SATA to SATA Drive Clone Help

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Dell is replacing my WD120GB SATA hard drive on a newish (March 2004)
Dimension 8300 since the drive vibrates massively - to the point it shakes
the chassis/case. As much as possible, I want to avoid rebuilding the new
drive from scratch (too much stuff - many many personalized settings I
probably not duplicate). Ideally, I want an exact clone of my exiting drive.
But I have zero experience cloning drives. Dell tells me the replacement
drive will be unformatted.

Current drive has two partitions...the small Dell FAT32 utility partition.
The remainder is a large NTFS partition.

Current drive is connected in the 0 position. Is it as simple as connecting
the replacement in the 1 position, and using Norton Ghost or even Western
Digital Data Lifeguard to clone from the old to the new? Then moving the
new, cloned drive, into the 0 position? Will the drive be bootable?

Do I need to format the replacement drive first, or will the cloning
utility(ies) take care of this?

Any and all help appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

That vibration, my friend, is a feature, not a problem. You use it for
stirring coffee or mixing drinks. Just open the CD drive and put your mug or
glass on that handy little holder...

OK, seriously. Cloning from disk to disk with Norton Ghost is a cinch and
takes only minutes -- if you know what you're doing. Symantec has extensive
documentation on this procedure and, believe me, it works very well.
However...this is not a procedure for the novice. If you are not really
really sure about what to do, take advantage of your Dell warranty and have
someone come to your place to do it for you. You really need to have this
done right.

I've had experience cloning with Ghost and with Data Lifeguard. This is only
my opinion, but I think DLG stinks. Ghost is much faster and it also has
this advantage over DLG: It actually works.

Rocky

"lynnr" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:2ll309Fdj2fsU1@uni-berlin.de...
> Dell is replacing my WD120GB SATA hard drive on a newish (March 2004)
> Dimension 8300 since the drive vibrates massively - to the point it shakes
> the chassis/case. As much as possible, I want to avoid rebuilding the new
> drive from scratch (too much stuff - many many personalized settings I
> probably not duplicate). Ideally, I want an exact clone of my exiting
drive.
> But I have zero experience cloning drives. Dell tells me the replacement
> drive will be unformatted.
>
> Current drive has two partitions...the small Dell FAT32 utility partition.
> The remainder is a large NTFS partition.
>
> Current drive is connected in the 0 position. Is it as simple as
connecting
> the replacement in the 1 position, and using Norton Ghost or even Western
> Digital Data Lifeguard to clone from the old to the new? Then moving the
> new, cloned drive, into the 0 position? Will the drive be bootable?
>
> Do I need to format the replacement drive first, or will the cloning
> utility(ies) take care of this?
>
> Any and all help appreciated.
>
>
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

i have never had a dell tech willing to touch software. they install the
disk and make sure it boots to a dos prompt... that's it. i prefer for
dell to send me replacement drives so that i can perform a clone or
extraction of data at my leisure. if a tech is on the way with the drive
then you can ask him to leave the drive and you become responsible for
returning the defective unit yourself...

as for cloning... i have no interest in giving any money to symantec for
something that can be done for free... data life guard or maxtor maxblast
works just fine, perhaps slower, i can't say i have any recent experience
with ghost to make that judgment, but speed is not important to me. i would
visit western digital's or maxtor's web site (i prefer maxtors software
product only because i have lots of experience with it, but the underlying
product is essentially the same from all vendors except for being hardware
locked, no drive from the manufacturer then the thing halts) get the utility
that installs itself on bootable floppy disk.... open the case, unplug the
cd drives from the secondary controller, connect the new drive to the
secondary controller, boot the system with the utility disk, and prepare the
second drive as the new boot drive... when the copying is complete power off
the system, replace the primary drive with the new drive, and reconnect the
cd drives... you should be fine.

"lynnr" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:2ll309Fdj2fsU1@uni-berlin.de...
> Dell is replacing my WD120GB SATA hard drive on a newish (March 2004)
> Dimension 8300 since the drive vibrates massively - to the point it shakes
> the chassis/case. As much as possible, I want to avoid rebuilding the new
> drive from scratch (too much stuff - many many personalized settings I
> probably not duplicate). Ideally, I want an exact clone of my exiting
drive.
> But I have zero experience cloning drives. Dell tells me the replacement
> drive will be unformatted.
>
> Current drive has two partitions...the small Dell FAT32 utility partition.
> The remainder is a large NTFS partition.
>
> Current drive is connected in the 0 position. Is it as simple as
connecting
> the replacement in the 1 position, and using Norton Ghost or even Western
> Digital Data Lifeguard to clone from the old to the new? Then moving the
> new, cloned drive, into the 0 position? Will the drive be bootable?
>
> Do I need to format the replacement drive first, or will the cloning
> utility(ies) take care of this?
>
> Any and all help appreciated.
>
>
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Christopher Muto" <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:kufJc.44777$Xb4.44518@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
>i have never had a dell tech willing to touch software. they install the
> disk and make sure it boots to a dos prompt... that's it. i prefer for
> dell to send me replacement drives so that i can perform a clone or
> extraction of data at my leisure. if a tech is on the way with the drive
> then you can ask him to leave the drive and you become responsible for
> returning the defective unit yourself...
>
> as for cloning... i have no interest in giving any money to symantec for
> something that can be done for free... data life guard or maxtor maxblast
> works just fine, perhaps slower, i can't say i have any recent experience
> with ghost to make that judgment, but speed is not important to me. i
> would
> visit western digital's or maxtor's web site (i prefer maxtors software
> product only because i have lots of experience with it, but the underlying
> product is essentially the same from all vendors except for being hardware
> locked, no drive from the manufacturer then the thing halts) get the
> utility
> that installs itself on bootable floppy disk.... open the case, unplug
> the
> cd drives from the secondary controller, connect the new drive to the
> secondary controller, boot the system with the utility disk, and prepare
> the
> second drive as the new boot drive... when the copying is complete power
> off
> the system, replace the primary drive with the new drive, and reconnect
> the
> cd drives... you should be fine.
>

