open disk management and do a right mouse click on the new system/boot
partition. Select "Mark partition as active" if that option is available. Shut down,
recable without the source drive connected, and try again.

Now all I have to do is find my recovery disks that I made years ago. I know
they're here somewhere...

My Vaio didn't come with a Windows CD. It had me make the CD instead.

As soon as I find them I'll give your suggestions a try and get back to you
with the results.

Thanks for helping,

Eric

"Brian A." wrote:

LOL - You're all going to be very upset with me!

What's the most basic question you should ask before any other when
dealing with electronic equipment? IS IT PLUGGED IN?


It's not as basic as it should be some times whether it's the power or
data cable.

Apparently, in shuffling hard drives last night, I pulled the cable from
the motherboard. As soon as I plugged it back in, I could boot from my
original hard drive.


Yep, if the data cable isn't connected there won't be any drives to
detect.

However, when I tried to boot from the new drive, I got a message like "No
Operating System", and nothing happened. So now I have another mystery to
solve, and if you have any ideas about why it's telling me that, please
chime in.

Currently, I have both drives plugged in:

Old Drive:
System Drive (C 13.9 GB
Data Drive (D 92.8 GB

New Drive:
System Drive (H 75.6 GB
Data Drive (I 502 GB

The old system partition is using 14,634,000,384 bytes.
The new system partition is using 14,587,978,424 bytes.

When I attached the new drive by itself on the Master connection, with
cable select, I got the "No Operating System" message...

I have done a cursory look, and it appears all the files on both
partitions are there.

Are there any simple reasons why the new drive is not bootable?


If the drive is detected then it sounds like a missing or corrupt startup
sector and or MBR (Master Boot Record). You use the fixboot and/or fixmbr
command in the Recovery console to correct it.

In the RC type the below commands pressing enter after each:
fixmbr
fixboot
exit

The PC will reboot and should boot to your desktop.

Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;314058

How to enable an administrator to log on automatically in Recovery Console
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;312149

How to install the Windows Recovery Console
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;216417

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;307654

How to remove Windows Recovery Console
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;555032



--

Brian A. Sesko
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

Now all I have to do is find my recovery disks that I made years ago. I know
they're here somewhere...

My Vaio didn't come with a Windows CD. It had me make the CD instead.

As soon as I find them I'll give your suggestions a try and get back to you
with the results.

Thanks for helping,

Eric

"Brian A." wrote:

LOL - You're all going to be very upset with me!

What's the most basic question you should ask before any other when
dealing with electronic equipment? IS IT PLUGGED IN?


It's not as basic as it should be some times whether it's the power or
data cable.

Apparently, in shuffling hard drives last night, I pulled the cable from
the motherboard. As soon as I plugged it back in, I could boot from my
original hard drive.


Yep, if the data cable isn't connected there won't be any drives to
detect.

However, when I tried to boot from the new drive, I got a message like "No
Operating System", and nothing happened. So now I have another mystery to
solve, and if you have any ideas about why it's telling me that, please
chime in.

Currently, I have both drives plugged in:

Old Drive:
System Drive (C 13.9 GB
Data Drive (D 92.8 GB

New Drive:
System Drive (H 75.6 GB
Data Drive (I 502 GB

The old system partition is using 14,634,000,384 bytes.
The new system partition is using 14,587,978,424 bytes.

When I attached the new drive by itself on the Master connection, with
cable select, I got the "No Operating System" message...

I have done a cursory look, and it appears all the files on both
partitions are there.

Are there any simple reasons why the new drive is not bootable?


If the drive is detected then it sounds like a missing or corrupt startup
sector and or MBR (Master Boot Record). You use the fixboot and/or fixmbr
command in the Recovery console to correct it.

In the RC type the below commands pressing enter after each:
fixmbr
fixboot
exit

The PC will reboot and should boot to your desktop.

Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;314058

How to enable an administrator to log on automatically in Recovery Console
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;312149

How to install the Windows Recovery Console
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;216417

How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;307654

How to remove Windows Recovery Console
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;555032



--

Brian A. Sesko
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

Well, I finally solved my hard disc cloning problem. I downloaded the trial
version of Casper 5 and did a clone of my 120 GB drive onto my 650 GB drive.
Because it's a trial version, Casper was not enabled for enlarging any of the
partitions, so got an exact duplicate, along with a lot of unallocated space.
The best news was that the 650 GB drive booted right away! No problems of
any kind.

Then I downloaded a freeware disc partition program called EASEUS Partition
Master, which allowed me to move the data partition to the right about 60 GB,
expand my system partition, and then take up the rest of the unallocated
space with the data partition.

It's amazing what you can do for free. I'll definitely end up buying Casper
5 because of this experience. I was very disappointed in the Acronis
software for failing to perform, and also in the Acronis support, which was
nonexistent unless I wanted to pay for it.

Thanks for all your help everyone!

