XXClone drive copying data

[compdude61]

Morning to you all.
I thought i'd ask some of you about a procedure i'm trying to attemt & having no sucess at doing so.
I have a Emachine W3080 where a long while back I used XXClone to copy WXP Home to a XXCllone existing drive & it was a 80 gb Seagate Barrcuda 7200.7 drive.
The one in it now is the XXClone bootable drive.
I took the XXClone Target drive out for the time being to keep for safe keeping in case the system went down.
Now for the last week & a half my wife complained that the WXP was running rather slow so I went & cleaned the c: drive & partictioned it.
I then opened it up & it was real dirty inside so I cleaned it.
Now heres the catch:
When I went to boot it back up it would not boot to WXP.
Said something like C: drive not found. (something to that effect). No BSOD
I then took it & plugged it into my external USB transfer powered cable on my other Emachine & it found the C: Partition & I could see all her docs & settings.
Stupid me! I didn't go ahead & copy all her stuff to a file on my system.
Just wanted to see if I could merely boot it with the USB cable.
I went ahead & unlpugged it & set it aside for the time being.
The problem i'm having now is when I went to plug it back in to her Emachine it would not recognize it from the system tray with the external powered USB cable.
The harddrive is the XXClone bootable drive & not the Target drive.
The drive makes some small clicking sounds but not all the time & it bumps a bit & the lite on the adaptor flickers & stays on at times.
I'm thinking the drive is ok but has something to do with the XXClone software not letting me access it.
I did some searching & found I might have to use some sort of software to try to get her files back but I am at a standstill for now.
It was the freeware XXClone version so I cannot get any support from them.
Thought maybe someone here might have run into this type of problem before & help me out.
Please ask me anything you like if i've left anything out about explaining my problem.
My wife needs her data back real bad.
I did try the freezer effect but did not help.
I do believe the drive is a problem with the XXClone & not a mechanical problem with the drive.
Thanks for any support you might give me.
David

 

[Shadow703793]

1. Do you have back ups of the data?

2. Does it still work on your PC? (As in can you access the USB drive on your PC? )

 

[compdude61]

No! As a matter of fact!
Even when I plug to usb & reboot, the system hangs untill I unplug the usb & then it goes ahead & boots.
The same way if the systems already up & running.
It hangs up when trying to run apps & such.
That's why I know Window's is trying to recognize the XXClone drive but can't because of a conflict with the drive's & it's operating system.
It's just all so confusing when I try to reconsile the behavior of it & read about things that go wrong with a cloned drives & cannot get the data back.
My wife does not have alot of valuble data on it cause she is on Yahoo 360 Multiply all the time & does not save much.
Just her favorites.
They all consist of her friends she saved so she wouldn't forget them.
I have all the pics & such saved but only ones from a while back.
Don't do a regular scheduled backup on hers cause she's always on it day & nite.
I've read things on the net about software that can retrieve data from a cloned corrupt drive.
Like I mentioned earlier, the system would not boot with the drive on the master inside the pc.
Only hdd in the system.
Have the other target hdd put up somewhere.
Kinda confused though about target & bootable drives in XXClone.
I may have it backwards.
I assume the bootable drive is the one thats in the system now.
Or at least was before.
Now I'm just trying to figure out why it can't be recognized it in Disk Management.
I will stick with it till the end, no matter what.
I've had drives before that just went south from mechanical failure & know what they can sound like.
The drive is definately spinning up but bumps at times & clicks very little.
The system hanging with it hooked up is what's got me.
When I just have the 4 pin plugged in it just spins normally.
It's when I plug it into the sytem inside or to a usb is when it starts acting up.
I was using the bootable floppy disk too with the computer it belonged in.
Maybe I need to install XXClone on my other system & see what happens.
I know I have to be careful & not lose my data hdd on my master side.
I repair systems mostly but never run into trying to figure out a cloned drive & what they can do when something goes wrong.
I'm through now.
Sorry for all the mumbo jumbo.
I'll bet theres not too many out there that run into this type of problem & can't fix it.
Thanks!
David

 

[jitpublisher]

