Copying partition to new drive

[rfdjr]

I'm, trying to copy the C partition of my primary drive onto another hard drive
for backup purposes. I've tried it using Ghost 9 and also the Western Digital
software utility disk that came with the new drive. The partition seems to have
copied, however when I try to use the new drive with the copied partition in the
system as the main drive, Windows will not let me log on. Windows boots up and
asks me to log on, but I can't. When I try to log on, it logs me off. Any ideas?
Thanks.

 

[Guest]

The wdc software is useless in xp,ghost might work.However,xp has its own,
set the new drive as slave on same IDE cable,format the hd,then go to run,
type:XCOPY C:\*.* D:\ /c/h/e/k/r Agree to all in the DOS window,when the
window closes,youre thru.D: being the slave,although if asigned
diffrent,change
the cmd to that letter.

 

[WTC]

I'm, trying to copy the C partition of my primary drive onto another hard
drive
for backup purposes. I've tried it using Ghost 9 and also the Western
Digital
software utility disk that came with the new drive. The partition seems to
have
copied, however when I try to use the new drive with the copied partition
in the
system as the main drive, Windows will not let me log on. Windows boots
up and
asks me to log on, but I can't. When I try to log on, it logs me off. Any
ideas?
Thanks.

The problem may be an incorrect system drive letter rather than
userinit.exe. Open the registry on the system that is causing you trouble
via a networked machine, navigate to:

HKLM\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

and delete all values that look like this:

\DosDevices\C

 

[rfdjr1]

I connected both drives on the same IDE cable, the source drive as the master
the destination drive as the slave.

Each hard drive had two partitions, although windows didn’t recognize the second
partition on the slave drive.

I went to Run and typed: XCOPY C:\*.* E:\ /c/h/e/k/r (E being the first and only
recognized partition of the slave drive). I agreed to all in the DOS window.
After the copying was done and the window closed, about 30 min, I shut the
system down, removed both drives, put the original Master drive and reset the
jumper on the slave to the master position. I connected this drive alone and the
end on the primary IDE cable and booted up the machine. I got an error that said
“Windows cannot start because the file \windows\system32\config\system is
missing or corrupt”. It went on to say “You can attempt to repair this file by
starting windows off the original setup CD-ROM select ‘r’ at the first screen to
start repair”. I tried the fix without any luck.

 

[Anna]

I'm, trying to copy the C partition of my primary drive onto another

I connected both drives on the same IDE cable, the source drive as the
master
the destination drive as the slave.

Each hard drive had two partitions, although windows didn't recognize the
second
partition on the slave drive.

I went to Run and typed: XCOPY C:\*.* E:\ /c/h/e/k/r (E being the first
and only
recognized partition of the slave drive). I agreed to all in the DOS
window.
After the copying was done and the window closed, about 30 min, I shut the
system down, removed both drives, put the original Master drive and reset
the
jumper on the slave to the master position. I connected this drive alone
and the
end on the primary IDE cable and booted up the machine. I got an error
that said
"Windows cannot start because the file \windows\system32\config\system is
missing or corrupt". It went on to say "You can attempt to repair this
file by
starting windows off the original setup CD-ROM select 'r' at the first
screen to
start repair". I tried the fix without any luck.

First of all, forget about using xcopy or any of its derivatives to overcome
your problem. It's just not a viable solution.

Using Ghost, is there any reason why you can't perform a disk-to-disk clone
using that disk imaging program? Is there some reason why you just want to
clone the C: partition on your primary drive and not the other partition? Is
it that there's certain data on the destination disk that you don't want to
overwrite? Have you previously cloned the contents of your primary drive (or
partition-to-partition) without any problem, or is this the first time
you're attempting it?

You say "windows didn't recognize the second partition on the slave drive".
Did this have something to do with the cloning operation? Or is it in
general that that partition is "not recognized"? And what do you mean when
you say it's not recognized? Windows Explorer can't "see" the data on that
partition? Some sort of error messages display?

