Question on restoring an Image to a new hard drive

Seth,

No, as long as the used space on your 320GB is lower than your 128GB you are fine. Make the necessary space available otherwise.

If you formatted your disk with Win 7 DVD prior to installing WIn 7, your disk is aligned. It is probably aligned as well it you formatted with Vista. If you formatted with XP, and then upgraded, your disk is not aligned.

If it is aligned, use the ACronis recovery CD to do a backup of your 320, including all partitions.
Swap the disk. Remove your 320GB.
Restore your image including MBR and Track0 on the SSD.
Boot your computer.

Then you can plug your 320GB and do what you want with it.

If your 320GB is not aligned, let us know.

the current HD was never XP.
And was not split/partitioned.
I have 54GB of used space.

I 'do" weekly back ups (images) & pretty certain its every thing.

What do you mean by "Restore your image including MBR and Track0 on the SSD" ?

I have the (Acronis) Manual and it seems void of steps with someone in my situation.

So, simply:
1. Set BIOS to boot by DVD,
2. Insert Acronis recovery disk
3. Shut down PC & unplug.
4. Pull out the old HHD.
5. Insert new SSD (in a 3.5") bay and connect the cables.
6. boot up pc, then with the Acronis disc point to the imaged file (which I have on a secondary internal hard drive).
7. Then image the new SSD?

Thx

OR
is it possible to
1. Connect the SSD via USB (I have various SAta to USB cables.
2. Open Acronis and clone the current image to the SSD.
3. Disconnect the SSD and power down the PC.
4. Pull out the current HHD, insert the SSD and then start up the PC?

The first sequence of steps is right, the second is wrong.

Just to be clear, you should restore a backup, not clone the drive (very different operation).

As you start to restore your image, you will see the option to restore MBR and track 0, select it. Select also the option to restore the disk signature.

To check if your disk is aligned, launch the system configuration, in tools choose system information, look at components, storage. Look at the offset of the first partition. In bytes,if you have an integer after dividing by 4096, you have an aligned disk.

I do not see the System Information option.
Can you be more specific?

I only have the one partition - I never partioned the drive.

Will I see the option of MBR and track 0 when I configure the image OR only during the restore?

thx

Search for msinfo32.exe in the start menu. Launch it. Unfold components > storage > disks

You will see the MBR and track 0 option when you restore the image. Always use the ACronis CD to restore a system image. It works also from Windows, but I recommend you use the CD.

Since posting , learned that my new SSD drive may have a firmware update available - I won't know for sure untill I install the SSD.
What I am trying to find out through Corsair is after I install the SSD and Image that drive, will flashing the SSD also wipe out the contents of the drive- meaning will I have to re-image ?

Any thoughts?

Does Acronis save any Firmware status of the drive itself? Same goes with a Motherboard. Or are such firmware updates internal to the SSD & Motherboard and thus not affected by an Acronis Image.

And regarding the info sought via msinfo32.exe - as suspected no partitions noted. Just the single C drive

Lastly - I updated Acronis last nite - the icon is damaged - see attachment. How do I fix it ?
(note the program does open even though icon is dmg'd).
Thx

I have an OCZ, and they say updating the firmware should not jeopardize data, but that a backup is highly recommended.

Acronis doesn't see the firmware.

Look at the data for the C partitions. THere is a line that talks about offset. Do the math on the offset.

TO fix your icon, right click on the shortcut, properties, customize, browse to the Acronis program folder to the AcronisTibUrlHandler.exe file. CHoose the icon in there.

found something called Partition Starting Offset, the number of bytes is 32,256. which divided by 4096 is 7.875 - I am not sure what that means.

I am attaching a word doc of the Storage/disk ... Just in case I am missing something.

It means your current drive is not aligned.
No worry.
When you restore your drive, from the recovery CD, select only the C partition, nothing else (not the MBR track 0), select the SSD as new location, mark the partition primary active, choose the letter C:\.
On the following screen, you will be able to specify the space before and after the partition. ATI will automatically propose 1MB before. IF you see this, you are OK. If you don't see it, adjust it.
Proceed with the restore. When it is done, without rebooting, restore the MBR, track0 and disk signature.

That's all. Your computer should reboot.

Once running, check the alignment of the SSD. You can also use this tool: http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/other/157

Please clarify on :
you will be able to specify the space before and after the partition. ATI will automatically propose 1MB before. IF you see this, you are OK. If you don't see it, adjust it.

And then after that, how do I restore the MBR?

I am on the fence as far as comfort level
last night I went to my local Best Buy to inquire on them installing and imaging the new SSD drive.
Geek Squad gentleman said they could Clone my existing drive to the new SSD and that when I open up say the C drive, it will look just like it does on my existing HHD.
I tried to clarify with him on "clone" vs "image" it seemed to me he was using the terminology as if they are the same - Could that be true and that Acronis using 'image' more as a trademarked term?

