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#61
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Bob Davis wrote:
"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, I don't understand what "the C: drive that XP hasn't even seen" is. How did it get to be 'C' if XP hasn't seen it? 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? Well, if XP hadn't even seen the original C drive then the registry had no entry for it when it was cloned so the restored 'clone' wouldn't have the 'C' drive entry either. 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. Ok. 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. Then XP saw it 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. I'm not entirely sure about that because the drive serialization is embedded at the end of the MBR. Fixboot, for example, doesn't remove or change it but I'm not sure what a ghost clone does. I can imagine ghost either being 'efficient', and only copying the boot part itself ala fixboot, or being 'comprehensive' and copying every bit. If it's copying every bit then the disk ID would change when the drive was put in for 'just a couple of files' and then the clone back would alter the original drive's ID so it no longer matched the clone's registry. Frankly, I can also imagine ghost intentionally clearing the drive ID as a 'clone' couldn't possibly be 'the same drive' to begin with. 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. Then they got given an ID in the MBR. 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? I don't have a definitive answer but I think I've shown how the disk and partition IDs could account for the behavior and that it doesn't take much to cause it. |
#62
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"Art" wrote in 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. That's very interesting. I've noticed this on every restore I've done with XP, but can't recall if this occurred with Win98SE. The first time it happened I was very alarmed, at least 'til I safely rebooted without issue. It'd be revealing if the XP message about new hardware would ID the device it thinks it's installing. Anyway, my experience jibes with yours, that nothing goes arwy after that first reboot and all is well. |
#63
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"David Maynard" wrote in message ... Bob Davis wrote: "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, I don't understand what "the C: drive that XP hasn't even seen" is. How did it get to be 'C' if XP hasn't seen it? G Sometimes an explanation doesn't materialize like it is envisioned. Allow me to re-phrase: The C: drive containing XP (#1) is cloned to another HD (#2), which XP has never seen, then that clone is restored back to the original C: drive again. The speculation was that somehow XP knew there was a switch of some sort, but how could it if it has never "seen" the cloned drive before? Presumably, the data from #1 is identical to #2, and other than the drive size nothing is different. Then when it is restored, that identical data is moved back to #1, which should make things exactly like they were when the clone was originally performed. Now, since #1 is not the same size as the group of #2's I have in mobil racks, and since Ghost is repartitioning and formating on the fly, perhaps that is a factor in the puzzle. Don't ask me what, though. Alas, this may be as perplexing as my last attempt to explain this. Well, if XP hadn't even seen the original C drive then the registry had no entry for it when it was cloned so the restored 'clone' wouldn't have the 'C' drive entry either. The original C: has been in the system from the outset. I'm not entirely sure about that because the drive serialization is embedded at the end of the MBR. Fixboot, for example, doesn't remove or change it but I'm not sure what a ghost clone does. I can imagine ghost either being 'efficient', and only copying the boot part itself ala fixboot, or being 'comprehensive' and copying every bit. If it's copying every bit then the disk ID would change when the drive was put in for 'just a couple of files' and then the clone back would alter the original drive's ID so it no longer matched the clone's registry. You may have hit on something. Maybe it's the MBR that's triggering this reaction, which ties into my comments about partitioning and formating above. |
#64
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"jimbo" wrote in message ... 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. If you cloned to a new HD, as when you move to a larger drive, I can see this happening since the new drive will be a different size, presumably larger. But I get the message when a clone is made, then restored back to the original drive, which should put things back to the state when the original cloning occurred. |
#65
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Bob Davis wrote:
"Art" wrote in 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. That's very interesting. I've noticed this on every restore I've done with XP, but can't recall if this occurred with Win98SE. Win9x doesn't serialize drives, or make any special identification. Whatever order they're in on the IDE ports is what they are. The first time it happened I was very alarmed, at least 'til I safely rebooted without issue. It'd be revealing if the XP message about new hardware would ID the device it thinks it's installing. Anyway, my experience jibes with yours, that nothing goes arwy after that first reboot and all is well. |
