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Image only works on its original machine (Read 42430 times)
ojoeboy
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Image only works on its original machine
Apr 4th, 2005 at 5:29pm
 
My tech said he built an HP DC7100SFF(hereafter known as  SFF) with all the usual software for our network platform based on Win XP Pro SP2. He removed the HDD and put it in an HP DC7100CMT(hereafter known as CMT) because it has more room ( being a tower version).

He ran ghost on the CMT and applied the SFF image to another SFF HDD. He took the second SFF HDD and stuck it back in its own SFF machine. He turned it on and got the starting Windows XP screen then a black screen with a blinking cursor in the top left. He said that he has done this same procedure before with other computers and had no problems. Only certain models do this. Any ideas?

He says he has never had to use any switches. Undecided
 
 
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Poncho
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Re: Image only works on its original machine
Reply #1 - Apr 4th, 2005 at 6:25pm
 
Restored images usually only work on the machine they were created on unless the hardware is identical. It's like trying to make a Chevy engine work in a Ford. Sometimes you might be able to make it work, but usually not.

There are some tricks, such as deleting all the hardware before creating the last image, and letting Windows find and install all the new hardware from the new machine. But this never worked for me.
 
 
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ojoeboy
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Re: Image only works on its original machine
Reply #2 - Apr 5th, 2005 at 10:21am
 
Okay, I'm not explaining myself well enough.

A computer arrived with XP on it. My tech added Office and other platform-specific software to it. It was ready to go on the floor for an employee to use; however, its harddrive was removed, put into another computer and Ghosted to another harddrive from an exact same model computer.

So, "Computer A"'s HDD is Ghosted to "Computer C"'s HDD from within "Computer B". "Computer A" and "Computer C" are identical computers with identical parts and configuration.
"Computer B" gets involved because "Computer A" and "Computer C" are Small Form Factor computers and only accommodate one HDD comfortably. "Computer B" is a tower that can hold 4 or 5 HDDs.

In a nutshell, "Computer A"'s image should work on "Computer C" but it don't. Blinking cursor.
 
 
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ezboy
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Re: Image only works on its original machine
Reply #3 - Apr 5th, 2005 at 12:09pm
 
After restoring the image try doing a restore with the Windows CD. Sometimes HP puts proprietary boot files on their machines that might cause trouble. A Windows restore should fix if that is the cause.
 
 
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Christer
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Re: Image only works on its original machine
Reply #4 - Apr 5th, 2005 at 2:04pm
 
Was the cloning done (1) from within Windows or (2) from Ghost Boot Disks?

If (1), then the computer B was automatically restarted with two identical harddisks (after cloning one to the other) installed. Windows reassigns a different volume identification to one of the harddisks and that harddisk will not boot.

If (2) and the computer B was "reset" after completion, then the same applies as above.

Use method (2) but when completed, do not let Ghost "reset" the computer but turn it off on the power switch and remove the "temporary" harddisks. When installed separately in different computers, they should boot.

Christer
 

Old chinese proverb:
If I hear - I forget, If I see - I remember, If I do - I understand
 
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Christer
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Re: Image only works on its original machine
Reply #5 - Apr 12th, 2005 at 6:13am
 
Any good news to share ...... Wink ...... we're all interested!

Christer
 

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If I hear - I forget, If I see - I remember, If I do - I understand
 
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voclizr
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Re: Image only works on its original machine
Reply #6 - Apr 12th, 2005 at 11:36pm
 
Makes me wonder.  When I have to replace my HDD, I was hoping I could use the ghost image to restore the new HDD.  Do you think I'll get away with this if I don't change any other hardware?
      JB : Shocked
 
 
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Christer
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Re: Image only works on its original machine
Reply #7 - Apr 13th, 2005 at 3:01am
 
I have cloned a few HDDs, Disk to Disk and it worked well. My experience is to NOT start the computer with two identical (after cloning) HDDs installed but remove one HDD before restarting (or letting Ghost reset) the computer. Either of the two clones should work well on its own. It's only when Windows detects the identical HDDs that it goes sour.

Christer
 

Old chinese proverb:
If I hear - I forget, If I see - I remember, If I do - I understand
 
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ojoeboy
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Re: Image only works on its original machine
Reply #8 - Apr 13th, 2005 at 9:44am
 
Tongue The target HDD had a 8MB 1st partition presumably put there by HP. My tech fdisk'd the drive and created on big partition. He then was able to ghost it successfully. Not the best plan but it worked.
 
 
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PJ
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Re: Image only works on its original machine
Reply #9 - Apr 13th, 2005 at 1:06pm
 
Thanks for the follow up. I am looking to do the same.
 
 
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NightOwl-
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Re: Image only works on its original machine
Reply #10 - Apr 14th, 2005 at 2:25am
 
ojoeboy

I ran across something that may explain the problem you had with imaging the HP that has a special 'utility partition' for restoring the machine to it's original state.

