bit-tech.net

Wicked_Sludge · 2nd Feb 2013, 22:56

I am attempting to clone my girlfriends 640GB WD drive onto a 1TB F3 I have laying around. I've tried all manner of programs that are supposed to clone in one non-windows environment or another but every single one has failed. Acronis, the WD equivilent (which I think is the same thing), Clonezilla, Windows backup/restore. I think the problem that is arising is her motherboard has been a finicky, glitchy POS since day one and any time I make hardware changes (such as swapping out hard drives) it crashes, boot loops, and just generally freaks out.

So what I would like to try is cloning her hard drive within Windows on one of my spare machines (ie: boot the machine with its own hard drive while having her hard drive and the F3 connected). I can't seemt o find any cheap-as-free software that will clone a drive in Windows though. Anyone know of any or have any other suggestions about how I can get her running on the F3?

lancer778544 · 2nd Feb 2013, 23:34

I've had good results with EaseUS Partition Master and the "Upgrade System Disk" option.

Wicked_Sludge · 3rd Feb 2013, 01:20

I installed it to check it out. It looks a lot like a tool I sometimes use called MiniTool Partition Wizard. Great little tool, but I don't see a way to clone a hard drive within the Windows environment. I need to be able to clone one non-system drive to another non-system drive (not just copy).

NigelT · 3rd Feb 2013, 06:40

I found the windows built in backup tool worked well recently in W7 (I didn't even know it existed). Using the wizard you backup to an external drive, burn a bootable disc, put the new drive in, boot from the DVD and there's an option halfway through to restore from a backup.

Wicked_Sludge · 3rd Feb 2013, 06:54

I tried the build in backup/restore but it failed to successfully recover the system onto the new drive. All the programs that use DOS or other environments outside windows to clone the disc end up failing. That's why I would like to clone it within Windows on my spare machine then just pop the new disc in.

Atomic · 3rd Feb 2013, 09:46

If all the options you've tried all fail are you sure there aren't dead sectors or errors on the existing drive that are causing this?

Doing it within windows just makes it harder, create a CloneZilla CD/USB and use the disk to local disk.

Plenty of tutorials on YouTube if you're not too sure what to do

RichCreedy · 3rd Feb 2013, 09:47

I use HD Clone all the time, even for non standard disks like playstation 3, and it works everytime

sniperdude · 3rd Feb 2013, 09:51

I used the latest version of acronis a few weeks ago and it worked perfectly.

thats said an older version i had wouldn't work .

squirrelz · 4th Feb 2013, 07:16

Is there any particular reason you have to do an online clone rather than an offline clone?

CraigWatson · 4th Feb 2013, 08:40

I would suggest CloneZilla for disk cloning - see this link

Wicked_Sludge · 6th Feb 2013, 08:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by squirrelz

Is there any particular reason you have to do an online clone rather than an offline clone?

Because the motherboard of the system in question is ridiculously unstable. Any programs that try to operate outside the Windows environment end up crashing or failing. While messing with it the last time I ended up with a screen like this at one point:

Craig, I tried clonezilla several times already to no avail.

Rich, HDClone is one I hadn't tried yet. I've downloaded it but havn't gotten the chance to see if it'll do what I need it to but it looks more promising than any of the other thus far. Thanks for the suggestion!

CraigWatson · 6th Feb 2013, 08:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wicked_Sludge

Craig, I tried clonezilla several times already to no avail.

What seemed to be wrong with CloneZilla? Another option is hooking both drives up to another PC and doing the disk-to-disk clone there, though if the root-cause issue is the motherboard, it may be worth just swapping it out and doing a clean install?

Wicked_Sludge · 6th Feb 2013, 08:30

I don't mean to sound rude, but my original post was asking for programs to do just that (clone in Windows on a spare PC)

I would love to get rid of this board, since it'd been nothing but trouble since we got it. But financial obligations say that we have to keep it for the time being

CraigWatson · 6th Feb 2013, 08:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wicked_Sludge

I don't mean to sound rude, but my original post was asking for programs to do just that (clone in Windows on a spare PC)

Ah - my bad, serves me right for not reading!

Wicked_Sludge · 6th Feb 2013, 09:01

no worries! Under any other circumstances CloneZilla would have probably worked just dandy, haha.