#66
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Bob Davis wrote:
"David Maynard" wrote in message ... Bob Davis wrote: "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, I don't understand what "the C: drive that XP hasn't even seen" is. How did it get to be 'C' if XP hasn't seen it? G Sometimes an explanation doesn't materialize like it is envisioned. Allow me to re-phrase: The C: drive containing XP (#1) is cloned to another HD (#2), which XP has never seen, then that clone is restored back to the original C: drive again. The speculation was that somehow XP knew there was a switch of some sort, but how could it if it has never "seen" the cloned drive before? Presumably, the data from #1 is identical to #2, and other than the drive size nothing is different. Then when it is restored, that identical data is moved back to #1, which should make things exactly like they were when the clone was originally performed. Now, since #1 is not the same size as the group of #2's I have in mobil racks, and since Ghost is repartitioning and formating on the fly, perhaps that is a factor in the puzzle. Don't ask me what, though. Alas, this may be as perplexing as my last attempt to explain this. Try using the -FDSP switch next time you do a clone backup and the subsequent restore. Note: that won't work if you leave the cloned drive installed and boot with it there. Two drives with the same ID is a no-no. Well, if XP hadn't even seen the original C drive then the registry had no entry for it when it was cloned so the restored 'clone' wouldn't have the 'C' drive entry either. The original C: has been in the system from the outset. I'm not entirely sure about that because the drive serialization is embedded at the end of the MBR. Fixboot, for example, doesn't remove or change it but I'm not sure what a ghost clone does. I can imagine ghost either being 'efficient', and only copying the boot part itself ala fixboot, or being 'comprehensive' and copying every bit. If it's copying every bit then the disk ID would change when the drive was put in for 'just a couple of files' and then the clone back would alter the original drive's ID so it no longer matched the clone's registry. You may have hit on something. Maybe it's the MBR that's triggering this reaction, which ties into my comments about partitioning and formating above. Amusing that you snipped out "Frankly, I can also imagine ghost intentionally clearing the drive ID as a 'clone' couldn't possibly be 'the same drive' to begin with" because that is probably what's happening in your case. http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...98082612540625 -FDSP Force Disk Signature Preserve. Use to resolve bootup failures after cloning a disk on a Windows 2000 computer, especially when the disk and controller are the same in the source and destination computers, but the partition sizes or layout are different. This switch prevents Ghost from ----------------automatically forcing a disk initialization, which Ghost does by default----------------------- when imaging a Windows 2000 disk. -FDSZ Force Disk Signature to zero. Use to resolve bootup failures after cloning a partition on a Windows 2000 computer, especially when the disk and controller are the same in the source and destination computers, but the partition sizes or layout are different. This switch configures Ghost to force a disk initialization. |
#67
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On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 16:39:07 -0700, jimbo wrote:
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 That is what I thought would happen. Although you can make a clone of the data and partitions on a drive the drive's id is not changed. This impacts MS top secret formula for piracy protection (ie, forcing repair installation of XP). There's instructions on the MS support site describing how to clone drives using sysprep on the drive to be cloned before making the clone. |
#68
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jaster wrote:
On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 16:39:07 -0700, jimbo wrote: 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 That is what I thought would happen. Although you can make a clone of the data and partitions on a drive the drive's id is not changed. Depends on what you use to clone it with and what switches are applied. Ghost will do it either way with the default for a whole drive clone being to not preserve the disk ID. This impacts MS top secret formula for piracy protection (ie, forcing repair installation of XP). Cloning a drive does not force needing an XP repair, whether you preserved the disk ID or not. There's instructions on the MS support site describing how to clone drives using sysprep on the drive to be cloned before making the clone. The biggest reason to use sysprep is when rolling out multiple systems from the same image. You need to force it to remake the system IDs or else you end up with multiple systems claiming to be the same one and the domain controller will reject the duplicates. That's a completely different matter than disk and partition IDs. |
#69
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