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[nikoscbr]

Hi,i would like some help,i would like to clone my hard disk drive (2 wd velociraptors 600gb each,in raid 1 mode) to my second computer,with Norton Ghost 15.The 2 computers are almost identical,their only difference is that the main computer that i want to clone to the second system,has 2 wd velociraptors (600gb each) in RAID 1 mode and the second computer (the "target" that i want the "source" disk to be cloned) has again 2 velociraptors (but the previous ones,with the 300gb capacity each) again in RAID 1 mode.The motherboard in both systems is the same,the Asus Rampage 3 extreme.

The other computer is basically the same,same motherboard,same memory,same windows version (Windows7 ultimate 64 bit)The only differences are: the main system has 3 nvidia gtx480  graphics cards in sli mode and the 2 (600gbx2) velociraptors while the second computer has 3 nvidia gtx580 graphics cards in sli mode and the 2 (300gbx2) velociraptors.Both are running Windows7 Ultimate 64bit and both also have the same amount and type of ddr3 memory,12gb in each system.

The main problem is,that the main system (the "source" that i want to clone to the other computer) is running also Linux (OpenSuse 12.1) and so,it is a dual-boot system.That means,it has the Linux bootlaoder -GRUB2- installed and i am afraid that the cloning proceedure will fail if i clone my C: drive contents to the second computer,because it will also copy the Linux bootloader there and the second system has only Windows7 and not Linux installed,therefore it won't boot.

I know the proceedure to uninstall Linux and rewrite the windows bootloader before i do the cloning,but is there any way to clone the main disk without messing with the Linux entries and the GRUB2 bootloader?

Or will i have to fully remove Linux first,before cloning?

This is troubling me a lot,because i want to copy the main disk to the second system,without messing at all with Linux entries and without having boot issues later,when i will restart the cloned second system.

I am afraid that,if i clone the main disk,without first fully removing Linux and rewriting the windows bootloader,i will have serious problems with the cloned drive,it will not boot,because it will search for the entries of grub bootloader.

Is there any way to do the cloning without removing Linux from the main computer or is there any solution to this problem?

I don't have any problem to remove Linux,i know how to do it,i just want to know if i can accomplish the cloning without removing it and to make sure that the cloned disk (in the second computer) will boot normally into Windows7 without any issues.

Please advise me if this is possible and the proceedure how to do it,as i haven't done disk cloning before (usually just taking backups with Norton Ghost)

Both computers have Ghost 15 installed and DVD writers (of course). 

Thank you very much for your time,

nikoscbr 

[Brian_K]

Nikos,

Easily done.

Can you post screenshots of  Disk Management? From both computers.

http://community.norton.com/t5/Forum-Feedback/Forum-Tip-How-to-post-screenshots-in-the-forum/td-p/25...

[nikoscbr]

First Brian,thank you very much for your precious help.It's funny,because although i have been using Symantec's products since 99 i don't have experience with disk cloning,i was using Ghost mostly for disk image and backup.

I am posting the screenshots of disk management in both computers,the "maindisk.jpg" image is from the main computer (the "source" that i want to clone) and the "second_disk.jpg" is from the second computer,the "target" that i want to be cloned.

Note that "Disk 1" in the maindisk screenshot,is the disk which has OpenSuse 12.1 installed,the 20,15 and 5 gb partitions are the linux "root","home" and "swap" partitions that were created when i installed OpenSuse 12.1

The "seconddisk" screensoft,as you see has only windows installed.

Thanks again,

nikoscbr

[nikoscbr]

[nikoscbr]

The first image is from the second computer,the "target" and the second image is from the main computer,the "source".

If you look at the bottom image -which is the main system- you will see that Disk 1 has 3 small partitions,with 20,15 and 5 gb accordingly.These are the Linux partitions,the  root, home and swap,that were created when i installed Linux.

Remember,the above screenshot is from the second system,the "target" which is to be cloned and the down screenshot is from the main computer the "source" that has Linux installed.

[DaveH]

We still can't see your images, only you can see them at this point.

Images need to be approved before we can see them and it seems to always take a long time on Sundays.

But I have a couple questions in the meantime.

