Cloning a hard-disc failed
Hi,
I thought it is a good idea to clone my main drive (which consists of two partitions and contains the operating system and all my installed software) to an external (USB) hard-disc.
I tried that with my newly purchases True Image Home 2011 and it rebooted and operated from a black screen (not in Windows), but at 89% of the process status bar the PC shut off, well not really shut off but went into something like a standby-mode, so the screen disappeared, and when clicking on my mouse, the drives began to spin but the screen stayed blank (no signal coming to the screens as the orange light of my monitors signalized).
I even had to hit reset to reboot my PC and I also had to unplug the external USB hard-drive otherwise the PC would not boot, and another weird thing: the BIOS setting for 1st and 2nd drive were changed around, so I had to set them back in order to boot from my main disc.
After changing these BIOS settings back to where I had them before, my PC booted normally, and I got a message saying True-Image operation complete. But when I re-connected the external disc (which was my destination disc for the cloning) and browsed in it, it only contained one partition of my main disc (source disc).
I tried this again, but the exact same thing happened.
What is wrong here? I hope nothing happened to my main-disc in the process, but as I understood this cannot happen since in the cloning process that disc is only used for reading information form it, is that correct? So the cloning (be it successful or not) cannot harm my main disc (the source disc), right?
I hope someone form Acronis can help me with this issue, I really need the cloning feature to work, that was the main point of getting this software.
Thanks,
Lars
Thank you very much for your quick reply!
First of all, sorry I did not add any info about my system:
I have a self-built PC i7 @ 2.67GHz , 6GB RAM
Win 7 home prem. 64bit.
If I make a full disk back-up I cna do basically the same as cloning does? ie create and exact copy of my main disc including both partition, the installed OS and all the installed software? I can also make that back-up boot-able as I understand, so would that work as a replacement of my main-disc in case something gets messed up?
My main reason for wanting to clone is to have a back up of my main drive at a stage where everything was installed well and working properly. So, every time I install a new big software I want to re-fresh a new clone/back-up so in case at any point something goes wrong and Windows gets messed up to a point where I need to re-install the operating system, I could just use a cloned disc or a back-up and save a lot of time (because I would not have to go through installing all my software again).
I thought this was only possible with cloning a disc?
Another thing, since you mentioned there is still a risk for the source disc involved in cloning: how can I check and make sure than my hard-disc (the main disc/source disc) is still 100% OK?
Thanks again!
Lars
edit: I forgot to answer your last question: I was cloning to a destination disc that is bigger than the source disc.
TrueImageHome provides two ways to duplicate a disk.
Method 1 is cloning. The clone option provides for automatic or manual.
... Automatic will enlarge all partitions--even those which you may not want enlarged.
... Manual with manual move method will enable you to control the partitions sizes.
Method 2 is Restoring a full disk image backup providing the backup is a backup which includes all your partitions including any that are non-lettered or diagnostic. If you use the Disk Restore method, it will resize your partitions in the same manner as if cloned. All partitions will be expanded--including those you may not want expanded. If you choose the Partition Restore with Resize, then you can size you partitions individually.
Both methods are capble of providing a bootable replacment disk.
Open Windows Disk Management and look at your disk via graphical view.
What partitions are listed and what is their sequece?
Which partition is the active partition?
Posting a picture of your Windows Disk Management might help us to answer your questions.
It might be a wise idea to check your disk for errors as a precautionary measure before cloning or before creating a backup to be used in restoring to a new disk.
Thank you very much again.
I will try to post a pic tomorrow!
Thanks again!
Lars
Ok, here is a pic of my discs.
Is it a problem that my storage/data drive is Drive 0 and my main disc (holding the OS) is Drive 1?
by the way, not sure if this is important, but in the BIOS I have 'Configure SATA' set to 'RAID' (that's because I have one big data disc in mirrored RAID set-up).
I have never had problems with this, and I am not sure if I can simply change the SATA connections without running into problems?
Thanks,
Lars
It shouldn't matter what order the drives are listed in Windows. Sometimes Windows shows them the same as the BIOS and sometimes not. In other cases, they seem to change around for no reason. Normally, this doesn't cause any problems because Windows still knows which is which.
Don't try changing SATA connections if you're using RAID. You may break it or corrupt it.
Is the drive you're trying to clone configured as RAID?
Can you successfully create an backup image of the Windows drive?
If Windows is still booting and running okay/normally, it should be fine. The most common problem caused to the source drive when cloning is that it won't boot properly. Note that normally the source drive is not changed. However, sometimes things go wrong and TI modifies it even though it shouldn't.
