Gregg, any failed to write data to the disk error messages are normally caused by an issue with the disk being identified in the message, i.e. disk 2 in this case but where this equates to disk 1 in the Windows Disk Management display (as ATI counts from 1 versus Windows counting from 0).

One of the first steps of a clone operation is to wipe all data / partitions from the target drive which will cause the disk to no longer be shown in Windows Explorer.  It is not necessary for the target disk to be shown in Explorer in order to do a clone.  The disk just needs to be visible to ATI to be selected as the target for the clone, and you may just need to use the option to 'Add disk' if needed.

I would recommend downloading / using any diagnostic tools provided by the drive maker on their support site.

See the Troubleshooting section of this KB document for a set of links to common drive maker sites.

Beyond the above suggestions, more information would be needed to better understand exactly what you are doing here?  Are you cloning from an internal drive to an external one, or cloning from an external drive to a second external drive etc?  How are you doing the cloning?  Is this from within Windows using the ATI application, or are you using the Rescue Media?

I'm cloning from an internal disk to a usb disk. I'm trying to create a clone that I can use to install in another laptop so I can do some experimenting. Don't ask...

So now acronis doesn't see the disk either. I cannot find the "add disk" function. I've even googled to find information on it. I'm searching my files for anything related, and can't find it. Where do I find this function?

OK, so Acronis does see the usb disk when I go to backup. But there is no add disk, even after attaching the usb disk and restarting, in clone disk.

And now windows explorer does see the usb disk, but only as a 100Mb disk. So something is not right. I'm not sure where to go from here. I tried diskpart and format from the C prompt, and only got no such command errors. I probably have multiple issue going on. Sure could use any advice.

Now I opened windows explorer again, and it sees the usb drive as two drives. One is E and the other is F. One being 100Mb and the F being 500Gb. I've done everything I can to try and make it one drive only. If I try to format from windows explorer in ntsf I get the error message "windows was unable" to complete the format.

Gregg, assuming that you are doing this from the Windows ATI application, then the Add new disk is found in the All Tools list, or via the Start > All Programs > Acronis > True Image > Tools & Utilities.

I edited my post above. You might take a look to see what is going on since I posted. And thank you.

I tried the add disk and get this error- failed to read from sector of hard disk 2. And since it's a usb disk I don't know if I can do a chkdsk on it.

Gregg, all that is required in order to run CHKDSK is for the USB disk to have a drive letter assigned and be formatted as NTFS.  The 100MB partition is most likely the Microsoft System Reserved partition where Windows stores the BCD store for boot configuration, and the other partition is likely to be the main OS partition that the clone operation has started to create before hitting the disk issue.

Again, I would recommend using the drive manufacturer diagnostic tools which can check the whole drive.

If you want to just prepare the drive as a single partition and try CHKDSK /B against the drive letter assigned to it, then open an Administrator level Command Prompt window and run the following commands.

diskpart
list disk   (to identify USB drive, i.e. 1)
select disk 1
clean
create partition primary
active
format fs=ntfs quick
assign
exit

Thank you. I'm really struggling with this disk. I've never had issues like this before. And I have been formatting disks since the 80's. Even so, I'm a relative newbie. I've never run chkdsk/b.

OK I can't even do the diskpart command. I've uploaded a screenshot showing what I see. I'll head over to the manufacturer's site, but it seems I should be able to do this without having to do that, yet. And I have never seen windows explorer display "System Reserved E:" and then list F: separately before. But maybe that's just me being a newbie. Haha. And why is disk 1 zero bytes free. I'm going on one week of struggling with this mess.

Well I tried the only thing I can find on the Seagate site, and your diskpart recommendation, and I get more errors. Here's what happened-

Gregg, do you have the option of connecting the Seagate drive to a SATA cable and trying again in that way in case your USB caddy is contributing to the issue here?

