Radified Community Forums - Cloned HDD/partition won't start Win XP

GhostIt

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Cloned HDD/partition won't start Win XP
Jun 21^st, 2010 at 4:22am

I'm glad that I found this Ghost forum with many experts on Ghost and cloning.

I'm not a Ghost expert but I am an experienced user of DOS-based Ghost.exe (from Corp. ver. of Ghost) for years. I have been using Ghost v8.2 and v.11 (DOS ver.) for more than 5 years. I still use Ghost v.82 because I can fit it in a floppy diskette and don't see a big difference from v.11. I have never experienced any major unsolvable problems using these 2 versions of Ghost.exe until today.

I have a Lenovo (formerly IBM) ThinkPad T61 laptop running XP SP3. The HDD in it is only 100GB and I wanted to upgrade to a 160GB HDD. Here was what I did to clone the 100GB to the 160GB HDD:

1. Took out the DVD drive from T61, put the 160GB into a SATA HDD adaptor and then put it in the DVD drive bay so that I can have access to 2 HDDs at the same time.

2. Used XP's Disk Management to split the 160GB into 3 partitions ('cos the original 100GB has 32GB for XP, 56GB for data, and a 5GB for a hidden service partition for Recovery & Rescue to factory status). The 1st and 3rd partitions are same sizes as the 100GB's. I allocated the remaining space for 2nd partition.

3. Booted up the laptop into DOS. Ran DOS-based Ghost.exe 8.2 to perform a partition-partition imaging.

4. When Ghost finished, shut down the laptop and took out the original 100GB HDD. Restarted the laptop with only the new HDD in it. After the Lenovo splash screen, the screen became blank

(black)

with only a flashing dash

("-
").

Win XP did not load or start.

I have tried Step 3 using Ghost.exe v11, but the result was same.

I have also tried performing a disk-disk imaging (= cloning) using both Ghost.exe v8 and v11. Result was same as Step 4.

I have made a GHO image of Partition 1 (containing XP) and then restored the image into the new 160GB HDD but it did not make a difference.

I remembered to shutdown the laptop every time I have used Ghost.exe and then took out the old HDD before restarting the laptop.

I have also used FDISK to create a partition and set it active (deleted all existing partitions first) instead of Step 2 above. However, same result got.

I did some searches in this web site and found that it might have something to do with the SATA drive. However, I had done cloning Ghost images to SATA drives for ThinkPad T6x before but did not encounter any problem.

I've run out of ideas. Can some Ghost experts please help?

THANKS A LOT IN ADVANCE.

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Brian

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Re: Cloned HDD/partition won't start Win XP
Reply #1 - Jun 21^st, 2010 at 5:30am

@

GhostIt

Just a guess but I suspect the geometry of the HD in the DVD bay is not 240 heads. The internal HD is 240 heads. Partinfo should help.

I'll bet this will work. Create an image(s) of the old HD. Install the new HD in place of the old HD and restore the image(s).

http://radified.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1128609708/0

Quote:

Just make sure the source disk is seen in its proper geometry while the image is being created, and the target disk is seen in its proper geometry at the time the image is being restored, and it won't matter where the image is stored in between.

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GhostIt

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Re: Cloned HDD/partition won't start Win XP
Reply #2 - Jun 21^st, 2010 at 11:38am

Thanks Brian for the response.

I confirmed that the new HDD was 240 heads before I clicked OK to go ahead with the Ghost imaging.

In my 1st msg, I already mentioned that I had made an image of the Partition 1 of old drive and then restored it to the new drive after setting it up in the internal bay (not DVD bay). It did not work, same blank screen with a dash.

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Brian

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	Re: Cloned HDD/partition won't start Win XP Reply #3 - Jun 21^st, 2010 at 4:15pm @ GhostIt I lost my bet! As you mentioned, it is weird. Is the new HD OK? Perhaps try another HD. The image/restore method should always work. Did the image Verify OK?
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GhostIt

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	Re: Cloned HDD/partition won't start Win XP Reply #4 - Jun 22^nd, 2010 at 12:02am The HDD is perfect. It is basically new - never used before. The image is also good - Ghost verified.
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Brian

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	Re: Cloned HDD/partition won't start Win XP Reply #5 - Jun 22^nd, 2010 at 12:38am I'm scratching my head. Would you like to try a test image/restore with Image for DOS? You can either use image/restore or Copy the old HD to the new HD. Try the BIOS (Direct) option. You will see this in the menu. Download the trial, unzip the file and double click makedisk.exe to create a bootable CD.
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Tator

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Re: Cloned HDD/partition won't start Win XP
Reply #6 - Jun 22^nd, 2010 at 10:22am

You say you made an image of partition 1 which I assume means you didn't make an image of the partition that has utilities and other important system info without which the restored image won't boot. I believe you need to make an image of the whole old drive and not just one partition. That's what I did with a Dell Inspiron laptop, and it worked with no problems.

