My 80gb Vista laptop is out of space, so I bought a 250gb drive and
installed it in a USB 2.0 enclosure.

I have tried both the True Image clone procedure and also partitioning the
250gb with 2 partitions then backing up the original drive to one of the
partitions, replacing the 80 with 250 and tried to recover into the blank
partition but no success.

I get the cannot boot message and must use the install cd to enable the new
clone but I still am unable to boot into the cloned version. I have had
great luck with Acronis but just cannot make this work.

I am using True Image Home V10 Build 4.942) with Windows Vista Home Basic
with SVC Pk1.

I would appreciate any insight into this procedure or a different product.

Are there any of the drive manufacturers that have a utility that will get
around this boot problem with Vista? I am ready to buy another drive just
to get this done.

Thanks, GWB

"George W. Barrowcliff" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> My 80gb Vista laptop is out of space, so I bought a 250gb drive and
> installed it in a USB 2.0 enclosure.
>
> I have tried both the True Image clone procedure and also partitioning the
> 250gb with 2 partitions then backing up the original drive to one of the
> partitions, replacing the 80 with 250 and tried to recover into the blank
> partition but no success.
>
> I get the cannot boot message and must use the install cd to enable the
> new clone but I still am unable to boot into the cloned version. I have
> had great luck with Acronis but just cannot make this work.
>
> I am using True Image Home V10 Build 4.942) with Windows Vista Home Basic
> with SVC Pk1.
>
> I would appreciate any insight into this procedure or a different product.
>
> Are there any of the drive manufacturers that have a utility that will get
> around this boot problem with Vista? I am ready to buy another drive just
> to get this done.
>
> Thanks, GWB


George:
If I correctly understand your situation, you're attempting to boot a cloned
copy (created by the ATI program) of the Vista OS from a USB external HDD.
Do I have this right?

If so...

We have never been successful in booting to a USB-connected external HDD in
an XP environment (at least in any reliable way). And we've worked with a
large variety of systems that ostensibly had USB boot capability. However, a
number of various newsgroup contributors and other commentators users have
reported that they have indeed been successful in booting to a USBEHD
containing a potentially-bootable XP OS. Usually their claims are couched in
phrases like "as long as the motherboard's BIOS supports this capability",
or some such. But as I've indicated we have never been able to duplicate
this capability.

However, my experience with the Vista OS re this issue is quite limited so
I'm unsure whether Vista would be more "forgiving" in this regard. Also, I
haven't worked with the latest ATI 2009 version to any extent so I don't
know if that would be a consideration re this issue (although I note you're
working with v10). You've indicated
"I have had great luck with Acronis but just cannot make this work." Are you
indicating that you've been able to previously boot reliably from a cloned
copy of the Vista OS contained on a USBEHD, but now you can't?

Having said all that, if you want to pursue the matter (re booting from a
USBEHD) further...

Take a look at this Fred Langa article where Fred purports to have come up
with a process to achieve this "bootability". See
http://www.informationweek.com/share...leID=177102101

Also, a poster to one of the MS XP newsgroups claimed that he too has come
up with a methodology to do this as well. See
http://www.ngine.de/index.jsp?pageid=4176

And here's another one...
http://www.vandomburg.net/installing...s-xp-from-usb/

(I haven't checked the above links in some time to determine if they're
still active.)

No doubt a Google search will reveal a good deal of information on this
issue.

Assuming a user is working with a PC that has SATA capability, what we
recommend to achieve boot capability via an external HDD is to use a SATA
external HDD that provides SATA-to-SATA connectivity (between the external
enclosure-SATA HDD and the PC). Naturally the system must have SATA
capability to begin with and a connection must be made to one of the
motherboard's SATA connectors or through a SATA or eSATA port on the PC, or
through a SATA adapter on the desktop PC's case. (It's a different type of
system where a laptop/notebook is involved).
Anna

I read it that he had cloned the existing installation to a usb connected
new drive, then shutdown and replaced his internal drive with the one that
he cloned to

"Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "George W. Barrowcliff" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> My 80gb Vista laptop is out of space, so I bought a 250gb drive and
>> installed it in a USB 2.0 enclosure.
>>
>> I have tried both the True Image clone procedure and also partitioning
>> the 250gb with 2 partitions then backing up the original drive to one of
>> the partitions, replacing the 80 with 250 and tried to recover into the
>> blank partition but no success.
>>
>> I get the cannot boot message and must use the install cd to enable the
>> new clone but I still am unable to boot into the cloned version. I have
>> had great luck with Acronis but just cannot make this work.
>>
>> I am using True Image Home V10 Build 4.942) with Windows Vista Home Basic
>> with SVC Pk1.
>>
>> I would appreciate any insight into this procedure or a different
>> product.
>>
>> Are there any of the drive manufacturers that have a utility that will
>> get around this boot problem with Vista? I am ready to buy another drive
>> just to get this done.
>>
>> Thanks, GWB
>
>
> George:
> If I correctly understand your situation, you're attempting to boot a
> cloned copy (created by the ATI program) of the Vista OS from a USB
> external HDD. Do I have this right?
>
> If so...
>
> We have never been successful in booting to a USB-connected external HDD
> in an XP environment (at least in any reliable way). And we've worked with
> a large variety of systems that ostensibly had USB boot capability.
> However, a number of various newsgroup contributors and other commentators
> users have reported that they have indeed been successful in booting to a
> USBEHD containing a potentially-bootable XP OS. Usually their claims are
> couched in phrases like "as long as the motherboard's BIOS supports this
> capability", or some such. But as I've indicated we have never been able
> to duplicate this capability.
>
> However, my experience with the Vista OS re this issue is quite limited so
> I'm unsure whether Vista would be more "forgiving" in this regard. Also, I
> haven't worked with the latest ATI 2009 version to any extent so I don't
> know if that would be a consideration re this issue (although I note
> you're working with v10). You've indicated
> "I have had great luck with Acronis but just cannot make this work." Are
> you indicating that you've been able to previously boot reliably from a
> cloned copy of the Vista OS contained on a USBEHD, but now you can't?
>
> Having said all that, if you want to pursue the matter (re booting from a
> USBEHD) further...
>
> Take a look at this Fred Langa article where Fred purports to have come up
> with a process to achieve this "bootability". See
> http://www.informationweek.com/share...leID=177102101
>
> Also, a poster to one of the MS XP newsgroups claimed that he too has come
> up with a methodology to do this as well. See
> http://www.ngine.de/index.jsp?pageid=4176
>
> And here's another one...
> http://www.vandomburg.net/installing...s-xp-from-usb/
>
> (I haven't checked the above links in some time to determine if they're
> still active.)
>
> No doubt a Google search will reveal a good deal of information on this
> issue.
>
> Assuming a user is working with a PC that has SATA capability, what we
> recommend to achieve boot capability via an external HDD is to use a SATA
> external HDD that provides SATA-to-SATA connectivity (between the external
> enclosure-SATA HDD and the PC). Naturally the system must have SATA
> capability to begin with and a connection must be made to one of the
> motherboard's SATA connectors or through a SATA or eSATA port on the PC,
> or through a SATA adapter on the desktop PC's case. (It's a different type
> of system where a laptop/notebook is involved).
> Anna
>

>> "George W. Barrowcliff" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> My 80gb Vista laptop is out of space, so I bought a 250gb drive and
>>> installed it in a USB 2.0 enclosure.
>>>
>>> I have tried both the True Image clone procedure and also partitioning
>>> the 250gb with 2 partitions then backing up the original drive to one of
>>> the partitions, replacing the 80 with 250 and tried to recover into the
>>> blank partition but no success.
>>>
>>> I get the cannot boot message and must use the install cd to enable the
>>> new clone but I still am unable to boot into the cloned version. I have
>>> had great luck with Acronis but just cannot make this work.
>>>
>>> I am using True Image Home V10 Build 4.942) with Windows Vista Home
>>> Basic with SVC Pk1.
>>>
>>> I would appreciate any insight into this procedure or a different
>>> product.
>>>
>>> Are there any of the drive manufacturers that have a utility that will
>>> get around this boot problem with Vista? I am ready to buy another
>>> drive just to get this done.
>>>
>>> Thanks, GWB


