PartitionMagic, system partition copy failed?

[Jonathan Sachs]

I recently repartitioned my hard disk with PartitionMagic 8.0, which I
have not used before. Among other changes, I created a new partition
by copying my system (drive C) partition, which contains Windows XP.
I hid the copy, intending it to be a backup in case I ever made a
disabling change to the original system partition.

Today I tried to boot the backup partition, and it didn't work. It
got as far as the Windows logo, then restarted the computer. I tried
again in safe mode, but got the same result.

Clearly the copy operation worked, or my attempt to start backup would
not have gotten as far as it did. Something went wrong with it,
though. How can I tell what's going on here?

 

[Michael Cecil]

I recently repartitioned my hard disk with PartitionMagic 8.0, which I
have not used before. Among other changes, I created a new partition
by copying my system (drive C) partition, which contains Windows XP.
I hid the copy, intending it to be a backup in case I ever made a
disabling change to the original system partition.

Today I tried to boot the backup partition, and it didn't work. It
got as far as the Windows logo, then restarted the computer. I tried
again in safe mode, but got the same result.

Clearly the copy operation worked, or my attempt to start backup would
not have gotten as far as it did. Something went wrong with it,
though. How can I tell what's going on here?

What's going on is the partition is in a different location from what both
the boot loader and the registry expect. Try copying it back to the
original partition location, then boot from it.

 

[Pipboy]

I recently repartitioned my hard disk with PartitionMagic 8.0, which I
have not used before. Among other changes, I created a new partition
by copying my system (drive C) partition, which contains Windows XP.
I hid the copy, intending it to be a backup in case I ever made a
disabling change to the original system partition.

Today I tried to boot the backup partition, and it didn't work. It
got as far as the Windows logo, then restarted the computer. I tried
again in safe mode, but got the same result.

Clearly the copy operation worked, or my attempt to start backup would
not have gotten as far as it did. Something went wrong with it,
though. How can I tell what's going on here?

Yea, as the other person said, your mbr is messed up by the second install
you did to the other partition. In future use Acronis True Image to backup
your OS and restore it safely. With TI you can backup an image file to a
hidden partition and it will creat a boot rescue meun for you if you want
to use it that way.

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

 

[Jonathan Sachs]

What's going on is the partition is in a different location from what both
the boot loader and the registry expect. Try copying it back to the
original partition location, then boot from it.

Okay, that makes sense.

The PartitionMagic manual says that "Reasons why you might want to
copy a partition include: To duplicate your operating system before
upgrading... so that you can remember how the old operating system's
windows, program icons, and properties were set up..."

I interpreted "... so that you can remember how..." to mean "... so
that you can boot from the copy to see how..." (and I still can't
think of any other plausible way to interpret it). Consequently I
assumed that when PartitionMagic copies a bootable partition it
adjusts the location-dependent data accordingly. Apparently I assumed
too much.

I wouldn't want to copy the copy back to the original partition, since
that would wipe out all of the updates I have applied. It's enough to
know what went wrong so that I can plan accordingly in the future.

 

[Yousuf Khan]

I recently repartitioned my hard disk with PartitionMagic 8.0, which I
have not used before. Among other changes, I created a new partition
by copying my system (drive C) partition, which contains Windows XP.
I hid the copy, intending it to be a backup in case I ever made a
disabling change to the original system partition.

Today I tried to boot the backup partition, and it didn't work. It
got as far as the Windows logo, then restarted the computer. I tried
again in safe mode, but got the same result.

Clearly the copy operation worked, or my attempt to start backup would
not have gotten as far as it did. Something went wrong with it,
though. How can I tell what's going on here?

Windows knows which disks are which by putting a serial number on each
disk during partitioning. When you copy a system partition to a
different physical disk it can still see the serial number on the old
disk. You will have the same serial number in two different disks. You
have to physically remove the primary disk and put the secondary copy in
its same location.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Alexander Grigoriev]

Another important thing:

If you use PM to migrate your system disk to another new disk, DON'T
partition your new disk in Windows. Let PM do it. Otherwise, when you boot
your new copy, your new system disk will become D:, and everything will be
screwed.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Okay, that makes sense.

No, it doesn't.