Win2k Ghost/Clone Laptop HD - Boot hanging

[deep3mixdiver]

I have a thinkpad T23 w/ a 20gig HD. I have hooked up a new 80gig
Hitachi HD via USB to the thinkpad. I have used Symantec/Norton Ghost
2003 to CLONE the 20gig HD to the 80gig HD. When the clone process is
completed, I can browse the USB 80 gig and see all my files are there!
When I replace the 20gig with the 80gig the system fails to boot (no
error message - just hangs w/ a flashing cursor - somewhere after the
initial post).

The 80gig HD is compatible w/ the T23 (latest bios revision). I have
even installed a clean win2k from my original T23 cd's on the HD and
it boots w/o any problem! But I don't want to strart from scratch! I
really want to clone my old HD to the new one!

I have tried running Partition Magic 8.0 on the ghosted 80gig and it
does fix the partition size -- but still same boot problem.

I have tried using the Win2k recovery console to fixboot and fixmbr
(not sure if that is correct file names) --- but while they always say
"fixed ok" the system still fails to boot!

The only altrernative I have not yet tried is installing win2k over
the ghost image.....

ANY HELP WOULD GREATLY BE APPRECIATED!!!!!
I am so frustrated ;->

 

[I'm Dan]

I have a thinkpad T23 w/ a 20gig HD. I have hooked up a new
80gig Hitachi HD via USB to the thinkpad. I have used
Symantec/Norton Ghost 2003 to CLONE the 20gig HD to
the 80gig HD. When the clone process is completed, I can
browse the USB 80 gig and see all my files are there!
When I replace the 20gig with the 80gig the system fails to
boot (no error message - just hangs w/ a flashing cursor -
somewhere after the initial post).

There are two common "gotchas" that can trip up attempts to clone a NT/2K/XP
operating system partition. Both are due to "features" in the NT-family
OS's (NT/2K/XP/2003). A typical symptom of #1 is a flashing cursor on a
black screen. A typical symptom of #2 is a system hang at the blue welcome
or login screen.

Gotcha #1: the boot.ini file in the partition points to the partition to be
loaded, which may or may not be on the same partition. Make sure the
ARCpath in the cloned partition's boot.ini file points to the proper
partition - probably itself. (This is one area in which I prefer DriveImage
2002 to Ghost, as Ghost has a habit of "helping out" by changing the
boot.ini to what it thinks it should be, which may be wrong if you're moving
disks around). You'll find details on my webpage at
www.goodells.net/multiboot/notes.htm#10 and
www.goodells.net/multiboot/editbini.htm.

Gotcha #2: the W2K registry "remembers" drive letters by unique partition
signatures. If the new W2K is supposed to be 'C' but managed to think it's
now some other drive letter, you need to make W2K forget the previously
assigned drive letters and start over with fresh assignments. See
www.goodells.net/multiboot/notes.htm#04 and the Kawecki trick in
www.goodells.net/multiboot/notes.htm#03.

 

[deep3mixdiver]

Sounds like a gotcha #1, but when I boot w/ a win98 cd, I can't access
the new drive (tried all possible drive letters). When I look at the
partition w/ fdisk I see the partition is there and active. I tried
fdisk /mbr and nothing happens.... I tried an option of "re-write
Master Boot Record" (using fdisk from partition magic 8) but I get the
following error: "Error: Can't save original MBR. Operation
unsuccessful."

Should I use fdisk to kill the partition and then use "DriveImage
2002" to try the operation yet again!?!?!??!?!

 

[Mike Brown]

Sounds like a gotcha #1, but when I boot w/ a win98 cd, I can't access
the new drive (tried all possible drive letters). When I look at the
partition w/ fdisk I see the partition is there and active. I tried
fdisk /mbr and nothing happens.... I tried an option of "re-write
Master Boot Record" (using fdisk from partition magic 8) but I get the
following error: "Error: Can't save original MBR. Operation
unsuccessful."

This is normal operation. Win2K uses NTFS file system, which Win98 can't
read. Therefore, your Win98 boot CD cannot access your Win2K partition.
FDISK /MBR is not a command you should be using on your NTFS formatted hard
drive.

