Thinkpads Forum

Trying to clone 1.2 original XL drive using desktop and norton ghost . Clone seems to complete fine and both original and cloned drive will boot my desktop,But refitting new drive into laptop I get a no system error ! How can I get my new clone to boot ?
Will cloning using laptop and spare bay be any more successful?
Thanks Brian

bwizz wrote:Will cloning using laptop and spare bay be any more successful?

Yes.

Using a desktop to clone the HDs has resulted in a change in the new HD's Cylinder, Head and Sector configuration the laptop cannot "see". This is particularly true if the new HD was formatted in the desktop.

Regards,

James

Any other way round this problem?as at the moment I don't have a second hard drive caddy ?
Brian

bwizz wrote:Any other way round this problem?as at the moment I don't have a second hard drive caddy ?

Only by using a PC Card to IDE adapter and software that supports it.

You can also try putting the new HD in the 760XL and formatting it, then switch it back to the desktop in another attempt at cloning.

Regards,

James

I think using norton to clone copies everything over Including rewriting the format, I don't want to disturb the working caddy again so looks like I will have to locate a caddy
before I try again.
Thanks Brian

bwizz wrote:I think using norton to clone copies everything over Including rewriting the format, I don't want to disturb the working caddy again so looks like I will have to locate a caddy before I try again.

Formatting the new HD in the 760XL will restore the CHS table on the HD and prevent the desktop from changing it.

After that, it won't hurt the new HD if Norton overwrites it.

If you can lay your hands on a USB 2.5" HD adapter that could connect to your desktop, you could clone the old HD that way as well.

Regards,

James

I will give it a try and report back,Im a bit worried about damaging the caddy connector,it been of and on so many times ! the other option is a no go at the moment as I had endless trouble with a cardbus usb
card and I sold it. Can the XL boot from usb ?

bwizz wrote:Can the XL boot from usb ?

Sadly, no. Nor CD either.

Regards,

James

I tried formatting on laptop but still clone will not work even using advanced options of norton ghost 2003 Also tried windows based Ghost 9 ,Still I get system disk error ,Caddy is going dizzzy !
I just hope I can clone when I find another caddy as I can't face a full reinstall
Brian

Would the old drive being full effect the cloning process?
I just had another idea to try though, I might be able to get hold of a second laptop to ide converter ,Then i would be able to do a direct drive to drive clone .Although I am not sure why cloning to cd via desktopwill not work ,I would have expected all the drive info to be written onto cd the back to new laptop drive ,not sure I have got a handle whats going wrong here.
Brian

I've been following this thread and the last post's reference to "cloning to cd via desktop" has me confused. "Cloning" implies a "direct drive to drive" process. The cd reference indicates another process may have been used.

Could you please provide a more detailed explanation of the steps you've been using?

Thanks.

Using Ghost 2003 It is possible to clone laptop drive to image either to hard drive ,In my case desktop .or to to cd or dvd ,then image is restored via desktop to new laptop hard drive.Not working very well in my case,enen though the image is checked for errors!

Have you tried Acronis Disk Director? It seems a lot more reliable than Ghost in a lot more situations.

No I have only tried Ghost , 9 and Dos based 2003 but I have used it for years and I have tend to know its quirks.
I have a feeling the oiriginal h/d having no free space is the source of the problem.

You may want to try one of the solutions mentioned here:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/po ... ot&seg=hho or here
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/gh ... ent&seg=hm

Thanks for links,
I have checked partition on destination is active ,partition was created with partition magic so should be ok "same makers as Ghost , They have worked together before!

I can't do much else till I get either a second hard drive caddy or another laptop to ide converter.
Then I can try a direct drive to drive clone.
I will report in after next trying

I tried cloning with laptop using 2 laptop to ide converters via dos and ghost 2003 .Still no system error when drive refitted to laptop.

sys C:/ option does not work as it can not find windows system where it should be !. gsisk option " in supplied link"gives me nothing. "bad command" Both new and old laptop drive will boot desktop !Something obviously changes when new drive is fitted to laptop.Help please I have no ideas left.

