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Target drive isn't identical to cloned source drive

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The last two times I tried cloning my failing original 1TB HDD, the target 1TB HDD didn't end up with the same number of files as the source drive.  The first time I tried to clone the original drive, the original Program Files (x86) folder had 97,029 files, whereas the target drive's folder ended up with 100,145 files.  The original Users folder had 49,073 files, and the target drive's folder had 48,866 files.  The original Windows folder had 168,772 files, and the target drive's folder had 168,565 files.  All other folders were identical.  The second time I tried to clone the original drive, the original Users folder had 49,189 files, and the target drive's folder had 49,158 files.  The original Windows folder had 168,474 files, and the target drive's folder had 168,761 files.  All other folders were identical.  While the second attempt to clone the original drive resulted in a target drive that was much more similar to the source drive than in the first attempt, I was under the impression cloning a drive would result in a bit-for-bit copy on the target drive.  Can anyone tell me why my target drive ended up with such a different number of files than the source each time and whether this difference doesn't necessarily mean the clone process was unsuccessful?  Also, why was the difference in the number of files so different between the first and second attempts to clone the original drive?  Finally, does Acronis True Image 2017 have a built-in mechanism for verifing whether a cloning process was successful?  If it does, how do I access that function?  Thanks for your help with this.

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My guess is that you're looking at files in Windows as it's open.  When shutting down for the clone process, certain open files are discarded by Windows.  These could be temp files opened during the startup session or other applications, log files, updated Windows defender definitions, etc.  When you close the OS to start the clone process, several of these temp files will be discarded in the process.  Other examples include changes in system volume  information where snapshots are stored - as the system shutsdown and starts, some of these changed files will be recreated and backed up by system protection too (assuming it's enabled). Other files like pagefile.sys and hiberfile.sys will be discarded too, and there there are many others in user profiles that get temporarily created by appliations that startup in the background and changed the modified date each time.  

In a nutshell, what you see running in Windows is not exactly what's on the disk when the OS is shutdown.  You might have a slighly better comparison if you used another OS to check the file count of your main disk when it is not active prior to running a clone, cloning the disk and checking the clone while it is also not active, and has not yet been started up.

There's no log of the specific blocks backed up in Acronis or running database.  I don't know of any home backup products that provide this information as they are all done at the block/sector level and don't keep tabs of the individual files changes as they are many - even just when starting up and shutting down.  It would be time consuming to track them, require a database to do so and would constantly be changing so would also be resource intensive.  

Thanks for your prompt response and insight, Bobbo.  Reading between the lines of your response, it sounds like you're saying I should trust the cloned drive and run with it (literally).  I haven't tried to boot from my cloned drive yet, but that was going to be my next step.  Having an explanation why the file count might be different gives me the confidence I needed to proceed.  (And you were right... the file count was conducted while in Windows, shortly after the clone activity was complete.)  Thanks again!

Pretty much :)

Personally, I'd take a backup (external to Windows using the offline recovery media) prior to clone - just in case.  Offline backups happen outside of Windows and aren't subject to filters or needing to take a VSS snapshot where other things could happen in the process due to third party apps, malware, or even Windows interfering.

I can't telll you how many times I've backed up and restored with Acronis and all has been working just fine with no missing data or problems.  Clone is good, but offers no fall back (other than the original drive, but let's say you accidentally clone the wrong way... not likely, but could happen).  Best practice.. 1) backup offline, 2 complete your clone your restore your backup.  When it's all said and done, your data should all be there and look and feel just like the original. 

Since I've already cloned the original drive, I was going to physically remove the original drive (leaving only the target drive in the desktop), and try to boot from the target drive.  If the computer comes up, I'm in business, and if it doesn't, I plan to re-install the original drive and try to re-clone it to the target drive.  I don't understand the purpose of backing up the original drive prior to tomorrow's experiment when it's not going to be a part of the experiment.  What am I overlooking?

Since we've come this far, can yoy tell me how to go about functionally swapping the target drive for the original drive?  After physically removing the original drive and powering the computer on with only the target drive installed, I understand I'll have to redefine the OS drive letter of the target drive from "F" to "C", but am not exactly sure how that's going to work.  I can probably fumble my way through it, but having your guidance ahead of time would be very helpful.  Thanks again.

The backup is a precaution.  Some people have left both drives in and booted with them in at the same time and the bios gets confused and tries to modify the bootloader, messing it up and making not only the clone not bootable, but the original too.  In most cases, if that happens as a result, you can use the windows installer and perform a startup repair.  Better to have a backup just in case it's the only real safety net should the worse occur.  Up to you though.

Sounds like you are doing it right.  Ideally, you would actually remove the original, put the new drive where the original was.  Put the original in a second slot or external usb adapter and then clone from the original to the new drive.  After the clone, power down completely and disconnect the original.  Power up and go into the bios and double check the boot order - if it's UEFI, make sure it shows "windows bootmanager" first still.  If it's legacy, make sure it shows the correct sata drive listed first.

Then boot up and it should boot into Windows.  If it does, all is well and you know you have a good clone and can power off, take out the clone and put the original back in place.  Check the bios for good measure to make sure the boot order is correct and then boot back into the roiginal drive. 

Bobbo, I just wanted to let you know the hard drive swap went smoothly this morning.  Not only did the computer come up without as much as a hickup (and without me having to play with the BIOS), it also automatically renamed my OS and Recovery partitions from "F:" and "G:" to "C:" and "D:", respectively.  It came up as though I had never swapped the hard drive.  Thanks for your help.  I sincerely appreciate it.     :^)

Good deal!

Yes, the drive letters are only for the currently active OS.  There can only ever be one letter drive per active OS so it must assign different drive letters to the non-active OS on the other drive when it is connected to the active OS and basically a data drive as far as it's concerned.  When booting to the other drive, the OS will always be C: for that one, but the secondary partition could be a different letter, but should be the same as the original as it should check in before other disk.  

Glad it worked witht both hard drives connected, but I wouldn't recommend it.  Perhaps, in your case, it's fine, but be advised, many users have had boot issues and/or corrupted issues when leaving both connected directly after a clone or restore.  After the first full boot, it should not be an issue, but it's that first boot that gets people and can cause the bootloader on both drives to get corrupted.  Most likely, it depends on how your bios reacts to them and in your case, was nto an issue.  Hopefully, if you continue this process, it will be the same, but just be aware in case you do end up on the other side and it does not go as well with both drives connected on another machien or down the road after a bios firmware update or something like that.