Norton Ghost - Clone Won't Work

On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 10:53:53 -0700, jimbo wrote:

jimbo wrote:
jaster wrote:

On Mon, 18 Oct 2004 17:10:47 -0700, jimbo wrote:


jimbo wrote:

I have physical hard drive "C" with Win98 and physical hard drive "D"
with WinXP in a dual boot setup. I want to injstall a new, larger
physical hard drive "D". I have tried to follow the procedure for
cloning a drive using Norton Ghost. I disconnected the cables from
"C" and connected the new hard drive. (I set the new drive's jumper
to "master" the same as the "C" drive.) Then Norton Ghost was booted
from floppies and I cloned drive 2 to drive 1. This all seemed to OK.
Then I disconnected the new drive and changed the jumper to "slave".
Then I reconnected the "C" drive. Then I disconnected the "D" drive
and connected the new drive in it's place. Now when I boot to WinXP
it fails just after the WinXP splash screen. A blue screen with an
error message appears and the system reboots.

Any insight will be appreciated.

jimbo


OK, here is the last chapter. Things got much worse, couldn't boot at
all after an aborted atempt at a repair installation. I finally
decided to punt and do a new installation. I never use Win98, so I
decided to just do a new WinXP install on "C". First, I copied all
files on "C" to the new hard drive. Then I changed all jumpers to
cable select and installed the old "C" drive to the master position,
with nothing in slave position. I used a Win98 boot floppy to delete
all partitions, then created one new partition. The new WinXP
installation stalled while searching for devices. So, I basically
gutted my case, one hard drive, one DVD drive, video card, mouse and
keyboard was all that was left. WinXP installed without a problem.

Then I copied old files to the current WinXP partition and to the new
hard drive which I placed in the slave position. Finally I had a new
WinXP installation on one of my old 40 GB hard drives (master) and all
of the old files from my old "C" and "D" drives on the new 200 GB hard
drive (slave).

Then I reinstalled hardware and software step by step until I am
almost back to where I want to be with a new 200 GB hard drive as
slave and an old 40 GB hard drive as master.

Just a few comments. I think Norton Ghost caused most of my problems.
I also think there was some basic problem with my original
installation. Even though everything appeared to work perfectly,
something, somewhere was not right. And throughout all of the hard
drive swapping that I did while getting all of my files saved on the
new hard drive, WinXP always assigned correct drive letters, etc. No
confusion about what drive was where. So I think my original procedure
was OK, just a glitch with Ghost and the original installation. And
with 99% of my programs reinstalled, the system is much more
responsive and seems much faster than before this ordeal. So, even
though it was more work than I wanted the results are worth the
effort.

Thanks to all who help me through this task.

jimbo



For what it's worth, maybe the problem with Ghost was you moved the D
to C used the new drive as D for the clone. Maybe you should have
added new drive as E then cloned D to E.

IMHO your final solution is right except I would have made the new
drive the C instead of D since you've removed Win98. I used the vendor
utility to clone drives and it hasn't failed to clone a drive yet.


Well, I made "C" my boot drive for WinXP. The new drive will be used for
data, backups, etc.

In getting to where I am now, I swapped drives several times to get
everything copied, verified, etc. Every time I did a swap, WinXP
recognized the new drive properly and assigned a drive letter
appropriate for it's position. So, I think it doesn't matter where the
drive is when it is cloned, but the final location is important. For
example if I clone a "C" drive, it doesn't matter where it is during the
cloning, but it then must be used in a "C" position. Just my thoughts.

I am going to try the Western Digital utility to copy my "C" drive to my
spare 40 GB hard drive. In theory, I should then be able to swap it out
for my current "C" drive and boot to a system that is the same as I now
boot to.

jimbo

This getting to be a disaster! I used the Western Digital Data Guard
utility to clone my "C" drive to the old, now spare hard drive using the
DOS floppy option. It took 3 hours to complete! And when I booted to
WinXP, Windows Explorer reported the drive as un-formatted! Partition
Magic showed a drive with file type 7, not NTFS. Needless to say it won't
boot.