It shouldn't matter what order the drives are listed in Windows. Sometimes Windows shows them the same as the BIOS and sometimes not. In other cases, they seem to change around for no reason. Normally, this doesn't cause any problems because Windows still knows which is which.
Don't try changing SATA connections if you're using RAID. You may break it or corrupt it.
Is the drive you're trying to clone configured as RAID?
Can you successfully create an backup image of the Windows drive?
If Windows is still booting and running okay/normally, it should be fine. The most common problem caused to the source drive when cloning is that it won't boot properly. Note that normally the source drive is not changed. However, sometimes things go wrong and TI modifies it even though it shouldn't.
Thank you!
Now this scares me a bit (see underlined part in your quote)
No, my main drive (the source disc) is just one hard-disc. It's my storage disc that is set up in a mirrored RAID (that is RAID 1 I believe).
By 'creating a back-up image' of the windows drive you mean just to back it up in True Image the regular way (as opposed to cloning)?
Lars
That's correct. Just select to back up the drive and check the box for the Disk (so everything is selected).
I'm not trying to scare you. It's just that it can happen. It's just one of those things. If you have already done cloning and the source drive was just fine, you probably don't have to worry about it. If it works, it works. Of course, if you change the system, things might be different.
I generally don't clone. However, when I do, I usually like to have a backup image also. For the type of backups you want, I think imaging is the way to go. You can then do Incrementals or Differentials as you make updates. With cloning, you have to use multiple drives to keep multiple backups or you lose your old backup before the new one is created (not very safe).
That's correct. Just select to back up the drive and check the box for the Disk (so everything is selected).
I'm not trying to scare you. It's just that it can happen. It's just one of those things. If you have already done cloning and the source drive was just fine, you probably don't have to worry about it. If it works, it works. Of course, if you change the system, things might be different.
I generally don't clone. However, when I do, I usually like to have a backup image also. For the type of backups you want, I think imaging is the way to go. You can then do Incrementals or Differentials as you make updates. With cloning, you have to use multiple drives to keep multiple backups or you lose your old backup before the new one is created (not very safe).
Thanks again !
I was thinking, I could basically just create a 'copy' of my main drive onto an external (USB) drive.
I would use that 'copy' for restoring my system to a state where everything (OS and all my software) was installed and worked just fine. So, in case Windows gets messed up by whatever, I could just go back to that state where everything was fine. This would save me from having to re-install the OS and all my software.
Will this be possible with True Image?
If so, what do you think would be the best way to achieve this?
Or is there really no way around re-installing my OS and all my software once Windows gets buggy?
I'm not sure if I really understand how all of this works, also the whole terminology is still confusing for me (cloning, imaging, backing-up....what's the difference).
Lars
Lars,
What you want to do is definately possible. Creating backup images is probably going to be the best for you. I suggest you look in Grover's signature and browse the links and guides. There is a lot in helpful information there.
Lars,
What you want to do is definately possible. Creating backup images is probably going to be the best for you. I suggest you look in Grover's signature and browse the links and guides. There is a lot in helpful information there.
Thank you very much !
I will read through all the info the learn more about the whole thing.
Lars
Hello,
Regardless of whether or not the cloning procedure is the best way for me to back up my disc, this is a feature of Acronis True Image that is apparently not working on my copy. And I primarily bought True Image for that, so that feature should definitely work. I'm a bit disappointend not only that it does not work here, and most of all that no Acronis support tech has posted in my thread.
So, I would very much appreciate some input and effort to resolve this problem from the Acronis support team.
Thanks,
Lars
Lars,
The forum is hosted by Acronis, but it is not considered "official" support. You would need to submit a support request to Acronis for that. Acronis support does post here from time to time, but not nearly as frequently as any of us would like.
Have you tried booting to the TI CD and creating the clone? If so, did it work or were there problems?
Lars,
The forum is hosted by Acronis, but it is not considered "official" support. You would need to submit a support request to Acronis for that. Acronis support does post here from time to time, but not nearly as frequently as any of us would like.
Have you tried booting to the TI CD and creating the clone? If so, did it work or were there problems?
Oh, OK, I see.
I apologize. I thought this was a support forum where Acronis support techs step in and post answers as well.
No, I have not tried booting to the TI CD etc yet. I decided to first get all the software installed that I need to have as a standard set up on my PC.
Once that is done I have the hard-disc in the state I want a back-up to be.
Thanks for your help!
