Dying Hard Drive - C: Only Backup

Because you have XP, you have a good chance of success. XP does not usually have special boot partitions.
If it were Vista or Win7, you would not have been so lucky.

Boot from the Rescue CD and restore your C partition plus your MBR.

On the screen where you select the destination, if you are given the option, also checkmark "Recover Disk signature".

And follow the usual rules, after completion of the restore and shutdown, disconnect your old drive and boot with only the new drive attached.

Also, click on my signature link below and read item 7-L.

Thank you.
I was able to backup the other partitions separately to another folder. Apparently they were not located on damaged parts of the HD. Does this help?

If your old disk is still attached (anywhere) can you post a screen capture of the Windows Disk Management graphical view?. This will show what and where about your partitions on the old XP drive.

if you disk contained multiple partitions, you can manually recreate the same partitions on a new disk and then perform a restore of the individual partitions. The new partitions should be created in the same sequence as the original drive.

I probably can give you a screen shot of Disk Management in a couple of days (I'm now 70 miles away from that computer).

I believe the information could be important to you by seeing the picture. You could tell
which partition is first or the sequence
which is active and whether primary or logical
the size of each partition
which partitions have assigned drive letters,etc.

With the above,you could reconstruct the partitions manually and then restore each backup into its rightful partition.

Here is the screen shot of Disk Management done the old fashioned way, by a photograph. The computer was not functioning well enough to save or print the picture. If the picture is unclear, I can describe the details to you. Thanks for your help.

Your picture shows that you have 3 partitions. You have one both before and after your Drive C system partition.

There are several methods possible for doing this but you might try to create the partitions on the new disk in the same size as old (or at least the first and last partitions should be kept the same size-- your Drive C can be enlarge.). Unfortunately, you do not have names on your partitions so be extremely careful. Write down on paper their sizes and characteristics (primary or logical; active, etc)

Then, restore each different partition using the different backups in the same original sequence as in your picture.

Are you restoring everything the same size as before or are you moving to a larger drive?
If moving to a large drive, be sure and leave room for the 3rd partition as shown in your picture.

Be sure and perform the restore from the TI Rescue CD and include the MBR/track0 in your restore.

Let us know of any problems you encounter and we will try to help out.

I believer they are all primaries. I am installing a much large drive. Should the C drive be tucked in between the other two? Do the small ones have to be exactly the same size as they are now? You may have noticed that the FAT32 partition is 2.92 gb in the upper list and 2.93 gb in the lower layout.

Yes, you want to make the new drive look like the old drive as it relates to partition sequence. The 2.92-2.93 is just a rounding issue. The actual size must be 2.925 etc.

As I am understanding, you have backups of all partitions but each partition has it own backup.

Remember, TrueImage enables you to practice or simulate all the way up to the Proceed or Cancel screen.
If you do make a mistake, you are working with backups and you can always redo the target to make it blank again.

Perhaps this would be the easiest way. Start with a blank unformatted hard drive.
1. Boot up using the TI Rescue CD.
2. Begin the Recovery procedure. Browse to the backup you have of partition 1 which is the 55MB, FAT, EISA configuration.
...a. Not sure what you will be offered to be checked but restore this backup file.
...b. Select the new larger target and the unallocated space.
3. Accept the same size as the backup and TI will allow the remainder of space to be continue as unallocated.
4. Complete the restore of the first partition. DO NOT REBOOT or Shutdown.

5. Return again to the Recovery partition and browse to the backup for your Drive C partition.
a. This should be your NTFS partition and most likely this one is the Active Partition as it was not shown on your picture.
Again select the new larger drive and the unallocated space.
b. Restore this backup (also accept Track0/MBR if offered) and choose the space from the unallocated portion.
c. Resize the partitions so that you consume all the unallocated space, EXCEPT leave 2.53 GB free space after the partition or at the end so you will have enough space left for partition 3.
d. Complete the restore of your Drive C backup.
6. DO NOT REBOOT or shutdown.
7. Return to the Recovery procedure. Browse to the backup you have of partition 3 which is the 2.53GB FAT32 partition.
a. Again select the new larger drive and the small 2.53GB of unallocated space.
Restore this partition into the remaining 2.53GB unallocated space (or something close in size if the exact amount is not available.
8. Complete the restore and shutdown. Remove the external drive and boot into the new drive.
9. If things go well, your system should boot.

Unfortunately, the computer will not boot up from the rescue CD.

First place to start would be to go into the BIOS setup and make sure the the computer is set to boot from the CD as its first choice. Or, you may have to change the boot device to the CDROm in order to get the REscue CD to be seen.

I had done that. My computer is a Dell Dimension 4700. I made the CD the first choice for booting both in the BIOS setup and in the boot sequence when it first started. It did not boot. The rescue disk does have Acronis files on it.

Create a new Rescue CD; or; visit your Acronis registration page and download the available ISO file.
Then use your burn program to burn the iso into a different type (IsoLinux) Rescue CD. If you need help with the burning the iso, let us know.