I did not read all of this, but let me toss this out and see if it helps any at all.
When you clone a drive, you cannot make both the drives bootable. It does not work that way. You must specify if you are cloning or mirroring the image to another drive to be used as a boot drive, or a backup. Very basically, the mirroring software will only put the boot sector of the drive on 1 disk or the other. Not both.
That would give you 2 individual fully functional independant working copies of the same software (Windows) which is illegal.
Now, if you have both disks in the machine, either one will boot as the motherboard will find the boot sector, (as long as both drives actually work and do not have physical problem) and the boot sector does not have to necessarily be on the same drive you are booting too! If you take the drive out of the system that has the boot sector on it, the other drive will not boot. You will get the no bootable device error.
Many people try to do this, make an exact mirror of their OS drive, take it out and set it aside thinking if their drive fails, they can just stick the mirrored one in an presto.....back to normal.
Don't know if this is your malady, or even close, but it does sound like this is what you have tried to do....it won't work quite like you may have thought it would

But you should be able to do a repair install.
Insert the XP disk, boot to it and start a new install.
When it asks if you want the recovery console or new install, choose new install.
Windows setup will start, and will find your drive with your current install of Windows on it.
It will ask you again if you want to do a new install, or repair the current XP installation.
Now choose repair.
It will run just as if it is doing a complete reinstall, but all your programs and files will remain intact and untouched.
This procdure will wipe out all your installed secondary hardware drivers, like your video card and motherboard drivers, so you will have to reinstall them as well. It will also wipe out your entire history of security updates from the Windows update site, so all of that will start downloading and have to reinstall.
But it will leave everything else just as it is.

 

[compdude61]

Thanks for that reply!
I did some digging on XXClone site & found which may work is to make a bootable floopy from the XXClone software I created on my other machine for now & plug in the hdd (making it external) from my wifes machine & reboot & go into the bio's at the bootable drive options & see if that will work.
It says something to that nature in the bootable section of XXClone tips.
Like I mentioned, I will keep digging till I get it up so I can transfer docs & favorites to my hdd.
My first time doing this.
Both WXP copies are Genuine.
One which was in her machine is WXP Home SP3 & mine is WXPPro SP3.
I'll spend all weekend trying to get it to work or else just Format it & reinstall.
Thaks again!
David

 

[compdude61]

I think I found my problem.
When I inserted the blank floppy & tried to do a MSDOS startup disk it made WXP Pro lock up.
When I did a cold boot which that was my only alternative it still was a little unstable.
Apps seem to go alittle slower than usual.
The floppy drive showed ok in Device Manager, so I knew that was not my problem.
Did a system restore but that did not help.
Used my Advanced System Care software & performed all the tools & it seemed to help.
It also had 5 Malware detections on it & used my Avira scan to delete it.
It had something to do with the XXCloned hdd from my wifes computer, had messed up the registry on my system somehow.
XXClone when installed copys the bio's to her machine & caused it to lock up on mine since it did not see the correct bio's configurations.
All I wanted to do is try to copy all her docs & settings to my system.
You would think there was some sort of software out there that would perform my tasks so I could copy it.
I'll never use that XXClone software again.
Unless I purchase the Pro Version.
You can't get support for the Freeware version.
Did some Googling & that helped me find what I needed to get it right.
Thanks!
David

 

[PCUser_77]

Use of the following information is at your own risk and I make no warranty or representations that the techniques will work with your issues.

First of all, let me say I empathize with your problem. With around 10 computers in our home and most getting older, a number are failing and needing hardware updates and repairs. Funds are tight and we run a lot of older, but still decent software on the few PCs in actual usage.

I have found the following to be true:
Some computers will boot up with an external USB drive plugged in, others will not, but will hang shortly after the BIOS splash screen. For those, all you can do is unplug the USB drive, finish booting, then plug the USB cable back in and have Windows find the drive. Alternatively, some PCs allow you to adjust the BIOS setting to allow a boot from an external drive. However, after reading some mirroring forums, Windows XP may not allow you to boot from an external USB drive (but this may also be due to BIOS settings).

If you can load the hard drive using the USB cable, simply copy your wife’s setting to your hard drive, or to another thumb drive. The Documents and Favorites folders are easily copied using Windows Explorer. If security is on and you can’t access the folder (a small window pops up and states that access is denied), try the following: right-click on the folder and select “Sharing and Security” from the pop-up menu.

From the Window that pops up, select the Sharing Tab, then click on the link, “If you understand the security risks, but want to share files without running the Wizard, click here.”

In the next window, select the “Just enable sharing” option.

When you return to Properties window, place checks in the boxes for “Share this folder on the network” and “Allow network users to change my files”. Create your own Share name (Hint: keep it to 8 characters, no spaces)

You may get a warning about the Share name you chose.

You may also get a warning about not being able to share the folder. Ignore those and click OK.