> "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> George:
>> If I correctly understand your situation, you're attempting to boot a
>> cloned copy (created by the ATI program) of the Vista OS from a USB
>> external HDD. Do I have this right?
>>
>> If so...
>>
>> We have never been successful in booting to a USB-connected external HDD
>> in an XP environment (at least in any reliable way). And we've worked
>> with a large variety of systems that ostensibly had USB boot capability.
>> However, a number of various newsgroup contributors and other
>> commentators users have reported that they have indeed been successful in
>> booting to a USBEHD containing a potentially-bootable XP OS. Usually
>> their claims are couched in phrases like "as long as the motherboard's
>> BIOS supports this capability", or some such. But as I've indicated we
>> have never been able to duplicate this capability.
>>
>> However, my experience with the Vista OS re this issue is quite limited
>> so I'm unsure whether Vista would be more "forgiving" in this regard.
>> Also, I haven't worked with the latest ATI 2009 version to any extent so
>> I don't know if that would be a consideration re this issue (although I
>> note you're working with v10). You've indicated
>> "I have had great luck with Acronis but just cannot make this work." Are
>> you indicating that you've been able to previously boot reliably from a
>> cloned copy of the Vista OS contained on a USBEHD, but now you can't?
>>
>> Having said all that, if you want to pursue the matter (re booting from a
>> USBEHD) further...
>>
>> Take a look at this Fred Langa article where Fred purports to have come
>> up
>> with a process to achieve this "bootability". See
>> http://www.informationweek.com/share...leID=177102101
>>
>> Also, a poster to one of the MS XP newsgroups claimed that he too has
>> come
>> up with a methodology to do this as well. See
>> http://www.ngine.de/index.jsp?pageid=4176
>>
>> And here's another one...
>> http://www.vandomburg.net/installing...s-xp-from-usb/
>>
>> (I haven't checked the above links in some time to determine if they're
>> still active.)
>>
>> No doubt a Google search will reveal a good deal of information on this
>> issue.
>>
>> Assuming a user is working with a PC that has SATA capability, what we
>> recommend to achieve boot capability via an external HDD is to use a SATA
>> external HDD that provides SATA-to-SATA connectivity (between the
>> external enclosure-SATA HDD and the PC). Naturally the system must have
>> SATA capability to begin with and a connection must be made to one of the
>> motherboard's SATA connectors or through a SATA or eSATA port on the PC,
>> or through a SATA adapter on the desktop PC's case. (It's a different
>> type of system where a laptop/notebook is involved).
>> Anna


"DL" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>I read it that he had cloned the existing installation to a usb connected
>new drive, then shutdown and replaced his internal drive with the one that
>he cloned to


DL:
You may very well be right. It wasn't entirely clear to me from his post
(even after re:reading it more than once!). Anyway I thought if his problem
*did* involve booting a cloned copy of the OS from the USBEHD then my
comment might be relevant to his situation.

His comment that "I get the cannot boot message and must use the install cd
to enable the new clone but I still am unable to boot into the cloned
version" was also puzzling to me.

In any event, perhaps he'll clarify his message if he's still experiencing a
problem.

As I believe you're aware from my posts in a number of the MS XP newsgroups,
my disk-cloning program of choice is the Casper 5 program. While my
experience with using that program with the Vista OS has not been
particularly extensive, I've found it quite effective the relatively few
times I've used it with Vista. And from what I've heard from Vista users in
general they are similarly pleased with that program relative to that OS.
Anna

On Wed, 6 May 2009 14:04:16 -0400, "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>As I believe you're aware from my posts in a number of the MS XP newsgroups,
>my disk-cloning program of choice is the Casper 5 program. While my
>experience with using that program with the Vista OS has not been
>particularly extensive, I've found it quite effective the relatively few
>times I've used it with Vista. And from what I've heard from Vista users in
>general they are similarly pleased with that program relative to that OS.
>Anna

She can't even bring herself to NAME the product. That is SO telling.