What am I doing wrong???? What other software could I use to make a clone
of my "C" drive that will boot?

jimbo


You're using the utility clone your 200gb to your 40gb is that
correct? And your 200gb is using how much space?
DataLife asks whether you want to resize the partition and tries to create
a partition in the same portions as the disk being copied.

jaster wrote:
On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 10:53:53 -0700, jimbo wrote:


jimbo wrote:

jaster wrote:


On Mon, 18 Oct 2004 17:10:47 -0700, jimbo wrote:



jimbo wrote:


I have physical hard drive "C" with Win98 and physical hard drive "D"
with WinXP in a dual boot setup. I want to injstall a new, larger
physical hard drive "D". I have tried to follow the procedure for
cloning a drive using Norton Ghost. I disconnected the cables from
"C" and connected the new hard drive. (I set the new drive's jumper
to "master" the same as the "C" drive.) Then Norton Ghost was booted
from floppies and I cloned drive 2 to drive 1. This all seemed to OK.
Then I disconnected the new drive and changed the jumper to "slave".
Then I reconnected the "C" drive. Then I disconnected the "D" drive
and connected the new drive in it's place. Now when I boot to WinXP
it fails just after the WinXP splash screen. A blue screen with an
error message appears and the system reboots.

Any insight will be appreciated.

jimbo


OK, here is the last chapter. Things got much worse, couldn't boot at
all after an aborted atempt at a repair installation. I finally
decided to punt and do a new installation. I never use Win98, so I
decided to just do a new WinXP install on "C". First, I copied all
files on "C" to the new hard drive. Then I changed all jumpers to
cable select and installed the old "C" drive to the master position,
with nothing in slave position. I used a Win98 boot floppy to delete
all partitions, then created one new partition. The new WinXP
installation stalled while searching for devices. So, I basically
gutted my case, one hard drive, one DVD drive, video card, mouse and
keyboard was all that was left. WinXP installed without a problem.

Then I copied old files to the current WinXP partition and to the new
hard drive which I placed in the slave position. Finally I had a new
WinXP installation on one of my old 40 GB hard drives (master) and all
of the old files from my old "C" and "D" drives on the new 200 GB hard
drive (slave).

Then I reinstalled hardware and software step by step until I am
almost back to where I want to be with a new 200 GB hard drive as
slave and an old 40 GB hard drive as master.

Just a few comments. I think Norton Ghost caused most of my problems.
I also think there was some basic problem with my original
installation. Even though everything appeared to work perfectly,
something, somewhere was not right. And throughout all of the hard
drive swapping that I did while getting all of my files saved on the
new hard drive, WinXP always assigned correct drive letters, etc. No
confusion about what drive was where. So I think my original procedure
was OK, just a glitch with Ghost and the original installation. And
with 99% of my programs reinstalled, the system is much more
responsive and seems much faster than before this ordeal. So, even
though it was more work than I wanted the results are worth the
effort.

Thanks to all who help me through this task.

jimbo



For what it's worth, maybe the problem with Ghost was you moved the D
to C used the new drive as D for the clone. Maybe you should have
added new drive as E then cloned D to E.

IMHO your final solution is right except I would have made the new
drive the C instead of D since you've removed Win98. I used the vendor
utility to clone drives and it hasn't failed to clone a drive yet.



Well, I made "C" my boot drive for WinXP. The new drive will be used for
data, backups, etc.

In getting to where I am now, I swapped drives several times to get
everything copied, verified, etc. Every time I did a swap, WinXP
recognized the new drive properly and assigned a drive letter
appropriate for it's position. So, I think it doesn't matter where the
drive is when it is cloned, but the final location is important. For
example if I clone a "C" drive, it doesn't matter where it is during the
cloning, but it then must be used in a "C" position. Just my thoughts.

I am going to try the Western Digital utility to copy my "C" drive to my
spare 40 GB hard drive. In theory, I should then be able to swap it out
for my current "C" drive and boot to a system that is the same as I now
boot to.

jimbo

This getting to be a disaster! I used the Western Digital Data Guard
utility to clone my "C" drive to the old, now spare hard drive using the
DOS floppy option. It took 3 hours to complete! And when I booted to
WinXP, Windows Explorer reported the drive as un-formatted! Partition
Magic showed a drive with file type 7, not NTFS. Needless to say it won't
boot.

What am I doing wrong???? What other software could I use to make a clone
of my "C" drive that will boot?

jimbo



You're using the utility clone your 200gb to your 40gb is that
correct? And your 200gb is using how much space?
DataLife asks whether you want to resize the partition and tries to create
a partition in the same portions as the disk being copied.