<snip>

Chris -

Have you had success with either WD DL or Maxblast in making a bootable
WinXP (NTFS) clone on a second drive? I've tried like all h3ll w/o any luck
whatsoever.

Both utilities have a very straightforward menu, so I don't believe I borked
anything copying over.

I ended up buying a small program that worked: (CompuApps Drive Wizard), as
we have need for backup bootables here.


Stew

I

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Stew,

FWIW I've had nothing but grief from Data Lifeguard. It took almost 45
minutes to clone my C: drive alone, and then the damn disk wouldn't even
boot. Did the whole thing over with Ghost 2003, which cloned my entire disk
in under 20 minutes and everything worked perfectly from the get go.

Rocky

"S.Lewis" <fearlessfreep@noyoujump.com> wrote in message
news😀PfJc.7981$yi3.7457@bignews6.bellsouth.net...
>
>
> "Christopher Muto" <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
> news:kufJc.44777$Xb4.44518@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
> >i have never had a dell tech willing to touch software. they install the
> > disk and make sure it boots to a dos prompt... that's it. i prefer for
> > dell to send me replacement drives so that i can perform a clone or
> > extraction of data at my leisure. if a tech is on the way with the
drive
> > then you can ask him to leave the drive and you become responsible for
> > returning the defective unit yourself...
> >
> > as for cloning... i have no interest in giving any money to symantec for
> > something that can be done for free... data life guard or maxtor
maxblast
> > works just fine, perhaps slower, i can't say i have any recent
experience
> > with ghost to make that judgment, but speed is not important to me. i
> > would
> > visit western digital's or maxtor's web site (i prefer maxtors software
> > product only because i have lots of experience with it, but the
underlying
> > product is essentially the same from all vendors except for being
hardware
> > locked, no drive from the manufacturer then the thing halts) get the
> > utility
> > that installs itself on bootable floppy disk.... open the case, unplug
> > the
> > cd drives from the secondary controller, connect the new drive to the
> > secondary controller, boot the system with the utility disk, and prepare
> > the
> > second drive as the new boot drive... when the copying is complete power
> > off
> > the system, replace the primary drive with the new drive, and reconnect
> > the
> > cd drives... you should be fine.
> >
>
> <snip>
>
> Chris -
>
> Have you had success with either WD DL or Maxblast in making a bootable
> WinXP (NTFS) clone on a second drive? I've tried like all h3ll w/o any
luck
> whatsoever.
>
> Both utilities have a very straightforward menu, so I don't believe I
borked
> anything copying over.
>
> I ended up buying a small program that worked: (CompuApps Drive Wizard),
as
> we have need for backup bootables here.
>
>
> Stew
>
> I
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

yes. in fact, that last 25 dells i got (dimensions 4600) i cloned using the
downloaded maxblast 3 bootable floppy disk. i created the master image
software build on one pc and then cloned that image to a second, then took
those two and cloned to two more simultaneously... point being that i even
cloned the clones without any problems. fwiw these were all 80gb maxtor
drives. took all day, probably over 1 hour per machine to clone the 10gb
image. i did have to manually change the machine name and join the domain
for upon boot, but this was a huge time saver and less time than it what it
would have taken to build just two machines from scratch...

ps. i understand that there some may have comments or concerns regarding
the legality of cloning with respect to software licenses, but i know i hold
the correct number of licenses for the software applications installed.
please let's not make this thread degenerate into a debate over licensing...
start a new thread if that is important to you. but for those interested,
no activation was required on the cloned systems in these identical
configured machines.

