Windows Vista Vista x64 will not accept cloned HD

Hi,

I made a clone of my 320 Gig hard drive (WDC WD3200BEKT-22F3T0
) onto a 750 Gig (WD7500BPKT) hard drive using a Cavalry SATA HDD Duplicator with USB Dual-bay dock. According to the instructions the process was successful.

When I inserted it into the laptop it brought up a screen requesting startup repair. After I pressed enter, all it did was loop back to the startup repair message. I shut down the machine and tried again. All I got was the same startup repair message and loop.

I tried to access the data via USB and received an io/device error. I cannot read any of the data on the disk. I figured this was occurring because a large portion of the drive was still unallocated.

Trying to use vistas' disk management brought up a blank virtual HDD console.
I couldn't access any of the commands for partitioning or formatting the drive.

Clicking on the drive letter would only let me format the disk which is unacceptable. I want to repair it for use.

I did clone another 320 Gig drive. This was a Seagate {ST 9320421AS-(S1)}.
This drive only got as far as the Gateway logo and then kept looping back to the logo. On this drive, I was able to read the data via USB. It appears to be a good copy, but I can't gain access to initiate the repair because it just keeps looping to the logo screen.

These are the specs for the computer:

Gateway laptop @2.2 Ghz w/ 4 Mb ram
Phoenix Bios with limited access

Vista x64 SP2 fully patched
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

nVidia GeForce 9800M GTS w/ 1 Mb vram
@ 1280 x 1024 x 32 res on tft display
Video Driver 285.62
Driver Date: 10/15/2011
WHQL Logo'd: Yes

Total available graphics memory: 2813 MB
System video memory: 0 MB
Dedicated video memory: GDDR3 1024 MB
Shared system memory: 1789 MB

Hard Drive: WDC WD3200BEKT-22F3T0

Any help will be greatly appreciated..

 

Try going to the WD website and see if they have cloning "abilty" software. Read their information about upgrading to a larger drive.

Sorry, I haven't set up a WD drive for quite a while. Check the Lifeguard utility. I know one or two other drive manufacturers offer a cloning system.

I have always found the HDD manufacturer's "transfer" system works perfectly.

Matt

 

Mattman,

Thanks for the info, I will surely check out their site.

Update on the Win disk management software. It seems when I tried to get into it again, after posting, I finally got in. It took about 15 minutes to read the disk.

The clone was partitioned @ 10 Gb for Gateway recovery partition and 299 Gb for the system partition. The rest was unallocated. In the process of formatting that space now.

The only difference between the original disk and the clone is the original is listed as an NTFS volume; the clone is listed as a RAW volume.

I will keep you posted as to any progress...

 

Mattman,

I downloaded WD cloning software made by Acronis.

In all fairness I tried to clone the OS to the WD 1 Tb drive again. This time I was able to read the data. When I went to format the unallocated space, Win disk manager hung at 91% and would not complete the format. It appears the drive has damaged sectors.

I attempted to boot the 1 Tb disk, but this failed also. It would only get to the Gateway logo and then kept looping just like the Seagate drive.

To further research this, I went to the Gateway support site. That was a joke. Out of warranty to them means out of luck to the customer.

I did come across their page for hard drive replacement, which stated if you have a problem with the operating system use your Windows disk to repair it. They never gave me any disks.

Since neither piece of equipment, the HDD dock nor the hard drive is working properly; I'll just return them and mark this as resolved.

I will try to find an alternate solution...

Thank you for your assistance

 

I suggest you test the drive with the WD Lifeguard utility. If it proves faulty within one year, I expect you take it/send it back to where you bought it. After 1 year, you send it to them.

If it proves faulty and returned, it will only be replaced with a new, blank drive.

Keep up your research. I wish I could be with you and maybe point out anything you may have missed or misunderstood (happens to me quite often).

Best Luck
Matt
PS: Don't disregrard starting all over again...better than flogging a dead horse....

 

I did run the Lifeguard utility and it showed a large block of sectors as damaged.

Drive and docking station were returned to the reseller for refund.

I still have the cloned 320 Gb Seagate drive to experiment with.

Will open a separate post if I have any further questions.

Thanks again for you timely assistance.