Thx

Cloning is a different process than backup/restore in Acronis terminology.

If your disk is not aligned, I would personally not clone it, or ask then how they will clone and align the disk: a clone is an exact copy of the disk, so they would have to then process it somehow to realign it.

THere is no risk for you trying the approach I proposed. Nothing can damaged your risk is you do a restore. Worst case, you just redo it. Don't worry about "using" the SSD. A restore is a single write...

Using the approach above, you will create the necessary offset before the first partition to realign the disk. I think ATI proposed the 1MB by default, but I cannot remember for sure. I am sure, however, that you can adjust the setting to 1MB if it is not there by default.

What changed my comfort level was reading a SSD forum and one (grant it, it was one ) person said his system would not boot as the SSD was connected to SATA port that was NOT the SATA 1 port of his motherboard.

Currently this is my set up - per the BIOS (and from the factory):
Sata 1 not detected
Sata 2 Seagate - ST3500418AS E Drive
Sata 3 Hitachi - HDT721032S C Drive - which will be the SSD.
Sata 4 not detected
Sata 5 “ “
Sata 6 “ “

If I do the restore my self and before I do a reboot - I will see a screen or two or three ,with the option to : restore the MBR, track0 and disk signature ?

Sorry to ask another question. What if I used a restore from earlier on - still Align?
I ask as when I got the machine, I created back ups at various stages - mostly of the main stuff that would be a pain to set up again (Word, my HP printer, router, and a few others). Thinking about this as those back ups would have less bloatness.

As much as possible, put your new disk on the same connector as your old disk.

Yes, boot the computer on the ACronis CD, with your new SSD in place, and start the restore. Remember: the drive letters on the CD are not going to be the same as in windows. For example, if your USB/backup disk was F: in windows, it might become D: on the CD.

Your disk didn't become "not aligned", it was formatted non-aligned the last time you or the OEM created the C:\partition.

Also: there is not risk to your system trying the restore. You will have disconnected your old disk after you have backed it up. THis is your fall back position if anything doesn't work according to plan: replace your old disk in.

You can experiment with your restore on the SSD at no risk. Ideally, when you try a second time, you use the Add new disk tool on the Acronis CD to erase the SSD completely (note: this is not a secure-erase process as the one you may have read about to reset an SSD to factory condition).

Thanks so much

Ok so to wrap this up, here are the steps to follow
(some info taken from the OCZ forum regarding the Vertex 2 SSD I plan on installing - and that
it may need a firmware update):

1. Set BIOS to boot by DVD,
2. AHCI Setting (s) :
Apply the Reg hack that lets you change an existing install to AHCI.
Also - Disable defrag at least on the SSD - via DisKeeper
3. Insert Acronis recovery disk
4. Reboot PC and
5. Open BIOS (delete key).
Go to : Main / Storage Configuration / Configure Sata as AHCI
6. Then re-boot the system – it must boot successfully with AHCI enabled
then you can clone the drive to the SSD.
7. Shut down PC & unplug.
4. Pull out the old HHD.
5. Insert new SSD (in a 3.5") bay and connect the cables.
6. Boot up the PC, then with the Acronis disc point to the imaged file (which I have on a
secondary internal hard drive).
Restore as a backup, not a cloned drive (very different operation).
7. Then image the new SSD.

When you restore your drive, from the recovery CD,
select only the C partition, nothing else (not the MBR track 0),
select the SSD as new location, mark the partition primary active, choose the letter C:\.

On the following screen, specify the space before and after the partition. Acronis True Image will automatically propose 1MB before. IF you see this, you are OK. If you don't see it, adjust it.

Proceed with the restore. When it is done, & without rebooting - restore the :
MBR, track0 and disk signature.

That's all. Your computer should reboot.
Once running, check the alignment of the SSD. You can also use this tool: http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/other/157
8. Then check for updated firmware.
9. If there is an update – Image with Acronis first.
Then apply the firmware.
10. Install the tweak utility (on USB drive) from the OCZ forum site and apply the following :
1 Disable defrag at least on the SSD - via DisKeeper
2 Disable indexing
3 Disable prefetch
4 Disable windows search

Pat -
Thought/Question -
is there a way to align the current drive - which should make the process easier?
you did not mention, plus not finding much in Google, so I guess the answer is no.

Thanks for all your help by the way.

Seth,

I wouldn't try to move a partition or shift it. Too much risk. Backup and restore is the way to go, because there is NO risk to the original data.

I gather you are replying to the last post?

What about my previous (19;18 hrs) from today- all those steps correct?

Yes, the steps are the right ones.

NB: Not sure you should disable windows search (indexing of the SSD content yes) or prefetch (superfetch yes).

Thanks, take care

Let us know how it went!