"S.Lewis" <fearlessfreep@noyoujump.com> wrote in message
news😀PfJc.7981$yi3.7457@bignews6.bellsouth.net...
>
>
> "Christopher Muto" <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
> news:kufJc.44777$Xb4.44518@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
> >i have never had a dell tech willing to touch software. they install the
> > disk and make sure it boots to a dos prompt... that's it. i prefer for
> > dell to send me replacement drives so that i can perform a clone or
> > extraction of data at my leisure. if a tech is on the way with the
drive
> > then you can ask him to leave the drive and you become responsible for
> > returning the defective unit yourself...
> >
> > as for cloning... i have no interest in giving any money to symantec for
> > something that can be done for free... data life guard or maxtor
maxblast
> > works just fine, perhaps slower, i can't say i have any recent
experience
> > with ghost to make that judgment, but speed is not important to me. i
> > would
> > visit western digital's or maxtor's web site (i prefer maxtors software
> > product only because i have lots of experience with it, but the
underlying
> > product is essentially the same from all vendors except for being
hardware
> > locked, no drive from the manufacturer then the thing halts) get the
> > utility
> > that installs itself on bootable floppy disk.... open the case, unplug
> > the
> > cd drives from the secondary controller, connect the new drive to the
> > secondary controller, boot the system with the utility disk, and prepare
> > the
> > second drive as the new boot drive... when the copying is complete power
> > off
> > the system, replace the primary drive with the new drive, and reconnect
> > the
> > cd drives... you should be fine.
> >
>
> <snip>
>
> Chris -
>
> Have you had success with either WD DL or Maxblast in making a bootable
> WinXP (NTFS) clone on a second drive? I've tried like all h3ll w/o any
luck
> whatsoever.
>
> Both utilities have a very straightforward menu, so I don't believe I
borked
> anything copying over.
>
> I ended up buying a small program that worked: (CompuApps Drive Wizard),
as
> we have need for backup bootables here.
>
>
> Stew
>
> I
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Christopher Muto" <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:zBiJc.1744$oD5.923@nwrdny03.gnilink.net...
> yes. in fact, that last 25 dells i got (dimensions 4600) i cloned using
> the
> downloaded maxblast 3 bootable floppy disk. i created the master image
> software build on one pc and then cloned that image to a second, then took
> those two and cloned to two more simultaneously... point being that i
> even
> cloned the clones without any problems. fwiw these were all 80gb maxtor
> drives. took all day, probably over 1 hour per machine to clone the 10gb
> image. i did have to manually change the machine name and join the domain
> for upon boot, but this was a huge time saver and less time than it what
> it
> would have taken to build just two machines from scratch...
>
> ps. i understand that there some may have comments or concerns regarding
> the legality of cloning with respect to software licenses, but i know i
> hold
> the correct number of licenses for the software applications installed.
> please let's not make this thread degenerate into a debate over
> licensing...
> start a new thread if that is important to you. but for those interested,
> no activation was required on the cloned systems in these identical
> configured machines.
>

<snip>


There apparently are subtle HW configuration differences in cloning
software, and which will work with some systems.

DriveWizard worked on my machine but didn't on a relative's. Same here with
your using WD/Maxtor utils.

I had used Maxblast successfully for years with Win2K and Win9X drives w/o
incident.


Stew

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

i wrote a long reply that doesn't seem to have come through, but add these
notes...
the earlier version of maxblast certainly had problems with xp and ntfs.
there were even maxblast cds shipped with retail drives well after xp was
released that did not work giving them a bad reputation.... but if you
download the current version from their web site you should not have any
problems. i used the version called maxblast 3 that creates a bootable
floppy. i like the floppy as i typically disconnect the cds from the
secondary controller at the motherboard end to connect the drive that has
the image i want to copy to that controller and not having to fuss with the
cables on the back of the cd drives... having the drives on separate
controllers halves the time it take to clone. hope this helps.

"S.Lewis" <fearlessfreep@noyoujump.com> wrote in message
news😀PfJc.7981$yi3.7457@bignews6.bellsouth.net...
>
>
> "Christopher Muto" <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
> news:kufJc.44777$Xb4.44518@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
> >i have never had a dell tech willing to touch software. they install the
> > disk and make sure it boots to a dos prompt... that's it. i prefer for
> > dell to send me replacement drives so that i can perform a clone or
> > extraction of data at my leisure. if a tech is on the way with the
drive
> > then you can ask him to leave the drive and you become responsible for
> > returning the defective unit yourself...
> >
> > as for cloning... i have no interest in giving any money to symantec for
> > something that can be done for free... data life guard or maxtor
maxblast
> > works just fine, perhaps slower, i can't say i have any recent
experience
> > with ghost to make that judgment, but speed is not important to me. i
> > would
> > visit western digital's or maxtor's web site (i prefer maxtors software
> > product only because i have lots of experience with it, but the
underlying
> > product is essentially the same from all vendors except for being
hardware
> > locked, no drive from the manufacturer then the thing halts) get the
> > utility
> > that installs itself on bootable floppy disk.... open the case, unplug
> > the
> > cd drives from the secondary controller, connect the new drive to the
> > secondary controller, boot the system with the utility disk, and prepare
> > the
> > second drive as the new boot drive... when the copying is complete power
> > off
> > the system, replace the primary drive with the new drive, and reconnect
> > the
> > cd drives... you should be fine.
> >
>
> <snip>
>
> Chris -
>
> Have you had success with either WD DL or Maxblast in making a bootable
> WinXP (NTFS) clone on a second drive? I've tried like all h3ll w/o any
luck
> whatsoever.
>
> Both utilities have a very straightforward menu, so I don't believe I
borked
> anything copying over.
>
> I ended up buying a small program that worked: (CompuApps Drive Wizard),
as
> we have need for backup bootables here.
>
>
> Stew
>
> I
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Christopher Muto" <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:uBjJc.46344$Xb4.38806@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
>i wrote a long reply that doesn't seem to have come through, but add these
> notes...
> the earlier version of maxblast certainly had problems with xp and ntfs.
> there were even maxblast cds shipped with retail drives well after xp was
> released that did not work giving them a bad reputation.... but if you
> download the current version from their web site you should not have any
> problems. i used the version called maxblast 3 that creates a bootable
> floppy. i like the floppy as i typically disconnect the cds from the
> secondary controller at the motherboard end to connect the drive that has
> the image i want to copy to that controller and not having to fuss with
> the
> cables on the back of the cd drives... having the drives on separate
> controllers halves the time it take to clone. hope this helps.
>

