Thinkpads Forum

Hi guys,

Writing this on my trusty T61 at the moment.

OK, I admit it, I've been both lazy AND an idiot, and I've screwed this up more than I thought possible, so I'm hoping to get some help from people that know what they're doing before I sink any deeper.

Thanks so much if you can assist, feeling really stupid at the moment, and I've burnt 2 full days doing this.

[b]Situation:[/b]
T510, Windows 7, 64 bit, Acronis TIH 2011.
Decided to upgrade my laptop with new HDD and RAM in lieu of purchasing a new one.
RAM replacement went OK.
HDD cloning was a bit more troublesome.
For some reason, Acronis wasn't working so I used another program, Reflect to do the cloning. (Not terribly impressed with Acronis or its service at the moment).

It took a few attempts, but Reflect eventually appeared to have done its job, but as the USB wouldn't power down when it was done, and I had no programs open to access it, I figured no harm done and unplugged the external drive with my new HDD. That crashed my laptop. I know. Not very bright. I had tried cloning from the Acronis boot-up directly so I wouldn't compromise my main drive, but Acronis wasn't working.

Problem 1:
As a result, when I try to startup with my original HDD, I get an Autocheck missing error, followed by BSOD. Disk repair doesn't work.

Problem 2:
The cloned HDD worked initially, so I was happy with that. But on subsequent boot-up, it shows the Windows logon logo, then stays as a black screen. It appears to be processing something, but is in a loop of some kind, because it doesn't ever turn on completely.

Back-ups:
I have an Acronis TIH image from a week or two ago, and a bootable media. (Again, I know I was lazy not taking a fresh image immediately before changing HDD). However, I would like to salvage my new HDDs, both the new one and the current one. The data appears intact in both.

Questions:
I've looked through the FAQs on HDD, cloning and partitions, but still have some really basic questions. If someone could point me to the appropriate sections, I'll look through them in detail shortly. I'm in the midst of moving overseas for good in a week's time, and am a bit time-crunched at the moment.

1. Is there any way to just copy over the start-up portion of my Acronis image onto my 2HDDs or replace them somehow? If yes, how would I do this? I'm a bit wary of doing a clean install, etc, given the time requirements and likely technical challenge of doing so. I have three partitions. One is the Lenovo recovery, one is the system drive, and the third is my main data and programs partition.

2. Is there any way to fix my original HDD - the one with the Autocheck error?

3. For future reference, in terms of recovery media, as well as the Lenovo Rescue and recovery and other options, what exactly do I need? Right now, I only have an acronis bootable USB, and assuming a reasonably fresh image on a backup drive, I can recover from there.

In terms of the Lenovo Rescue and Recovery options, and bootable media, which ones should I have and how should I use them in the likely event of a repeat? I have not used the TVT back-up system previously.

Thanks again for any help. Really very much appreciated.

Jason

OK, update on the situation.

The only time my cloned drive worked was when it was plugged in and held in place by my finger. Subsequently when I screwed it in with the caddy and cover, it stopped working.

Perhaps it is coincidence, but right now, my naked HDD is plugged directly into the laptop without any screws or caddy, and it is working again. I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth or about to spend too much time figuring this out for now.

Question:

While my laptop is running normally again for now, what measures should I take to ensure normal functioning subsequently?

1. I realised my registry wasn't being backed up with restore points, so that was one change I made. Qn - of the 3 drives, which ones need to be backed up?

2. I'm doing a fresh copy of the HDD.

Any other suggestions?