Atomic · 6th Feb 2013, 12:26

If you clone offline you can take the drive out of the unstable system and perform the clone on a stable PC... no problems with unstable hardware then?

Wicked_Sludge · 7th Feb 2013, 00:41

I'm not sure what you're asking. I can't clone the drive in the system in question because anytime I start mucking about outside windows (in the BIOS or any environment that these cloning programs run), the system starts to crumble. It's actually fine as long as it's allowed to boot into windows and I don't touch any settings. It works every time just like it should in that case. But something as simple as plugging in the second drive sends it into fits of rage.

Atomic · 7th Feb 2013, 11:27

Take the HDD out of the system that 'starts to crumble' - I'll call this drive the "clone source" drive from now on.

The HDD you want to copy this data to will be known as the "clone destination"...

On your second computer that is stable unplug power and sata from any drives that are connected to the system. This way there's no chance of wiping any of those drives
Connect only the "clone source" and "clone destination" HDD's to the computer.
Create a CloneZilla CD/USB and boot from this on the computer, it'll boot into Linux and you will be able to complete the clone.
The "clone destination" drive will now mirror the "clone source" drive and can be put back into the original computer.

Make a brew and admire your work

matt_lumley · 7th Feb 2013, 12:08

For what it is worth I have had recently had to do this when upgrading a colleagues HDD. I bought the newest acronis when it came out and it works flawlessly. I would suggest (probably repeating what has already been said in the thread but it is a bit of a mess up there):

Install both Original (Source HDD) and new (New HDD) into other stable machine.
Boot that machine as normal
Install/run acronis from within windows.
Use its built in drive clone tool.
**Optional extra is the buy the plus pack (think that is the right name) which allows restore to non identical hardware.
Place New HDD back in unstable/old machine

Although it seems like a bit of an outlay now, Acronis really is worth it. I have used it everytime since it got recommended to me from here and it hasnt failed me yet.

Hope this helps.

Matt

Wicked_Sludge · 8th Feb 2013, 06:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atomic

*Snippy*

This is actually brilliant. If the program RichCreedy suggested doesn't work I'm sure this method will and I'll end up doing that.

I havn't done anything yet because this is my girlfriends computer and I need to wait for an evening that she has to work in order to gain access to the machine

I will report back this weekend!

2nd Feb 2013, 22:56	#1
Wicked_Sludge My eyes! The goggles do nothing! Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: C:\USA\Washington Posts: 2,212	Cloning drive in Windows... I am attempting to clone my girlfriends 640GB WD drive onto a 1TB F3 I have laying around. I've tried all manner of programs that are supposed to clone in one non-windows environment or another but every single one has failed. Acronis, the WD equivilent (which I think is the same thing), Clonezilla, Windows backup/restore. I think the problem that is arising is her motherboard has been a finicky, glitchy POS since day one and any time I make hardware changes (such as swapping out hard drives) it crashes, boot loops, and just generally freaks out. So what I would like to try is cloning her hard drive within Windows on one of my spare machines (ie: boot the machine with its own hard drive while having her hard drive and the F3 connected). I can't seemt o find any cheap-as-free software that will clone a drive in Windows though. Anyone know of any or have any other suggestions about how I can get her running on the F3? __________________ My Rig: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3\|Intel Core i5 750 @ 4.0Ghz\|12GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600\|XFX HD5870\|2x Barracuda 1TB RAID 1 Fiancées Rig: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3\|Intel Core i5 2500k @ 4.0Ghz\|12GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600\|XFX HD5770 Xtreme\|Samsung F3 1TB

2nd Feb 2013, 23:34	#2
lancer778544 isnt really an ultramodder... Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Cardiff Posts: 1,229	I've had good results with EaseUS Partition Master and the "Upgrade System Disk" option. __________________ AMD Phenom II X4 955 @ 3.8GHz \| Asus Crosshair II Formula \| 8GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 \| EVGA GTX 570 SC & PNY GT 440 \| Corsair Force 3 120GB \| 1TB Seagate Barracuda \| Enermax Infiniti 650w PSU \| CM Storm Trooper \| Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series \| Windows 7 x64 \| Dell U2312HM primary (570), Samsung SM940BW secondary (GT 440) & Sony 32S3000 occasionally (570)