Is there any problem with your primary drive in that it doesn't boot
properly to a Desktop or you suspect some file corruption? Could that be the
problem with the failure of the cloning operation? Are you certain you're
properly using the Ghost program?
Anna

 

[rfdjr1]

OK, let me try to answer these questions, but first I want to thank you for your
help.

Someone suggested X copy, already in Win XP as a viable solution.

However, the resulting partition would only boot up to the Win XP logon screen
and when I tried to log on, it logged me off every time.

When I used Ghost 9.0 I had even less luck, the partition wouldn’t boot at all.

I have two partitions on my Main hard drive, at this point there’s nothing on
the second partition so I wouldn’t care if I cloned both of the partition as
long as the resulting C partition worked. The same goes for the destination
drive, again there are two partitions and no fear of loosing data on either of
them.

This if the first time I have tried to clone partitions in Windows XP, and I
don’t remember what I did when I had Win 98 installed.

When I said windows didn’t recognize the second partition on the slave drive, I
mean that only the primary partition was viewable. The target drive is 250GB,
two partitions of 125GB each. When I view the drive in my computer I only see
the main partition on that drive. Yet I see both partitions on the source drive.

I did not get any error massage.

My primary drive is fine and it is a fresh installation of Windows XP. Since it
took quite a bit of effort to recover from a failure of my last hard drive, I
thought it would be a good idea to make a backup for the future. I really had no
idea it would be this difficult

I wouldn’t be surprised if the failure in my unfamiliarity with the ghost
program, any pointers in that area?

Thanks again!

 

[WTC]

OK, let me try to answer these questions, but first I want to thank you
for your
help.

Someone suggested X copy, already in Win XP as a viable solution.

However, the resulting partition would only boot up to the Win XP logon
screen
and when I tried to log on, it logged me off every time.

When I used Ghost 9.0 I had even less luck, the partition wouldn't boot at
all.

I have two partitions on my Main hard drive, at this point there's nothing
on
the second partition so I wouldn't care if I cloned both of the partition
as
long as the resulting C partition worked. The same goes for the
destination
drive, again there are two partitions and no fear of loosing data on
either of
them.

This if the first time I have tried to clone partitions in Windows XP, and
I
don't remember what I did when I had Win 98 installed.

When I said windows didn't recognize the second partition on the slave
drive, I
mean that only the primary partition was viewable. The target drive is
250GB,
two partitions of 125GB each. When I view the drive in my computer I only
see
the main partition on that drive. Yet I see both partitions on the source
drive.

I did not get any error massage.

My primary drive is fine and it is a fresh installation of Windows XP.
Since it
took quite a bit of effort to recover from a failure of my last hard
drive, I
thought it would be a good idea to make a backup for the future. I really
had no
idea it would be this difficult

I wouldn't be surprised if the failure in my unfamiliarity with the ghost
program, any pointers in that area?

You cannot log in because a device drive letter has changed when restoring
the back-up, I have seen this many times.

This is what you have to do

Open the registry on the system that is causing you trouble via a networked
machine, navigate to:

HKLM\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

and delete all values that look like this:

\DosDevices\C

If you do not have an networked machine to work with, I have other ways of
accomplishing this task but it is a more complicated procedure.

 

[Anna]

OK, let me try to answer these questions, but first I want to thank you
for your
help.

Someone suggested X copy, already in Win XP as a viable solution.

However, the resulting partition would only boot up to the Win XP logon
screen
and when I tried to log on, it logged me off every time.

When I used Ghost 9.0 I had even less luck, the partition wouldn't boot at
all.

I have two partitions on my Main hard drive, at this point there's nothing
on
the second partition so I wouldn't care if I cloned both of the partition
as
long as the resulting C partition worked. The same goes for the
destination
drive, again there are two partitions and no fear of loosing data on
either of
them.