What is the actual size of the operating system partition on the source.   Not how space is used but the size of the actual partition.  If it is larger than 300GB, chances are it needs to be shrunk before the transfer.

Do you ever plan on using bitlocker?

I ask that because bitlocker requires a system reserved partition for the boot files but if you never plan on using bitlocker than we have the option not having to use it and it might make it eaiser to leave grub behind.

Could you also please test the Ghost recovery disk on the destination system to make sure it has the correct RAID drivers?

Boot the system with the disk and then go to:  Analyze > Explorer My Computer.

Verify that you can "see" the hard drive and partitions.

Dave

Edit- They must have just approved the images, we can see them now

[Brian_K]

I get confused with RAID. Your source Disk 0 is 1117.8 GB. Is that the two 600 GB HDs?

Your target Disk 0 is 500 GB. Is that the two 300 GB HDs?

It doesn't seem to add up.

[DaveH]

It has to be RAID 0 since they are "double" the size as each disk.

Raid 1 would have shown the original size of one drive since it's a mirror.

The desitnation is odd how it shows 500GB instead of ~586GB but an array has to be made with equal sized parttions, perhaps the first drive was not partitioned to the full size of the drive.  I also believe it's normal that you can't see the unallocated space of the drive(s) leftover in disk management.

Dave

[nikoscbr]

I hope you can now see the screenshots.Yes,the source disk is 1117,82 gb. It is so,because we have 2 velociraptors (600+600gb) in RAID 1 (stripping).This is the source drive,the C: drive in the main system.The other drive,the 500gb in the first image is the target drive in the second system.Actually it's not 500, but 600 gb,you see the small 100gb partition at the left? This 100gb partition is the "System Reserved partition" it was created upon installation of Windows7.So,the totall capacity is 600gb,which is correct,because we have 2 velociraptors (300+300gb) in RAID 1.

This 100gb partition was created by the windows installation and it holds the Boot manager code and the Boot Configuration database.I don't use BitLocker and so,i don't want this 100gb partition to remain,when the (600gb) target C: drive will be overwritten with the contents of the source drive. ( the 1117,82gb ) 

What i want to do is make an image with Ghost (from the 1117,82gb source drive) at another drive,take the drive out,install it at the second system and restore the image to the target drive at the second system,the 600gb target drive.Of course i will format the 600gb drive before restoring the image,but i want to ensure two things.That it will not copy the linux bootloader entries (the grub bootloader) and that it will be restored again at the C: drive,because otherwise windows "think" that they are installed in multiple computers and show the "windows not genuine" blank screen.This is solved by restoring the image to an unallocated drive,so that windows will name the unallocated partition as C:  What troubles me is that i don't want to mess with the linux bootloader and copy it into the target drive (the 600gb at the second system) because it will not boot,as it will try to find the Linux partitions,which of course won't exist in the target drive.That is my biggest concern,i want to copy the windows installation into the target drive and not mess with the linux bootloader entries.

Apart from that,i won't use Bit Locker,so i will delete the 500+100gb target partitions at the second system,create a total 600gb partition and leave it unallocated,so that when Ghost will restore the image,it will name the unallocated partition as C: so that windows will function normally afterwards.What troubles me is how to copy only the windows installation to the target drive,without also copying the linux bootloader entries of GRUB.Because in the target drive,there is no Linux installation so it won't boot,it will keep searching for the active Linux partitions and of course it will be stuck there.This is the problem. 

If this can be solved,then i don't see any other problem,i do have 2 license numbers for windows7,so i will use them,the hardware remains the same,so they can be reactivated.

About the Ghost recovery cd's there is no problem,i use the genuine Ghost 15 disk and it works fine in both systems.So i will use the Ghost cd to boot and restore the image to the target drive.I have tried it many times and it works perfectly. 

Thanks again for your time and patience,

Nikos Alexiou 

[Brian_K]

Nikos,

I'd like to understand your system before offering advice. You said...

Actually it's not 500, but 600 gb,you see the small 100gb partition at the left?

But that isn't so as the partition is 100 MB, not 100 GB. Disk 0 is 500 GB.

RAID 1 (stripping).

RAID 0 is striping. RAID 1 is mirroring.