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Old 01-05-2006, 02:14 AM
Jim
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: Hard disk migration/XP Boot hang problem with Windows XP professional

Ok, so the good news is that this is *probably* a cloning issue w/ Ghost.
So here's my recommendation. Understand that there are 1001 ways to clone
the HD. Everyone seems to have their favorite. All I can say is, the
following ALWAYS works for me, so it's up to you, feel free to try it or
ignore it. It's from a script I've used before, so make adjustments as
necessary for your situation, usually for ppl moving to a larger HD.

How To Clone Old HD To New HD And Make New HD Bootable

1) Visit http://www.bootitng.com and download BootIt NG. Unzip the file and
execute BOOTITNG.EXE to create the bootable floppy or CD, your choice
(accept the defaults). Now shutdown the PC.

2) Assuming old HD is master on primary IDE controller (IDE1), move old HD
to slave on IDE1, or master on secondary IDE controller (IDE2). Install new
HD to master on IDE1 (replacing old HD). Be sure to get HD jumpers setup
correctly! Use cable select (CS) if unsure.

3) Now boot the BootIT NG floppy/CD. When the Welcome to Setup screen
appears, select Cancel, follow the prompts, and you will be taken to the
BootIt NG desktop, now select the Partition Manager.

4) Your new HD will be displayed by default (HD0). To see the contents of
the old HD, select HD1 (in the upper left corner). To clone HD1 to HD0,
select the first partition on HD1, hit Copy, switch to HD0, select the
freespace, and hit Paste. In all likelihood, you'll probably want to expand
the partition to take advantage of the increased drive capacity. Select the
newly cloned partition, hit Resize, choose a new size (if the file system
type is of type FAT, you can convert to FAT32 as well), then hit OK. Repeat
for each partition on HD1, in order.

HINT: If you are cloning a Windows XP partition based on FAT32 and intend to
convert to NTFS later, then once copied, select the cloned partition, hit
Slide, and choose the "Align for NTFS" option (the size parameters will be
disabled), and hit OK. This will ensure the NTFS conversion results in 4K
allocation units. If you don't do this, then the conversion to NTFS will
result in only 512 byte allocation units (not nearly as efficient).

5) At this point, although all the partitions on the old HD (HD1) have been
copied to the new HD (HD0), the new HD is NOT yet bootable, we'll correct
that now. Select HD0 from the upper left corner. Hit View MBR, and in the
dialog, you will notice four entries in the MBR (Master Boot Record). Each
entry w/ a non-zero address represents one of your cloned partitions.
Select the bootable partition (usually the first MBR entry), hit "Set
Active", and the partition will indicate Active status. Now hit "Std MBR",
this will initialize the boot loader in the MBR. Finally, hit Apply to save
the changes.

6) Hit Close, remove the BootIt NG floppy/CD, and hit Reboot. Your system
will now reboot as before but using the new HD. Before rebooting Windows,
you may wish to shutdown and remove the old HD (see notes below).

NOTES:

i) The procedures outlined herein are NON-DESTRUCTIVE to your old HD. If
you should happen to have any problems, you can always retry the procedures,
or even revert back to the old setup by simply placing the old HD back on
the primary IDE controller (IDE1) as master and removing the new HD (adjust
jumpers accordingly). Your system will be configured and boot EXACTLY as
before the new HD installation.

ii) If you decide to keep the old HD installed, beware that any partitions
on the old HD will appear within the booted OS as additional data
partitions. These partitions are usually assigned drive letters following
the last ATAPI devices (e.g., CD-ROM, CD-R/RW, DVD+/-R/RW) and/or removeable
storage devices (e.g., USB pen-drive, USB external HD) already installed.
It's your choice, you may wish to keep the old hard installed as a means to
re-clone should problems arise w/ the new HD. Or you might want to reformat
the old HD's partition(s) and use them for other purposes. Or perhaps
reboot BootIT NG, delete the old partitions, and create and format new ones.
The options are all there, it just depends on your personal preferences. Of
course, you can also remove the old HD and keep it safely tucked away as a
backup to the new HD. When you feel confident w/ the new HD, you could
reinstall it, clean it off w/ BootIT NG, and use it for any other purposes
you wish (e.g., periodically store images of the OS using BootIT NG).

iii) When cloning a Windows XP partition, you will most likely NOT have to
reactivate. Since activation writes to the partition (which you are merely
cloning) and a hard drive change is not itself enough to trigger
reactivation, it should not present a problem. But even if reactivation was
required for some reason, it's a trivial matter to call and get reactivated
w/ a five minute phone call. And if it's been 120 days since last
activation, the issue is moot. MS "wipes the slate clean" after 120 days,
meaning you can reinstall Windows XP and reactivate w/ ANY equipment changes
you deem necessary (a whole NEW system if need be), as if you had activated
for the very first time, no questions asked! So, at worst, it's a minor
inconvenience, more likely, a non-issue. I strongly recommend storing an
image of your OS immediately after activation so you can always return to a
given known state in case of viruses, data corruption, etc., w/o having to
concern yourself over reactivation.

HTH

Jim



"Neil Bradley" <nb_no_spam@synthcom.com> wrote in message
news:Ekfhf.3710$id.345@trnddc04...
> Jim wrote:
> > Oh, didn't realize that it was the Windows XP Repair Install that was
> > hanging too, I thought you simply had restored the Ghost image and it

was
> > hanging on boot-up

>
> Both hang, actually (unfortunately). ;-(
>
> >>The 7Y250(1) developed bad sectors. I removed 7Y250(1) and ran on the
> >>7Y250(2). In prepping the drives to send back Maxtor, I accidentally
> >>formatted the good drive rather than the bad drive.

> > Ugh.

>
> Ugh is right.
>
> >>I first took the 250G 7Y250(1) (bad) and did a chkdsk /f /r to get
> >>around the bad sectors. Then, I ghosted from the 7Y250(1) (bad) to the
> >>new 6Y250 drive.

> > Ok, so then did the original Maxtor that now has marked bad sectors, are

you
> > sure this boots?

>
> Yes, absolutely. It still boots, and in fact I'm running with it right
> now (not from where I'm posting, however).
>
> > IOW, you're Ghosting it from the bad sector drive to the
> > new drive, but we don't know at this point if the bad sector drive is a

good
> > source for Ghosting, correct?

>
> Fortunately, we do know that it's good, because it boots/runs perfectly.
>
> > bad sector'd drive. It's important only to the extent that I'm trying

to
> > determine if this is a problem w/ Ghost, OR, the source (i.e., bad

sector
> > drive).

>
> I'm almost thinking this is a problem with Ghost. Or else it's a Windows
> security "feature".
>
> > drive, even boots! If it doesn't, Ghosting isn't the issue. (btw, by
> > Ghosting I assume you mean copy/clone from one HD to the other).

>
> Yes, specifically in this case using Norton Ghost V10.
>
> > On the
> > other hand, if the source HD does boot, then sure, this would point to

the
> > Ghosting process. It may simply be that the copy/clone process was in
> > error. If so, I can suggest a work around using another tool.

>
> That would be WONDERFUL if you know of such a utility. If it does a
> sector by sector copy, it'll probably be OK, but I can't find anything
> that'll do a sector copy and simply ignore bad sectors.
>
> Thanks again Jim!
>
> -->Neil



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