3rd Feb 2013, 01:20	#3
Wicked_Sludge My eyes! The goggles do nothing! Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: C:\USA\Washington Posts: 2,212	I installed it to check it out. It looks a lot like a tool I sometimes use called MiniTool Partition Wizard. Great little tool, but I don't see a way to clone a hard drive within the Windows environment. I need to be able to clone one non-system drive to another non-system drive (not just copy). __________________ My Rig: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3\|Intel Core i5 750 @ 4.0Ghz\|12GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600\|XFX HD5870\|2x Barracuda 1TB RAID 1 Fiancées Rig: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3\|Intel Core i5 2500k @ 4.0Ghz\|12GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600\|XFX HD5770 Xtreme\|Samsung F3 1TB

3rd Feb 2013, 06:54	#5
Wicked_Sludge My eyes! The goggles do nothing! Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: C:\USA\Washington Posts: 2,212	I tried the build in backup/restore but it failed to successfully recover the system onto the new drive. All the programs that use DOS or other environments outside windows to clone the disc end up failing. That's why I would like to clone it within Windows on my spare machine then just pop the new disc in. __________________ My Rig: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3\|Intel Core i5 750 @ 4.0Ghz\|12GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600\|XFX HD5870\|2x Barracuda 1TB RAID 1 Fiancées Rig: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3\|Intel Core i5 2500k @ 4.0Ghz\|12GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600\|XFX HD5770 Xtreme\|Samsung F3 1TB

3rd Feb 2013, 09:46	#6
Atomic Gerwaff Join Date: May 2002 Location: Norfolk, UK Posts: 9,026	If all the options you've tried all fail are you sure there aren't dead sectors or errors on the existing drive that are causing this? Doing it within windows just makes it harder, create a CloneZilla CD/USB and use the disk to local disk. Plenty of tutorials on YouTube if you're not too sure what to do __________________ :: ASUS Maximus IV GENE-Z :: i5 2500K @ 4GHz :: 16GB Corsair Vengeance :: 256GB Samsung 830 :: :: Awesome, Reliable Website & Server Hosting ::

bit-tech.net

Site Links

Our Other Sites

3rd Feb 2013, 06:40	#4
NigelT Multimodder Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 149	I found the windows built in backup tool worked well recently in W7 (I didn't even know it existed). Using the wizard you backup to an external drive, burn a bootable disc, put the new drive in, boot from the DVD and there's an option halfway through to restore from a backup.

3rd Feb 2013, 09:47	#7
RichCreedy Hey What Who Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: lost in the middle of lincolnshire Posts: 3,656	I use HD Clone all the time, even for non standard disks like playstation 3, and it works everytime __________________ if there are errors in my messages, its because my brain is to far ahead of my hands

3rd Feb 2013, 09:51	#8
sniperdude Supermodder Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: UK Posts: 390	I used the latest version of acronis a few weeks ago and it worked perfectly. thats said an older version i had wouldn't work . __________________ 2500k @4.1Ghz /BeQuiet Dark rock advanced / Gigabyte Z68 UD4 /8GB Corsair Vengeance /MSI twin frozr GTX 670 /Audigy 4 Platinum Pro /128GB+64GB Crucial M4's /Antec P182 /BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 650W.

4th Feb 2013, 07:16	#9
squirrelz What's a Dremel? Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: UK Posts: 16	Is there any particular reason you have to do an online clone rather than an offline clone?

4th Feb 2013, 08:40	#10
CraigWatson Level Chuck Norris Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: London, UK Posts: 450	I would suggest CloneZilla for disk cloning - see this link __________________ Laptop: 2011 MacBook Air 11" \| 4GB RAM \| 256GB SSD \| Core i7 1.8GHz Storage: LaCie 2Big Network 2 \| 2 x Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB (RAID1) Phone: iPhone 4S 16GB \| Headphones: Sennheiser IE-80 IEMs Bass Guitars: Akai Project 1997 4-string \| Fender American Deluxe Precision V 5-string