Nope, I installed WinXP on one of the old 40 GB hard drives as "C",
and I installed the new 200 GB hard drive as slave "D". The "C" WinXP
installation is a new fresh installation. And I managed to copy all of
the critical files to the new 200 GB hard drive before I started. Then I
reinstalled my applications under the new WinXP and got everything setup
the way I wanted. Everything works just as I want.

Then I decided to make a clone of "C" on the old, unused 40 GB hard
drive. So, I disconnected "D" and connected the old HD in the "D"
position. I used the Western Digital DOS boot floppy method of using
Data Guard. The "clone" operation took three hours. I left the clone in
"D" position and booted into WinXP where "D" was reported as unformatted
by Windows Explorer and as type 7 by Partition Magic.

Latest chapter. I used the DOS boot floppy method of Norton Ghost. The
"clone" operation took less than 30 minutes. I again left the clone in
"D" position and booted to WinXP, where "D" showed up as a normal
partition. So being extra cautious, I removed the new clone and
reinstalled the 200 GB HD in "D" position and booted to WinXP.
Everything looked and acted normal. So, I took the plunge and swapped
out the clone for the "C" drive. It booted to WinXP with no problems. So
now I have two 40 GB hard drives that boot to a fully operational WinXP
installation.

Thanks for all of the help and advice. I am still puzzled by why the
clone of the dual boot system wouldn't work.

jimbo

On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 13:38:04 -0700, jimbo wrote:


You're using the utility clone your 200gb to your 40gb is that correct?
And your 200gb is using how much space? DataLife asks whether you want
to resize the partition and tries to create a partition in the same
portions as the disk being copied.


Nope, I installed WinXP on one of the old 40 GB hard drives as "C",
and I installed the new 200 GB hard drive as slave "D". The "C" WinXP
installation is a new fresh installation. And I managed to copy all of the
critical files to the new 200 GB hard drive before I started. Then I
reinstalled my applications under the new WinXP and got everything setup
the way I wanted. Everything works just as I want.

Then I decided to make a clone of "C" on the old, unused 40 GB hard drive.
So, I disconnected "D" and connected the old HD in the "D" position. I
used the Western Digital DOS boot floppy method of using Data Guard. The
"clone" operation took three hours. I left the clone in "D" position and
booted into WinXP where "D" was reported as unformatted by Windows
Explorer and as type 7 by Partition Magic.

Latest chapter. I used the DOS boot floppy method of Norton Ghost. The
"clone" operation took less than 30 minutes. I again left the clone in "D"
position and booted to WinXP, where "D" showed up as a normal partition.
So being extra cautious, I removed the new clone and reinstalled the 200
GB HD in "D" position and booted to WinXP. Everything looked and acted
normal. So, I took the plunge and swapped out the clone for the "C" drive.
It booted to WinXP with no problems. So now I have two 40 GB hard drives
that boot to a fully operational WinXP installation.

Thanks for all of the help and advice. I am still puzzled by why the clone
of the dual boot system wouldn't work.

jimbo


Me either or why it took 3 hrs unless that was the formatting HD.
But WD recommends using the Data LifeGuard Windows interface
instead of the floppy for W98 or newer OS. The floppy stuff is no-OS
installation.

Congrats. The best news you're done and you got a back-up HD for a
multimedia system though you'll have to reinstall XP anyway (new cpus are
detected by XP).

"jimbo" wrote in message
...

OK, here is the last chapter. Things got much worse, couldn't boot at all
after an aborted atempt at a repair installation. I finally decided to
punt and do a new installation. I never use Win98, so I decided to just do
a new WinXP install on "C". First, I copied all files on "C" to the new
hard drive. Then I changed all jumpers to cable select and installed the
old "C" drive to the master position, with nothing in slave position. I
used a Win98 boot floppy to delete all partitions, then created one new
partition. The new WinXP installation stalled while searching for devices.
So, I basically gutted my case, one hard drive, one DVD drive, video card,
mouse and keyboard was all that was left. WinXP installed without a
problem.

I would keep C: by itself as master (end of cable) on one controller and put
the old drive (master) and DVD (slave) on the other. You should always keep
the devices to a minimum when installing XP, as on two systems recently I've
seen it pick up card readers, etc., as C: and placing the boot HD as O: or
some other unacceptable letter.

