Cannot Validate. The drives are different
I am preparing to install a new HD. I read the instruction and watched the video and though this would be easy. But not so...
I performed a "clone disk'. All went well. I then also did a Windows image and added it to the same (external) HD as I wanted to compare file sizes.
Today, I went to Validate my backup and My partitions is listed under E:\ , but when I select recover, then brwose, I see OS (F:) and size matches the size on my C drive.
I wonder if just delete the two backups and start over would be easier.
Scott
This version came with the Crucial HD installation kit and Aconis said is will not support it, So much for Acronis support. I'm not impressed with the company.
Thank you for the information. I appreciate your time and patience with the step by step suggested instructions. I was planning on keeping the old HD in my PC for storage. I'd prefer to not remove it and then have to adapt the ATA to USB to use it (another $25 part).
I understand I should not have two identical harddrives connected but wonder if I can install the new SSD. Start the PC but have Windows boot to the old "D:" drive, use Acronis to clone "D:" to the new "C:" drive; reboot to the new C: drive to confirm all is there, then wipe the old D: drive clean.
So, Acronis cannot be used to clone to an external? I do not understand that as I wonder what happens if my HD crashes tonight.
In the meantime, guess I will uninstall Acronis and use a Windows restore point to undo all my folly, then reinstall Acronis.
Thanks again.
Hi Donald,
You probably ended up with OS F: because the drive was mounted at the same time as your actual OS C: drive was booted up. Windows automatically assigns the next available drive letter. I don't see D: or E: currently in use, but your other screens shots looks like E: is your backup drive and D: could be another drive, USB flash drive, or CD rom. Basically, it's just the letter your curently booted Windows OS assigned that drive letter because it's the next available one.
Yes, you can clone from an internal to an external drive However, that is opposite of the recommended method for 2 reasons: 1) if you clone in the wrong direction (select the wrong source as the blank one) to begin with - you'll have 2 blank drives instead of a clone of the original disk data. This is not a limitation of the clone process, but an effort to prevent someone from doing this. 2) You can't boot a clone drive from USB so you can't validate it or use it. Acronis is assuming that most people are cloning in hopes to have their system boot from the cloned disk in most cases and their recommendation is in an effort to limit confusion here by ensuring that users have the drive that will be receiving the cloned image as the drive that will be used to boot after the clone process has completed and the system is rebooted.
You're complicating the process in your scenario above. Technically, yes that could work. However, in order to clone, the OS boots into the Acronis Linux recovery environment anyway. In some cases, the Linux environment may not have the correct drivers and fail to clone as a result. Also, it's recommended to boot into the offline recovery media for this reason, since one can create WinPE if additional drivers are needed.
This is from 2016, but the basic procedure still applies in all versions:
Clone Disk wizard
and
FAQ about backup, recovery and cloning
and
Disk cloning utility
As for Acronis support of the Crucial version - Acronis is not obligated to support 3rd party versions. The vendor offering the tool is on the hook as part of the agreement to bundle the software with their product since it has been customized. Basically, it's a modified "free" version offered by the hardware vendor to sweeten the deal for buying their equipment. It's really on Crucial in this case to provide the product support under whatever terms they offered it with the item you purchased.
Thanks for the reply. The link for the clone wizard is the proceedure I used. I'm just not sure how my external HD (E:) became the F drive. Perhaps something I did and did not realize it. I'll be on travel the next couple of weeks and when I return will re-examine the process. It should be / is supposed to be easier.
And I get it about the OEM agreement. I.e., when I get a new PC, I call Dell/HP?Lenovo when I have problems and not Microsoft.
Hi again Donald,
In your screenshot, it looks like you have both drives mounted in Windows at the same time. You can only ever have on drive letter for each disk and cannot use the same drive letter for two disks at the same time. That's why I believe the other one is showing up as E:. Simply becuase that is what Windows assigned to it as the next available drive letter in the currently running version of Windows (which is the current C: drive). That's my guess - I can't see the entire folder structure, but if you open up computer management >>> disk management and both are physically mounted at the same time, I'm sure you'll see the same C: and E: drive there and that will confirm this is what's happening.
If you were to shutdown, remove the phsical drive that is C: at present, move the phsysical drive to what is E: at present to where C: was connected and boot the computer, it would boot as C:. If you then shutdown and powered off and added the second drive, the one that was just C: will remain C: and the newly add drive will be whatever the next available drive letter is.
As for the OEM licensing, actually, you would need to contact Windows, but I don't think they'd help if you were trying to transfer an OEM license from one machine (say a Dell) to a new machine (say an HP). That's the limitation of OEM license - they're tied to the hardware they came with and are non-transferable. In this case though, if both systems were already running Windows 10, you'd have no issues since Windows 10 is hardware based and only cares if the hardware was ever licensed.
Thank you again for your advice. I opened up disk management and it was exactly as you say. Your suggested routine of the drive swapping makes sense except I am replacing my HD with a new SSD and not what is currently what is in use as the E drive external HD.
Acronis does have You Tube videos for the 2014 version for backing up,cloning and recovering.
How can I get my 'E' drive back?
Hi Donald,
Not sure I follow exactly. Once you've imaged to a new drive and all is working, if the drive letters are not as you want them, you would open computer managment >>> disk managment.
You can then change the drive letter there, by right clicking on the existing letter and selecting to change it. Just be careful though and don't accidentally format a disk or something. You typcially want to leave the C: Drive as C: drive in most cases since software applications expect them to be where they were originally installed (usually C:\Program files or C:\program files (x86).
For other data paritions though, you should be able to right click and change the letter (see screenshots).
Thanks again for the advice, especially taking the time to make and attach the screen shots, or "Windows for Dummies" help. :) I now have my E: drive back. I was considering doing a right-click -> Format on the drive but I think I'm fine now.
Excellent. Glad I could of of some use too :)
Yes, please do NOT format if all of your data is there and the drive is behaving. Formatting the drive will wipe all contents of the drive (in most cases - irreversibly). With a clone or a backup to revert to, that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but could certainly be time consuming to restore or copy the data back to again. Sounds like everything is back in order so I'd recommend leaving things as they are for now.
Regards!