6th Feb 2013, 08:30	#13
Wicked_Sludge My eyes! The goggles do nothing! Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: C:\USA\Washington Posts: 2,212	I don't mean to sound rude, but my original post was asking for programs to do just that (clone in Windows on a spare PC) I would love to get rid of this board, since it'd been nothing but trouble since we got it. But financial obligations say that we have to keep it for the time being __________________ My Rig: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3\|Intel Core i5 750 @ 4.0Ghz\|12GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600\|XFX HD5870\|2x Barracuda 1TB RAID 1 Fiancées Rig: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3\|Intel Core i5 2500k @ 4.0Ghz\|12GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600\|XFX HD5770 Xtreme\|Samsung F3 1TB

6th Feb 2013, 09:01	#15
Wicked_Sludge My eyes! The goggles do nothing! Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: C:\USA\Washington Posts: 2,212	no worries! Under any other circumstances CloneZilla would have probably worked just dandy, haha. __________________ My Rig: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3\|Intel Core i5 750 @ 4.0Ghz\|12GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600\|XFX HD5870\|2x Barracuda 1TB RAID 1 Fiancées Rig: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3\|Intel Core i5 2500k @ 4.0Ghz\|12GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600\|XFX HD5770 Xtreme\|Samsung F3 1TB

6th Feb 2013, 12:26	#16
Atomic Gerwaff Join Date: May 2002 Location: Norfolk, UK Posts: 9,026	If you clone offline you can take the drive out of the unstable system and perform the clone on a stable PC... no problems with unstable hardware then? __________________ :: ASUS Maximus IV GENE-Z :: i5 2500K @ 4GHz :: 16GB Corsair Vengeance :: 256GB Samsung 830 :: :: Awesome, Reliable Website & Server Hosting ::

7th Feb 2013, 00:41	#17
Wicked_Sludge My eyes! The goggles do nothing! Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: C:\USA\Washington Posts: 2,212	I'm not sure what you're asking. I can't clone the drive in the system in question because anytime I start mucking about outside windows (in the BIOS or any environment that these cloning programs run), the system starts to crumble. It's actually fine as long as it's allowed to boot into windows and I don't touch any settings. It works every time just like it should in that case. But something as simple as plugging in the second drive sends it into fits of rage. __________________ My Rig: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3\|Intel Core i5 750 @ 4.0Ghz\|12GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600\|XFX HD5870\|2x Barracuda 1TB RAID 1 Fiancées Rig: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3\|Intel Core i5 2500k @ 4.0Ghz\|12GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600\|XFX HD5770 Xtreme\|Samsung F3 1TB

7th Feb 2013, 11:27	#18
Atomic Gerwaff Join Date: May 2002 Location: Norfolk, UK Posts: 9,026	Take the HDD out of the system that 'starts to crumble' - I'll call this drive the "clone source" drive from now on. The HDD you want to copy this data to will be known as the "clone destination"... On your second computer that is stable unplug power and sata from any drives that are connected to the system. This way there's no chance of wiping any of those drives Connect only the "clone source" and "clone destination" HDD's to the computer. Create a CloneZilla CD/USB and boot from this on the computer, it'll boot into Linux and you will be able to complete the clone. The "clone destination" drive will now mirror the "clone source" drive and can be put back into the original computer. Make a brew and admire your work __________________ :: ASUS Maximus IV GENE-Z :: i5 2500K @ 4GHz :: 16GB Corsair Vengeance :: 256GB Samsung 830 :: :: Awesome, Reliable Website & Server Hosting ::

7th Feb 2013, 12:08	#19
matt_lumley You're only supposed to... Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Manchester (UK) Posts: 883	For what it is worth I have had recently had to do this when upgrading a colleagues HDD. I bought the newest acronis when it came out and it works flawlessly. I would suggest (probably repeating what has already been said in the thread but it is a bit of a mess up there): Install both Original (Source HDD) and new (New HDD) into other stable machine. Boot that machine as normal Install/run acronis from within windows. Use its built in drive clone tool. **Optional extra is the buy the plus pack (think that is the right name) which allows restore to non identical hardware. Place New HDD back in unstable/old machine Although it seems like a bit of an outlay now, Acronis really is worth it. I have used it everytime since it got recommended to me from here and it hasnt failed me yet. Hope this helps. Matt __________________ Right now, life feels good, tomorrow, who knows?