Now using Windows Explorer, you should be able to open and see the folder and copy the files in it to your hard drive or wherever you wish on your network.

After you have fixed your wife’s PC, simply copy her files back to where you want them to go.

Do remember to reset/turn back on her folder security if you are putting her drive back into her machine.

While you have her hard drive attached via USB to your PC, run a full virus scan on the drive. One of my PCs that my son used had over 33 Trojans on it. Delete or clean those and you may be able to get your hard drive back in service.

As a matter of policy, I always keep my data on a separate internal hard drive or separate partition from the system drive. That way if the main drive goes down, no data is lost. Keep System Restore running on the System partition, but not on the other partitions or drives. Doing a System Restore on data folders may result in having more recent folders being given generic names.

I also run SecondCopy back up software on the data drives and folders, which does a pretty decent job of doing incremental backups daily, weekly or manually. I never run daily, weekly or monthly backups on my System folder as it won’t back up active files, though I do recommend at least one or periodic backups of what can be backed up. Important files that can be backed up include the Favorites folders, My Documents, and the all important authentication files c:\windows\system32\wpa.dbl and wpa.bak files. If you ever need to reinstall windows on your PC, simply copy these two files back into place to bypass the authentication procedure.

I always back up the primary user’s My Documents folder to the secondary drive, and that is backed up to a large network share. (1 TB drives are cheap anymore (I got a 1.5 TB Seagate for $89 from NewEgg on a special deal)). Use SATA if possible as those are hot swappable and you can slide those into an external dock if you wish. With those eSATA docks, use the shortest eSATA cables possible as the 6’ ones often lead to read/rewrite errors and a locked up drive is no good for backing up. Use the slower USB 2.0 ports and cables if you experience that problem.

OK, now here is how to get your best out of freeware XXClone (found out after many hours of frustrating inadequate backups). We install a lot of software onto a PC, only to find that if a driver is bad or we wish to mirror an original to a larger hard drive, all that installation and authentication work goes to waste. Arghhh! The most recent frustration came after my wife’s PC downloaded and installed a Windows update and it kept hosing the System file. After playing with that for 20 hours including rebuilding the PC, and reinstalling all the software, I gave up on that one, and tossed that PC (I think it had to do with incompatibility between Windows XP, the board drivers and the power down mode not writing to the System file properly, something beyond my control.

Okay, here is how to get the best out of the XXClone Freeware. (I typed this up for myself, but figure others could benefit from the knowledge as well.) Firstly, always obey your software licenses, but I see no reason why a perfectly mirrored unpowered, uninstalled hard drive can’t be set aside for emergencies later on or used to mirror back to the active drive should it become corrupted beyond what Windows Restore is able to work through. It’s also a great technique to migrate to a much larger drive (I went from a 40GB to a 120 GB).

Method using XXClone in SAFE mode (it works!)
1. Download the freeware program XXClone available from a variety of sites or from http://www.xxclone.com/idwnload.htm
2. Shut down the system and connect the new(?) or replacement drive. Connect as a Master on the Secondary IDE if possible. You will likely have to disconnect the CDROM. Make sure the jumpers on the hard drive are set properly for your system.
3. Reboot the system into SAFE mode. This disables nearly all applications, dll’s and modules (i.e. the active files that cause so much copying headaches). You will need your PC’s Administrator password. If you are running Windows XP Home edition and haven’t deliberately set one up, the Administrator password is blank. Now is a good time to change that Administrator password (after you have logged in. Go to Control Panel, Users, Administrator, change password, etc.)
4. Optional: Take a few moments in SAFE mode to configure the Administrator Display settings including turning off Power Save mode, Screen Saver, Folder Views > show hidden folders, etc.
5. Verify which drives are the Source and Target drives using Windows Explorer. Running Disk Management can be helpful (Right-click on My Computer > Manage > Disk Management). It is also accessible from within XXClone.
6. Run the XXClone software while in SAFE mode to copy the one drive to the other. Be careful with the drive letters, as the default target drive letter may not be the one you intended.
7. After the copying is done (which can take over an hour depending on the speed of your system), exit XXClone. Restart XXClone and after verifying that you have the proper Source and Target drives indicated, go to the Cool Tools menus, and place a check next to the option, Duplicate Vol. ID and press the Start button. This allows you to copy the volume serial number from the Source volume to the Target volume which is essential for some programs (such as Antivirus software) to operate without reinstallation.
8. If you have secondary partitions on both drives (e.g. a Recovery Partition), you may wish to duplicate the secondary partition from the Source to the secondary partition on the Target drive as well. If you are successful in 100% mirroring of your hard drive, you won’t need that Recovery Partition at all, as you will have a fully mirrored hard drive to work with.
9. When done, exit XXClone, and shut down the system. Install the Target drive as the primary and reboot. It may take a bit longer to initially boot as the software sees different drives and settings. If you have multiple partitions and drives, you may have to change the drive letters to what they were before (Use the aforementioned Disk Management module). You may have to reboot between changing drive letters. Verify that all your program (esp. your antivirus software works properly).
10. You may also wish to change the boot.ini file to remove the XXClone label so you don’t have to see it at system start up. Save a backup copy of your c:\boot.ini file as boot.txt in case you need to restore it.

