HDD OS migration failed

[Vizour]

Hello guys,
please help me. My mum's company PC (Core2 Duo E6750, 2GB RAM) is almost 10 years old, still fast, but it's Samsung HDD is going to fail, I think - it knocks and makes horrible noise sometimes. So we bought WD Blue 1TB and I wanted to migrate the OS (Win XP) and all the files written on the old HDD before it completely dies. I tried programs like Macrium Reflect or EaseUS Todo, but both of them failed when clonning the disk. Can you help me? Thanks for answers!

 

[Multipack]

Looks like the disk has already failed. Do as Macrium suggests and run chkdsk https://neosmart.net/wiki/chkdsk/

 

[Solandri]

That's a serious failure. The normal procedure is to run chkdsk in repair mode (optionally to also scan for bad sectors) to repair the error. However, if you're correct and the drive is failing, running chkdsk could cause the drive to fail completely or destroy what data remains on the drive. Do not run chkdsk! At least not yet.

1. Backup all important data from the old drive.

2. Do a sector-by-sector copy of the old drive to the new one. This method of cloning does not attempt to read the files. It just copies the data in each sector straight from the original drive to the new one. You will not get any of the fancy cloning tools like resizing partitions. You'll have to do that manually.

3. Run a chkdsk /f on the new drive. Hopefully it works and fixes your master file table. If it doesn't, well, then the old drive is toast. If you're lucky the corrupted files are unimportant data files. If you're unlucky, they're crucial OS or program files and the OS or program will never work correctly again unless you reinstall it. Either way, the backup you made in step 1 is all you've got.

Personally I'd just do step 1, then buy a copy of Windows 10 (or 7 if you can still find it in a store) and install that on the new drive. Extended support for XP ended in 2014, meaning any vulnerabilities found since then have not been patched, and will never be patched. You're leaving the front door wide open for any hacker or malicious website to enter into your system by continuing to run XP..

2GB is kinda marginal for for Win 7 and 10, but they will run with it. If you find it too cramped or don't have the money for a new copy of Windows, I'd suggest trying out Ubuntu or Linux Mint.

 

[USAFRet]

"Read failed..."

You waited too long.

 

[Vizour]

Looks like the disk has already failed. Do as Macrium suggests and run chkdsk https://neosmart.net/wiki/chkdsk/

That's a serious failure. The normal procedure is to run chkdsk in repair mode (optionally to also scan for bad sectors) to repair the error. However, if you're correct and the drive is failing, running chkdsk could cause the drive to fail completely or destroy what data remains on the drive. Do not run chkdsk! At least not yet.

1. Backup all important data from the old drive.

2. Do a sector-by-sector copy of the old drive to the new one. This method of cloning does not attempt to read the files. It just copies the data in each sector straight from the original drive to the new one. You will not get any of the fancy cloning tools like resizing partitions. You'll have to do that manually.

3. Run a chkdsk /f on the new drive. Hopefully it works and fixes your master file table. If it doesn't, well, then the old drive is toast. If you're lucky the corrupted files are unimportant data files. If you're unlucky, they're crucial OS or program files and the OS or program will never work correctly again unless you reinstall it. Either way, the backup you made in step 1 is all you've got.

Personally I'd just do step 1, then buy a copy of Windows 10 (or 7 if you can still find it in a store) and install that on the new drive. Extended support for XP ended in 2014, meaning any vulnerabilities found since then have not been patched, and will never be patched. You're leaving the front door wide open for any hacker or malicious website to enter into your system by continuing to run XP..

2GB is kinda marginal for for Win 7 and 10, but they will run with it. If you find it too cramped or don't have the money for a new copy of Windows, I'd suggest trying out Ubuntu or Linux Mint.

"Read failed..."

You waited too long.

Thank you for answers!
I will probably buy two sticks of RAM (2x1 GB) and a copy of Win 10 to be safe.