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ghost 12 copy hard drive (Read 47296 times)
Brian
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Re: ghost 12 copy hard drive
Reply #15 - Apr 24th, 2013 at 5:03pm
 
rleescott wrote on Apr 24th, 2013 at 2:48pm:
I put the new drive in a usb enclosure and use disk management to delete all partitions. There will be no hidden partitions or conflicting mbr? 


That's all you need to do.

rleescott wrote on Apr 24th, 2013 at 2:48pm:
Will it do exactly the same if in disk management I right click on the drive partition, select assign drive letters, then select remove drive letter, delete nothing and format nothing?


That will work as you will be copying into a partition without a drive letter.

rleescott wrote on Apr 24th, 2013 at 2:48pm:
Will it also work if connect the new used drive to win7 by usb, use disk management to shrink the volume to a size that will hold the original and copy into the created unallocated space?

It will work if you remove the drive letter.

rleescott wrote on Apr 24th, 2013 at 2:48pm:
it will give you a bootable copy


If you avoid drive letters, all copies will be bootable.

rleescott wrote on Apr 24th, 2013 at 2:48pm:
can I avoid all these issues by doing a direct copy using copy/wipe, creating a perdect digital clone with no boot issues? 


If you mean TeraByte Unlimited's CopyWipe then yes, you can ignore drive letters on the target drive.
 
 
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Brian
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Re: ghost 12 copy hard drive
Reply #16 - Apr 24th, 2013 at 5:13pm
 
In the page I quoted....

http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.shtml

Dan discusses "two general rules for successful cloning of NT-family OS's"

These do apply to the Ghost series of backup apps. (The ones with Copy Drive) Other apps such as IFW, IFD, IFL can get around these rules by making registry changes in the copied OS and do allow copying into partitions with a drive letter.
 
 
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rleescott
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Re: ghost 12 copy hard drive
Reply #17 - Apr 25th, 2013 at 1:44pm
 
Thanks. I understand all except one thing. If I create unallocated space in a drive and copy into it, why do I need to remove the drive letter? Seems like the unallocated space idea would take care of the issue.
 
 
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Re: ghost 12 copy hard drive
Reply #18 - Apr 25th, 2013 at 3:32pm
 
@
rleescott

rleescott wrote on Apr 25th, 2013 at 1:44pm:
why do I need to remove the drive letter?


They are two separate methods. You can use either. In most cases I copy into unallocated space. If I want a defined target partition size I use the latter. As NightOwl pointed out, you can copy into a partition with a drive letter if you use Dan's Method #2 (deleting the MountedDevices registry key). So that's a third method of doing Ghost Copy Drive.

Unallocated space simply means there is no partition in that space. So the entire drive can be unallocated space, half the drive can be unallocated space, 10% of the drive, whatever.
 
 
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rleescott
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Re: ghost 12 copy hard drive
Reply #19 - Apr 26th, 2013 at 1:00pm
 
Without the advise of this forum, I would not have gotten a successful copy, and I am grateful. Ok, now, here is an update and a rant.
I decided to use the info taught by this forum to test g12, based on my previous difficulties.
I initiated a copy of the original laptop drive, xp2, to another larger drive, with a functional xp os. I installed the new drive in a usb enclosure and mounted by usb port. I went to disk management and deleted the drive letter (E:) w/o difficulty. I initiated copy from g12 thru windows and got an immediate error that referenced something like administrative/security violation, and it immediately offered a symantec link to support. I tried twice with the same result, noting that I left the partition allocated, just no drive letter assigned. I then went back and deleted the partition so that the entire drive was unallocated with no drive letter, and copy completed w/o error code.
I conclude for g12 and xp, that simply deleting the drive letter WILL NOT allow a copy to proceed. Maybe this has been corrected in later versions? Has it been tried?
After completing the copy, I installed and booted. However, it started with 2 boot options, xp, or windows nt/2003, etc, which I must select to proceed, or wait for default loading. Therefore, this is not an exact copy, if I am required to delete the non-existing 2003 boot pathway. If this slight nuance is different, perhaps there are other, hidden differences as well. I deleted the  erroneous path in msconfig, boot ini tab, but shouldn't have to do so if a proper copy is being made.
Once booted, I found that the hard drive had not expanded to the larger capacity of the new drive. The expand option was "greyed out" during the copy procedure, both here and my original first copy posting. On the original, however, the drive magically enlarged, even though expand volume was "greyed out" then also. On this copy into unallocated space, I not only have to delete a 2nd non-existing dual boot, but I have to use other software to expand the partition after the copy, to utilize the full space of the larger drive.
The truth here seems to be, it is easier  to forget the unallocated space discussion/controversy for copying. There is less post-copy effort required if you just copy the drive without creating unallocated space, because then it expands to the size of the new drive, and all that is necessary is to fdisk to achieve boot status. The unallocated copy requires both partition expansion software and the extra step of deleted the second, invalid boot option.
I find this g12 copy option to be  flawed and not worthy of the price I paid. Terrabyte copy/wipe is free and makes an identical copy to the correct expanded size, with no followup adjustment required.
Have the newer versions of ghost fixed these issues?
Without this forum,I would never have been able to get a norton copy. Does Symantec understand the magnitude of this flaw? Do they monitor this forum?
I hope this posting helps others with the same problem.

