Disk Cloning Issue
I purchased a new 750gb hdd for my laptop (90gb) and I used Acronis to clone the drive, a couple of problems occurred. I'm on Windows XP sp3 if that makes any difference. I put the new HDD into a usb enclosure and set acronis to clone it, I thought I used all the correct settings (it seems now perhaps not).
1 The clone was not booting properly - BSOD stop 0x0000007b
2 The cloned HDD only shows 90gb and I can't see any unallocated space, it should be 750gb
I tried to re-format the 750gb drive, but it won't recognize anything beyond the 90gb. I looked at windows disk manager and it only shows 90gb, with no unallocated space I have tried rebuilding the MBR and it had no effect (using MiniTool partition wizard). If I know what the problem is I'm sure I can fix it, I just don't know where the issue is. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I attached an image of the disk management screen showing what I'm seeing. Disk 1 should be showing 750gb not 90gb (disk 0 is my internal HDD)
Ok, for the record I have a Dell XPS M1710 laptop it has a Hitachi 90gb (91.7 gb actually) 7200rpm HDD from the factory (this is one of those disks with the hidden recovery partition or whatever so there are two partitions one of 40mb and one with 90+gb).
I am trying to replace it with a Seagate Momentus 750gb (actually 690gb or there abouts) 7200rpm HDD.
I researched the problem and it seems that Acronis is re-writing the LFA table somehow thus changing the disk size from 750gb to 90gb, what's really F'd up is that once this is done it can't go back and undo it! I tried downloading the tools but they all require the disk to be connected via
I was able to exchange the disk for a new one and instead of a direct clone I decided to try the backup method.
I formatted the new HDD so it showed the full 750gb, and then just for fun made a clean install of windows - everything worked just fine. so I put the original disk back into the computer and made a backup of the disk to my network drive.
I switched drives, booted up the Acronis disk and restored the backup to my computer using the automatic settings.
same two issues as before.
Unmountable boot volume
HDD shows 90GB (Acronis said it would resize the partitions to fit the drive - seems it fit the drive to the partitions instead!)
WTF am I doing wrong here? am I missing a setting? this is seriously pissing me off...
any suggestions before I exchange the disk again and try some other program?
Michael,
There should be no need to exchange the disk. The Seagate utilities should be able to correct the error. Most likely, this is one of the style special format disks. Acronis may be able to make the correction.
Follow the directions in step 1 at this link.
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/29618
Be sure the backup includes both partitions.
With the 750 inside the computer,
Boot using the TI bootable media CD.
1. Use the Add disk option and delete the partitions on the 750 so all space is unallocated.
2. Follow the steps listed in guide.
a. restore the smaller partition 1 to the same size as original. No increase in size. proceed
Be sure you mark the same partition as active as the one marked active on the old disk. Sometimes the active partition is also marked as the system partition. Be be careful and look.
b. After completion with no reboot necessary, return to the Recovery menu and
checkmark the larger user partition.
checkmark the mbr/track 0
and on the next screen
where the 750 is selected as the target, also checkmark "Recover Disk Signature" option.
Proceed with the final step.
3. Shutdown and reboot with only the new 750 connected.
I talked with Seagate support and they sent me this link: http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/209175en?language=en_US
They suggest using disk director, is this a better idea than true image?
>> From Seagate.com
Cloned hard drive is truncated to the capacity of the original disk in Dell laptop.
When cloning the hard drive from a Dell laptop using the Media Direct feature, the resulting cloned drive’s capacity can be truncated to the size of the original/source drive.
Normally, this occurs when a user is attempting to copy the contents of the laptop computer's original hard drive onto another, usually larger, laptop hard drive. Let's say the old laptop drive was 40 GB and the user wants a larger drive, so he/she acquires a new 120 GB drive. The user then connects the new 120 GB drive to the laptop with a USB adapter or external case and then uses Seagate DiscWizard to perform the clone. Once the clone is complete, the user removes the old 40 GB laptop drive from the computer and inserts the new 120 GB drive in its place, thus upgrading the capacity but keeping all the data intact through the cloning action. However, if this problem occurs, the user will discover that the Dell laptop sees only 40 GB on the new drive as well.
