Using Cleanser to wipe the drive after cloning it to SSD
I have successfully clowned my C: drive to an SSD. Afterwards, I disconnected the old C:\ drive but left it in the computer hoping to use Cleanser to repurpose that drive. I believe all I have to do is reconnect it, reboot the machine while hammering on DEL to enter the BIOS editor, and put the new C: (the SSD) right after Removable Media.
It seems to me the worst that could happen would be if I accidently Cleansed the SSD, but even that wouldn't be disastrous since the old C:\ would still work.
And comments? What am I missing?
Thanks, Steve. A quick look on Google suggests that many of the enclosures don't work with the larger drives, and mine is 4T. Do you happen to know of what that would?
BTW, I went down this path a few weeks ago while trying to prepare some old drives for the WD recycling program. At that time I was using an Acronis competitor. I was met by a warning that "not all features will work because of drivers (or whatever)." It didn't say what features wouldn't work. That's what caused me to try Acronis.
Ed, using a USB Dock shouldn't have any issues with the 4TB disk size as far as I know! I don't have any drives of that size so not something that I have tested personally, but most docks state if there are any size limitations with their use.
See TECKNET USB 3.0 Hard Drives Docking Station for 2.5 Inch & 3.5 Inch SATA HDD (SATA I/II/III) Support 8TB & UASP, Tool-Free Installation - found on Amazon (UK) which states that it supports up to 8TB disk sizes for SATA drives.
The key point here is that you are only using the dock to prepare the removed drive before reinstalling it as a second drive in the PC, so there shouldn't be any issues for drivers etc.
I have a couple of similar docks (a few years older, one USB 2.0 single, one USB 3.0 dual slot) which I have used many times without issue.
I use a USB adapter like the one linked below for such purposes. The downside to an external adapter or cable is speed. Such devices will be slow to perform the work unless you have a SuperSpeed USB device attached to a SuperSpeed USB port on your PC if one is available. When using a device like the one linked make sure you use a model that has a 5 volt power adapter as those that rely on power supplied by the USB port itself may damage the disk due to under powering the device.
and I have that same USB powered adapter that "Enchant" mentioned.
It works, is powered and is super useful for connecting extra drives on the spur of the moment.
Steve F.
UPDATE: I should have mentioned that I do not use that USB powered adapter to connect my normal backup drives. I use an eSata connection to an externally powered drive dock for all my essential backups. I only use the USB connection for spur of the moment connections.
Just ordered one. I'll report back after it comes.
Can I mark more than one as "The Solution?" 😀
Hello!
I'll add my own method for dealing with identical drives:
If the drives have any hardware info that's different, I use that to double check I'm scrapping the right drive. If there's nothing to help differentiate, I delete/move C:\Windows\System32\ntoskrnl.exe from the drive I don't want to be bootable, and disconnect one of the drives. If it's still bootable I confirmed I made the old drive unbootable. Proceed to delete the partion where ntoskrnl is missing.
If it was deleted from the new disk, just move it back by booting the old disk.
External sata adapters are quite inexpensive though, even if you don't juggle disks around regularly.
-- Peter
Hello,
I wonder if I can use the Acronis True Image to build an image for my Samsung phone of Android base. I know this section has discussion about image/clone/backup for the computers’ hard disks. However, I’d like to use the same technique to apply it for my Samsung phone. I have used Symantec Ghost & AOMEI Backupper Pro to build the images for my computer then restore each of them when necessary. In my opinion, I like this way because I can format or deeply format the hard disk before I restore the healthy image back if my computer got viruses. Thanks!
Dai, welcome to these public User Forums.
Sorry but ATI cannot be used to image mobile phones - mainly because it will never have root access in order to capture all the data used on either Android or Apple phones.
Thanks Steve for sharing your insights. I felt like that you’ve given me a compass so I know the direction to go from here while I’m still in the wood of features of ATI:-).
I posted a status report to this topic twice today but neither appeared. Maybe this will.
Basically, I was complaining that my computer hung up while trying to Cleanse a drive using a Vantech USB adapter as suggested by Enchantech. I couldn't even get to Task Manager since keyboard and mouse were not responsive.
BUT, after a couple hours the machine turned itself off. When I restarted, it was responding normally, but the disk was not Cleansed.
I should add that I got a warning that I was working on the active partition, probably because the disk was once the C: drive on a long ago discarded machine.
Ed,
This sounds like you possibly ran afoul of the Self Protection mechanism of True Image Cyber Protections Active Protection feature. If so then Acronis developers should be interested.