<snip>


Sure. I appreciate the response for you and RayJay.

My version of MaxBlast 3 is version 3.6.

I'm not, however, copying identical drives. (My attempts were from a 40gb
Maxtor to an 80gb Seagate).

In any event, I'm just glad those utils. are stilling working for *someone*.


Stew

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

come to think of it, at that same location, i built an xp pro drive image on
a 13gb wd drive in a dimension t-xxx series machine and cloned that image to
various sized drives in the other txxx machines they had using the wd
version of the utility. interestingly i have not encountered any
problems... you make me fell like i am just lucky. the software does
suggest that the windows based product is preferred after it identifies that
windows is installed on the drive, but i thought that was about performance
(speeed) rather than reliability. also worked for me on hp vectra vl600
series with various makes/model drives (hp brands drive with their own name
yet are more than just one actual manufacturer)...


"S.Lewis" <fearlessfreep@noyoujump.com> wrote in message
news:1IjJc.2759$oG5.1732@bignews5.bellsouth.net...
>
> "Christopher Muto" <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
> news:uBjJc.46344$Xb4.38806@nwrdny02.gnilink.net...
> >i wrote a long reply that doesn't seem to have come through, but add
these
> > notes...
> > the earlier version of maxblast certainly had problems with xp and ntfs.
> > there were even maxblast cds shipped with retail drives well after xp
was
> > released that did not work giving them a bad reputation.... but if you
> > download the current version from their web site you should not have any
> > problems. i used the version called maxblast 3 that creates a bootable
> > floppy. i like the floppy as i typically disconnect the cds from the
> > secondary controller at the motherboard end to connect the drive that
has
> > the image i want to copy to that controller and not having to fuss with
> > the
> > cables on the back of the cd drives... having the drives on separate
> > controllers halves the time it take to clone. hope this helps.
> >
>
> <snip>
>
>
> Sure. I appreciate the response for you and RayJay.
>
> My version of MaxBlast 3 is version 3.6.
>
> I'm not, however, copying identical drives. (My attempts were from a 40gb
> Maxtor to an 80gb Seagate).
>
> In any event, I'm just glad those utils. are stilling working for
*someone*.
>
>
> Stew
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Christopher Muto" <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:jItJc.5981$oD5.4444@nwrdny03.gnilink.net...
> come to think of it, at that same location, i built an xp pro drive image
> on
> a 13gb wd drive in a dimension t-xxx series machine and cloned that image
> to
> various sized drives in the other txxx machines they had using the wd
> version of the utility. interestingly i have not encountered any
> problems... you make me fell like i am just lucky. the software does
> suggest that the windows based product is preferred after it identifies
> that
> windows is installed on the drive, but i thought that was about
> performance
> (speeed) rather than reliability. also worked for me on hp vectra vl600
> series with various makes/model drives (hp brands drive with their own
> name
> yet are more than just one actual manufacturer)...
>
>

Either lucky or good, your efforts have worked and mine haven't (suggesting
I'm either unlucky or bad or both.

Hmm. My situation involved WinXP on a Dim4100, and on two homebuilts. In
all cases, the image was cloned to a second (slave) drive in each of those
machines, followed by a power down, unplug, and attempted reboot with the
cloned drive connected as master with no other drives attached.

Maybe I've just a different version of MaxBlast than you. It also appeared
to me that WD DL and the latest MBlast are nearly the identical program with
similar GUIs (run from desktop).

The successes I had were pre-WinXP OS and using the older boot floppy
versions of the utility.

Conversely, the trial version of DriveWizard worked immediately on both of
my machines, so I bought it.

