Cloning Problem

greg_SA

greg_SA

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Hi,

Hoping someone can help me out here...

I recently bought a new 1TB HDD, so I thought I'd clone my old 200GB drive to it, and make the 1TB the main drive. I used Clonezilla, and it created a 200GB partition on the 1TB, with the same contents as the old drive - things were looking good (I would keep the other 800MB as another partition for media).

The problem is... If I have both drives in the machine, if will always boot from the old drive (even if I change the HDD boot order).

Even worse is... If I remove the old drive, it will boot from the new drive... but sometimes, it will not boot at all: "Boot Disk Failure" - then a reset and it will boot.

Any ideas on what to do?

Thanks,
Regards,
Greg
 
copy&paste your boot.ini info here

also . . . what mobo r u using?
 
Hi,

I don't have access to the PC now (its at home) - will post the boot.ini later.

The motherboard is a: MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum

Both drives are SATA.

Regards,
Greg
 
you dont say if the hdd's are IDE or Sata
could also be the order of the sata cables on the mobo.
 
Hi,

My Boot.ini says:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptOut

I think it is correct.

Arthur - with regards to 2 active primary partitions... I will format the old drive to remove the OS.

However, if I plug the one drive out, any idea why the new drive doesn't always boot?
 
Very strange... the new HDD never boots from a cold power-up... but if I reset, it boots fine.

The old HDD boots from a cold power-up or reset.

Wonder if it could be a PSU problem?
 
I'm thinking it might be a bios problem. Check for bios updates for you MB, you should be able to change and force the hard disk boot priority in the bios.
 
Park@82 said:
I'm thinking it might be a bios problem. Check for bios updates for you MB, you should be able to change and force the hard disk boot priority in the bios.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... I'm most worried about the drive not booting after a cold boot on its own - do you think a BIOS update could fix this?
 
greg_SA said:
Hmmm... I'm most worried about the drive not booting after a cold boot on its own - do you think a BIOS update could fix this?
Click to expand...

I really don't know. I would unplug all unnecessary peripherals/expansion cards form the pc (just screen,keyboard mouse ram and the one hdd), reset the bios via jumper, and see if it does pick it up in the bios from a cold boot? BTW what is the wattage of your psu?
 
CPU is 500W (not a brand name though) - PC is an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ with 6600GT. I think the PSU should be fine? It is fine for the old drive...

The BIOS does pick it up after a cold boot as far as I can remember... I'll double check though.

I think I might just format the drive and install Windows and see if it boots properly then?
 
I was also wondering if it could be a SATA I vs SATAII issue, but it looks like my mobo supports SATAII.

I might try using a jumper on the drive to limit it to 1.5 gb/s.
 
The madness continues... Have verified that my PC is actually fine - tried the HDD in another machine, and it does exactly the same thing.

It won't boot windows from a cold boot, but if I reset, it boots fine! Insane...

So either the HDD is faulty, or the Windows install is causing this behaviour (due to the cloning I did)?

Anyone have any advice?
 
I used Seagates Discwizard to clone my 80Gb to a new 500Gb. Worked like a charm. Used it a few times since. No idea if its limited to Seagate discs, it might not be. But its a 127Mb download. If you got the bandwidth, its worth a shot.
 
I always use ghost to clone my drives, works really well and has worked for a very very long time. Give that a go and maybe it works out as it could be a problem with the clone.
 
Thanks for the cloning SW tips :)

It seems like the problem is the new HDD - I tried a fresh new WinXP instal, it it behaves the same - won't boot after cold boot :(

I tried the HDD on another machine, with the same results. Can't believe that I have wasted so much time trying so many things!

I'm going to return the drive and try a another one :(
 
Hmmm... did another quick test this morning...

Installed the drive in my i7 machine, and it cold boots fine!

So it seems like the drive won't cold boot on my two old AMD machines (both similar Athlon 64 3200). Maybe they have the same chipset and that is the problem?

I'll try a BIOS update next - anyone agree?
 
when i get a new system, i always update drivers and bios before doing anything.
but that's just me:)
 
auriga1000 said:
when i get a new system, i always update drivers and bios before doing anything.
but that's just me:)
Click to expand...

Cool, will give it a try... I'm normally the opposite... I never change anything unless I have too... have burned my fingers many times - doing updates that break previously working features :) This has been the case every time with my nVidia drivers :)

Just wondering if there is a general update in chipsets/bios that is required for drives around 1TB in size... I tried another 500GB drive an it worked fine - just the 1TB doesn't :(
 
greg_SA said:
Cool, will give it a try... I'm normally the opposite... I never change anything unless I have too... have burned my fingers many times - doing updates that break previously working features :) This has been the case every time with my nVidia drivers :)

Just wondering if there is a general update in chipsets/bios that is required for drives around 1TB in size... I tried another 500GB drive an it worked fine - just the 1TB doesn't :(
Click to expand...

for nvidia drivers , i find a complete uninstall and reinstall is better than installing over existing drivers.

bios update might just do the trick for hard disk size problem.
 
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