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How to clone large HDDs?

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lanux128:
I'm considering using XXClone. Is this still a good choice? It won't strickly speaking make an image, but simply copy all files and make it bootable, optionally copy the Disk ID. Will that guarantee that the end result will work when I install that 80GB HD into my portable? Fully configured for all my 100's of applications?-PPLandry (August 20, 2008, 07:26 PM)
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i used XXClone about 1.5 years ago when i bought a new hard-disk. you just have added the new hard-disk, run the program and follow the prompts. as it name suggests it's best for cloning a hard-disk instead of back-up purposes. in fact, i like the way it puts the user in full control.

in your case, where there unreadable sectors, it's best to clone 1st then see how things pan out. :)

f0dder:
My Acer laptop HD (5 years old, IDE 40GB) is showing signs of wear. It seems to have problems reading some areas of the disk and gives me a "blue" screen followed with a major crash, at times. I have an 80GB IDE portable drive which I could swap (2 years old).
-PPLandry (August 20, 2008, 07:26 PM)
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It should be noted with laptops that if you set a 'Harddrive password' in the BIOS, it's a good idea to remove it BEFORE you clone the drive.
-4wd (August 20, 2008, 07:54 PM)
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Shouldn't be necessary - if you can boot the system and the disk password is entered, you'll be getting the right data. AFAIK, it's not like you're going to get scrambled data if you don't have an authenticated disk; you will simply be denied access to it. ATA disk passwords != full-disk encryption :)

PPLandry:
Thanks for your help, in the end, the old HD was too unstable that trying to copy it was not possible.

I installed the newer 80GB IDE into the portable, and ran the recovery disk (5 years ago, manufacturers were kind enough to give us CD's).

I'm back on my feet, with a larger HD and a "very" clean PC. It will take some time to install everything and tweak it, as usual with a new PC, but that is life... I'll probably not invest too much time, as this got me thinking that it is probably time for a new PC anyway. I'll get it running, catch up on some work and start shopping.

At least, I had a recent backup and the old drive is now in the housing, so I can still read from it.

f0dder:
At least, I had a recent backup and the old drive is now in the housing, so I can still read from it.
-PPLandry (August 21, 2008, 09:46 PM)
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:up: :up: :up: :up: :up: :up: :up: :up: :up: :up:

4wd:
It should be noted with laptops that if you set a 'Harddrive password' in the BIOS, it's a good idea to remove it BEFORE you clone the drive.
-4wd (August 20, 2008, 07:54 PM)
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Shouldn't be necessary - if you can boot the system and the disk password is entered, you'll be getting the right data. AFAIK, it's not like you're going to get scrambled data if you don't have an authenticated disk; you will simply be denied access to it. ATA disk passwords != full-disk encryption :)
-f0dder (August 21, 2008, 09:33 PM)
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I didn't say it was but on my 5 year old Acer laptop if you specify a HD password in BIOS it locks that harddrive to that motherboard by way of the hardware IDs.

You would find that you could no longer boot the system and the data on the drive is no longer accessible by that laptop, (as normally installed), as you said.

The above caused a new motherboard AND harddrive to be installed under warranty in my laptop.

I had a HD Password set when the following happened.

The motherboard developed a fault, so it went in for repair.  They replaced the motherboard, only the laptop would now not boot because the drive and motherboard ID no longer matched for when the password was set.
So, not realising this (because I forgot to tell them and remove it - which I couldn't anyway because of the board fault), they replaced the drive as well.

Result: a new motherboard, drive and lost data.

I was just lucky that it was less than 7 days old and apart from installing a couple of apps I hadn't had much of a chance to fill the drive.

All in all, much easier to remove the password beforehand when cloning or doing a full image backup.

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