Just a few comments. I think Norton Ghost caused most of my problems.

I don't think so, as I've cloned with Ghost dozens (hundreds?) of times and
restored on at least 10 occasions, and never had a glitch. Admittedly, I've
never tried to clone or restore on a dual-boot system, but I suspect XP was
having a drive-letter crisis that lead to your problems. I think once you
get XP running smoothly, if you haven't already, I'm sure you'll be able to
clone the drive reliably. I do it weekly rotating six drives in mobil
racks, and once it a while it has been a lifesaver when some driver or
installation goes awry and there's no way to otherwise recover.

This happened just recently when horrific noises started coming out of the
PC speaker at shutdown or restart, as if the CPU was overheating (it
wasn't), but happening only sporadically. I couldn't figure it out so I
restored a recent clone and incremental backups I make hourly to D: through
a batch file running via Task Scheduler, and in 15 or 20 minutes was up and
running again.

And with 99% of my programs reinstalled, the system is much more
responsive and seems much faster than before this ordeal. So, even though
it was more work than I wanted the results are worth the effort.

Keep the spyware out with Spybot or AdAware SE, SpywareBlaster, and a custom
HOSTS file (http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm), and keep the
registry free of clutter with a cleaner like Registry First Aid
(http://www.rosecitysoftware.com/reg1aid/). That'll help keep things lean
and clean over the long haul that may help you avoid reinstalls of XP. I've
had XP installed here for 15 months without a reinstall and it runs as fast
as it ever did without crashes.

Bob Davis wrote:
"jimbo" wrote in message
...


OK, here is the last chapter. Things got much worse, couldn't boot at all
after an aborted atempt at a repair installation. I finally decided to
punt and do a new installation. I never use Win98, so I decided to just do
a new WinXP install on "C". First, I copied all files on "C" to the new
hard drive. Then I changed all jumpers to cable select and installed the
old "C" drive to the master position, with nothing in slave position. I
used a Win98 boot floppy to delete all partitions, then created one new
partition. The new WinXP installation stalled while searching for devices.
So, I basically gutted my case, one hard drive, one DVD drive, video card,
mouse and keyboard was all that was left. WinXP installed without a
problem.


I would keep C: by itself as master (end of cable) on one controller and put
the old drive (master) and DVD (slave) on the other. You should always keep
the devices to a minimum when installing XP, as on two systems recently I've
seen it pick up card readers, etc., as C: and placing the boot HD as O: or
some other unacceptable letter.


Just a few comments. I think Norton Ghost caused most of my problems.


I don't think so, as I've cloned with Ghost dozens (hundreds?) of times and
restored on at least 10 occasions, and never had a glitch. Admittedly, I've
never tried to clone or restore on a dual-boot system, but I suspect XP was
having a drive-letter crisis that lead to your problems. I think once you
get XP running smoothly, if you haven't already, I'm sure you'll be able to
clone the drive reliably. I do it weekly rotating six drives in mobil
racks, and once it a while it has been a lifesaver when some driver or
installation goes awry and there's no way to otherwise recover.

This happened just recently when horrific noises started coming out of the
PC speaker at shutdown or restart, as if the CPU was overheating (it
wasn't), but happening only sporadically. I couldn't figure it out so I
restored a recent clone and incremental backups I make hourly to D: through
a batch file running via Task Scheduler, and in 15 or 20 minutes was up and
running again.


And with 99% of my programs reinstalled, the system is much more
responsive and seems much faster than before this ordeal. So, even though
it was more work than I wanted the results are worth the effort.


Keep the spyware out with Spybot or AdAware SE, SpywareBlaster, and a custom
HOSTS file (http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm), and keep the
registry free of clutter with a cleaner like Registry First Aid
(http://www.rosecitysoftware.com/reg1aid/). That'll help keep things lean
and clean over the long haul that may help you avoid reinstalls of XP. I've
had XP installed here for 15 months without a reinstall and it runs as fast
as it ever did without crashes.





Thanks for the reply. Well, I used Ghost to make a working clone of my
current 40 GB "C" drive to my old, now spare 40 GB drive. Everything
worked perfectly and the clone boots to WinXP just fine. So Ghost works
on a vanilla system with the OS on "C". But Ghost didn't seem to get it
right on my dual boot setup with WinXP on "D" drive. The original clone
with Ghost seemed to be OK, files and directories appeared to be the
same on the clone as on the original "D". But it wouldn't boot to WinXP.