Eric

"Anna" wrote:


The disk-cloning program we use nearly exclusively these days is the Casper
5 program. For a variety of reasons which I won't go into here & now we find
it a superior product and generally prefer it to the Acronis True Image
program. On the other hand the ATI v11 program you already have is a sound
program and also highly recommended by many users.

Under ordinary circumstances I would recommend you download/install the
trial version of the Casper 5 program and undertake the disk-cloning
operation with that program. But obviously that's not an option since
there's no way to install the trial version of that program (at least for
the moment) on a non-bootable HDD.

Well, I finally solved my hard disc cloning problem. I downloaded the trial
version of Casper 5 and did a clone of my 120 GB drive onto my 650 GB drive.
Because it's a trial version, Casper was not enabled for enlarging any of the
partitions, so got an exact duplicate, along with a lot of unallocated space.
The best news was that the 650 GB drive booted right away! No problems of
any kind.

Then I downloaded a freeware disc partition program called EASEUS Partition
Master, which allowed me to move the data partition to the right about 60 GB,
expand my system partition, and then take up the rest of the unallocated
space with the data partition.

It's amazing what you can do for free. I'll definitely end up buying Casper
5 because of this experience. I was very disappointed in the Acronis
software for failing to perform, and also in the Acronis support, which was
nonexistent unless I wanted to pay for it.

Thanks for all your help everyone!

Eric

"Anna" wrote:


The disk-cloning program we use nearly exclusively these days is the Casper
5 program. For a variety of reasons which I won't go into here & now we find
it a superior product and generally prefer it to the Acronis True Image
program. On the other hand the ATI v11 program you already have is a sound
program and also highly recommended by many users.

Under ordinary circumstances I would recommend you download/install the
trial version of the Casper 5 program and undertake the disk-cloning
operation with that program. But obviously that's not an option since
there's no way to install the trial version of that program (at least for
the moment) on a non-bootable HDD.

"Anna" wrote:

The disk-cloning program we use nearly exclusively these days is the
Casper
5 program. For a variety of reasons which I won't go into here & now we
find
it a superior product and generally prefer it to the Acronis True Image
program. On the other hand the ATI v11 program you already have is a
sound
program and also highly recommended by many users.

Under ordinary circumstances I would recommend you download/install the
trial version of the Casper 5 program and undertake the disk-cloning
operation with that program. But obviously that's not an option since
there's no way to install the trial version of that program (at least for
the moment) on a non-bootable HDD.


"EricG" wrote in message
news
Well, I finally solved my hard disc cloning problem. I downloaded the
trial
version of Casper 5 and did a clone of my 120 GB drive onto my 650 GB
drive.
Because it's a trial version, Casper was not enabled for enlarging any of
the
partitions, so got an exact duplicate, along with a lot of unallocated
space.
The best news was that the 650 GB drive booted right away! No problems of
any kind.

Then I downloaded a freeware disc partition program called EASEUS
Partition
Master, which allowed me to move the data partition to the right about 60
GB,
expand my system partition, and then take up the rest of the unallocated
space with the data partition.

It's amazing what you can do for free. I'll definitely end up buying
Casper
5 because of this experience. I was very disappointed in the Acronis
software for failing to perform, and also in the Acronis support, which
was
nonexistent unless I wanted to pay for it.

Thanks for all your help everyone!

Eric


Eric:
That's good news, of course, but what puzzles me is how did you install the
Casper 5 program onto your "source" HDD - the 120 GB one? Ordinarily I would
have suggested that you download the trial version of the Casper 5 program
and give that a try, but (as I recall) you had indicated that following the
unsuccessful Acronis True Image disk-cloning or disk-imaging process, that
drive was unbootable and dysfunctional. So under those circumstances how did
you install the trial version of the Casper program onto that drive?

Can I assume you installed the 120 GB HDD onto another PC as a secondary HDD
and thus was able to install the Casper 5 trial version program onto the
drive that way? As you now probably know Casper does have a program to
create a "Startup Disk" (CD) so that the program can be accessed that way,
but AFAIK that program is only available when purchasing the licensed
version of the program; it is not available with the trial version. And it's
a $9.95 extra.

In any event I think it would be a wise decision on your part to purchase
the licensed version of the Casper 5 program including the Startup Disk
program. While it's considerably more expensive than the Acronis and most
other disk-cloning or disk-imaging programs it's still worth the cost in our
opinion. We've been using the program for more than two years now and
strongly recommend it for the great majority of PC users as a comprehensive
backup program to be used on a routine & frequent basis so as to maintain a
*complete* and up-to-date backup of their systems. In addition to its
straightforward design, simplicity of use, and general overall
effectiveness, its truly most significant feature is the rather
extroardinary speed of its backup operations when the program is employed on
a *frequent basis*. We ordinarily encourage users to use the program no less
than once a week in most cases. So keep that in mind.