OK, I found one of the problems. I changed to a different USB port, and I was able to complete the clean command. However when trying to create the partition I got the error- access is denied. At least that's some progress. What do I do now?

Geez. I swapped to the last and fourth USB port, and the partition command was successful. I'll just take a break for a while.

Successful clone. Thanks for your help.

Now I just need to figure out how to use the universal restore media builder. If you can point me in a direction it would really help.

When I go to the rescue media builder page it prompts me to choose where I want it. I click on the extermal usb drive, and it does nothing. The only option I get is "back". And nothing happens. Can you help out here? What am I supposed to do to get this rescue media builder going?

I've gotten to the point where I've downloaded the software to enable the wizard to take me through the steps to build the rescue media, or whatever it is that I use to use my cloned disk in dissimilar hardware. But after several steps the wizard devolves into something I don't understand. Only one of the four options (CD) means anything to me. The page "select the media output" does not include "usb", so at this point I'm left no option to return to the forum and beg for help. What do I do now?

edit- I just assumed that ISO was what I use, and it started taking me through steps. Once it got to the add-a-driver page I was lost. I don't know what driver I need, or if I even need one.

Help...

Download the True Image documentation HERE

Universal Restore media creation starts on page 178.

Attach a USB thumb drive to your computer and you should see an option to choose it in the list where you see the CD reference.

Drivers to ass would be any needed for the hardware installed in the PC you are using the disk.  Generally, chipset drivers and Storage Controller drivers are necessary.  Other drivers in most cases can be added in Windows once you boot the hard disk.

Thanks. I'll read up on how it works. Actually after reading it, it's not much more helpful than the prompts the program gives. I need one for dummies, evidently.

OK, I've gone through the steps again, and the program does not have USB drive as an option, even though my usb drive is plugged in. I chose ISO and installed that onto my usb drive. Will this work?

Here's what I'm seeing-

The USB drive needed for the Universal Restore is a thumb or flash drive which can be no larger that 32GB and formatted as FAT32.  Universal Restore cannot be written to the disk you cloned or restored to.

I just tried this on one of my machines.  When you plug in the removable flash/thumb drive of correct size and format and run the Universal Restore Media Builder tool such drives are added to list of choices and show as USB Drive.

Aha. Now it showed up. I think the thumb drive I was using was too big, or something. So I should be ready to move ahead. Thanks!

I'm in the process of doing a universal restore. I've read this-

Acronis Backup 11.7/11.5: Universal Restore

But it doesn't seem to completely explain what to do after booting up and specifying the location of the driver file for the new chipset. I boot to the usb device. I see the Acronis restore text on the screen. Then up comes a screen, and I select Acronis universal restore 64bit. Then there's the screen with OS, automatic driver search, and mass storage. On that screen I selected the location of what I think is the file with the chipset driver. Then I click OK. Then a box opens saying it's applying universal restore details. Under history it says it succeeded. I click ok, and it just goes into an endless cycle of opening the box saying applying universal restore details, and that it succeeded. If I click reboot, it just takes me to the screen stating either to repair the computer, or... the bootup screen for a system that's not matched.

So what should I be doing? What am I doing wrong?

Edit- Whoa. Hold everything. I booted up normally, and I'm up and running. Holy shit!

:) - after restoring an image or running universal restore, sometimes the bios has to make it's own changes, or the user may need to go in and ensure that the restored disk is listed as the first boot priority. 

Basically, Universal restore will strip out 3rd party drivers and leave the generic Windows Drivers (whatever would be the same in a Windows OS installer based on the OS that was restored in the image).  

Glad all is well now!

Hey thanks. Not only did it work, but the reason I did the whole thing in the first place is fixed. I had an audio issue where the speaker icon had a red x. I searched everything I could find on google and dell's website. Nothing. I uninstall what I thought were proper drivers, and reinstalled. So I figured the integrated sound board was dead, and thus so was the whole computer. Well, I have sound now. So not only did Acronis work, but it gave me back my computer. Yeehaw.