Anyway, I almost never used Win98, so I am better off with Win98 gone
and WinXP as my only OS on "C" drive.

And I use Spybot and Ace Utilities on a regular basis. And I use NOD32
in an active role and Avast! in a passive role and I practice safe Hex.
And I check running applications and services on a regular basis, so my
system stays as clean as I know how to keep it. But despite the
precautions, the system had slowed down significantly since April 2003.

I wonder if all of the Windows updates that I allowed to be installed
since April 2003 had anything to do with the slow down? The current
WinXP is SP1 as installed from the CD.

jimbo

"jimbo" wrote in message
...

Thanks for the reply. Well, I used Ghost to make a working clone of my
current 40 GB "C" drive to my old, now spare 40 GB drive. Everything
worked perfectly and the clone boots to WinXP just fine. So Ghost works on
a vanilla system with the OS on "C". But Ghost didn't seem to get it
right on my dual boot setup with WinXP on "D" drive. The original clone
with Ghost seemed to be OK, files and directories appeared to be the same
on the clone as on the original "D". But it wouldn't boot to WinXP.

Since Ghost is making an exact clone of the drive, I still think XP is
experiencing some sort of drive-letter confusion, although I can't put my
finger on it.

I have noticed that when I restore XP from one of my clones that I always
get a "Windows is installing your new hardware...." window when I boot up
fresh after the restore operation. There is no hint of what hardware it
refers to, but when I reboot again all is back to normal. Does XP see the
C: drive as a new drive? If so, how could it? I made a clone from the same
drive, then restored it, so how would it even know the difference?

Anyway, I almost never used Win98, so I am better off with Win98 gone and
WinXP as my only OS on "C" drive.

I agree, as I used Win98SE up until June 2003 and although it was a stable
platform for me I don't miss its resource limitations and other
disadvantages.

And I use Spybot and Ace Utilities on a regular basis. And I use NOD32 in
an active role and Avast! in a passive role and I practice safe Hex. And I
check running applications and services on a regular basis, so my system
stays as clean as I know how to keep it. But despite the precautions, the
system had slowed down significantly since April 2003.

I wonder if all of the Windows updates that I allowed to be installed
since April 2003 had anything to do with the slow down? The current WinXP
is SP1 as installed from the CD.

Try running a registry cleaner regularly to keep it clean, or otherwise
it'll clutter up increasingly on a daily basis. It's amazing the junk RFA
cleans out, things like reg entries for downloaded files I've deleted, etc.
Even run daily I usually get 20-50 hits. PC Magazine tested some of these
cleaners and although RFA scored well another program (RegistryFixer) fared
better, though RFA's "Member Rating" was five stars. See
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1585438,00.asp for more info. If you
run RFA for the first time I guarantee you'll likely see hundreds of useless
registry entries that can be safely deleted, even on a new install of XP.

But be careful and check what RFA wants to delete, as I've seen it list
entries that point to non-existent folders that if deleted cause some
programs to malfunction. One example is Winfax v10.02, which has entries
pointing to folders that don't exist, but if I delete these entries it will
generate a GPF when I try to import from my scanner the next time I'm using
Winfax. Such entries theoretically should be deleted, but not in this case.
In another example, Nero v5 has the same situation, but when this entry is
deleted Nero doesn't faulter and only creates the registry entry again. I
now have both programs on my exclude list.

I've installed all Windows updates and never experienced any slow-downs with
any of them, even those that had reports of problems. Again, this
installation of XP Pro is the original from June 2004 and it runs as well
now as before, actually better with newer, faster HD's installed. I've had
a few glitches, primarily from installing software, that were fixed by
restoring a Ghost clone created just days before. Since I also do hourly
incremental backups to D: on all important files (photos, documents,
business databases, etc.), and do IE and Outlook backups daily with eBackup.
I also keep one of my six cloned drives in mobile racks off site.

Bob Davis wrote:
"jimbo" wrote in message
...


Thanks for the reply. Well, I used Ghost to make a working clone of my
current 40 GB "C" drive to my old, now spare 40 GB drive. Everything
worked perfectly and the clone boots to WinXP just fine. So Ghost works on
a vanilla system with the OS on "C". But Ghost didn't seem to get it
right on my dual boot setup with WinXP on "D" drive. The original clone
with Ghost seemed to be OK, files and directories appeared to be the same
on the clone as on the original "D". But it wouldn't boot to WinXP.


