Cloning FYI
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From: MJMIII on 30 Apr 2010 10:11 For anyone using Acronis or any other disk imaging software to clone a smaller hard drive to a larger drive, I learned some information the hard way. I created an Acronis image of my E1705 60GB drive and restored it to a new 250GB drive. The restore went without a hitch including the Dell Restore Partition, I thought, until I checked drive properties. The new disk showed as being a 60GB disk. No matter what I tried or what program I used, it only showed 60. I downloaded Seagate's tools and tried to manually reset the drive size, but it failed. I then called Seagate support and what he found out surprised me. When cloning a Dell or any manufacturer's OEM drive with a restore partition you need to do it Sector-By-Sector due to hidden files on the drive. To fix the new drive you have to install it in another laptop/desktop, boot to the Seagate tools disk (preferably DOS), then write zero's to the drive. That will restore it to size. Then you can restore your Sector-By-Sector image. I hope this helps someone who's experienced this same nightmare. -- "Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you."
From: Daddy on 30 Apr 2010 10:27 MJMIII wrote: > For anyone using Acronis or any other disk imaging software to clone a > smaller hard drive to a larger drive, I learned some information the > hard way. I created an Acronis image of my E1705 60GB drive and > restored it to a new 250GB drive. The restore went without a hitch > including the Dell Restore Partition, I thought, until I checked drive > properties. The new disk showed as being a 60GB disk. No matter what > I tried or what program I used, it only showed 60. I downloaded > Seagate's tools and tried to manually reset the drive size, but it failed. > > I then called Seagate support and what he found out surprised me. When > cloning a Dell or any manufacturer's OEM drive with a restore partition > you need to do it Sector-By-Sector due to hidden files on the drive. To > fix the new drive you have to install it in another laptop/desktop, boot > to the Seagate tools disk (preferably DOS), then write zero's to the > drive. That will restore it to size. Then you can restore your > Sector-By-Sector image. > > I hope this helps someone who's experienced this same nightmare. > Next time you're contemplating an advanced operation on your computer, I suggest doing some research first so you don't end up having to learn the hard way. Daddy
From: Brian K on 30 Apr 2010 16:16 Mike, I disagree with what you have been told. This issue is due to the Dell MediaDirect 2 HPA. You can simply clone the old HD to a new HD without experiencing truncation be zeroing LBA-3 on the old HD before you start. Or by replacing the Dell MBR with a Standard MBR. http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/hpa-issues.htm http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/mediadirect.htm You don't have to zero LBA-3 on the old HD if you plan to restore an OS image to the new HD. But you must not choose to "restore the MBR" when you restore the image to the new HD. You definitely don't want the Dell MBR on the new HD.
From: yirg.kenya on 30 Apr 2010 16:26 On Apr 30, 7:11 am, "MJMIII" <bal...(a)castaway.net> wrote: > For anyone using Acronis or any other disk imaging software to clone a > smaller hard drive to a larger drive, I learned some information the hard > way. I created an Acronis image of my E1705 60GB drive and restored it to a > new 250GB drive. The restore went without a hitch including the Dell > Restore Partition, I thought, until I checked drive properties. The new > disk showed as being a 60GB disk. No matter what I tried or what program I > used, it only showed 60. I downloaded Seagate's tools and tried to manually > reset the drive size, but it failed. > > I then called Seagate support and what he found out surprised me. When > cloning a Dell or any manufacturer's OEM drive with a restore partition you > need to do it Sector-By-Sector due to hidden files on the drive. To fix the > new drive you have to install it in another laptop/desktop, boot to the > Seagate tools disk (preferably DOS), then write zero's to the drive. That > will restore it to size. Then you can restore your Sector-By-Sector image. > > I hope this helps someone who's experienced this same nightmare. > > -- > > "Don't pick a fight with an old man. > If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you." I had no problems cloning my 160GB drive to a 1TB drive using Acronis' proportional mode. I did not use sector-to-sector copy. It shows as 902.3GB no matter what program I use. (I just hope that's real gb, i.e. (902.03 * (1024 * 1024 * 1024)) and not marketing gb (as they use for the size these days!) of (902.3 * (1000 * 1000 * 1000)) What I do want to do is to re-size the who hidden partitions. Their proportional increase in size is worthless for them. Who's going to be adding to them? But still, that amount newly wasted space is trivial. My questions re cloning were discussed in the misnamed (due to me) thread: ghosting my original dell drive
From: MJMIII on 30 Apr 2010 18:29
So this information is readily available? Right! -- "Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you." "Daddy" <daddy(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:hrepcb$so2$1(a)news.eternal-september.org... > MJMIII wrote: >> For anyone using Acronis or any other disk imaging software to clone a >> smaller hard drive to a larger drive, I learned some information the hard >> way. I created an Acronis image of my E1705 60GB drive and restored it >> to a new 250GB drive. The restore went without a hitch including the >> Dell Restore Partition, I thought, until I checked drive properties. The >> new disk showed as being a 60GB disk. No matter what I tried or what >> program I used, it only showed 60. I downloaded Seagate's tools and >> tried to manually reset the drive size, but it failed. >> >> I then called Seagate support and what he found out surprised me. When >> cloning a Dell or any manufacturer's OEM drive with a restore partition >> you need to do it Sector-By-Sector due to hidden files on the drive. To >> fix the new drive you have to install it in another laptop/desktop, boot >> to the Seagate tools disk (preferably DOS), then write zero's to the >> drive. That will restore it to size. Then you can restore your >> Sector-By-Sector image. >> >> I hope this helps someone who's experienced this same nightmare. >> > > Next time you're contemplating an advanced operation on your computer, I > suggest doing some research first so you don't end up having to learn the > hard way. > > Daddy |