NTLDR is missing after cloning drive with Ghost

Ghost is fairly user friendly. Post back if you hit any snags. There are several ways to go about it so if you need to review your plan, post back.

 

Using the Restore Wizard, it appears that it only lets me choose a drive as destination, not a partition. What do I need to do to get it to open on a specific partition?

I figured out what I did wrong. I didn't highlight the source data first. Now it works. Unfortunately, I still get the same results. I can't get my desktop to show. Now what?

 

Hopefully when you select the drive, the next screen will allow you to select a partition.

 

Well, I have to go to work soon. At least we know that both the clone and the deployed image give the same results, so something else must be the problem. Both drives are Western Digital drives and on the same computer. the only difference is that one is 80GB and the other is 120GB. I'm at a loss as to what could be causing this. I'll check my computer when I get home tonight, and, hopefully, the answer will come to you or someone reading this thread. Till then, thanks for sticking it out and offering the suggestions. Even if it isn't working, I'm still learning.
Barry

 

Ok Barry, no problem here, glad to have the diversion. I'll mull it over some more but nothing easy comes to mind. Like you say, perhaps someone else will have a fresh idea. Hang in there and it'll finally yield. Go to work and forget this for a while.

Best regards.

 

Thanks. By the way, how's the surf in Illinois?

 

Net surf only! Just moved here in June from CA. My old home roots - retired now - folks like you keep me active.

Think about this, perhaps the OS wants/needs to be placed on the same drive designation as before. Just a passing thought. Not much left to grab at. I've used imaging many times but never displaced the OS from it's original drive letter so can't know for sure.

Then perhaps WD would have something to offer.

 

So Barry, what happened?

In my researching of that error message I came across this KB article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314057

it specifically mentions the "dangers" of cloning a system partition from one drive to another that have a different geometry.

I can't find it now, but I also do recall reading a KB article that mentioned that moving a system drive from one machine to another, unless they had the exact same hard drive controller was problematic due to some sort of storage complications that Windows NT/2k/XP had different than 9x.

Tell us Barry, were you ever able to cobble it all together and get it working? If so do you remeber how?

If after all this time (almost a month now) you are still struggling with it, I would recommend just a fresh install, yes it is a pain, but Windows really should have a fresh install with any major hardware change (and the fact that everything but the hard drive changed I would call major)

If anyone else is having NTLDR is missing errors, I suggest reading up on the solutions by dumping "ntldr is missing" into google.com, or just go here:

http://www.tinyempire.com/shortnotes/files/ntldr_missing.htm

 

I haven't actually fixed the problem, but I have located someone who is experienced in doing this using Ghost and TrueImage. He has had some personal problems lately and has not been able to give me the step by step instructions, yet. I will pass along the steps as soon as he is able to give them to me. Actually, there has not been any hardware change other than a new hard drive, so I don't see any need for a fresh install.

 

Does anyone know if a different hard drive would necessitate a different mass storage device driver? I had luck with cloning a windows 98 installation and changing out the hard drives, but when I tried to do that with a Windows XP installation I had the same problem (you would see the boot screen but then it would just hang).

If it does require a separate mass storage driver I found some info that mentions using a "sysprep" utility for prepping an installation to be used on "another computer" (although it's the same one, just a different hard drive)

I tried taking a look at the files and playing around with them. I didn't discover the exact details on how to use it but I may be able to test it out on a computer I have next time I get a new drive.

from the microsoft kb:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/216915
It mentions that you can use cloned win2k image for computers with different mass storage device drivers if you first prep it with SysPrep1.1
Here is SysPrep 1.1
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...06-2824-4d2b-abc1-0e2223133afb&DisplayLang=en
but it's probably better to use the Windows XP version available here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...3d-507b-4095-9d9d-0a195f7b5f69&DisplayLang=en

EDIT, some 4 hours after the original post: Here was an option that sounds like a capital idea, a "Repair" of the Windows installation:
http://www.overclockers.com/tips1155/
My hats off to the author (Alan Zack)

He suggests during a hardware change to boot into your Windows XP setup, then run the repair option for your existing installation (Read the article before doing this, and of course "backup backup backup ") this should get you back with all your applications available to you.

 

The answer is in. View it here: http://windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=43059

Thanks for all the help.