Hard Drive Cloning

[starkweather]

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?

 

[starkweather]

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.

 

[starkweather]

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.