O.T. Missing Folder/files

After I posted my first message I noticed FF looked odd
All my folders are missing the yellow.

https://postimg.cc/G8kzWj3W

I just heard my hd spinning down again. Is that normal?

Robert

Ah it was probably the CD but FF looks weird now
probably because I started the procedure and need
to finish it.

Robert

Robert in CA wrote:
Ah it was probably the CD but FF looks weird now
probably because I started the procedure and need
to finish it.

Robert

Firefox may have updated to Firefox 89, with
different icons which lack color.

Paul

Robert in CA wrote:
I went to change the boot order but the first time the
arrow keys wouldn't respond so tried again and the
second time they did although didn't change the boot
order per say but allowed me to select CD/DVD.

I clicked fix boot problems but it didn't have the (4)
check boxes the last time we did this. I got as far as
selecting which partition it boots from. I know it isn't
C: and I think it's D: (already checked) but not sure if
its FAT32 or not? So I'd rather check with you first to
make sure before proceeding.

https://postimg.cc/rRscnzMt

https://postimg.cc/8JKg6DMk

https://postimg.cc/hf7Rfkjg

https://postimg.cc/JyMfYtQ4

I did put ice on it then iodine then bandaged it. When
I put the iodine on it, Oh boy. It feels allot better now.
The home is also very cool. The mini-split systems
(Klimaire) are great and good for the computers too.

Robert

The "D:" mentioned in one of the pictures is OK, because
they're asking you to select the "Active" partition.
Which is the partition with the 0x80 Boot Flag.

That's the partition that has the boot menu, and is
used early in the boot process.

It switches over to C: (selected in one of the other
screens), as a later step.

So nothing wrong there right now.

Paul

I completed the Rescue CD and checked FF is up to date
with 89.0 so I guess your right, this is the new look.

https://postimg.cc/7Cqrdn2j

https://postimg.cc/xcHrd4GW

https://postimg.cc/Y4dZVKkm

https://postimg.cc/34668Xk8

https://postimg.cc/KRtVbgxb

Thoughts/suggestions?

Robert

Robert in CA wrote:
I completed the Rescue CD and checked FF is up to date
with 89.0 so I guess your right, this is the new look.

https://postimg.cc/7Cqrdn2j

https://postimg.cc/xcHrd4GW

https://postimg.cc/Y4dZVKkm

https://postimg.cc/34668Xk8

https://postimg.cc/KRtVbgxb

Thoughts/suggestions?

Robert

That should make it so the disk boots with
its own resources. And the values seem consistent
with what I remember of the Disk Management picture.

Should be ready to boot.

Paul

I tried testing #3 to see if it accepts the external #4 hd
but it doesn't.

https://postimg.cc/yDnDNHRN

https://postimg.cc/v1kH1HZG

https://postimg.cc/vDWHByFd


Do I need to insert #4 drive in the 8500 and do the same
repair boot menu procedure I did with #3?

Robert

By the way I also noticed how the bookmarks
have changed to just a star like it use to be. I don't
like this washed out look of Ver 89.0 AlsoI seem to
have lost my VLC player and I don't have a download
link for it. Could you please provide one?

Thanks,
Robert

Robert in CA wrote:
I tried testing #3 to see if it accepts the external #4 hd
but it doesn't.

https://postimg.cc/yDnDNHRN

https://postimg.cc/v1kH1HZG

https://postimg.cc/vDWHByFd


Do I need to insert #4 drive in the 8500 and do the same
repair boot menu procedure I did with #3?

Robert

When you clone an entire disk, Macrium is supposed
to already use random numbers for identifiers that
can get confused with the original.

To see what impact your two disks have on one
another, a picture of Disk Management is a good idea.
And then checking the new row, to see if it is in "Offline"
state, because the DiskID in the MBR happens to be identical.

When you use the Macrium boot repair, it can repair
the MBR, the PBR, some of the boot menu materials (rebuild BCD)
and so on. I don't particularly see that as changing an identifier
that "makes the disk magically work", but maybe it does.

I would hope some hint of what was wrong, was announcing itself
(somehow) via Disk Management. Maybe it's just overlapping
disk letters caused by the 4-in-1 card reader on the 8500 ?

It could be, it tries to open the "C" of the new disk as "E"
and "E" is taken by the card reader (E,F,G,H?). I wish I could
remember the setting to make those drive letters disappear until
media is present, as that would eliminate one more cause of
uncertainty.

Paul

Robert in CA wrote:
By the way I also noticed how the bookmarks
have changed to just a star like it use to be. I don't
like this washed out look of Ver 89.0 AlsoI seem to
have lost my VLC player and I don't have a download
link for it. Could you please provide one?

Thanks,
Robert


https://www.videolan.org/

"Download VLC" in powder blue

Version 3.0.14 Windows

You can use the x64 one if you want.

Paul

Here's the Disk Management in the 8500:

#3 hd
https://postimg.cc/nj3vVyvt

original hd

https://postimg.cc/xXGN1r2F

but I don't see how I can compare #4hd if it
won't connect other than to put inside the 8500
itself?

I also have the unknown hd which may or may
not work in the 8500 or 780.

I think at this point we could try putting in #4 in
the 8500 and run the Rescue CD and repair its
boot menu if possible because you said every hd I
attached after I changed the battery would be corrupted.

If that doesn't work I suggest we try the unknown
hd in both computers to check it. Starting with the
8500.