The capacity limitation problem occurs because the Media Direct feature utilizes a host protected area (HPA) that defines a hidden volume beyond the reported usable capacity of the hard drive. After the cloned drive (with the cloned HPA) is booted in the laptop, the BIOS will change the Logical Block Addressing (LBA) of the drive to match the original drive, which is usually a smaller drive. This decreases the viewable capacity of the new drive.
Resolution: Do not use DiscWizard to clone from a Dell laptop that uses Media Direct. Use Acronis Disk Director to perform the clone. If you can simply start over, this is probably the easiest solution.
Workaround:
- If the data only exists on the new (destination) drive and original was wiped - The LBA can be reset on the cloned drive within another laptop computer.
- Connect the hard drive inside another computer.
- If your drive is an ATA/IDE drive, you must use another laptop.
- If your drive is a Serial ATA drive, you can use a laptop or a desktop computer, since the SATA interface for desktop and laptop computers are identical.
- Use SeaTools for DOS or a 3rd party HDAT utility to reset the drive to maximum capacity.
- The HPA sector (absolute sector 3) can be zero-filled by itself using 3rd-party software such as RoadKil’s "Sector Editor".
- Replace the drive in the original Dell laptop computer. It will then not be truncated. This should not be dangerous to your data, but a backup of your data is always recommended at all times.
- If the data does not need to be recovered and/or is backed up - Simply reset the LBA in another computer using SeaTools or HDAT utility.
- Connect the drive inside another laptop computer.
- Use SeaTools for DOS or a 3rd party HDAT utility to reset the drive to maximum capacity.
- Then use Seatools or the 3rd-party utility to zero-fill the drive.
- Connect the new drive externally to the Dell laptop again.
- Then perform the clone again using Acronis Disk Director.
- You may then insert the new drive inside the Dell laptop and all should be well.
More information can be found here.
In your first post, you indicated you were using Acronis. Would you clarify with version and build number and if the paid version, or are you using the free Acronis product offered by Seagate in their utilities?
Acronis Disk Director will certainly do the job but it is overkill and requires considerable skill and familiarity with the product.
The paid version of TrueImageHome will do what you want to do via either cloning or via backup and restore. How to do that was outlined in post #3
Follow the directions in step 1 at this link.
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/29618
Be sure the backup includes both partitions.
Or, if you still wish to clone, this link shows you the basic concepts but you will need to adept to your own configuration.
http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/forum/2009/11/5940/mar1-gh…
Creating a larger replacement disk (from a smaller source) via cloning or restoring is a standard feature of TrueImage Home and not limited to the a replacement of the same size.
Well it seems that third time was the charm.
Here's the steps I went through, just in case someone else is having a similar problem.
I created a new back up of my entire drive (including the hidden dell partition and the C partition) and put it on my NAS
I put the new 750gb drive into a USB enclosure and used the TI boot disk to create a new drive with two partitions, one of the same size as my original drive (91.71gb) and the remainder on a second partition (~605gb). I figured that since all of my previous attempts had been to create a single partition, creating a second partition may help to address the problem, or at least give me some possibility of recovering the partition if disaster struck again.
I then restored just the C partition, and left the dell partition unrestored (I think this is what was causing the problem).
Moved the USB enclosure to my XPS, verified that all of the data had been copied properly and both partitions were recognized.
I shutdown my laptop, removed the old drive and replaced it with the new.
Took a deep breath and said a silent prayer.
Booted to the BIOS verified that the new HDD was recognized properly.
Booted with the TI boot disk to verify that both partitions were intact.
Crossed my fingers and booted to windows...
XP booted properly, logged on ok, both partitions showed up ok.
No problems so far.
Thanks for the help and suggestions and to Micro Center for being understanding and allowing me two exchanges!
Good job Michael.
Glad you found something that would work for you and your configurations.