merge disks dont work

Hello Chris,

Welcome to our Forum, we're glad to greet you here.

This might happen in case you're using basic disks configuration, and not dynamic. Please check this User Guide, chapter 3.1, p. 12 "Basic and Dynamic Disks" for more details.

In general, in order to add the space to the partition from another physical drive you need to have these drives added to the dynamic disks set. You can find all the needed information for such operation in the Chapter 3.

If you have dynamic disks, and the issue remains, please send us the screenshot of the problem, and Acronis System Report from the problem machine.

Should you need anything else or have any further questions - feel free to contact us at your earliest convenience, we will be happy to help you!

Thank you.

Hi

Many thanks for your reply, will take a look at the user guide you stated. All disks are shown as 'Basic MBR' so this seems to be what you say.

I assume i will need to convert to dynamic - can this be done without losing any data?

Thanks again for your reply

Chris Anderson

Hi

I have followed those instructions, first trying to convert from basic to dynamic, see below:

as regards:

Right-click the basic disk you want to convert, and then click Convert to dynamic. You will receive a final warning about the basic disk being converted to dynamic

I dont have that option!!!

The closest is 'convert to logical'

???????????

Chris

Disk conversion: basic to dynamic
You would want to convert a basic disk to dynamic in the following cases:

If you plan to use the disk as part of a dynamic disk group
If you want to achieve additional disk reliability for data storage.
To convert a basic disk to dynamic

Right-click the basic disk you want to convert, and then click Convert to dynamic. You will receive a final warning about the basic disk being converted to dynamic.
Click OK to add the pending basic to dynamic disk conversion operation.
Note: A dynamic disk uses the last megabyte of the physical disk to store the database, including the four-level description (Volume-Component-Partition-Disk) for each dynamic volume. If during the conversion to dynamic it turns out that the basic disk is full and the size of its volumes cannot be decreased automatically, the basic disk to dynamic conversion operation will fail.
The results of the pending operation are immediately displayed as if the operation had been performed.

To perform the pending operation you will have to commit it. Exiting the program without committing the pending operations will effectively cancel them.

Should you decide to revert your dynamic disks back to basic ones—for example, if you want to start using an operating system on your machine that does not support dynamic disks—you can convert your disks using the same menu items, though the operation now will be named Convert to basic.

System disk conversion

The program does not require an operating system reboot after conversion of a basic disk that contains one or more boot volumes to dynamic if:

There is a single Windows Vista, or Windows 7 operating system installed on the disk.
The machine runs this operating system.
Caution: The conversion of a disk containing boot volumes takes a certain amount of time. Any power loss, unintentional turning off of the machine or accidental pressing of the Reset button during the procedure could result in bootability loss.
For machines where more than one operating system is installed, the program ensures bootability of each of the operating systems.

Hi Again

Please see screen shot attached after I right click on the drive I wanted to convert to dynamic

Look forward to your reply

Chris

Hi

Also, I have read about the clone basic disk option, as I am thinking about just replacing my 60gb SSD with a larger one instead of merging

Again, the option does not show on my screen (see screenshot in last post) ie the manual says right click on the drive and select
'clone basic disk' - that does not show.

????????????

Regards

Chris Andereson

Hi All
Silly me - i was right clicking on the disk ie drive C rather than the item above ie Disk 1 MBR - i can now see the options.

New question - i dont understand fully the manual re NT signature. I want my new SSD to boot instead of my old SSD (new SSD is 120gb old is 60gb)

If i click to copy the signature, i read it says 21 nt signatures can cause problems.

May i have a simple step by step to move my operating system from drive C to my new drive please

I dont want to be stuck in the middle if something goes wrong

Thanks

Chris Anderson

HI

Sorry for all teh questions. I went through the process of cloning a disk. When it was about to start, it advised that i should remove the system disk from the machine, right at the start of the process. Im am confused, how can it clone the disk if it does not exist ? - I was expecting the copy procedure then have to reboot later and take out the hard disk first.

By physically removing the hard disk, does thie mean I cannot use it again in this PC?

When I bought this software yesterday, it looked impressive and a very simple task for what I wanted to do, I am having doubts at the moment

Regards

Chris

I would avoid converting to Dynamic and doing the merge procedure. In my opinion, it's not worth the trouble or potential problems.

If you are replacing the system drive (as you are), you would normally want to keep the Disk Signature. This doesn't mean that you can't use the original drive in the system (it would get assigned a new Signature).

When cloning, it's recommended to do it when booted to the DD CD. This makes it where Windows doesn't get in the way and gives you more control over the process. Also, before booting into Windows on the new drive for the first time after cloning, make sure to disconnect (or disable) the original drive first. After the first boot into Windows you can reconnect (or enable) the original drive. Skipping this step can cause problems. I think this is what the message you're talking about is referring to. Obviously, you can't remove the original before you do the cloning since you then wouldn't be able to use it as the source drive.