This if the first time I have tried to clone partitions in Windows XP, and
I
don't remember what I did when I had Win 98 installed.

When I said windows didn't recognize the second partition on the slave
drive, I
mean that only the primary partition was viewable. The target drive is
250GB,
two partitions of 125GB each. When I view the drive in my computer I only
see
the main partition on that drive. Yet I see both partitions on the source
drive.

I did not get any error massage.

My primary drive is fine and it is a fresh installation of Windows XP.
Since it
took quite a bit of effort to recover from a failure of my last hard
drive, I
thought it would be a good idea to make a backup for the future. I really
had no
idea it would be this difficult

I wouldn't be surprised if the failure in my unfamiliarity with the ghost
program, any pointers in that area?

Thanks again!

rfdjr:
Assuming both your source & destination disks are non-defective, and I would
assume they are that, and the contents of your source disk are sound and
without corruption, and I assume that as well, there's no reason in the
world why we can't create a viable clone using the Ghost disk imaging
program.

My problem with providing you with advice concerning the use of the Ghost
program is that I haven't really worked with the Ghost 9 program to any
extent so I'm not as familiar with that program as I should be.
Unfortunately I don't at this moment have that program installed on any of
my computers although I will be installing a copy later this week.

I work nearly exclusively with the Ghost 2003 program (except when I work
with the Acronis True Image program as I've been lately doing) and I'm quite
familiar with that program. Ghost 2003 is bundled with the Ghost 9 program.
Would you be willing to work with that program so that I could walk you
through the step-by-step cloning process? I guess it's quite similar,
perhaps even near-identical, to the Ghost 9 program in terms of basic
disk-to-disk (or partition-to-partition) cloning, but I'm loathe to state
that categorically without being more familiar with the Ghost 9 program.

Alternatively, perhaps someone perusing this thread who's using the Ghost 9
program can provide you with detailed instructions re its basic use for your
purposes.
Anna

 

[WTC]

OK, let me try to answer these questions, but first I want to thank you
for your
help.

Someone suggested X copy, already in Win XP as a viable solution.

However, the resulting partition would only boot up to the Win XP logon
screen
and when I tried to log on, it logged me off every time.

When I used Ghost 9.0 I had even less luck, the partition wouldn't boot at
all.

I have two partitions on my Main hard drive, at this point there's nothing
on
the second partition so I wouldn't care if I cloned both of the partition
as
long as the resulting C partition worked. The same goes for the
destination
drive, again there are two partitions and no fear of loosing data on
either of
them.

This if the first time I have tried to clone partitions in Windows XP, and
I
don't remember what I did when I had Win 98 installed.

When I said windows didn't recognize the second partition on the slave
drive, I
mean that only the primary partition was viewable. The target drive is
250GB,
two partitions of 125GB each. When I view the drive in my computer I only
see
the main partition on that drive. Yet I see both partitions on the source
drive.

I did not get any error massage.

My primary drive is fine and it is a fresh installation of Windows XP.
Since it
took quite a bit of effort to recover from a failure of my last hard
drive, I
thought it would be a good idea to make a backup for the future. I really
had no
idea it would be this difficult

I wouldn't be surprised if the failure in my unfamiliarity with the ghost
program, any pointers in that area?

Here is thread that I helped someone that had your problem

http://groups.google.ca/group/micro...ndowsxp.general&rnum=2&hl=en#2fa0b8a198d2959b

A shorter link to that thread
http://tinyurl.com/77t3k

 

[rfdjr1]

Anna, thanks. Just so you know, I'm posting these queries for a friend whose
computer is down, and he has no connectivity to the net. He's also not familiar
with these newsgroups, so I offered to try and find a solution for him.
Fortunately, my own Windows XP Pro system is running fine. I'll pass your post
onto him about which version of Ghost he's using. I've never used it before so
have no idea what it's about. Thanks again.