how to distinguish between two equally sized HD's
hello,
I have two identically sized hd's (one samsung, the other seagate), if I want to make one the clone of the other, it is not clear in the screen (True Image 10) to tell which one is the source and which is the target as only the size of the hd's is used as reference.
The BIOS setting for the primary boot is not automatically set as target if I'm correct as I made that mistake before and I always have one hd at a time running.
Is there a way to avoid mistakes in this?
And if you're ever in the situation where both are the same brand, name them something like SeagOld and SeagNew, or SamOld and SamNew
Also, open the Device Manager and look under "disk drives". Look at the model number of the drives so you can recognize the drive via the model number.
Also, know how much used space or free space is on the drives. This information is available during a clone or restore.
Also, when you select a drive for any purpose, it often times shows you the content of what is being overlaid which helps to prevent an error. A new disk will usually be blank and unallocated which makes the right drive much easier to identify.
Even serial numbers can help if you look at disk properties within the Rescue CD.
You should also know the position of the drive. Know which disk is disk 0 and which is disk 1 but be careful, the Rescue Disk may assign different numbers or sequence to your disks.
One of the biggest causes of errors is haste and lack of preparation. Before attempting any clone or restore, simulate the procedure--several times if necessary until you feel comfortable. Remember, it is practice until you reach the screen where you must chooses either the Cancel button or the Proceed button. Click the Cancel button if practicing.
Thanks for your answers. I make the clone through a rescue disk and do not run Acronis within windows, so I am not able to use Computer Management.
In the screen in which you can select the hd's the disks are named under Drive Disk1 and Disk2, under caption Model it is blank (and why is that?), Interface is unknown (while it is Sata for both), so only Capacity remains as identifier, so as long as Model is not recognised I am left with an educated guess to what Disk1 and what Disk2 is, see if Sata1 and Sata2 on my motherboard correspond uniquely with Disk1 and Disk2.
In the toolbar above where the disks are listed, at the far right, is a icon which when clicked will let you select fields to display and the order in which to display them (select via checkbox, then highlight the field and use Move Up or Move Down). One of the fields is something like "% Used" or something similar. If you select this field, and move it such that you can see it in the display (make if full screen might help), you should be able to tell the difference between the two drives - unless they are both filled to same percentage.
KJ,
You reference using version 10. Please confirm that you are referring to the old old version 10 and not the newer 2010 version.
I am using True Image Home 10.0, I have it some years.
If it doesn't show it on the cloning screen, you can find the drive information if you go through the Backup wizard (My Computer type) to the point where you select which drives/partitions to backup.
KJ,
Let's take a step backward for a moment. It sounds like you have two internal Sata disks and you want to clone one to the other and both are the same size.
So it would seem that you know or can view the contents of each disk.
For prior preparation, if Windows is accessible, then use Disk Management and note the size and arrangement of the source system disk partitions.
If your source system disks does not have identifying names, then assign name (8-11 characters--no spaces)
Next, delete the partitions on the target disk so the space will be unallocated.
If the above is not possible, you can still delete the partitions using the Acronis Add Disk Function as listed in item 7F of my signature index. More information about cloning using V10 is listed in item 7C of my signature index. The illustrations in the guide may not match your situation but is a guide. You have not told us how many partitions you have on your system disk.
Now boot into the version 10 Rescue CD. Choose the manual method.
One of the first screens is the
Source screen (Image CM03-pp14 of guide). This will display all the disks in or attached to your system.
If you click on the first disk # listed. Note the disk number and note the bottom part of the window which will now show you the partitions structure and size of the partitions for that particular disk. You should be able to identify the disk by its partitions structure and partition size.
Now, click on the next disk #, and again note the bottom of the screen. If you deleted the partitions on the target disk, you should see the space as unallocated. If you did not delete the partitions, then you will have to use what is displayed to determine which drive is which. But between the two displays of data, you should be able to easily distinguish which is the source or drive to be copied and which is the target or drive to be reformed/overwritten.
The next screen is the Destination screen(Image CM04, pp14 of Guide).
If on the previous screen, you selected disk 1 as the source disk, then it will be greyed out and you should select or click on disk 2. Again, note the contents as shown at the bottom of the screen. You should be able to confirm that you have selected the correct target disk by either its contents or unallocated space.
Match image CM06, pp15 of guide. Be sure and mark "keep the data for source disk".
Image CM07, pp 16, Your option "Moving Method" should be marked "AS IS" because both disks are the same size and you want the target to have the same size partitions as the old drive.
The next screen should be similar to CM08,pp 16 and be self explanatory. It should show you the before and after picture. The before should be the contents of the old target disk.
The after should project you the same contents onto the target disk.
Finally, you have the summary screen(CM19) which should identify what is to happen. It will show you both the source and the target. If you do not like what you see, then click Cancel and redo your selections. If you agree with what is to transpire, then click Proceed to initiate the cloning procedure.
Practice as many times as need until you feel your selections are correct.
Don't forget. Remove the data cable on the old disk before booting into the newly cloned disk. You can re-attach later--if you want it used. Be sure and check the correct boot order if you have two identical disks attached at a later time.
Good luck.
Thanks GroverH for your ellaborate reply.
Your description is what I've done for the past few years, except that I recently switched my master disk (500GB) to one of the two smaller backup ones, since the former has become a bit noisier recently (not sure if it's an ominous sign). Most of the 500GB I don't use anyway. So only recently it bothered me that I couldn't distinguish from the menu from both Samsung and Seagate disks which are equal in size, although as said before it is still puzzling that Model remains blank, which would have solved the problem elegantly.
From the disk I use the safe version of the clone process, while the full version (which includes disk interface drivers) gives an error message E000101F4: True Image Home has not found any hard disk drives. Don't understand why this error occurs, but anyway there is one 'failsafe' solution that remains in my case: wipe the target disk partitions prior to connecting both disks. I have only one disk connected to the powercable at a time (except for cloning of course). This way it is clear in the clone screen for identically sized disks which is which, perhaps the last version of Image Home offers more information, but not so here.
KJ,
Check your build. I have v10-4942 full version and it shows the model number for the disks unless it is because you are using the safe version. Is there any specific reason you are using the safe version?
Have you tried the full version even if it is only for practice or simulation?
My 4942 sees all my ide and sata disks plus my external enclosures.
Acronis also recently added the ISO download to your registered page so it is available for your use should the normal Rescue CD not suffice.
I have the same built. I used to run Image Home from windows but at some point, for whatever reason, the copying took almost two hours! So someone advised me to clone from a rescue disk and use the safe version, I ever did since and no problems again. I havn't bothered installing IH on windows since. I previously used the full version from windows, but can't recall if the hd model was shown.
There is another annoying aspect if I connect two hd's and that is that sometimes my partitions get messed up and the other disk is booted in contrary to what I set in my bios. Perhaps this has to do with my Linux loader, I get a message 'duplicated LILO' and then the other disk boots up and windows manages to get the drive letters of my partitions mixed up, I have a program that runs under DOS from floppy to get it fixed again. Windows can be annoying.
Having two identical operating systems on the same computer can cause grief--as you occasionally find out.
Why not download the Version 10 iso file from your registration page and try it. Burn it to CD and this will give you a different version of Rescue CD so you can try something other than the safe version.
Having two identical operating systems on the same computer can cause grief--as you occasionally find out.
Why not download the Version 10 iso file from your registration page and try it. Burn it to CD and this will give you a different version of Rescue CD so you can try something other than the safe version.
If you tell the bios which hd to boot first, what does windows care what the other disk contains. Appearantly not always so when windows is concerned.
I'll have a look at it. Thanks.