Can't get cloned drive to fully boot

[rastagard]

Well, I finally got my new install of XP Pro all set up the way I wanted, so I decided to ghost it onto my 120 gig HDD, that previously held my old copy of Windows. ( I had been transferring settings and stuff as I installed my software)


I went into DOS with my Norton Ghost boot disk, ghosted my current XP setup onto my partitioned 120 gig where I had the old copy installed. It is a primary partition and the ghosting went smooth.


But when I replaced the smaller drive with this one the computer seemed to boot up normally but hung up on the blue welcome screen. It just wont budge.


I think it might have something to do with the drive letter. It is currently drive E:, but how the heck do I change the drive letter without getting back into windows? I have done ghosting dozens of times and never had this problem. I may just try to ghost it again and see if maybe something didn't screw up.


If anybody has any suggestions I would appreciate it.


My system;

P4 2.6 Ghz 800 fsb w/ hyperthread
1 gig ram
ATI A-I-W Radeon
1 40 gig Maxtor HDD
1 120 gig Maxtor HDD
1 80 gig WD HDD
Abit IS7 MoBo
Maxtor ATA controller card (w/ removable media drives only HDDs on MoBo)

[cpugeniusmv]

That, my friend, is WPA at it's worse.

Windows XP doesn't like being moved to different hard drives, it's a 'feature' not a bug.

:-\

[cpugeniusmv]

it makes no difference, i have the same thing, and have tried the same thing...and got the same result, for the same reason,

[rastagard]

Hmmm, done it many, many times in the past, without a hitch.


It might be that this machine is more modern, but I hafta feel there is something going on, since it gets right up to the welcome screen before it hangs.


I'll keep noodlin around till I figger it out. I'm still open to suggestions though............

[rastagard]

OK, Progress!


After foolin around last night, I determined that by ghosting my OS onto a partitioned drive, (not overwriting the whole drive) I maintained the drive letters, thereby not allowing the computer to boot. (the O/S must be on C: drive or at least the boot files)


This morning I ghosted to another extra drive ( I know, I got too many drives, or do I ?) and am on the ghosted drive right now, so everything worked by overwriting the entire disk.


Next step, which I set up but did not execute last night, is to go into Partition Magic and delete the current C: drive, change the E: drive (with the ghost of my O/S) to C: and reboot. This should work, but I have the extra working ghosted drive just in case. I have said this before, but Norton Ghost and Partition Magic are absolute necessities when it comes to HDD management. I highly recommend both programs............

[Drakin316]

I have always had luck with norton ghost. I have to ghost drives all the time here at work. There are some settings in Ghost that should be played with to see what works on different machines. I usually always format the drive in Dos before I try and Ghost anything over seems to have better results that way.

[rastagard]

Update.

As I said earlier I was going to delete the C: partition, change the E: partition with the ghost image to C; and reboot.


Well, I did just that, Partition Magic sucessfully completed the first part of the mission at least, but I still can't get the 120 gig drive to boot. So since the original drive was sucessfully deleted, I am now running the 80gig drive with the ghost copy I made earlier!


I'm gonna hafta move the second partition from the 120 gig to the 80 gig with my O/S on it and then ghost the whole thing back onto the 120 gig. I'll probably reformat it first, just for good measure.


Man, I gotta say it, Norton Ghost rocks! Luckily, I have enough HDDs to cover my @ss thoroughly and it has once again paid off.


Good thing I love screwin with this kinda stuff. Does anyone else get that nervous, sick feeling of anticipation when waiting to see if everything is gonna work like ya thought it would. Then absolute elation when it does or the quiet resolve to try "Plan B" if it doesn't. Am I the only crazy sucker that actually enjoys the feeling either way?


I'll keep ya posted on my progress, but for tonight I think I'll just leave well enough alone and relax a little..........

[LPDad]

It is precisely "that feeling" that makes it so much fun.

I think you are HOOKED.
...Now we just have to cure you of EVER having to take something to Tech Support. This a a purely Do-it-yourself, Make the damn thing work without ourside intereference area....LOL.

[rastagard]

Success! At long last SWEET SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!


I don't need no stinkin' tech support..........


I'll save everyone the long frustrating story of how everything I have been trying has failed, suffice it to say I have been very frustrated. Evidently, you can not ghost or clone XP to a single partition on a multi partitioned hard drive.


I finally added anudder toy to my tulez box.........Acronis PartitionExpert. This was the program that finally let me do what I wanted to do, in a round about way.


I copied my F: partition which contained My Documents and was on the 120 gig HDD I wanted to set up with my O/S. I copied it over to my C: drive which allowed me to ultimately just ghost the whole drive with 2 partitions to my 120 gig. For some reason Partition Magic would just not do this. I finally installed PartitionExpert to see what it could do and it not only performed this task, but it also assigned the drive letter to the copied drive. (something that PM doesn't do for some reason)


Long story short, I reassigned all my drive letters in logical order, using Drivemapper in PM (C:,D:,E:,F:,G: my partitions, H:,I:,J:, my removable media drives) copied My Documents and created another partition (D: )from my C: drive, using PartitionExpert, Ghosted the whole shebang from drive to drive using Norton Ghost (57 gigs in less than 40 minutes!) installed my last HDD containing my E: Downloads and F: Music partitions and now have my complete computer back up and running.


Its all about tha tulez......................

[LPDad]

Ya know....I really should stop living so dangerously and follow your advice and Back everything up.

...or else one of these days I am going to be sorry...worse yet, I will then have to listen to all of you say "I TOLD YA SO"

[rastagard]

OH! LP.


*rasta shakes his head in disbelief*


With all yer technical ability and knowlege, not only should you realize how easy it is to back up a hard drive in its entirety, but you also know the probability of one day needing that.


*shrugs*


Best Buy has been advertising a 120 gig Maxtor HDD with 8 Mb buffer (a very nice drive) for about $90 after rebate. That'll do one helluva lot of backing up, or you can replace a smaller drive and back up to it. I usually use a smaller drive to back up to. This means a little bit of cleaning up before full backup, but usually I don't go over the smaller drives capacity ennyway, just nice to have free room.



As I said before, Norton Ghost rocks my world, 40 minutes to transfer 57 gigs of data. (AKA my entire life!) The biggest chore is fumbling around inside the box connecting the drives, no big deal really.



I don't ever want to be in the position to say "I told you so", I would rather say "Aintcha glad ya had everything all backed up?"


JUST DO IT! no excuses young man, I want yer stuff all backed up ASAP, we'll both sleep better after its done!