To clone a hard drive

[AlexBar]

Hello,

the hard drive on my Lenovo G770 has developed some faulty areas and I have bought a replacement. I would like to clone my old drive, but the problem is - it does not allow me to create the OneKey system recovery discs ( this is a set of Lenovo discs that creates a true copy of an old disc including a hidden partition etc) . I tried several times - it just stops. Same result with the Windows backup. I managed to create a system image and a system recovery DVD with the Windows 7. I also created a Disc and Partition Backup with Acronis True Imange. I also copied the ( D :/) content - Lenovo apps and drivers.

 

Thing is - Lenovo OneKey system restore needs three DVD discs, while the Windows system recovery takes just one. So I guess it does not copy everything...

So I wonder if this is enough to create a true copy of my old hard drive, including lenovo hidden partition/ system recovery partition?

My computer works fine so far, it just sends me messages of a hard drive fault from time to time, asking me to do a backup asap. As far as I understand the drive will fail sooner than later, but the only visible problem I have so far is its inability to create a proper OneKey recovery set of discs or create a full backup using Windows.

( I know it is a physical drive fault, not a bug or any software problem: I have reformatted the drive, and the problem is still there).

Of course I can always buy a OneKey recovery discs from Lenovo, but I think it is not fair to sell these discs (for £20) to a customer whose hard drive has failed. Recovery discs should be free.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

[KenB]

Hi Alex

 

I have no experience with Acronis but it's reputation is good and this should create a full image - including hidden partition - of your drive.

 

Starbuck, Nev and I use Macrium Reflect - it is free.

click here

 

Take a look.

Just one thing .... if you update the software at any point then you will need to update the recovery disk. Nev had a problem once and discovered this fact.

[AlexBar]

Thanks Ken,

 

I checked your link - looks good. BTW you can download Acronis WD edition from WD site for free.

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119&wdc_lang=en

 

I will try it as soon as the new drive arrives. I hope it will work. As I said I am a bit suspicious because the Acronis backup files take much less space compared to the Lenovo own OneKey recovery backup estimate. And the only reason (as far as I can see) that Acronis creates the backup successfully and OneKey does not is that, unlike Acronis, OneKey scans the damaged areas. But that is my layman's guess. Let's see, I will post the results.

[AlexBar]

OK, it just arrived. Fingers crossed :)

[KenB]

Thanks for the link.

 

I have just read a little and it says ....makes an exact copy of your old system drive

The implication here is that C: drive will be restored but not any partitions.

 

Then it says .... Drive Cloning - Copies the source drive

You will soon find out :)

[AlexBar]

OK, the new drive arrived and I have installed it. Now - time to clone the drive.

 

First I tried Acronis True Image and Bootable media DVD disc I have created. It just looked the most impressive on the screen. And it worked just fine. Up to a point. The DVD uploaded the Acronis page which offered me to restore the drive from its True Image. I connected the external Toshiba hard drive with the True Image and it started to restore. In several minutes time it restored the drive successfully (or so it said), restarted and all I could get to from there was a black page with the short message:

"BOOTMNGR is missing. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart."

All restarts returned to the same page. Switching to ODD did not help. It could not even recognise its own "Bootable Media" disc.

 

( I am not an expert so I could do something wrong here, I am far from claiming that Acronis does not work)

Nevertheless. Since I know nothing about hard drives, i have created several different backups. That proved to be a good idea. Back up your backup if you do not know what are you doing.

 

I had another DVD - Lenovo own System Restore disc. (Not their OneKey restore 3 disc set, but still.) Surely Lenovo Restore should restore a Lenovo computer.. This one went to download Windows and offered me to restore the drive from lenovo backup. I had it on the same external Toshiba drive. I connected the drive, but the system was unable not recognise it. Because, naturally, Toshiba driver was not installed. It did not prevent Acronis to see the drive though. The system gave me the list of gazillion files to choose my driver. I had no idea and gave up.

 

Because I had another restore DVD ! This one created yesterday with Windows own backup system. A good old Windows 7 64-bit restore disc. And this one worked flawlessly. Downloaded the OS, recognised the external Toshiba hard drive and copied my old disc from the Windows disc image I created yesterday. All data, partitions, all apps - everything is in place. I do not know about the hidden one because it is .. well.. hidden, but it looks and works absolutely identical.

 

So I am happy, and I have only one question - why on Earth do we need all that dedicated "specialist" aftermarket recovery software if Windows 7 does it so well? At least in my case.

So for now, until someone gives me the reason to do otherwice, I am going to forget about Acronis & Co and use the intergated Windows recovery/backup system.

It is simple and it just works.

Edited December 6, 2012 by AlexBar

[KenB]

Thanks for the feedback and the recommendation re. Win7 backup.

Good to hear you are up-and-running again.

 

As I said earlier - I have not used Acronis so cannot give an explanation.

 

I am sure other members here will find this useful :)