We have recommended this program to scores, if not hundreds, of users
(including former Acronis True Image Home users) and I'm not aware of a
single user who has regretted their purchase. It's that good.
Anna

"Anna" wrote:

The disk-cloning program we use nearly exclusively these days is the
Casper
5 program. For a variety of reasons which I won't go into here & now we
find
it a superior product and generally prefer it to the Acronis True Image
program. On the other hand the ATI v11 program you already have is a
sound
program and also highly recommended by many users.

Under ordinary circumstances I would recommend you download/install the
trial version of the Casper 5 program and undertake the disk-cloning
operation with that program. But obviously that's not an option since
there's no way to install the trial version of that program (at least for
the moment) on a non-bootable HDD.


"EricG" wrote in message
news
Well, I finally solved my hard disc cloning problem. I downloaded the
trial
version of Casper 5 and did a clone of my 120 GB drive onto my 650 GB
drive.
Because it's a trial version, Casper was not enabled for enlarging any of
the
partitions, so got an exact duplicate, along with a lot of unallocated
space.
The best news was that the 650 GB drive booted right away! No problems of
any kind.

Then I downloaded a freeware disc partition program called EASEUS
Partition
Master, which allowed me to move the data partition to the right about 60
GB,
expand my system partition, and then take up the rest of the unallocated
space with the data partition.

It's amazing what you can do for free. I'll definitely end up buying
Casper
5 because of this experience. I was very disappointed in the Acronis
software for failing to perform, and also in the Acronis support, which
was
nonexistent unless I wanted to pay for it.

Thanks for all your help everyone!

Eric


Eric:
That's good news, of course, but what puzzles me is how did you install the
Casper 5 program onto your "source" HDD - the 120 GB one? Ordinarily I would
have suggested that you download the trial version of the Casper 5 program
and give that a try, but (as I recall) you had indicated that following the
unsuccessful Acronis True Image disk-cloning or disk-imaging process, that
drive was unbootable and dysfunctional. So under those circumstances how did
you install the trial version of the Casper program onto that drive?

Can I assume you installed the 120 GB HDD onto another PC as a secondary HDD
and thus was able to install the Casper 5 trial version program onto the
drive that way? As you now probably know Casper does have a program to
create a "Startup Disk" (CD) so that the program can be accessed that way,
but AFAIK that program is only available when purchasing the licensed
version of the program; it is not available with the trial version. And it's
a $9.95 extra.

In any event I think it would be a wise decision on your part to purchase
the licensed version of the Casper 5 program including the Startup Disk
program. While it's considerably more expensive than the Acronis and most
other disk-cloning or disk-imaging programs it's still worth the cost in our
opinion. We've been using the program for more than two years now and
strongly recommend it for the great majority of PC users as a comprehensive
backup program to be used on a routine & frequent basis so as to maintain a
*complete* and up-to-date backup of their systems. In addition to its
straightforward design, simplicity of use, and general overall
effectiveness, its truly most significant feature is the rather
extroardinary speed of its backup operations when the program is employed on
a *frequent basis*. We ordinarily encourage users to use the program no less
than once a week in most cases. So keep that in mind.

We have recommended this program to scores, if not hundreds, of users
(including former Acronis True Image Home users) and I'm not aware of a
single user who has regretted their purchase. It's that good.
Anna

If you read the lower half of this thread, you'll see that I made a terribly
amateur mistake - I had pulled out the IDE cable from the motherboard and
that's why the 120 GB drive was not being recognized. Once I plugged the
cable back in, the original drive worked as always. However, I could never
get Acronis to create a bootable clone on the 650 GB drive, no matter which
options I tried.

So I did have a viable drive on which to load Casper 5, and I had no trouble
cloning the existing drive after that.

I have also ordered another new drive (1TB) that I will use as a backup for
my PC, my Mac, and my wife's laptop. No more taking chances!

Thank you for the time you took to help,

Eric


Eric:
That's good news, of course, but what puzzles me is how did you install the
Casper 5 program onto your "source" HDD - the 120 GB one? Ordinarily I would...
...
We have recommended this program to scores, if not hundreds, of users
(including former Acronis True Image Home users) and I'm not aware of a
single user who has regretted their purchase. It's that good.
Anna

If you read the lower half of this thread, you'll see that I made a terribly
amateur mistake - I had pulled out the IDE cable from the motherboard and
that's why the 120 GB drive was not being recognized. Once I plugged the
cable back in, the original drive worked as always. However, I could never
get Acronis to create a bootable clone on the 650 GB drive, no matter which
options I tried.

So I did have a viable drive on which to load Casper 5, and I had no trouble
cloning the existing drive after that.

I have also ordered another new drive (1TB) that I will use as a backup for
my PC, my Mac, and my wife's laptop. No more taking chances!

Thank you for the time you took to help,

Eric


Eric:
That's good news, of course, but what puzzles me is how did you install the
Casper 5 program onto your "source" HDD - the 120 GB one? Ordinarily I would...
...
We have recommended this program to scores, if not hundreds, of users
(including former Acronis True Image Home users) and I'm not aware of a
single user who has regretted their purchase. It's that good.
Anna