Lars
Is it a problem that my storage/data drive is Drive 0 and my main disc (holding the OS) is Drive 1? and another weird thing: the BIOS setting for 1st and 2nd drive were changed around
One precaution I would take is that anytime you are inserting a newly cloned or newly restored disk, at the beginning of the first boot process, I would go into the BIOS and confirm (and if needed, change the disk selection) that the correct disk is being selected for booting. As your error indicates, Windows can get confused and believe that the first disk is the boot disk (which it normally is on most computers) and you may have to correct disk selection on first boot following the insertion of a new boot disk. I would also recommend that the replacment disk use the same connector which attached to the original disk. I would not change motherboard connectors.
I'm not sure if I really understand how all of this works, also the whole terminology is still confusing for me (cloning, imaging, backing-up)..what's the difference?
I covered part of this in post #3 above. All too frequently the term clone is used to represent a duplicate and in backup terminology this can be very confusing. There are multiple ways of creating a duplicate and cloning is only one of the methods. Performing a clone is not the same as creating a duplicate by restoring an backup/image. The results are the same but the path used to get a duplicate by cloning is not the same path as used when creating a duplicate by image restoration.
Cloning:
Using Acronis terminology, a clone occurs at disk level. TrueImageHome does NOT clone a single partition in a multi-partition disk. TrueImage cloning copies one disk to another disk and they are identical (mostly) but cloning to a larger/smaller disk is possible. Any data on the target disk is lost during a cloning--a blank unallocated disk is the preferred target. When cloning, the same number of partitions on the source disk will exist on the clone but partitions can be resized during cloning using the manual method of cloning.
When cloning to a larger disk, TrueImage will initially proportionally resize each partition and it is up to the user either to accept the size arrangement or undo the proportionate sizing and control the size of each partition manually.
Image--Backups:
The two terms are mostly used interchangeably and you never know how much data is involved unless the user clarified.
A complete or "disk" option backup image contains copies of your programs, system settings, and files. It is a complete system backup that you can use to restore the contents of your computer if your hard disk or entire computer ever stops working.
According to your attachment (post #5), your system disk (2nd disk) looks to be a 640GB disk split into two partitions. The first partition is the Windows installed system and it is also the active partition. The second partition appears to be a simple data partition.
If you perform a "disk" option backup, it would include both partitions which means everything is included. The benefit of a disk option backup/image/archive is that usually there is only a single file and it consumes only about 70% as much space and you can have as many backups/images/archives/*.tib) as the space on your storage drive will permit.
Your situation is unique in that all you need to boot and run Windows is contained in the first partition, It is possible for you to backup only this first partition and restore your backup of partition 1 to an old disk overwriting an existing copy or to a new disk without being dependant upon partition 2. If you want to restore both partitions, the easy way of doing that is to have a "disk" option backup/image/archive available for restoration.
A backup of only your Windows folder, etc is NOT a backup which can produce a bootable disk when restored.
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You mentioned intending to clone or restore your existing system to a new larger disk.
Cloning method: choosing the automatic method will result in both partitions (C&D) being proportionally expanded. To control the partition sizes, choose the Manual method of Cloning using the Manual move method selection.
Disk Restore method: Checkmarking the disk (C & D checked) will enable you to restore a disk option backup and the resulting partition sizes will be automatically resized proportionally by the program without your intervention.
Partition Restore with Resize:
Conversely, you can checkmark Partition 1 (C:)plus Partition 2 (D:new volume) but do NOT checkmark track0/mbr and the program allows the user to control partition sizes. After the restoration has been completed, then the Track0/MBR plus the Recover Disk Signature (on disk destination screen) can be checked and restored via a second pass at restoring using the same backup/image/archive file but restoring only the two limited items.
Everything I have written about is performed when booted from the TI Rescue CD as stated in post #3.
Using the CD enables you to practice or simulate each of the above procedures. It is practice until you reach the Summary screen where you must choose either to Cancel or Proceed. Choose the Cancel option to prevent the procedure from continuing. Should you click proceed, you are committed.
After you decide what method you need to use to achieve your goal, come back to the forum should you need additional clarification.
When you have some spare reading time, you might find it beneficial to click on my signature index below and look at item listed in item 3-AA, 3-BB and 3-CC. While these are not the exact same procedures you would use performing a Clone of your configuration or a "Partition Restore with Resize", reading these will enable you to become more familiar with the steps needed to perform such a task.
Reminder:
1. Make a full disk backup (all partitions). Use in for restoring or use it a safety precaution should you decide to clone.
2. Perform the procedure.
3. Shutdown and remove old disk. Re-arrange new boot disk as needed. Do not first boot with two identical disks attached.
4. Restart and open the BIOS to confirm proper boot drive selection (boot using same SATA drive connectors).
5. Any Trueimage backup should be validated as part of the backup creation process. User controlled.