I cloned my 80GB drive in my NC6400 Compaq laptop to a 320GB WD drive using the Acronis Migration Tool. Then I installed the new 320GB drive into the PC but it will not boot WIndows. When starting into BIOS, the new drive is recognized. My OS was WinXP SP2. Any suggestions what to do to make the new drivebootable will be greatly appreciated.
Cloned Hard Disk on Compaq/HP NC6400 does not boot
- Thread starter George_Z
- Start date
SuperSoph_WD
Glorious
- Jul 30, 2014
- 6,758
- 3
- 45,960
Hey there, George.
I'm sorry to hear about your WD drive causing you such troubles.
Can you please tell me what is the HDD model?
I believe you should run WD Align in order for your drive to get recognized. If it has AF (Advanced Format) which it most probably does, Windows XP or earlier versions of the operating system would need this toll to fix the alignment of the sectors on the drive.
I'd suggest to check these links for more details on the Advanced Format feature and how to run the software utility in order to fix the issue.
How to use the Acronis Alignment Tool to realign an AF drive: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=ZjuQnQ
Advanced Format Hard Drive Download Utility: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=vBRLmk
Hope this helps you! Keep me posted if you need further assistance!
SuperSoph_WD
I'm sorry to hear about your WD drive causing you such troubles.
Can you please tell me what is the HDD model?
I believe you should run WD Align in order for your drive to get recognized. If it has AF (Advanced Format) which it most probably does, Windows XP or earlier versions of the operating system would need this toll to fix the alignment of the sectors on the drive.
I'd suggest to check these links for more details on the Advanced Format feature and how to run the software utility in order to fix the issue.
How to use the Acronis Alignment Tool to realign an AF drive: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=ZjuQnQ
Advanced Format Hard Drive Download Utility: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=vBRLmk
Hope this helps you! Keep me posted if you need further assistance!
SuperSoph_WD
Soph, Thanks very much for the info. I have left the WD drive at home and do not recall the type it is but I am certain that it was made in 2014. Earlier this morning before coming to work I used a bootable partition manager, MiniTool Partition Wizard, and recovered a lost/missed partition named Boot. Then I tried to boot from the WD hard disk but unfortunately I got a message on a black screen that file hal.dll is missing or is corrupt in boot folder\system32. I will search around to see if I can locate such a file from WinXP SP2 OS and copied in the system32 folder by connecting the WD disk in an enclosure to another PC. Meanwhile I downloaded the WD alignment too and will try that before I do anything else.
SuperSoph_WD
Glorious
- Jul 30, 2014
- 6,758
- 3
- 45,960
That's great, George!
As for the boot problem, it might be something wrong with the cloning process itself. Do you have the WinXP SP2 installation disk?
If you do, I'd recommend performing a clean install instead of cloning. Don't worry about the product key, it should work since you are using the same computer. Let me know as soon as you run the WD Alignment tool.
I really hope this works out for you!
SuperSoph_WD
SuperSoph_WD :
That's great, George!
As for the boot problem, it might be something wrong with the cloning process itself. Do you have the WinXP SP2 installation disk?
If you do, I'd recommend performing a clean install instead of cloning. Don't worry about the product key, it should work since you are using the same computer. Let me know as soon as you run the WD Alignment tool.
I really hope this works out for you!
SuperSoph_WD
Hey there SuperSoph! I did run the disk alignment tool but it did not fix the problem with the bootability of the cloned WD disk. I believe the original disk was bad and as a result the cloned one is too. I will try to find an installation CD for WinXPSP2 and do a clean install. I need to figure out first how to salvage my documents and other useful files from either the original or the cloned HD. When I last tried to read files off of the cloned disk via a HD enclosure connected to another PC I could not see any of my files. I do see them though when I use the partition wizard software.
SuperSoph_WD
Glorious
- Jul 30, 2014
- 6,758
- 3
- 45,960
Hi again, George!
Good luck finding the installation disk! It's going to be awesome if you find it.
As for the files, since you can see them using the partition wizard software I suggest to back them up immediately somewhere else and then proceed with the troubleshooting.
Keep me posted!
SuperSoph_WD
Hi SuperSoph_WD,
I did find the WinXPSP2 installation disk but I cannot install WinXP or repair the old installation on either my original or the cloned WD drive. I get the message that there is no drive in my computer. Am I supposed to reformat the drives and start off clean before I can install Windows?
Thanks in advance,
George
I did find the WinXPSP2 installation disk but I cannot install WinXP or repair the old installation on either my original or the cloned WD drive. I get the message that there is no drive in my computer. Am I supposed to reformat the drives and start off clean before I can install Windows?
Thanks in advance,
George
SuperSoph_WD
Glorious
- Jul 30, 2014
- 6,758
- 3
- 45,960
Hi again, George!
Yes, I'd suggest to reformat the drives and wipe them clean first before performing the fresh install.
You should also check the connections again and make sure everything is plugged firmly and in the right port/order, because they should be detectable.
Let me know how it goes!
SuperSoph_WD
Yes, I'd suggest to reformat the drives and wipe them clean first before performing the fresh install.
You should also check the connections again and make sure everything is plugged firmly and in the right port/order, because they should be detectable.
Let me know how it goes!
SuperSoph_WD
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