<shrug>

Stew

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

other than the hardware lock that prevents them from working if not a single
drive from the manufacturer is present in the system, the maxtor/wd/etc
software is the same. i think the software is made by microhouse if my
memory serves me. i do know that the newer versions ask you what os you
intend to install... and a clue to the age of the software is if it list
windows xp in the list of choices or not. also, i always have the two
drives on separate controllers, not that it should make a difference other
than speed, but perhaps it does. i sometimes have the original image as the
primary drive on the primary controller but sometimes as the primary drive
on the secondary controller (in the case of the 25 machines i did not remove
the primary drive from each as they are installed two cages deep, but rather
put the master image as the primary drive on the secondary controller by
simply plugging the cable into the mother board and temporarily removing the
cds). there are choices to do an easy setup with an additional option to
make the destination drive 'additional storage' (not bootable) or 'new
primary boot device' (bootable), as well as a utility to fix drives that
have booting problems... i think i had a boot problem once that i fixed by
running the utility again and fixing the boot issue, but i have done so many
that i can not clearly recall. hth.

ps. i also did about five dimension lxxxcx series with all different drive
sizes for someone when upgrading to xp... it would not have been economical
time wise to install those from scratch, but with cloning it was worth
spending the money on

"S.Lewis" <fearlessfreep@noyoujump.com> wrote in message
news:hxvJc.5323$eS5.4052@bignews2.bellsouth.net...
>
> "Christopher Muto" <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
> news:jItJc.5981$oD5.4444@nwrdny03.gnilink.net...
> > come to think of it, at that same location, i built an xp pro drive
image
> > on
> > a 13gb wd drive in a dimension t-xxx series machine and cloned that
image
> > to
> > various sized drives in the other txxx machines they had using the wd
> > version of the utility. interestingly i have not encountered any
> > problems... you make me fell like i am just lucky. the software does
> > suggest that the windows based product is preferred after it identifies
> > that
> > windows is installed on the drive, but i thought that was about
> > performance
> > (speeed) rather than reliability. also worked for me on hp vectra vl600
> > series with various makes/model drives (hp brands drive with their own
> > name
> > yet are more than just one actual manufacturer)...
> >
> >
>
> Either lucky or good, your efforts have worked and mine haven't
(suggesting
> I'm either unlucky or bad or both.
>
> Hmm. My situation involved WinXP on a Dim4100, and on two homebuilts. In
> all cases, the image was cloned to a second (slave) drive in each of those
> machines, followed by a power down, unplug, and attempted reboot with the
> cloned drive connected as master with no other drives attached.
>
> Maybe I've just a different version of MaxBlast than you. It also
appeared
> to me that WD DL and the latest MBlast are nearly the identical program
with
> similar GUIs (run from desktop).
>
> The successes I had were pre-WinXP OS and using the older boot floppy
> versions of the utility.
>
> Conversely, the trial version of DriveWizard worked immediately on both of
> my machines, so I bought it.
>
> <shrug>
>
> Stew
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"lynnr" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:2ll309Fdj2fsU1@uni-berlin.de...
> Dell is replacing my WD120GB SATA hard drive on a newish (March 2004)
> Dimension 8300 since the drive vibrates massively - to the point it shakes
> the chassis/case. As much as possible, I want to avoid rebuilding the new
> drive from scratch (too much stuff - many many personalized settings I
> probably not duplicate). Ideally, I want an exact clone of my exiting
drive.
> But I have zero experience cloning drives. Dell tells me the replacement
> drive will be unformatted.
>
> Current drive has two partitions...the small Dell FAT32 utility partition.
> The remainder is a large NTFS partition.
>
> Current drive is connected in the 0 position. Is it as simple as
connecting
> the replacement in the 1 position, and using Norton Ghost or even Western
> Digital Data Lifeguard to clone from the old to the new? Then moving the
> new, cloned drive, into the 0 position? Will the drive be bootable?
>
> Do I need to format the replacement drive first, or will the cloning
> utility(ies) take care of this?
>
> Any and all help appreciated.
>
>

--------------------

Dell shipped a replacement - a Seagate Barracuda (out of WDs evidently). The
Cuda is probably a better drive anyway. Couldn't get the new drive
recognized in the #1 SATA position - clearing NVRAM a few times finally
forced the drive to initialize. Ran Casper XP -
http://www.fssdev.com/products/casperxp/ - to clone the original drive (in
the #0 SATA position) to the replacement drive. Took all of 16 minutes.
Pulled out the original, cleared NVRAM again, plugged in the new in the
primary SATA slot, and bingo - back up and running with a perfectly cloned
identical of the original drive.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

if you care about your personal data left on the old drive... go to
download.com and search for 'boot and nuke'... a simple little utility that
will wipe your old drive... but it will take way more than 18 minutes to
run...

