kirby,

You are so close now. Just a few questions. How large are your C and D drive partitions? How much data is in each? Is the C drive copy on your external HD the same size as the C drive on the laptop? Is the remaining space on the external HD called Unallocated Space? Have a look at Disk Management to confirm this.

When you tried to copy the D drive, was there an option to not tick “resize drive to fill unallocated space”? Are you sure that you chose Unallocated Space as the destination for the D drive copy because it sounds like you chose the C drive copy as the destination? Just a thought.

The thought to remember is that you are not doing any harm to your laptop. If you do accidentally overwrite a partition on the external HD it doesn’t really matter. You can just start again.

kirby, thanks for all the details as they are certainly helpful.

Quote:


As the external HD had a drive letter it could not have been Unallocated Space. Unallocated Space does not show in My Computer. There is no drive letter. It does show in Disk Management (Right click My Computer, click Manage, Disk Management). From here, to delete a partition you right click your external HD partition and click Delete partition. Once it's empty, reboot and confirm there is no drive letter. From here on, it should be easy.

In the Ghost wizard you will be asked for a partition type. Choose primary for the C drive and don't tick "set drive active". You will need to choose a drive letter too from the drop down arrow. Any letter is OK.

I don't remember if Ghost was open when I assigned the drive letter through disc manager (my computer)

Do I need to format the external hard drive? It currently has the C: partition copied on to it -- reformatting no problem to start fresh.

OK, Brian -- so far, so good. I am copying now, and am betting it will take about 3 hours. If I don't write back tonight, I'll post in the AM.  Right now, it says it is copying to unallocated space.

Thanks so much for your help.

Yes -- the USB 1 is the killer. But, the VAIO is so small and lightweight compared to my Toshiba laptop that it's worth saving and sending in for service. Can't do high horsepower stuff on it, but I can work around that.  I bought this VAIO just after 9/11 when they cut us down to one carry-on for the airplane. This fits in a generously-sized purse.

Brian, it worked like a charm. Thanks.

This is the best I can remember of the steps. Can you double-check for me? Then, maybe post as a sticky?

To copy a partitioned hard drive to an external hard drive using Ghost 10 in Windows XP Home

Attach external hard drive to computer
Start > right click on my computer > disk management look for * drive, do not assign it a drive number (this drive will not show up in Explore)

Exit from disk management

Open Ghost
Copy my hard drive > choose one of your partitions (represented by drive letters) to copy on to external HD > next > choose * drive for destination (this represents your external HD) > next > options

DO NOT choose resize drive to fill unallocated space
CHOOSE * drive letter
>next > copy

This will copy one partition from your current HD to your external HD
After this is done, start over from the beginning, choosing the other partition to copy
As long as you do not assign a drive letter to the external HD during this process, you will NOT get the message “all data will be overwritten” when you try to do the second partition copy on to the same external HD.

When done, shut down computer, remove external hard drive. If you have another computer, check external HD – other computer should recognize partitions automatically and assign drive letters. 

If I missed anything, please correct. Am I right in that you don't have to choose primary or logical partition in the copy options screen?

Thanks again -- as long as you check, Brian -- would love to leave this for others since Symantec doesn't get this.