It said for some systems like Dell, HP, and Compaq Server--you may have to use a command line switch for Ghost that forces the clone operation to copy the whole boot track, not just the first part of the boot sector.

The switch is '-IB'.

Quote:
When creating an image or copying disk to disk, the -IB switch (Image Boot) forces a sector-by-sector copy, and copies the entire boot track; not just the boot sector.

Use this switch when applications, such as some
boot-time utilities
, use the boot track to store information.

You cannot perform partition-to-partition or partition-to-image operations with the -IB switch.
Partition sizes cannot be altered when using the -IB switch.


There is some interesting information about Dell's utility partition here:

http://www.goodells.net/dellutil/

You can find more information about Ghost 2003 switches here:

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ghost.nsf/8f7dc138830563c888256c2200662ecd/...
 

No question is stupid...but, possibly the answers are  Wink !
(This is an old *NightOwl* user account--not in current use.  Current account is NightOwl without a dash at the end.)
 
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aramlie
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Re: Image only works on its original machine
Reply #11 - Aug 30th, 2005 at 12:19pm
 
I've got a similar question about an image working only on its original machine, but not quite.

I have 2 identical machines (both with internal 80GB HDD + IEEE 250GB HDD), installed with exactly the same OS and programs. The only difference is that Machine A's 80GB internal HDD was not partitioned and Machine B's was partitioned into 2 (Partition 1: 20GB + Partition 2: 60GB). The OS (Windows XP) on Machine B was installed on Partition 1 (20GB).

The internal HDD of both machines contain only OS and program files. The OS and programs take up approx. 12GB. All data files and documents reside on the external 250GB HDD.

Over the course of the last year that I've had these machines, I have found that as time passes, Machine A seems to boot up slower and slower than Machine B. Programs also ran much faster on Machine B than on A. As I added more programs to the two machines, the speed difference increases. It didn't occur to me what was going on until I read "Partitioning Strategies" on http://partition.radified.com/

Now my question is, can I "renovate" Machine A's HDD? What I'd like to do is to (i) Ghost an image of Machine A's OS on its currently unpartitioned 80GB HDD; (ii) reformat Machine A's HDD; (iii) repartition it exactly like Machine B's (20GB + 60GB); and then (iv) transfer the image of the original Machine A OS (imaged from its unpartitioned 80GB HDD) onto the reformatted and partitioned 20GB partition.

Has anyone done this before? Will images created with Ghost 2003 from a larger sized HDD work on a smaller sized HDD on the same machine (assuming of course that the size of the image fits comfortably into the smaller sized HDD)?

Any advice will be much appreciated.
 
 
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NightOwl-
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Re: Image only works on its original machine
Reply #12 - Aug 30th, 2005 at 12:48pm
 
aramlie

The procedure you outline should work okay.

But,

Quote:
It didn't occur to me what was going on until I read "Partitioning Strategies" on http://partition.radified.com/ ;


I'm curious--what do you think *is going on*?  Based on your description--both systems are *identical*, except one has a second partition--why do you think the second partition is helping improve the speed of that machine?
 

No question is stupid...but, possibly the answers are  Wink !
(This is an old *NightOwl* user account--not in current use.  Current account is NightOwl without a dash at the end.)
 
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Christer
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Re: Image only works on its original machine
Reply #13 - Aug 30th, 2005 at 4:34pm
 
In days past, when harddisks were considerably slower than today, it was a "speed tweak" to limit the size of the system partition. On FAT32, it was recommended to limit the system partition to below 8 GB to get 4 kB cluster size to match the pages of the pagefile to make it faster.

The benefit with modern harddisks shouldn't be that pronounced, especially on NTFS.

Machine B has the system partition limited to the fastest 25% of the harddisk. This also means that WinXP can not move files as far back, when doing its "background defragmentation", on machine B as on machine A.

It all adds to the speed but as I said earlier, it shouldn't be that pronounced.

Christer
 

Old chinese proverb:
If I hear - I forget, If I see - I remember, If I do - I understand
 
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aramlie
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Re: Image only works on its original machine
Reply #14 - Aug 31st, 2005 at 3:25am
 
First of all, thank you both for the swift response!

Nightowl: you asked Quote:
I'm curious--what do you think *is going on*?


I think Christer gave a good explanation of it. I suspect that because the programs that I have installed on Machine A are spread all over the unpartitioned 80GB HDD, the head, physically, jumps all over the 80GB HDD to extract bits of file to run a program, whereas on Machine B, the OS and programs are confined to the fastest 25% of the HDD, and the head has a smaller area, on the fastest part of the HDD, to cover

But as Christer points out: Quote:
The benefit with modern harddisks shouldn't be that pronounced, especially on NTFS.


Christer (or Nightowl): is it right then for me to infer from your (Christer's) remark above that there may be some other factor causing the perceivable speed difference between 2 "identical" machines, other than the difference in the way their HDDs are partitioned? And that it may not be worth the risk and time to "renovate" the HDD on Machine A by merely adding a partition and reinserting a Ghost image? I highly value your unput. Thanks!
 
 
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