Open the boot.ini file with Notepad and find the line that says something like: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XXCLONE: (Cloned Volume) [d:0,p:1] \WINDOWS" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

You can change the contents between the quotation marks to any label that seems appropriate, such as “Windows XP Home Edition” or Windows XP Professional”. Save the file. You can also turn off the display of the Bootup options: Go to My Computer > Properties > Advanced > Startup and Recovery. Deselect the option "Time to display list of operating systems." You can also press the Edit button and edit the boot.ini file from this location.
11. Voila, you are finished. Now store your original drive in a safe place should something happen to your System drive in the PC (Do not use your original drive in another PC in a definite violation of your software license agreement). If you have space in your PC case, consider storing it on the inside bottom of your PC’s case bubble-wrapping the drive to protect it and the other contents of your PC case. That way it will be easy to find if you ever need it again.

Hope this is helpful to others that struggle with effectively mirroring a hard drive.

 

[compdude61]

Thank's PCuser_77 for getting back to me!
Man! I almost forgot about this post since I put the hdd in storage untill a later date.
Now I have another project I can tackle along with alot more.
Your info is really valuble to me.
You info will most likely help me when I get around to performing the project.
I will probably be wasteing my time asking you this question but can see you are a lot better at computer programming & much more compared to what I can do.
Been lrearning alot more about programming & such since this last posting & am familiar with some of the info you have added for the XXCLone troubleshooting procedure.
What I wanted to ask is: I have my client's HP dv2416us laptop which if you've ever read about the problems they have with alot of the dvxxxx series laptop's not booting,wireless issues & more.
I'm trying to perform a Crisis HP Recovery Disk procedure using my Dell external floppy drive.
I cannot seem to get the file name right: bio's.wph with the bio's file added to it to the floppy drive.
It must be used with a compression software to compress it down to where it can be used on the floppy disk.
You can read about this on the HP site under both links: Crisis Recover Disk First link which is rather long & will take some time to load & then they added a second Crisi Recovery link: Crisis Recovery 2 which procede from the first one.
It is on the Business support forum link on HP.
If you like read it & get back to me.
I have all the software saved on my HP Vista machine for the project.
Just need to get the file name right for transfer to the floppy drive so I can see if the laptop has a bio's configuration problem top see if it will let the system boot normally.
Thank's for any support you might have.
David
Like I said I may have to add a new post for this issue if you cannot help me.
Thank's for the other support issues you gave me earlier.
It will come in handy later once I get the issue woith the laptop resolved.

 

[compdude61]

Early good morning to you PCUser_77!
Don't know if you are still a member of this site or even respond back but I am going to give it a shot anyway.
Yes! I'm up every morning about this time all through the weekday's & weekend's.
Been taking courses on programming & repairing computer's & now i'm a computer consultant & have my own computer repair workshop.
Still working on my Website trying to get all my stuff in order to publish it.
I know it's been quite a spell since i've replied to your post helping me with that XXClone drive.
Let's see, since back in 2009?
I finally got the urge to get that drive out soon & give it another shot at getting the data back & someone told me to use a Linux cd to do it.
I didn't expect you respond back for the problem on the HP laptop but I got the owner & also a friend of the laptop to go ahead & sell it to me for $200.00 which I believe is a great deal.
He got him a IPhone in place of the HP laptop.
NVidia has a lawsuit against them for the problem this laptop is having with the chip becoming dislodge (unsoldered) from the main board.
Going to see if I can get in on that lawsuit & see if I can get another laptop.
That's what their offering to the owners of all the HP's & some others that have the NVidia chip's.
Just wanted to let you know I was sill tracking this discussion & hope to hear from you soon.
Take care!
David