[RESOLVED] Recovery to new hard drive
New here to the forums and I have a question. I performed a complete backup of my failing (but still functioning) laptop hard drive to an external hard drive (via USB). I replaced the failing hard drive with a new one (same size). When I turn on the laptop with the bootable recovery disk, everything in the recovery process seems to work until I get to the point where I am assigning a destination drive. My only available option appears to be the source (i.e. external backup) hard drive. Any help in explaining why I can't "see" the new hard drive would be appreciated.
Issue resolved here.
In addition, you are entitled to support for restore/recovery issues directly from Acronis.
Be sure you have registered your serial number online.
You can contact support here: www.acronis.com/support/contact-us.html
In step 1 on the left hand side pulldown select "Technical Issues/Questions", and in the right hand side pulldown select "I am using the full version" (or trial, if running the trial) and select your version (2013). In the center of the support page is a small notice " To solve recovery issue", "click here". This enables the email and chat functions for recovery issues even if your 30 day support has expired.
With the new drive in your laptop, can you confirm that the BIOS "sees" and correctly reports the size of the new drive?
Thanks James, but let me back up a bit. I want to make sure that I am using the right product for what I am trying to do. I have a failing internal hard drive. I want to be able to replace this failing drive with a new one and have all the new drive operate the same as the old (meaning, that I want the drive the same, the os the same, the fioleders/files the same, etc.). I purchased TI 2013 for this purpose. Am I using the right product?
Yes, provided the drive doesn't fail completely before the backup is made. You would want to do a full disk based backup with validation of the backup file. This can be done from within Windows or from the bootable Rescue Media, provided of couse, that the rescue media can "see" the drive in the system. If the Rescue Media can not "see" the drive to backup, it will also not be able to "see" the new drive when restoring. If you have already made a full disk based backup of your drive, the only step left is to do the restore to the new drive.
James, I do have a complete backup on the external HDD. TO your question about whether the bootable CD TI S/W can see the new hard drive...I selected "backup" and sure enough, the only visible drive is the external HDD. The old internal drive is a 640GB Toshiba HDD281 MK6465GSX. The new one is a Hibachi, same size. The lpatop is a HP DV7. Any advice?
With the new drive in your laptop, can you confirm that the BIOS "sees" and correctly reports the size of the new drive?
You did mean Hitachi not hibachi, right?
There are several versions of the HP DV7 laptop, can you be more specific?
Yes Hitachi! Model is HPDV7-4283cl. How do I check/confirm that the BIOS sees the new drive? Couple other thoughts: 1) in utilities, there is "add a new disk" option...should I do this, and if so, do I need to set up the partitions (or will the S/W allow me to do that during recovery?) 2) what about cloning..sounds like I would just need to purchase a USB universal drive adapter to hook up my old drive via USB?
You would need to enter the HP DV7 system setup to view the settings and be able to see if the BIOS (or UEFI setup) can see the drive and report the drive size correctly. Cloning could work in this case, but may still be an issue, as the True Image program will reboot into the same type of Linux based recovery environment that the bootable Rescue Media uses and may still not be able to "see" the internal drive. I would stay away from clonig if at all possible, as you have far more control with backup and restore.
From HP's website. http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c02666747.pdf
"Setup Utility is a ROM-based information and customization utility is used even when the Windows
operating system is not working.
The utility reports information about the computer and provides settings for startup, security, and other
preferences.
To start Setup Utility:
▲ Open Setup Utility by turning on or restarting the computer. When the Press the ESC key for
Startup Menu screen appears, press the f10 key.
– or –
Open Setup Utility by turning on or restarting the computer. When the Press the ESC key for
Startup Menu screen appears, press the esc key. When the Startup Menu appears, press the f10"
Can the Acronis True Image Rescue Media "see" your original hard disk if placed back into your system?
Thanks for the help on BIOS. I am running a hard disk self test right now. I'll let you know what it says. What about the "add disk" option in utilities?
Yes, TI can see the original HD when I placed it back in the laptop
The add disk utility is desgined to clean a hard drive of its partition information so that the restore or clone can be done to a blank hard drive. These is no need to do this at this point.
The key here is to be able to "see" the internally connected hard disk from the bootable Rescue Media first, before doing anything else.
My thoughts still tend to go with the fact that the Acroinis Rescue Media can not see your hard disk because of lack of proper hardware support for the hard disk controller or chipset used in your laptop. The way to get around this limitation is to use the Plus Pack to create WinPE Windows based bootable rescue media and add addtional drivers to it if necessary for proper detection of your disk on the laptop.
Once again, since this is a restore issue, you are entitled to no charge support from Acronis.
If you are correct in stating that TI can see your original disk while installed in the system while booted to the Acronis Rescue Media, the clone option could possibly work for you as you have suggested by using a USB adapter and cloning to the new drive while it is connected externally if TI can "see" both drives.
Normally the reverse of these methods should be used. (The new drive in the system, and the old connected externally, performing the clone from the external to the internal).
It seems odd to me that the drive is not showing up in TI as a target for restoring your image since you can see the old drive while it is installed. This shows that the Acronis Rescue Media indeed has support for the hardware in your system.
You can use the add a new disk tool to see if it helps, but be very careful that you perform the operation on the correct drive (the new one).
If you place the new disk in the system, boot to the Rescue Media, and try to use the add a new disk tool, and it can "see" your new disk and perform the the procedure, you should be able to restore to the disk as well.
Just to be sure, can you verify for me again (by booting to the Rescue Media), that TI can see your old hard drive when installed in your system and you are booted into the Rescue Media environment?
Sorry to be a bit dense about the BIOS...but when I bring up setup utilities, how/where would I check to see if the BIOS "sees" the HDD? I ran a short test (20 minutes) which then went directly to a long test (90 minutes), but I cancelled since I don't know what the test was doing?
if you were able to do any disk testing while in the system setup, the BIOS is recognizing the drive okay.
How do I boot into the rescue media with the old disk drive. Do I need to change the boot order? How do I do that?
Yes, you need to change the boot order in your system setup to boot from the CD drive first.
Some systems allow selecting the boot device during system startup using an alternate F key, such as F12. If your system has that ability, then the boot order would not have to be changed, only the boot device selection would have to be made at startup.
OK, was able to boot from the resuce media with the old hard drive installed. When I select "backup" I am presented with both the external drive AND the internal drive as choices. I think this proves that the rescue media can "see" the original drive. Any suggestions for how to get the rescue media to recognize the new drive once I re-install it?
Unless it is a bug, you should be able to boot to the rescue media and use the "add a new disk" tool to clean the new drive while it is installed in your system (And then you could perform the restore from your USB connected drive with your backup on it). If TI can not see the drive, there is some type of compatibility issue that is beyond the scope of the forums, and Acronis tech support would have to investigate your case.
When I do the "add a disk" step, do I need set up partitions?
No. It's purpose its to create a new blank drive to restore to. The restoration of your backup image will create the partitions during the restore.
You may be asked when using the "add a new disk" tool what kind of disk layout you want to create. You will have a choice to create either an MBR style disk or GPT style disk layout. Based on the size of your old drive, I would assume that it is an MBR disk, and that you should use the MBR option in the "add a new disk" tool.
Thanks, and I'll post back to let you know if it worked!
Recovery underway...I'll let you know if it is succesful. Thanks for all your help!
All done and it worked like a charm. James, thanks again for all your help.
Yeah, glad to have been able to help.