I tried the rescue disk on another computer and it booted up, which suggests that there is also an unexpected problem with my computer's CD drive. However, I will try the ISO first. I may have ISO burning software on yet another computer - is that all I need?

I tried the ISO file and the computer did not boot from it either.

It sounds like you might need to replace the optical drive. Maybe temporary try one from another computer. But before you do,
try the ISO Rescue CD on another computer to make sure it is burned properly.

One free program which does a good job of burning ISO images is IMGBurn
The download tab is in upper LEFT.
http://www.imgburn.com/

It might want to recheck the BIOS just to make sure the changes to the BIOS actually took effect.

The ISO disk worked on another computer, so the problem is probably with the CD drive on the dead computer. That's odd because I never had a problem with it before the HD died.

At this point, I can only suggest that you recheck the BIOS to make sure that the CDRom disk is the first in line. You may have two places to check.

http://www.whitecanyon.com/how-to-change-boot-order.php

Or to replace the drive.

You can also try a different media. Some drives won't read some brands/types. Try CD-RW instead of CD-R, try a different brand, etc.

I have several drives (including the one in my laptop) that won't read the newer "lighter" CDs. It likes the "dark green" kind.

Note that this problem can be different for booting than for Windows. Windows may see the CD okay.

I also tried a Windows CD (although it was for another computer) and the drive did not recognize it either. My next step will be to try the Windows CD (which I do not have with me) for the dead computer in a day or two.

My computer has two optical drives, one a CD/DVD ROM drive and the other a CD/DVD RW drive. I was able to test both on the computer (after reinstalling the dying HD). The ROM drive does not read data, and I suspect that has been true for quite some time. The RW drive is fine, but apparently does not allow booting from it - which is puzzling. So the answer does appear to be a new CD drive.

There are still a few things you could try but it will take a little time.
1. Remove the both connectors on the non-working drive and reseat both connectors.
2. Trouble shoot the drives. See index item 37.
3. If you have TI installed on a working computers, you could use the Create Bootable Media option and create a bootable USB flash dirve.. Only a small capacity needed.
4. If item 3 not an option, then use another computer and make a Flash Drive bootable using Grub4Dos (Index item 8C). Then you could copy the iso file to the flash drive and run the iso file from within the flash drive.
5. Or, modify the External drive to be either Acronis Bootable or Grub4Dos bootable.(Index item #8-?)

Although the CD-Rom drive appeared to be fine in Windows device manager, the computer still did not recognize it even after a firmware update. So I pulled the drive out, reset its BIOS entry to "Off" and tried again with the rescue disk in the other drive. It finally worked! My next step is to reinstall the new HD and proceed with the rescue - and my fingers crossed.

The recovery was almost smooth but not perfect. First, after I had recovered the first two partitions, the computer would not recognize the external drive which holds the backups. I had to restart the computer, and recovery did find it and the 3rd partition. However, even though I resized the C partition correctly and left just enough for the 3rd partition, the recovery left the partitions as shown on the attached screen shot. I can't resize the C partition through Disk Management without losing all the data. Should I start from scratch again?

Something unexpected happened along the way. You ended up with 5 partitions when you only wanted 3.

When you finished resizing in step 5C, your choice should have been 462.78 GB space assigned to partition C and 2.93 GB free space after. As you were restoring, was there any of the restores where the disk ended up being checked? I don't know how you ended up with two small partitions unless one was added as part of dual restore.

Anyway, your choices at this point is
a. To use TrueImage, we will have to start over with a blank disk.
b. If you want to salvage most of what you have already done, it is possible to use a 3rd party partition manager such as the freeware Partition Wizard to delete the excess partitions and resize the partition..

If you choose to start over with TrueImage, we will make one minor change in your instructions by delaying the Track0/mbr restore.

Let me know your choice before we proceed.

Maybe I could simply delete the FAT 32 partition, which might then join the big unallocated part, extend the C partition to occupy the entire unallocated area, then reinstall the FAT 32 contents in the little unallocated area at the end.

That is exactly what I was planning for you to do using Partition Wizard bootable CD.

Or, any partition manager has capabilities of doing this--except for the final restore of the small partition.

Partition Wizard seems to allow you to move a partition. If that is true, I could delete the 5th (end) partition, move the FAT 32 partition into its place and expand the C partition to the remaining unallocated space.

The type of move that PW will permit is NOT the type of move that you are contemplating.

However, it is possible to use the Copy function and copy the middle small partition to the end partition which is already the correct size. The copy function should work. Be sure you apply the change so it is final before you delete the middle small partition.

Once you have performed the copy & paste and then the delete of the small middle partition, then you can resize the C partition. If you grab the existing C and then you can move it to the left and then you can expand it the full size of 462.78 gb or close. There should be no free space at the beginning or end of the C partition.

After you have applied all the changes and should you have difficulties booting, etc.
If necessary, you can then restore the Track0/mbr and Disk Signature by restoring only those two items from the C partition backup.

Reminder! you should use the boot CD of Partition Wizard to accomplish this. The download for the bootable CD is a separate download from their home page. Do NOT try to do this from within Windows because it is the Windows partition which is being expanded.

