After Norton Ghost 12 hard disk copy, Windows XP boot up problem

Archive
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I tried to clone my 3 different harddisks to a bigger hardisk using Norton Ghost 12. All were Window XP.

I followed the Ghosts instructions to enable MBR, copy boot track, make it bootable  disk.

The files were copied.

Windows started up with login. After the login, it will log you out and prompt the login screen again. It never starts the real program.

 

None fo them succeed. Did I miss anything? I also tried format the HD before copying. Not helped at all.

 

 

 

Try 1

Dell labtop from 40G to 120G

Install Ghost 12 into the Dell laptop 40G HD and use external USB 120G HD.

 

Try 2

Dell PC 40G to 160G which partitioned into 60G and 100G. (I tried to clone in both partitions but still failed)

Pull out both HDs and connecting through external USB to IDE adapters

Install Ghost 12 into Window Vista laptop and run the copy externally.

 

Try 3

Dell PC 40G to 80G

Pull out both HDs and connecting through external USB to IDE adapters

Install Ghost 12 into Window Vista laptop and run the copy externally.

 

 

2

danielmui,

 

When you use Copy Drive you must not clone into a partition with a drive letter.

 

http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=other&view=by_date_ascending&message.id=10418#M10418

 

http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=other&view=by_date_ascending&message.id=10830#M10830
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Thanks Brian!

 

If I copy external drive F (bootable Win XP) to external drive G, they should not contain any registry. The registry is only in C drive. I don't understand why the Ghost still fails.

 

Win98 FDISK may be a good solution. But unfortunately I have no floopy disk any more. 

 

So, my only hope now is to redo the copy again and erase the registry before copying. But I still don't understand why it matter because I am copying F to G.

 

Daniel

4

Daniel,

 

What is  "external drive F (bootable Win XP)"? Is it USB? Can you boot from it?

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I want to duplicate a C drive from computer A. So I take it out and use computer B to run Ghost. So, the computer A drive becomes an external drive to computer B through USB adapter.

 

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danielmui wrote:

Win98 FDISK may be a good solution. But unfortunately I have no floopy disk any more. 

 

You didn't read the second link carefully.

 

http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=other&view=by_date_ascending&message.id=10830#M10830

 

 

danielmui wrote:

I want to duplicate a C drive from computer A. So I take it out and use computer B to run Ghost. So, the computer A drive becomes an external drive to computer B through USB adapter.

 

 

That is a recipe for failure, I'm afraid. It sometimes works but due to BIOS geometry issues you should have the old and the new HD inside the same computer when you do Copy Drive. If it is a laptop, the new HD should be inside the laptop for the clone process and the old HD inside the USB enclosure. The latter can't be done with Ghost so you have to do image/restore. The old HD has to be inside the computer when the image is created and the new HD has to be inside the computer when the image is restored.
 

But the link I posted will fix your problem, which is a drive letter issue.

Message Edited by Brian_K on 01-05-2010 01:37 PM
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Method #3 works!

Thanks Brian!

 

I tried Method #2. The new copied HD worked but the original HD was corrupted.

The original disk can be read as external HD but when I put it into the Primary Master, it was not recognized at all by the BIOS.

 

If I run "FDISK" of WIN98SE boot disk, it said "No fixed disks present"

I have the Western Digital Data Life Guard tools. It doesn't see that drive neither.

 

It costed me too much time to do all trials.... 8-(

 

But thanks Brian for the valuable inputs!

 

8

Daniel, I'm pleased Method #3 worked for you.

 

Your HD not being recognized by the BIOS sounds like a configuration problem. Check the SATA ports or jumpers. The HD does work as an external HD so it is OK.