I also created some space on drive before attemting clone,so full drive is not an issue !

I am interested in how this issue gets resolved, as well, since I have a similar problem cloning a 4gig drive for a 365xd. I am using Acronis 8.0 on my T60P with the original drive in a usb adaptor and the new drive in my slimbay. So I am cloning directly from one drive to another. The Acronis cloning process completes as successful but the 365xd can not see the new cloned drive. The original drive has a fresh 98SE install on it. I can't remember all of the different things that I have tried to make this work, so don't ask. I've been fiddling with it off and on for about a month now and have given up until I saw this thread.

The reason that I want to clone the drive is because Win98SE has about 30 updates which were time consuming to download. So the cloning would save all of this on a backup drive.

I have still drawn a blank as regards my problem,Yours seems different in that you do not see the drive , Have you checked that the computer sees the drive as a master, In my case I used the Hitachi tool recommended in the forum, The problem in my case is the system cloned onto the drive is not where it should be on the drive .Checking the hard drive after booting with win 98 boot disk everything seems to be ok in terms of everything being there ,but the boot track is obviously not where it should be to boot from the hard drive .I to recently tried acronis ,only to get an "in out error

on holiday at moment so not on the front burner till next weeek
Brian

sounds to me like different c|h|s addressing

supposed 1st : you have a bootable fdd and
2nd ; your are installing 98se or prior :
partition + format the new hd in your ThinPad ,
and make it bootable with sys.com
(take aBootdisk of desired os)

afterwards you copy all those m$ chunk and
all desired files/folders in every possible way,
no need for special equipment.
For old Drives I use xtree/xtlink + laplink cable
(ll3/serial cable also work)

regards , tom_k

Thanks for info,but not sure I get the whole gist of your idea !

I boot laptop with 98 boot disk then format drive ,make it bootable by typing sys.com.?

Not sure I follow the rest. hoping a second caddy will have arrived when I get home ,the I will be able to fit in both hard drives together" won't need any cable's .could you please step by step ,explain the next steps. As with other user I don't want to lose 98 updates.
Thanks Brian

bwizz wrote:I boot laptop with 98 boot disk then format drive ,make it bootable by typing sys.com.?

right.
1st use fdisk, delete old partition(s) + ceate it/them new ;
2nd format partition(s) ;
3rd : make C: bootable , from a:> type [sys c:] + hit enter
( steps 2 + 3 can also be done by : [format c: /u /s] )

now you got your new hd bootable .
connect it to source hd + copy 1 to 1 or selective.

1 to 1 copy is not necessary + imo not recommendable .
Using windows explorer just copy everything ,
(do not overwrite system files on target hd )
+ later delete unwanted files on target.

or download eg ztreewin,
capable of marking files in multiple folders on different drives
+ to copy/move the whole including paths , my favorite filemanager
(advice : "tag" all files on source HD + "untag" trash step by step,
then "showall marked files" (ctrl+s or ctrl+g) + [alt]+[c] to copy with paths

hth , tom_k

I tried to clone as directed from windows explorer ,but although it looked promising ,windows 98 flashed up for a second ,the boot stayed at dos prompt ,

But however I seem to have found my problem .I was using a ME boot disk ! Not 98 SE

Using Miray free software I eventually did disk to disk clone using 2 laptop drive converters via desktop .

putting Hard drive drive back in laptop gave me "horror no system error" this was corrected using sys.C: from 98 SE boot disk
Then computer booted properly harrah ! But ! looking at drive properties only 1.2 g/b was showing ,This was corrected with partition magic then another sys C: everyting seems ok.
To recap I suspect drive would have cloned with any h/d copying software .If I had been using the correct boot disk to partition /format etc
Thanks for all help and advice offered ,"Steep learning curve"