The computer is working okay now. The only difficulty (though others may turn up as I use different applications and try to do other things) is that the Start button hangs for a couple of minutes the first time I hit it after boot-up. It is not a problem on subsequent uses.

Attached is a screen shot of the partition layout. This was the best Partition Wizard could do. There are still five partitions. I wonder if the unallocated areas affect performance. When I do a disk backup, will the extra partitions create any problems should I need to recover the disk?

In your last message, you said "If necessary, you can then restore the Track0/mbr and Disk Signature...." Although recovery offered MBR with each partition I restored separately, I only selected and restored it with the C partition. I do not recall seeing anything about Disk Signature during the recovery. Are either of these a problem?

Thank you for all your help and guidance. Given the amount of time it took to work through each problem, communicating via posts/e-mail rather than phone was more efficient.

Just to clarify... There are only three partitions on the drive. Unallocated space doesn't count as a partition. You have two sections of unallocated space.

When you made the changes to the Windows (C:) partition, did you Move it towards the start of the drive (left side) before resizing or did you just resize the left edge of the partition towards the start? Depending on what you did and how PW works, there may be a performance hit. You may want to run a good defrag on the partition to ensure that the Windows files got moved to the start of the partition and that the MFT isn't stuck at the end of the drive.

You could probably also make a backup image of the C: partition (or use the one you have), delete the existing one, and then restore it using TI and make sure to resize it to use all the unallocated space.

Regarding the start menu issue, this may well be a boot issue. The next time you boot the computer, let it sit idle after booting for a couple minutes and then see if you still have the delay. It may be a timeout issue causing the delay. This may take some troubleshooting of startup issues. If the startmenu works ok after your initial wait, then I would troubleshoot the bootup programs.

As for your five partitions, I believe you an reduce the partitions to 3 with a repeat use of Partition Wizard.

Try this. Boot into the Partition Wizard CD.
Click on the C drive partition somewhere in the middle and hold and slide the entire partition to the left so there is no free space at the beginning of C partition. All the free space will have moved to the end of the partition. Click apply to finalize the change.

After there is free space at the beginning of the partition, then hover your mouse pointer over the right edge of the end of the C partition and move the slider to the right. This will expand the existing partition to consume all the unallocated space

Note, there should be no free space at either the beginning or the end. If there is, repeat your positioning movements until there is no free space at either end. Click apply to finalize the changes. Your screen display should now show you have only 3 partitions with no unallocated space. Repeat if necessary. PW will allow you to removed all unallocated space.

Since you restored the Track0/mbr once, that will suffice. You may never have had an opportunity to restore the disk signature since you never had a full disk backup for your use.

Please add a volume name to your C drive. Maybe consider using a name such as
XP-Pro_C

Good luck with your changes. After renaming the drive, now complete a full & complete backup (all partitions in one backup) so you have more choices should you need to upgrade to a larger drive or replace a defective drive.

Edit:
MludCrab is absolutely right!. My use of the term "partitions" was much too loosely done. I should have user better terminology. He is also right in suggesting that a Defrag be done. It might also be a good precaution to check your new disk for errors because some may have been transferred in your backup restore.

All the wrinkles are out and it's back to its old status, with the same little quirks it had before the HDD died, too. I defragmented the disk, ran ckdsk and cleaned the registry, which had more errors than I have ever seen.

Thanks again.

MFL,
A few random thoughts.

1. Should you need to restore any of your prior backups, they will have these same drive issues and your cleanup/defrag/chkdsk will have to be redone.
2. You may want to perform additional maintenance. Turn off Windows system restore to wipe away the current restore data and it probably has no value and will not work with all the changes that have occurred. After turn it off, then you can turn it back on if you wish to start from current. if you do this, then another defrag and chkdsk could be beneficial.
3. You may want to perform additional registry cleanup. Free programs like the reg cleaner of cCleaner and Glary Utilities and EasyCleaner2 can all be of assistance. Each seems to look for different thinks.
4. You may want to assign names (inside disk management) to your partitions 1 and 3 such a P1 and P3. These do not have drive letters assigned so this would help to identify their position should they get messed up again.
5. After all the above, then a new disk option backup to cover all your changes. And having a current backup is what enables you to safety perform this maintenance.

Good luck.
Grover

I have been backing up the disk with its most recent changes. The latest Windows system restore is the one I would use if a problem were to arise in the future, and it has all those changes in it.

Disk management does not allow name changes to the two unlettered partitions.

Partition Wizard might be a possibility on the addition of volume names to the unlettered drives.

Disk management does not allow name changes to the two unlettered partitions.

You don't need to use disk management. Use Windows explorer to rename the drives. See the attached image to see how I've named my drives. Just right click on the drive icon in explorer and click rename.

Tom,
The issue is that the drives are unlettered and do not appear in Explorer. My reason for suggesting that the partition numbers be added is most for clarity so the user is aware of that correct position should these be restored individually. Probably, any partitioning tool might enable this to be done but I do not have any of these type drives so I haven't tested whether naming is permitted in Windows Disk Management.

Partition Wizard worked for labeling the unlettered drives.