>>my disk-cloning program of choice is the Casper 5 program

"Randall Flagg" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Wed, 6 May 2009 14:04:16 -0400, "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>As I believe you're aware from my posts in a number of the MS XP
>>newsgroups,
>>my disk-cloning program of choice is the Casper 5 program. While my
>>experience with using that program with the Vista OS has not been
>>particularly extensive, I've found it quite effective the relatively few
>>times I've used it with Vista. And from what I've heard from Vista users
>>in
>>general they are similarly pleased with that program relative to that OS.
>>Anna
>
> She can't even bring herself to NAME the product. That is SO telling.

"Randall Flagg" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Wed, 6 May 2009 14:04:16 -0400, "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>As I believe you're aware from my posts in a number of the MS XP
>>newsgroups,
>>my disk-cloning program of choice is the Casper 5 program. While my
>>experience with using that program with the Vista OS has not been
>>particularly extensive, I've found it quite effective the relatively few
>>times I've used it with Vista. And from what I've heard from Vista users
>>in
>>general they are similarly pleased with that program relative to that OS.
>>Anna
>
> She can't even bring herself to NAME the product. That is SO telling.

Sorry, but it is named: "the Casper 5 program".

Sorry about the delay and the obtuse posting before. When I wrote it
recounting my experience seemed so clear but I had to re-read this:

" I get the cannot boot message and must use the install cd to enable the
new
clone but I still am unable to boot into the cloned version"

What I was trying to say is that after cloning to the USB connected drive,
and removing it from the usb enclosure and installing it into the laptop
and booting up, I received the 'Cannot boot' message that suggests using
the original install CD to repair the installation. I used the install CD
that I made using the laptop recovery software but after this process, I
could still not boot into the cloned version.

Probably not any clearer but at least more verbose.

I did read several of the postings relating to modifying the boot file using
bcdedit to remove the explicit reference to the C: path before using TI.
Unfortunately I have been using the 250 GB replacement laptop drive as a
general purpose storage and move around usb connected drive and now have to
buy another one to replace the original 80gb. I have moved back to my XP
Pro Desktop for daily use to keep from overflowing the drive on my laptop.

Thanks for all the discussion and details. Still not cloned but will look
into the alternative program mentioned.

GWB

"George W. Barrowcliff" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Sorry about the delay and the obtuse posting before. When I wrote it
> recounting my experience seemed so clear but I had to re-read this:
>
> " I get the cannot boot message and must use the install cd to enable the
> new
> clone but I still am unable to boot into the cloned version"
>
> What I was trying to say is that after cloning to the USB connected drive,
> and removing it from the usb enclosure and installing it into the laptop
> and booting up, I received the 'Cannot boot' message that suggests using
> the original install CD to repair the installation. I used the install CD
> that I made using the laptop recovery software but after this process, I
> could still not boot into the cloned version.
>
> Probably not any clearer but at least more verbose.
>
> I did read several of the postings relating to modifying the boot file
> using bcdedit to remove the explicit reference to the C: path before using
> TI. Unfortunately I have been using the 250 GB replacement laptop drive as
> a general purpose storage and move around usb connected drive and now have
> to buy another one to replace the original 80gb. I have moved back to my
> XP Pro Desktop for daily use to keep from overflowing the drive on my
> laptop.
>
> Thanks for all the discussion and details. Still not cloned but will look
> into the alternative program mentioned.
>
> GWB


George:
Why you've experienced the problem you describe using the Acronis True Image
program is practically impossible (at least for me!) to discern. Naturally
we're assuming that your "source" HDD is perfectly functional in that it
boots without incident and functions without any problems. Likewise, the
"destination" HDD is non-defective and properly connected/configured to the
system.

Presumably at this stage the reason for the disk-cloning operation is
because you desire to install a larger HDD in your laptop's machine.

As you've indicated (and as "DL" correctly surmised from your initial post)
you cloned your laptop's present HDD to a USB-connected (2 1/2"
laptop/notebook) HDD and then removed the latter drive from the enclosure
and installed it in the laptop in lieu of the present disk.

There should be no reason to modify the boot.ini file or any other system
file. The cloned HDD should boot straightaway.

I'm not entirely clear from your present post where things apparently stand
at the present time re your source & destination HDDs. I'll assume that the
present laptop's drive is an 80 GB HDD and your intended destination drive
is the 250 GB HDD.

