Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Problem cloning a hard disk with USB enclosure and Ghost 9

Jan 14, 2005 1:38AM PST

Hi,

I have a 40Gb laptop with one partition formatted to NTFS format. I have a 60Gb hard disk 7200rpm which I've put in to an external USB 2.5 inch enclosure. If I attach the enclosure to the laptop I can see it in Windows and I've initialized it

I ran Norton Ghost 9 to clone the 40Gb onto the 60Gb. I attached back the 60Gb into the enclosure just to see if at least it has copied the files across. I can see in Windows XP, that the files have been copied across

However when I put the newly cloned 60Gb into my laptop and bootup, it gets to the Windows screen, but it doesn't go any further into Windows itself i.e it hangs. I don't know why it can't progress further and boot directly into Windows

I checked Norton Ghost 9 and I selected Copy Drive for C to E and the options I chose were Chreck source for errors, Check destination for errors, Set drive active for booting OS, Disable smart sector copying, Ignore bad sectors during copy and Copy MBR

I don't know if changing any of the settings has much of an effect. I tried without Copy MBR and without set drive active and it made no difference

I also tried using DriveImage 7 (which I guess is the old Norton Ghost 9) and that too exhibits a similar problem

I've already tried the Symantec website and there were no updates to version 9 and no other information I could find to resolve my issue

Any help appreciated
Thanks
Richard

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Such is not supposed to work. Here's why.
Jan 14, 2005 1:57AM PST

" when I put the newly cloned 60Gb into my laptop and bootup, "

Bingo. That may not work UNLESS the USB drive enclosure puts the data in the same sectors that the PC would. The USB enclosure doens't have to and as such you are expecting something to work... that shouldn't.

There is no cure for this one!

Bob

- Collapse -
Problem is fixed
Jan 14, 2005 3:26AM PST

I managed to get it cloned by using TrueImage instead. They have a trial version and it managed it first time. So Norton Ghost didn't help. I read various threads elsewhere and it looks as though many people have also experienced issues with Norton Ghost and TrueImage is in fact a lot better.

60Gb 7200 hard disk in my laptop is really fast. Glad I perservered

- Collapse -
How do you clone a hard disk for a laptop?
Jan 24, 2005 2:21AM PST

so, How does one clone a disk for a laptop using Ghost. (I used to do this with an earlier version (2000 or 2002?) and they always booted just fine.) I'm about to attempt to do it with Ghost 9.0, which now seems to call it "copying a hard disk" rather than cloning.

Is the issue only the USB disk carrier?

- Collapse -
Making a duplicate
Jan 24, 2005 3:58AM PST

Copying a hard disk or cloning. I used Cloning to mean the same thing. I had a 40gb hard disk and I wanted to make an exact copy of the data (operating system plus all apps) over to a 60gb.

I tried with Ghost 9 and although on the surface (when I looked in explorer) the data was the same, when it came to boot up, I couldn't get to the Windows workspace, despite all the settings I tried in Ghost 9.

Perhaps it works fine with your laptop and data, but it didn't work for me and I didn't have the time to troubleshoot why (I tried 4-5 times with different settings)

So I tried a different application and it worked fine

The USB carrier, I used as a means of holding the 60Gb disk on a temporary basis

- Collapse -
Cloning with Ghost
Feb 6, 2005 11:44AM PST

I am having a similar problem. My hard drive is ticking and on borrowed time. I purchased a WD external 120 to clone to. It has a USB connect. It seems to go fine, but when I check the external drive after copying, the files are in RAW file format and cannot be accessed. When I try to "open" the drive, it says "onpage" error. Any suggestions. I thought I might try the Truelmage, but wondered if it is the USB. I also have another external drive with date and file backup and a firewire connection? Jhw3131

- Collapse -
try it
Feb 8, 2005 5:37AM PST

Hi there,
You should just try it. I don't have too many positive things to say about Ghost, since I tried with so many combinations and couldn't get much help from Symantec either. In the end I just tried a trial version of Trueimage and it was painless. There aren;t any limitations in the trial version either. If a complete HD to HD copy doesn't work, then obviously at least get the data off. I'm really happy that I bought that $15 or whatever USB external hard drive enclosure, since it's so portable and works so well

- Collapse -
Where did you buy the disk enclosure for $15?
Feb 10, 2005 10:43AM PST

Also, does a 3.5 enclosure work for both 2.5 and
3.5 inch drives

- Collapse -
I picked up the 7.99 buck one.
Feb 10, 2005 10:50AM PST
- Collapse -
The enclosure does not seem to have a power supply
Feb 10, 2005 11:32AM PST

Did you purchase a separate power supply then?

- Collapse -
What size enclosure do I need
Feb 10, 2005 11:50AM PST

The dimensions on my hard drive are

Height: 1 inch
Width: 4 inches
Depth: 5.75 inches

Are there any enclosures out there for these sizes?

Thanks

- Collapse -
Make, model and form factor could have....
Feb 10, 2005 10:02PM PST

Made a reply possible. Imagine the possible interfaces...

PATA IDE
SATE IDE
SCSI and that has some 20 varients.

Size matters, and the interface.

Bob

- Collapse -
Its a Seagate with the following specs
Feb 11, 2005 12:46AM PST
- Collapse -
It's a 3.5.
Feb 11, 2005 1:10AM PST

The 3.5 is the size on the internal platters.

It's a small world. I have an 160GB in the Metal Gear Box with USB 2.0 connection. You shouldn't have any issue finding an enclosure.

Just a note in parting, I could not CHKDSK these over 120GB drives on USB 2.0 until XP's SP2.

Bob

- Collapse -
It uses USB power.
Feb 10, 2005 10:00PM PST

And is ... sweet!