Should I use fdisk to kill the partition and then use "DriveImage
2002" to try the operation yet again!?!?!??!?!

If that's what you feel confortable with, by all means try it, but you shold
follow the instructions on the websites which Dan provided before you go to
all that trouble.

--

Mike Brown
Asset Forwarding Corp.
EPA-compliant Electronics Recycling
DoD 5220.22-M Data Elimination
http://www.assetforwarding.com

 

[Dan Seur]

Dan - thanks, that's a neat website.

There are two common "gotchas" that can trip up attempts to clone a NT/2K/XP
operating system partition. Both are due to "features" in the NT-family
OS's (NT/2K/XP/2003). A typical symptom of #1 is a flashing cursor on a
black screen. A typical symptom of #2 is a system hang at the blue welcome
or login screen.

Gotcha #1: the boot.ini file in the partition points to the partition to be
loaded, which may or may not be on the same partition. Make sure the
ARCpath in the cloned partition's boot.ini file points to the proper
partition - probably itself. (This is one area in which I prefer DriveImage
2002 to Ghost, as Ghost has a habit of "helping out" by changing the
boot.ini to what it thinks it should be, which may be wrong if you're moving
disks around). You'll find details on my webpage at
www.goodells.net/multiboot/notes.htm#10 and
www.goodells.net/multiboot/editbini.htm.

Gotcha #2: the W2K registry "remembers" drive letters by unique partition
signatures. If the new W2K is supposed to be 'C' but managed to think it's
now some other drive letter, you need to make W2K forget the previously
assigned drive letters and start over with fresh assignments. See
www.goodells.net/multiboot/notes.htm#04 and the Kawecki trick in
www.goodells.net/multiboot/notes.htm#03.

 

[deep3mixdiver]

And to make matters worse..... Powerquest's Drive Image 2002 doesn't
support HD's hooked up via usb! I guess I could use something like
"DUSE.EXE" from bootdisk.com (dos usb drivers...) but how would I then
execute the diskcopy???

 

[I'm Dan]

Sounds like a gotcha #1, but when I boot w/ a win98 cd, I can't access
the new drive (tried all possible drive letters). When I look at the
partition w/ fdisk I see the partition is there and active. I tried
fdisk /mbr and nothing happens.... I tried an option of "re-write
Master Boot Record" (using fdisk from partition magic 8) but I get the
following error: "Error: Can't save original MBR. Operation
unsuccessful."

re: "when I boot w/ a win98 cd, I can't access the new drive" - that's
normal. If your partitions are NTFS, you will not be able to see them from
a DOS/Win9x boot. Note, however, that we don't need to see them, we're just
trying to replace the MBR, which is not part of any partition.

re: "tried fdisk /mbr and nothing happens" - that's normal. Fdisk does not
present any completion message, it replaces the MBR and returns to a DOS
prompt.

re: fdisk from PM8 not able to save original MBR - that's normal. You
booted from a CD, not from a boot *floppy*. PM's fdisk version apparantly
wants to save a copy of the original MBR, but can't *write* to a CD.

Did you try Editbini? The beauty of this little free utility is that you
can boot to DOS, and even though DOS can't read NTFS partitions, Editbini
can, and can find the boot.ini file in an NTFS partition and edit it. With
the new disk in place, boot to DOS, run Editbini and tell me what partitions
it shows, highlight the subject partition and press enter, then tell me what
the boot.ini shows.

 

[deep3mixdiver]

I am at the end of the line :-(
Here is what bootini shows:
MBR Entry 0 -- partition (01) -- 76323 MB -- HPFS/NTFS

Thanks for any help!

 

[deep3mixdiver]

missed posting this crucial part:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect

 

[deep3mixdiver]

Strange.... Bootini is the same on both drives - yet the 20gig boots
and the 80gig just hangs (flashing cursor on black screen)
Sorry for all the fragmented posts!

 

[Jetro]

I had the similar issue when cloned the laptop disks using desktop. The
remedy was re-writing the MBR - boot into Recovery console and 'fixmbr' (do
not forget to cross the fingers, it's a must).