"lynnr" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:2lpuk7FfugcjU1@uni-berlin.de...
>
> "lynnr" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
> news:2ll309Fdj2fsU1@uni-berlin.de...
> > Dell is replacing my WD120GB SATA hard drive on a newish (March 2004)
> > Dimension 8300 since the drive vibrates massively - to the point it
shakes
> > the chassis/case. As much as possible, I want to avoid rebuilding the
new
> > drive from scratch (too much stuff - many many personalized settings I
> > probably not duplicate). Ideally, I want an exact clone of my exiting
> drive.
> > But I have zero experience cloning drives. Dell tells me the replacement
> > drive will be unformatted.
> >
> > Current drive has two partitions...the small Dell FAT32 utility
partition.
> > The remainder is a large NTFS partition.
> >
> > Current drive is connected in the 0 position. Is it as simple as
> connecting
> > the replacement in the 1 position, and using Norton Ghost or even
Western
> > Digital Data Lifeguard to clone from the old to the new? Then moving the
> > new, cloned drive, into the 0 position? Will the drive be bootable?
> >
> > Do I need to format the replacement drive first, or will the cloning
> > utility(ies) take care of this?
> >
> > Any and all help appreciated.
> >
> >
>
> --------------------
>
> Dell shipped a replacement - a Seagate Barracuda (out of WDs evidently).
The
> Cuda is probably a better drive anyway. Couldn't get the new drive
> recognized in the #1 SATA position - clearing NVRAM a few times finally
> forced the drive to initialize. Ran Casper XP -
> http://www.fssdev.com/products/casperxp/ - to clone the original drive (in
> the #0 SATA position) to the replacement drive. Took all of 16 minutes.
> Pulled out the original, cleared NVRAM again, plugged in the new in the
> primary SATA slot, and bingo - back up and running with a perfectly cloned
> identical of the original drive.
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I have every intention of wiping the old drive before shipping it
back...maybe I'll take a strong magnet to it ;-))

Just want to wait a few days to make sure the new drive is really
functioning properly.


"Christopher Muto" <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news😛TQJc.2$W86.1@nwrdny03.gnilink.net...
> if you care about your personal data left on the old drive... go to
> download.com and search for 'boot and nuke'... a simple little utility
that
> will wipe your old drive... but it will take way more than 18 minutes to
> run...
>
> "lynnr" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
> news:2lpuk7FfugcjU1@uni-berlin.de...
> >
> > "lynnr" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
> > news:2ll309Fdj2fsU1@uni-berlin.de...
> > > Dell is replacing my WD120GB SATA hard drive on a newish (March 2004)
> > > Dimension 8300 since the drive vibrates massively - to the point it
> shakes
> > > the chassis/case. As much as possible, I want to avoid rebuilding the
> new
> > > drive from scratch (too much stuff - many many personalized settings I
> > > probably not duplicate). Ideally, I want an exact clone of my exiting
> > drive.
> > > But I have zero experience cloning drives. Dell tells me the
replacement
> > > drive will be unformatted.
> > >
> > > Current drive has two partitions...the small Dell FAT32 utility
> partition.
> > > The remainder is a large NTFS partition.
> > >
> > > Current drive is connected in the 0 position. Is it as simple as
> > connecting
> > > the replacement in the 1 position, and using Norton Ghost or even
> Western
> > > Digital Data Lifeguard to clone from the old to the new? Then moving
the
> > > new, cloned drive, into the 0 position? Will the drive be bootable?
> > >
> > > Do I need to format the replacement drive first, or will the cloning
> > > utility(ies) take care of this?
> > >
> > > Any and all help appreciated.
> > >
> > >
> >
> > --------------------
> >
> > Dell shipped a replacement - a Seagate Barracuda (out of WDs evidently).
> The
> > Cuda is probably a better drive anyway. Couldn't get the new drive
> > recognized in the #1 SATA position - clearing NVRAM a few times finally
> > forced the drive to initialize. Ran Casper XP -
> > http://www.fssdev.com/products/casperxp/ - to clone the original drive
(in
> > the #0 SATA position) to the replacement drive. Took all of 16 minutes.
> > Pulled out the original, cleared NVRAM again, plugged in the new in the
> > primary SATA slot, and bingo - back up and running with a perfectly
cloned
> > identical of the original drive.
> >
> >
> >
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Magnets don't do the trick -- not with today's hard drives. While a strong
magnet will probably erase a diskette, the only magnets powerful enough to
wipe data from a hard drive are laboratory-grade degaussers.

I once had to return a hard disk to Dell under warranty. Dell probably gets
dozens of drives a week, and I don't think they have the time or inclination
to see what I have on there, so I just formatted the thing.

But what if my hard drive fell into evil hands? Time to have some fun.
Here's what I did:

First, I soaked the drive in a pot of water. For 30 minutes. Next, I put it
in the freezer. For an hour. Then I took it from the freezer and plunged it
into boiling water. After it dried, it looked like I didn't do a thing to
it, but I'll bet it doesn't work.

