issues while trying to clone

[pegasis]

I am trying to clone a laptop drive.(win8.1)

I tried using an external HD enclosure for the new drive,
but the USB based drive would not show up in disk management on the laptop.

I decided to try and use an external dock, so I formated and added a drive letter to the new drive via my desktop. (worked)

Then I plugged in the external dock to my desktop,
added the native laptop (original) drive to the external dock,
and powered it up. (worked)

both drives showed up on my desktop disk management, but the laptop native drive had NO drive letter. ??

I tried to give it a drive letter, but the NTSB partition was the only volume it was able to add the drive letter to.

(there are (6) volumes on the laptop native drive (win 8.1),
one volume is NTSB, the others are OEM and UEFI volumes.)

If I am able to successfully clone the drive,
will this (1) volume with a drive letter create and issue for booting up my laptop?

is there a way to remove the drive letter from the NTSB volume of the drive and not corrupt the drive?


windows is NOT user friendly on cloning drives

 

[Ketchup]

Two things that may help you:

1. Use a program to clone drives. I use Todo Backup Free, but there are many others.

2. Drive letters are dynamic, set by Windows. Don't worry about the driver letter Windows gives a partition at one time or another. It just starts with the next letter available letter for the first partition it finds. When Windows it running off a drive, it will always assign the partition with the OS it is using C, which is the only one that really matters.

 

[pegasis]

I am using paragon drive copy to clone the drives, has always worked for me when other software would not

 

[ArisVer]

I never used Paragon, but I believe if the partitions you want to clone are shown in the program then you need not care about the drive letters.

 

[pegasis]

How does Todo Backup Free clone drives, it looks like a cloud backuP?

 

[pegasis]

The hybrid SSD does not seem to clone for some reason.

The cloning process does not complete

 

[Ketchup]

How does Todo Backup Free clone drives, it looks like a cloud backuP?

Nope. You can use cloud through it, but there is a Clone option on the left side, which is what I use it for.

As for your situation, I wish you have mentioned the hybrid part sooner. I don't think you can clone a hybrid drive to a non-hybrid drive (and possible to any other drive) without "special" software. The firmware on the drive is telling the drive what is on the SSD portion and what is not, so you would need software that will read what the drive is putting where, in order to put the data together the correct way for the other drive.

After a search, the only thing I could find at first that supports what you are trying to do is Acronis with with Plus Pack. But reading some newer information indicates that this can now be done without the extra Pack, so I would try a free trial of Acronis and see if it gives you better results.

 

[pegasis]

Disk wizard will copy hybrid drives and works on seagate.

I can't believe this simple task is soo $%##$@@@ difficult!
I hate windows!!

frigging DOS would be easier than all this hassle

linux is one command: DD

 

[lakedude]

There is really no reason you couldn't boot your desktop to Linux and clone your Windows disk using DD if you really want to do it that way but DD is a "dumb" copy. DD will waste hours and hours of time copying empty space.

I use Macrium Reflect (Free) and "Intelligent Sector Copy" or some such. That way you are not spending a ton of time copying empty space on your hard drive...

 

[pegasis]

Macrium did not work, nothing seems to work

 

[lakedude]

Some details regarding the nature of the failures would be nice.

As it stands it is likely that you are either doing something wrong or have a problem with one of your drives.

Macrum does a pre-check before it starts to clone. Does the pre-check fail?

Does it start to clone and then fail?

Maybe try cloning one partition at a time.

I had no luck with Windows built in backup software but Macrum has been solid for me.

Why are you cloning BTW? Is one drive known bad and now you are trying to clone it to another?

 

[Ranulf]

So it sounds like you have the laptop drive to be copied outside the laptop and were using a dock for it via your desktop system. Can you use macrium to make an image of it, store that image somewhere (on desktop system's drive?). Then use macrium to put the image on the new laptop drive? That is usually what has worked for me when cloning windows 8 drives.

In macrium you want the "create an image of the partitions needed to backup windows" option on the left hand side. Just make sure it is ONLY the laptop drive to be copied that is selected.

 

[pegasis]

I am cloning the drive to upgrade my laptop drive to a faster SSD hybrid HD

 

[pegasis]

how many partitions should a good windows drive have?

I see 5-6, including the restore partitions, and the main data partition

 

[ArisVer]

I am cloning the drive to upgrade my laptop drive to a faster SSD hybrid HD

Can you tell us more about this disk?

Also post a Disk Management screenshot of the disk you want to clone.

 

[pegasis]

I will try and get a screen shot;
laptop is not booting correctly now, might be toast.

never had an issue with a Seagate drive before;

hybrid drive is this: (it says gaming, but on seagate website it does says for use in laptop also) besides an HD is an HD

Seagate 1TB Laptop Gaming SSHD (Solid State Hybrid Drive) SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 2.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive (ST1000LM014)

 

[pegasis]

windows boot failed, error 0X000021a

trying refresh jow, then test disk, and try cloning again

 

[pegasis]

this SSHD is a real bear

windows will not assign a drive letter to it, and I can't seem to reformat it

 

[Ketchup]

I think you have established that this SSHD is almost toast. Time to RMA if that is an option.

 

[pegasis]

i am not seeing a way to attach a document or file

the drive in question says unallocated currently

 

[ArisVer]

Since you have a desktop, if you have two spare SATA pots on that motherboard, hook up the disks you want to clone as extra drives to this computer. Eliminate the use of the other devices (docks/enclosures).

 

[pegasis]

I have already cloned the laptop drive to a spare 3.5 as a test,
the new 2.5 has bad sectors, and I am trying to clone it again after adjusting some settings in the cloning software

 

[pegasis]

it is alive, and it works

chkdsk (drive /r/f
worked and I also adjusted settings to ignore bad sectors in cloning software

laptop boots and runs a lot faster
I love hybrid drives

 

[lakedude]

The NEW drive has bad sectors?? RMA that bad boy! Your data might be in peril.