Anyway, do try the disk-cloning program I suggested - Casper 5. A trial
version is available at http://www.fssdev.com
The trial version is somewhat crippled in that the partition created on the
destination HDD will be no larger than the disk size of the source HDD. So
that in your case (assuming I've correctly indicated the disk sizes above),
following the disk-cloning operation the 250 GB destination HDD will contain
a 80 GB partition containing, of course, the contents of the source HDD. The
remaining disk-space will be "unallocated". Naturally this limitation is not
present in the licensed (commercial) version of Casper.

Give it a try and see how you like it.
Anna

OK Anna, I will look at the Casper product, but I still wonder why I was
unable to get TI to operate successfully. I have used it since V8 without
issue until Vista. I now need to buy another drive to try again.

It has been a while since I went through all the steps but I tried cloning
to the usb drive (then removing from enclosure, installing in laptop) and I
also made (usb connected) an 80 gb partition along with a 160 gb partition,
then did a TI backup to the 80 gb. Installing the drive in the laptop and
booting from a TI CD, I tried to use the backup to restore to the 160 but
with no luck. I think the error had to do with the drive letter but I am
not sure at this point.

GWB


"Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "George W. Barrowcliff" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Sorry about the delay and the obtuse posting before. When I wrote it
>> recounting my experience seemed so clear but I had to re-read this:
>>
>> " I get the cannot boot message and must use the install cd to enable the
>> new
>> clone but I still am unable to boot into the cloned version"
>>
>> What I was trying to say is that after cloning to the USB connected
>> drive, and removing it from the usb enclosure and installing it into the
>> laptop and booting up, I received the 'Cannot boot' message that
>> suggests using the original install CD to repair the installation. I
>> used the install CD that I made using the laptop recovery software but
>> after this process, I could still not boot into the cloned version.
>>
>> Probably not any clearer but at least more verbose.
>>
>> I did read several of the postings relating to modifying the boot file
>> using bcdedit to remove the explicit reference to the C: path before
>> using TI. Unfortunately I have been using the 250 GB replacement laptop
>> drive as a general purpose storage and move around usb connected drive
>> and now have to buy another one to replace the original 80gb. I have
>> moved back to my XP Pro Desktop for daily use to keep from overflowing
>> the drive on my laptop.
>>
>> Thanks for all the discussion and details. Still not cloned but will
>> look into the alternative program mentioned.
>>
>> GWB
>
>
> George:
> Why you've experienced the problem you describe using the Acronis True
> Image program is practically impossible (at least for me!) to discern.
> Naturally we're assuming that your "source" HDD is perfectly functional in
> that it boots without incident and functions without any problems.
> Likewise, the "destination" HDD is non-defective and properly
> connected/configured to the system.
>
> Presumably at this stage the reason for the disk-cloning operation is
> because you desire to install a larger HDD in your laptop's machine.
>
> As you've indicated (and as "DL" correctly surmised from your initial
> post) you cloned your laptop's present HDD to a USB-connected (2 1/2"
> laptop/notebook) HDD and then removed the latter drive from the enclosure
> and installed it in the laptop in lieu of the present disk.
>
> There should be no reason to modify the boot.ini file or any other system
> file. The cloned HDD should boot straightaway.
>
> I'm not entirely clear from your present post where things apparently
> stand at the present time re your source & destination HDDs. I'll assume
> that the present laptop's drive is an 80 GB HDD and your intended
> destination drive is the 250 GB HDD.
>
> Anyway, do try the disk-cloning program I suggested - Casper 5. A trial
> version is available at http://www.fssdev.com
> The trial version is somewhat crippled in that the partition created on
> the destination HDD will be no larger than the disk size of the source
> HDD. So that in your case (assuming I've correctly indicated the disk
> sizes above), following the disk-cloning operation the 250 GB destination
> HDD will contain a 80 GB partition containing, of course, the contents of
> the source HDD. The remaining disk-space will be "unallocated". Naturally
> this limitation is not present in the licensed (commercial) version of
> Casper.
>
> Give it a try and see how you like it.
> Anna
>