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NightOwl

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Re: Cloned HDD/partition won't start Win XP
Reply #7 - Jun 24^th, 2010 at 12:02am

@

GhostIt

Quote:

2. Used XP's Disk Management to split the 160GB into 3 partitions ('cos the original 100GB has 32GB for XP, 56GB for data, and a 5GB for a hidden service partition for Recovery & Rescue to factory status).

I'm not familiar with Lenovo (formerly IBM) ThinkPad T61 laptop running XP SP3--so I can't say anything for sure--but if you have a utility partition for Recovery & Rescue--you may have a proprietary special boot manager somewhere in the Master Boot Region (sectors 0-62).

Ghost, by default, only transfers the first absolute sector 0 (the Master Boot Record + the Master Partition Table). The rest of the boot region (sectors 1 - 62) is not transferred--and that's often where any special boot code is written for a boot manager. And you created the partitions before hand using WinXP's Disk Management--so, no Master Boot Region code was transferred at all--when the Master Boot Region already exists, Ghost doesn't change any of it except the Master Partition Table and only if there are any partition size changes.

Ghost has a switch to force it to record the entire boot region, the *-ib* switch--but, you have to do a whole disk image or clone and a whole disk restore from an image in order to use that switch--can't do partition only procedures. But, you should be given the opportunity to resize the destination partition sizes as one of the final setup steps as you go.

So you start Ghost with this command:

ghost.exe -ib

I would set up the system so the new HDD was in the laptop and the old original is in the DVD slot holder--so the new HDD is seen by the system's controller directly and not through a DVD slot holder.

You can read up on how Dell's recovery partition and utility partition make cloning a potential problem here:

Inside the Dell PC Restore Partition

Dan Goodell's *Inside the Dell Utility Partition*

How to fix the Dell System Restore (DSR) feature

Of course, this doesn't apply to the Lenovo--but, you could run into similar issues depending on what they have done!

But, trying the *-ib* switch may help.

*****************************************************************************

Another thought--Ghost may change the *boot.ini* file setting if it thinks the starting partition for WinXP has changed (and at least in Ghost 2003--it has a bug and can get the partition # wrong on the destination HDD!). Have you checked the *boot.ini* file on the new HDD to see if it matches the original old HDD *boot.ini*?

There is a freeware program that can be run from DOS from TeraByte called *EditBINI* found here:

TeraByte Unlimited Freeware--look for EditBINI

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GhostIt

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Re: Cloned HDD/partition won't start Win XP
Reply #8 - Jun 24^th, 2010 at 12:16am

Hi Brian,
I don't want to try "Image for DOS" now, if it is another software. Thanks for the suggestion.

Hi Tator,
Partition 1 is what people usually refer to as C-Drive and it contains the Windows XP system. I am sure Partition 1 alone is good enough to boot up an XP PC ('cos Partition 2 only contains data and all partitions were created by me and I know what they are for). I am experienced Ghost user and have done so many of this kind of imaging and restoring process before. Thanks for your suggestion.

=============================================
I have just tried a new parameter that I have not tried before and it made the imaging work just OK (not perfect, see below).

This time I used "-id" which means "Image Disk" for forensic purposes.

Ghost -auto -id

(DOS Ghost v.8.2)

Here is what I got:
Old HDD (100G):

[ P1(32G) | P2(56G) | P3(6G) ]

New HDD (160G):

[ P1(32G) | P2(56G) | P3(6G) | P4(32G) | P5(20G) ]

P=Partition here.

P3 is the Recovery partition created by Lenovo at the factory. I can run a recovery app to restore the whole HDD to factory status.
P4 is a duplicate of P1 on the new HDD. Both P2 & P5 are blank as I did not put anything there.

I am able to boot up the new HDD. I have to use XP Disk Management and Partition Magic 8 to remove unnecessary partitions and move the Recovery patition (P3) to the end of the HDD. Then merge the remaining space into a partition (new P2).

I am no Ghost expert and I just wanted to share my experience. Thanks for all responses.

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GhostIt

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Re: Cloned HDD/partition won't start Win XP
Reply #9 - Jun 24^th, 2010 at 1:52am

Hi NightOwl,

I was writing my last msg when you posted yours. I tried the -id parameter for imaging the new HDD and XP does start this time on the new HDD, but I have to clean up some partitions (see my last msg above).

I read the info on Dell PC Restore Partition as suggested:
Inside the Dell PC Restore Partition
(http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/)

Under the paragraph "How the DSR Partition Boots", it said "

This Dell MBR does not affect the boot process when booting the Windows partition..."

As I only want to boot up XP (on Partition 1), not the Lenovo Recovery partition, I should be able to do so, shouldn't I?

Goodell's description seems to contradict what you said about MBR. Can you or anyone explain to me further?

Thanks NightOwl.

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