Rocky

"lynnr" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:2lq4ubFf9d2kU1@uni-berlin.de...
> I have every intention of wiping the old drive before shipping it
> back...maybe I'll take a strong magnet to it ;-))
>
> Just want to wait a few days to make sure the new drive is really
> functioning properly.
>
>
> "Christopher Muto" <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
> news😛TQJc.2$W86.1@nwrdny03.gnilink.net...
> > if you care about your personal data left on the old drive... go to
> > download.com and search for 'boot and nuke'... a simple little utility
> that
> > will wipe your old drive... but it will take way more than 18 minutes to
> > run...
> >
> > "lynnr" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
> > news:2lpuk7FfugcjU1@uni-berlin.de...
> > >
> > > "lynnr" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
> > > news:2ll309Fdj2fsU1@uni-berlin.de...
> > > > Dell is replacing my WD120GB SATA hard drive on a newish (March
2004)
> > > > Dimension 8300 since the drive vibrates massively - to the point it
> > shakes
> > > > the chassis/case. As much as possible, I want to avoid rebuilding
the
> > new
> > > > drive from scratch (too much stuff - many many personalized settings
I
> > > > probably not duplicate). Ideally, I want an exact clone of my
exiting
> > > drive.
> > > > But I have zero experience cloning drives. Dell tells me the
> replacement
> > > > drive will be unformatted.
> > > >
> > > > Current drive has two partitions...the small Dell FAT32 utility
> > partition.
> > > > The remainder is a large NTFS partition.
> > > >
> > > > Current drive is connected in the 0 position. Is it as simple as
> > > connecting
> > > > the replacement in the 1 position, and using Norton Ghost or even
> > Western
> > > > Digital Data Lifeguard to clone from the old to the new? Then moving
> the
> > > > new, cloned drive, into the 0 position? Will the drive be bootable?
> > > >
> > > > Do I need to format the replacement drive first, or will the cloning
> > > > utility(ies) take care of this?
> > > >
> > > > Any and all help appreciated.
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > > --------------------
> > >
> > > Dell shipped a replacement - a Seagate Barracuda (out of WDs
evidently).
> > The
> > > Cuda is probably a better drive anyway. Couldn't get the new drive
> > > recognized in the #1 SATA position - clearing NVRAM a few times
finally
> > > forced the drive to initialize. Ran Casper XP -
> > > http://www.fssdev.com/products/casperxp/ - to clone the original drive
> (in
> > > the #0 SATA position) to the replacement drive. Took all of 16
minutes.
> > > Pulled out the original, cleared NVRAM again, plugged in the new in
the
> > > primary SATA slot, and bingo - back up and running with a perfectly
> cloned
> > > identical of the original drive.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

LOL!


"Rocket J. Squirrel" <rocky@bullwinkle.com> wrote in message
news:0bSJc.54999$Jk2.8127@roc.nntpserver.com...
> Magnets don't do the trick -- not with today's hard drives. While a strong
> magnet will probably erase a diskette, the only magnets powerful enough to
> wipe data from a hard drive are laboratory-grade degaussers.
>
> I once had to return a hard disk to Dell under warranty. Dell probably
gets
> dozens of drives a week, and I don't think they have the time or
inclination
> to see what I have on there, so I just formatted the thing.
>
> But what if my hard drive fell into evil hands? Time to have some fun.
> Here's what I did:
>
> First, I soaked the drive in a pot of water. For 30 minutes. Next, I put
it
> in the freezer. For an hour. Then I took it from the freezer and plunged
it
> into boiling water. After it dried, it looked like I didn't do a thing to
> it, but I'll bet it doesn't work.
>
> Rocky
>
> "lynnr" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
> news:2lq4ubFf9d2kU1@uni-berlin.de...
> > I have every intention of wiping the old drive before shipping it
> > back...maybe I'll take a strong magnet to it ;-))
> >
> > Just want to wait a few days to make sure the new drive is really
> > functioning properly.
> >
> >
> > "Christopher Muto" <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
> > news😛TQJc.2$W86.1@nwrdny03.gnilink.net...
> > > if you care about your personal data left on the old drive... go to
> > > download.com and search for 'boot and nuke'... a simple little utility
> > that
> > > will wipe your old drive... but it will take way more than 18 minutes
to
> > > run...
> > >
> > > "lynnr" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
> > > news:2lpuk7FfugcjU1@uni-berlin.de...
> > > >
> > > > "lynnr" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
> > > > news:2ll309Fdj2fsU1@uni-berlin.de...
> > > > > Dell is replacing my WD120GB SATA hard drive on a newish (March
> 2004)
> > > > > Dimension 8300 since the drive vibrates massively - to the point
it
> > > shakes
> > > > > the chassis/case. As much as possible, I want to avoid rebuilding
> the
> > > new
> > > > > drive from scratch (too much stuff - many many personalized
settings
> I
> > > > > probably not duplicate). Ideally, I want an exact clone of my
> exiting
> > > > drive.
> > > > > But I have zero experience cloning drives. Dell tells me the
> > replacement
> > > > > drive will be unformatted.
> > > > >
> > > > > Current drive has two partitions...the small Dell FAT32 utility
> > > partition.
> > > > > The remainder is a large NTFS partition.
> > > > >
> > > > > Current drive is connected in the 0 position. Is it as simple as
> > > > connecting
> > > > > the replacement in the 1 position, and using Norton Ghost or even
> > > Western
> > > > > Digital Data Lifeguard to clone from the old to the new? Then
moving
> > the
> > > > > new, cloned drive, into the 0 position? Will the drive be
bootable?
> > > > >
> > > > > Do I need to format the replacement drive first, or will the
cloning
> > > > > utility(ies) take care of this?
> > > > >
> > > > > Any and all help appreciated.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > --------------------
> > > >
> > > > Dell shipped a replacement - a Seagate Barracuda (out of WDs
> evidently).
> > > The
> > > > Cuda is probably a better drive anyway. Couldn't get the new drive
> > > > recognized in the #1 SATA position - clearing NVRAM a few times
> finally
> > > > forced the drive to initialize. Ran Casper XP -
> > > > http://www.fssdev.com/products/casperxp/ - to clone the original
drive
> > (in
> > > > the #0 SATA position) to the replacement drive. Took all of 16
> minutes.
> > > > Pulled out the original, cleared NVRAM again, plugged in the new in
> the
> > > > primary SATA slot, and bingo - back up and running with a perfectly
> > cloned
> > > > identical of the original drive.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