Since Ghost is making an exact clone of the drive, I still think XP is
experiencing some sort of drive-letter confusion, although I can't put my
finger on it.

I'm convinced it was a drive letter assignment issue too. Perhaps because
he had a partition problem on the drive he was cloning.

I have noticed that when I restore XP from one of my clones that I always
get a "Windows is installing your new hardware...." window when I boot up
fresh after the restore operation. There is no hint of what hardware it
refers to, but when I reboot again all is back to normal. Does XP see the
C: drive as a new drive?

A new "C" drive is likely what it's "installing."

If so, how could it? I made a clone from the same
drive, then restored it, so how would it even know the difference?

I don't know if by clone you mean really a clone or a ghost image. And an
image of what and when.

XP serializes the drives and partitions so it knows which one is which and
those 'serialized' partitions are what get assigned drive letters. If the
serials don't match then it's going to 'install' the 'new' one and assign
drive letters.

So it depends on when you made the clone/image, whether the drive had been
previously installed, if it was installed afterwards, and what state it's
in when you 'clone' it back.

snip

"Bob Davis" wrote in message
news:tbced.15164$0j.11598@lakeread07...
(SNIPPED POSTING)
I have noticed that when I restore XP from one of my clones that I always
get a "Windows is installing your new hardware...." window when I boot up
fresh after the restore operation. There is no hint of what hardware it
refers to, but when I reboot again all is back to normal. Does XP see the
C: drive as a new drive? If so, how could it? I made a clone from the
same drive, then restored it, so how would it even know the difference?

Bob:
It's an anomaly of Ghost -- at least in the 2002 and 2003 versions with
respect to XP. If, after cloning your HD to your destination HD and then
booting up with the newly-cloned HD, you would encounter a "System Settings
Change" dialog box that informs you that new hardware has been found and
asks "Do you want to restart your computer now?". Upon reboot the system
boots to a normal Desktop.

The message you're rec'g is related. If you had originally booted up with
the cloned HD as described above, you would not have rec'd that "new
hardware" message.

I've queried Symantec about this, but have never been given a clear
explanation as to why the above occurs. It's apparent that Ghost is
introducing something on the cloned drive that causes XP to see it as "new
hardware". It's a minor inconvenience and, in my experience, has never had
any effect on the validity of the clone or on XP's Activation process.

Art

"David Maynard" wrote in message
...

I have noticed that when I restore XP from one of my clones that I always
get a "Windows is installing your new hardware...." window when I boot up
fresh after the restore operation. There is no hint of what hardware it
refers to, but when I reboot again all is back to normal. Does XP see
the C: drive as a new drive?

A new "C" drive is likely what it's "installing."

But if I clone the C: drive that XP hasn't even seen, then I restore that
clone back to the same C: drive as before at a later date, how would XP know
there was a change?
All Ghost operations are performed in PCDOS from a floppy.

If so, how could it? I made a clone from the same drive, then restored
it, so how would it even know the difference?

I don't know if by clone you mean really a clone or a ghost image. And an
image of what and when.

I only clone the entire drive for this machine, no image file is created.

XP serializes the drives and partitions so it knows which one is which and
those 'serialized' partitions are what get assigned drive letters. If the
serials don't match then it's going to 'install' the 'new' one and assign
drive letters.

From the time it is cloned 'til restored the drive starts and ends with the
same hardware. In between there is another drive but XP never sees it.
Well, once or twice I plugged it into the mobil rack and pulled a file off
the clone from within XP, but not often. That drive goes in as G:, and I
doubt if any of these drives have been used in this way and then used to
restore the C: drive. When it is cloned again I would think any
manipulation from XP would be eradicated.

So it depends on when you made the clone/image, whether the drive had been
previously installed, if it was installed afterwards, and what state it's
in when you 'clone' it back.

All of the cloned drives have been installed on a Windows machine at one
time or another, some as permanent drives. But when the present C: drive is
cloned onto one of these six drives from PCDOS, XP never sees the receiving
drive and there should be no mutation of the data in either transfer. When
that data is restored to C:, the permanent boot drive containing XP, how
could XP even know another drive has touched it?

jimbo wrote:
Bob Davis wrote:

"jimbo" wrote in message
...


