Hard Drive Cloning

starkweather · 14 Jun 2007 at 17:21

I tried cloning my Hard Drive today (74gb Western Digital Raptor) and putting it on my new HD (Samsung SpinPoint T HD501LJ) using Acronis True Image 10. However, when I start up my PC with the new drive afterwards it says 'unable to boot operating system'.

Does this mean I have to reinstall Windows XP and all my files/programs from scratch?

:confused:

jbloggs · 15 Jun 2007 at 19:56

How did you carry this out, ie what steps did you go through?

PhillyDee · 15 Jun 2007 at 21:05

I think you also have to run the xp restore and fix the master boot record. Sometimes this is needed.

starkweather · 15 Jun 2007 at 21:49

Just got this fixed tonight actually. After cloning it I ran my usual drive, using the new drive with the identical files as a secondary. I then did lots to the new drive, defragmented and scanned for errors. It seemed to fix it. Then I had to change my new drive from "F" to "C" and I am sorted.

KatanaDV20 · 15 Jun 2007 at 22:04

Interesting! Im about to buy a new HDD myself and was planning on using ATI

starkweather · 15 Jun 2007 at 23:05

It was very frustrating at the beginning, but stick at it. Clone using Automatic, not manual, unless you truly know what you're doing. If you boot from the new drive and it says 'Error loading operating system' then don't panic. Go into the old drive, login to Windows and mess around with your new drive, defragment and check for errors.

I followed this advice (see below) to change the drive letter because you can't do it while using the drive by right-clicking on My Computer, Go to Manage, etc. I had problems when I didn't change it to 'C'. When it was on 'F' it still relied on the old drive for certain files.

Change drive letter

Good luck. I am certainly loving this new drive.