perhaps you were just kidding, but that method wouldn't really help... it
would certainly damage the electronics on the drive but would not have much
of an impact of the platters where you data is stored. i have seen data
recovered from drives that were in a fire. try the simpler approach of
using a utility like boot and nuke...

"Rocket J. Squirrel" <rocky@bullwinkle.com> wrote in message
news:0bSJc.54999$Jk2.8127@roc.nntpserver.com...
> Magnets don't do the trick -- not with today's hard drives. While a strong
> magnet will probably erase a diskette, the only magnets powerful enough to
> wipe data from a hard drive are laboratory-grade degaussers.
>
> I once had to return a hard disk to Dell under warranty. Dell probably
gets
> dozens of drives a week, and I don't think they have the time or
inclination
> to see what I have on there, so I just formatted the thing.
>
> But what if my hard drive fell into evil hands? Time to have some fun.
> Here's what I did:
>
> First, I soaked the drive in a pot of water. For 30 minutes. Next, I put
it
> in the freezer. For an hour. Then I took it from the freezer and plunged
it
> into boiling water. After it dried, it looked like I didn't do a thing to
> it, but I'll bet it doesn't work.
>
> Rocky
>
> "lynnr" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
> news:2lq4ubFf9d2kU1@uni-berlin.de...
> > I have every intention of wiping the old drive before shipping it
> > back...maybe I'll take a strong magnet to it ;-))
> >
> > Just want to wait a few days to make sure the new drive is really
> > functioning properly.
> >
> >
> > "Christopher Muto" <muto@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
> > news😛TQJc.2$W86.1@nwrdny03.gnilink.net...
> > > if you care about your personal data left on the old drive... go to
> > > download.com and search for 'boot and nuke'... a simple little utility
> > that
> > > will wipe your old drive... but it will take way more than 18 minutes
to
> > > run...
> > >
> > > "lynnr" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
> > > news:2lpuk7FfugcjU1@uni-berlin.de...
> > > >
> > > > "lynnr" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
> > > > news:2ll309Fdj2fsU1@uni-berlin.de...
> > > > > Dell is replacing my WD120GB SATA hard drive on a newish (March
> 2004)
> > > > > Dimension 8300 since the drive vibrates massively - to the point
it
> > > shakes
> > > > > the chassis/case. As much as possible, I want to avoid rebuilding
> the
> > > new
> > > > > drive from scratch (too much stuff - many many personalized
settings
> I
> > > > > probably not duplicate). Ideally, I want an exact clone of my
> exiting
> > > > drive.
> > > > > But I have zero experience cloning drives. Dell tells me the
> > replacement
> > > > > drive will be unformatted.
> > > > >
> > > > > Current drive has two partitions...the small Dell FAT32 utility
> > > partition.
> > > > > The remainder is a large NTFS partition.
> > > > >
> > > > > Current drive is connected in the 0 position. Is it as simple as
> > > > connecting
> > > > > the replacement in the 1 position, and using Norton Ghost or even
> > > Western
> > > > > Digital Data Lifeguard to clone from the old to the new? Then
moving
> > the
> > > > > new, cloned drive, into the 0 position? Will the drive be
bootable?
> > > > >
> > > > > Do I need to format the replacement drive first, or will the
cloning
> > > > > utility(ies) take care of this?
> > > > >
> > > > > Any and all help appreciated.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > --------------------
> > > >
> > > > Dell shipped a replacement - a Seagate Barracuda (out of WDs
> evidently).
> > > The
> > > > Cuda is probably a better drive anyway. Couldn't get the new drive
> > > > recognized in the #1 SATA position - clearing NVRAM a few times
> finally
> > > > forced the drive to initialize. Ran Casper XP -
> > > > http://www.fssdev.com/products/casperxp/ - to clone the original
drive
> > (in
> > > > the #0 SATA position) to the replacement drive. Took all of 16
> minutes.
> > > > Pulled out the original, cleared NVRAM again, plugged in the new in
> the
> > > > primary SATA slot, and bingo - back up and running with a perfectly
> > cloned
> > > > identical of the original drive.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>