OK, here is the last chapter. Things got much worse, couldn't boot at
all after an aborted atempt at a repair installation. I finally
decided to punt and do a new installation. I never use Win98, so I
decided to just do a new WinXP install on "C". First, I copied all
files on "C" to the new hard drive. Then I changed all jumpers to
cable select and installed the old "C" drive to the master position,
with nothing in slave position. I used a Win98 boot floppy to delete
all partitions, then created one new partition. The new WinXP
installation stalled while searching for devices. So, I basically
gutted my case, one hard drive, one DVD drive, video card, mouse and
keyboard was all that was left. WinXP installed without a problem.



I would keep C: by itself as master (end of cable) on one controller
and put the old drive (master) and DVD (slave) on the other. You
should always keep the devices to a minimum when installing XP, as on
two systems recently I've seen it pick up card readers, etc., as C:
and placing the boot HD as O: or some other unacceptable letter.


Just a few comments. I think Norton Ghost caused most of my problems.



I don't think so, as I've cloned with Ghost dozens (hundreds?) of
times and restored on at least 10 occasions, and never had a glitch.
Admittedly, I've never tried to clone or restore on a dual-boot
system, but I suspect XP was having a drive-letter crisis that lead to
your problems. I think once you get XP running smoothly, if you
haven't already, I'm sure you'll be able to clone the drive reliably.
I do it weekly rotating six drives in mobil racks, and once it a while
it has been a lifesaver when some driver or installation goes awry and
there's no way to otherwise recover.

This happened just recently when horrific noises started coming out of
the PC speaker at shutdown or restart, as if the CPU was overheating
(it wasn't), but happening only sporadically. I couldn't figure it
out so I restored a recent clone and incremental backups I make hourly
to D: through a batch file running via Task Scheduler, and in 15 or 20
minutes was up and running again.


And with 99% of my programs reinstalled, the system is much more
responsive and seems much faster than before this ordeal. So, even
though it was more work than I wanted the results are worth the effort.



Keep the spyware out with Spybot or AdAware SE, SpywareBlaster, and a
custom HOSTS file (http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm), and
keep the registry free of clutter with a cleaner like Registry First
Aid (http://www.rosecitysoftware.com/reg1aid/). That'll help keep
things lean and clean over the long haul that may help you avoid
reinstalls of XP. I've had XP installed here for 15 months without a
reinstall and it runs as fast as it ever did without crashes.





Thanks for the reply. Well, I used Ghost to make a working clone of my
current 40 GB "C" drive to my old, now spare 40 GB drive. Everything
worked perfectly and the clone boots to WinXP just fine. So Ghost works
on a vanilla system with the OS on "C". But Ghost didn't seem to get it
right on my dual boot setup with WinXP on "D" drive. The original clone
with Ghost seemed to be OK, files and directories appeared to be the
same on the clone as on the original "D". But it wouldn't boot to WinXP.

Anyway, I almost never used Win98, so I am better off with Win98 gone
and WinXP as my only OS on "C" drive.

And I use Spybot and Ace Utilities on a regular basis. And I use NOD32
in an active role and Avast! in a passive role and I practice safe Hex.
And I check running applications and services on a regular basis, so my
system stays as clean as I know how to keep it. But despite the
precautions, the system had slowed down significantly since April 2003.

I wonder if all of the Windows updates that I allowed to be installed
since April 2003 had anything to do with the slow down? The current
WinXP is SP1 as installed from the CD.

jimbo

Yes, I also got a message about new hardware being detected when I
booted from the cloned HD. But when I changed back to the original HD,
there was no such message.

And Ace Utilities includes a registry cleaner, and yes, it finds
problems even with the new installation.

Since WinXP always seems to assign the proper drive letter, no matter
what kind of swap I make, it seems unlikely that there is a confusion
about drive letters. I think there is a problem with the fact that "D"
drive was a boot drive when I had the dual boot setup. Ghost may not be
cloning the boot sector, or something else that is required for the
WinXP boot from "D". I know that "C" has the MBR and the boot sector on
"C" points to the other files needed, ntdetect.com, ntldr and boot.ini.
But I don't know if a boot sector on "D" gets called or how WinXP boots
when it is installed on "D".

jimbo