 
 
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Brian
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Re: ghost 12 copy hard drive
Reply #20 - Apr 26th, 2013 at 4:05pm
 
@
rleescott

I can confirm your findings. I installed Ghost 12 into a test WinXP. Trying to copy to a partition without a drive letter failed immediately. Strangely, trying to copy to a partition with a drive letter failed 5 seconds into the copy. Copying to unallocated space worked and the resize selection was available and worked.

I know these procedures work with Ghost 15 because I've used them several times.

rleescott wrote on Apr 26th, 2013 at 1:00pm:
However, it started with 2 boot options, xp, or windows nt/2003, etc, which I must select to proceed,


This is seen with some, not all computers and is still present with Ghost 15 but I think the SP1 update made it less likely.

rleescott wrote on Apr 26th, 2013 at 1:00pm:
Does Symantec understand the magnitude of this flaw?


I tried for 8 years to get the Copy Drive section of the Ghost userguide corrected. It is ambiguous if not incorrect. It has finally been corrected to my satisfaction in SSR 2013.

TeraByte's CopyWipe is no longer supported even though it works, but with limitations. Have a look at the TeraByte Bundle if you want software that works every time.

Edit... I got the 2 choice boot menu too.
 
 
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Re: ghost 12 copy hard drive
Reply #21 - May 5th, 2013 at 8:54am
 
@
rleescott and
@
Brian

Brian wrote on Apr 26th, 2013 at 4:05pm:
I can confirm your findings.


but,

rleescott wrote on Apr 26th, 2013 at 1:00pm:
Once booted, I found that the hard drive had not expanded to the larger capacity of the new drive. The expand option was "greyed out" during the copy procedure


and,

Brian wrote on Apr 26th, 2013 at 4:05pm:
Copying to unallocated space worked and the resize selection was available and worked.


These two statements seem to be at odds with each other.  Could you two comment on this difference?  What was done different that changed this behavior?

I have some other comments about the results reported--I will make those when I have a bit more free time.

But, all I'll say for now is *very interesting*.........

 

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Re: ghost 12 copy hard drive
Reply #22 - May 5th, 2013 at 10:34am
 
I would like very much to know why my expand option is greyed out. I have never seen it available when creating a copy, both with desktop and laptop.
 
 
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Re: ghost 12 copy hard drive
Reply #23 - May 5th, 2013 at 3:57pm
 
I've used Copy Drive for hundreds of tests. "Resize drive after recover (unallocated space only)" has always been available when I've copied into unallocated space that is larger than the source partition. It is always greyed out when copying into any sized target partition.
 
 
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Re: ghost 12 copy hard drive
Reply #24 - May 5th, 2013 at 4:35pm
 
As you may recall, the last test I performed was to 100% unallocated space, created after I deleted a single C partition on a 160 G drive, freeing up all space as unallocated, to which I copied a 30G drive. Enlarge target was greyed out as I stated.
Suggestions?
 
 
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Re: ghost 12 copy hard drive
Reply #25 - May 5th, 2013 at 5:05pm
 
Sorry. That's not my experience. I've no idea.
 
 
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Re: ghost 12 copy hard drive
Reply #26 - May 6th, 2013 at 2:01am
 
@
rleescott and
@
Brian

rleescott wrote on May 5th, 2013 at 4:35pm:
As you may recall, the last test I performed was to 100% unallocated space, created after I deleted a single C partition on a 160 G drive, freeing up all space as unallocated, to which I copied a 30G drive.

Well, something is *different* in what the two of you are doing.

@
rleescott

How old is your HDD?  Do you remember what formatting tool(s) was used to create the original partition(s) and formatting?  In other words, where did the original MBR come from.

@
Brian

Same general question!  I know you have done this hundreds of times--but, where did your original MBRs come from initially on you HDDs and how long ago?

 

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Re: ghost 12 copy hard drive
Reply #27 - May 6th, 2013 at 2:26am
 
@
NightOwl

I've used several computers, mainly test computers where the partitions were created and deleted numerous times. The HDs were wiped often as well. I've seen occasional reports of the Resize button being greyed out but that hasn't been my experience. Rleescott copied into unallocated space so I can't explain why the Resize button wasn't available.
 
 
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Re: ghost 12 copy hard drive
Reply #28 - May 6th, 2013 at 10:13am
 
@
Brian

Quote:
I've seen occasional reports of the Resize button being greyed out but that hasn't been my experience.

Trust me, I seriously doubt it has something to do with your systems or techniques.  My suspicions are with rleescott's system or set up.  I'm just looking for the *hidden* key as to why the different results.

@
rleescott

Has the greyed out resize option always been when using that same HDD--or does it happen on multiple HDDs when attempting a similar copy procedure from a smaller to a larger HDD?

 

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Re: ghost 12 copy hard drive
Reply #29 - May 6th, 2013 at 4:02pm
 
Rleescott and I both failed to copy an OS into a partition without a drive letter, using Ghost 12. I mentioned there wasn't a problem with Ghost 15 and I just tested Symantec System Recovery 2013 (the replacement for Ghost 15) and it can copy an OS into a partition without a drive letter. The target partition retains its size.
 
 
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