I just find it hard to believe changing the battery
caused all this and stopped our cloning dead in it's
tracks after all the work we've already done.

Thanks for the VLC link,

Thoughts/suggestions
Robert

I just compared both Disk Managements and the partitions
don't match!

I think we need to put the original back in to verify the Disk Management
but I took it while we were working on Sea Monkey so it should be current.
If so then the #3 Partitions need to be changed. I'm not going to have 900GB
and unused space! but that still doesn't explain why the external hd isn't connecting.

Robert

The 8500 hung up again! This time I was simply trying to open a news folder
and it hung up! The screen went opaque with the little busy circle. I tried
Ctrl-Alt-Delete to bring up Task Manager but it wouldn't come up. The screen
went black and I finally got this message:

https://postimg.cc/FYpQDGvB

So I ended up pressing the power button and back online now but the 8500 has
been acting very strange all during this cloning process which should of been
textbook and was until all this.

Robert

Robert in CA wrote:
Here's the Disk Management in the 8500:

#3 hd
https://postimg.cc/nj3vVyvt

original hd

https://postimg.cc/xXGN1r2F

but I don't see how I can compare #4hd if it
won't connect other than to put inside the 8500
itself?

I also have the unknown hd which may or may
not work in the 8500 or 780.

I think at this point we could try putting in #4 in
the 8500 and run the Rescue CD and repair its
boot menu if possible because you said every hd I
attached after I changed the battery would be corrupted.

If that doesn't work I suggest we try the unknown
hd in both computers to check it. Starting with the
8500.

I just find it hard to believe changing the battery
caused all this and stopped our cloning dead in it's
tracks after all the work we've already done.

Thanks for the VLC link,

Thoughts/suggestions
Robert

Thanks for taking the time to shoot pictures of those.

The #4 disk (the clone) hasn't had the C: partition
resized to use up the "Unallocated space" to the right
of it. In Disk Management, you can right-click the C: partition
and select the option to Expand the volume. Shrink and
Expand are built-in functions in Disk Management.

This is independent of any other issue at the moment, and
can be done when you have the time or inclination to fix it up.

*******

If you want to repair the boot menu on #4, you can, but I fail
to see how that will affect whatever is bothering the enclosure
setup.

When the 1TB is booting the computer, and the 2TB is in the
enclosure and connected to the USB port, both drives should
show up in Disk Management. You say it is not there.

I've seen one of your pictures, showing the new drive getting
a "driver", and there was a notice in the lower right corner
to that effect. When I see that, it means a disk is being
recognized somewhere.

I'm still not seeing anything that tells me what could be up
with the thing. USB enclosures generally should not respond to
being plugged in, unless the drive inside the enclosure spins
up and the disk identifier string is extracted. At that point,
the enclosure chip starts responding to queries from the OS.
That's how it's supposed to work.

And once we get past that point (the setting up of Endpoints
at USB transport level), then soon you would see an entry in
Disk Management. Disk Management is a key part of observation,
rather than File Explorer. Checking File Explorer is a step
after checking Disk Management. First you see an item in
Disk Management, but no drive letters will go into File
Explorer, unless the item in Disk Management is "Online".

The Boot Repair operation in Macrium, might change the GUID
of the disk partitions, and the Boot Repair puts the new
values in the Boot Menu. But as far as the "seeing the disk
contents" goes, the DiskID in the MBR plays a role in that.
I don't think Macrium changes the VolumeID in the header of
each of the disk partitions. And as far as I know, if two
VolumeIDs are equal on the PC, there's no harm done. The
sequential assignment of drive letters, helps make each
one unique as they're discovered.

*******

When Disk Management is open, the USB3 Enclosure will be
probably closer to the bottom of the display. That's
because E,F,G,H got there first during discovery. You may have
to scroll down, to see an item below the D: optical drive.

There are various ways to modify the drive lettering of
the card reader, but none of them is ideal. One of the
ideas, I think it's similar to the DOS "SUBST" command
which substitutes a folder for something. You can convert
the USB card reader volumes, into folders that sit
within a master folder. That's one of the ideas here. But
again, not an ideal solution. From Disk Management, if
you right clicked the E: one, you could select "Change drive letter"
kind of thing, and assign the four drives M,N,O,P and lift
the drives up higher. Using the letter Q is not recommended,
because that might conflict with a features used by
Microsoft Office years ago.

https://superuser.com/questions/3421...drives-letters

Summary: You can Boot Repair the new drive if you feel like it.
I'm not convinced this will improve the behavior.
Perhaps the behavior is related to the USB card reader,
but I thought part of that was interference with network
shares rather than with other USB storage devices like the
enclosure. Make sure to scroll down in Disk Management
and make sure you can see everything. Disk Management
seldom makes good usage of display space when it renders.

Paul

Robert in CA wrote:
I just compared both Disk Managements and the partitions
don't match!

I think we need to put the original back in to verify the Disk Management
but I took it while we were working on Sea Monkey so it should be current.
If so then the #3 Partitions need to be changed. I'm not going to have 900GB
and unused space! but that still doesn't explain why the external hd isn't connecting.

Robert

I think it *is* connecting.

You need to scroll down the Disk Management display
and check for the existence of that external drive.
I can see from the condition of the scroll bar, an
item is below the optical drive.

Then check on the left, whether it is Online or not.

Once Online, only then will the drive letter(s) from
such an external drive attempt to show up.

During cloning, Macrium should be making sure the
new drive has a different DiskID number.

Paul