Re: Cloning windows 2000
From: I'm Dan (dgREMOVE-THIS1261_at_cs.com)
Date: 05/25/04
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Date: Mon, 24 May 2004 22:34:55 -0700
"Dwayne" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> > For reliable results, don't let old-XP see the new disk before
> > it is copied over, and don't let new-XP see the old disk until
> > it has booted at least once and rebuilt its drive letter table.
>
> A little confused about the last part though. I was going to completely
> remove my backup drive f: when doing this. When you say dont let the
> old Windows2K see the new disk before it is copied over, what does
> that mean??? All I need to do is add the second newer drive as a slave,
> and then fdisk it (I want two partitions) and then format and transwer
> the c: contents to this first partition. Is that right? Do I still need to
> do the format or does it happen when I use either the WesternDigital
> tools or third party cloning software??? I mean wont windows see
> the drive as soon as it is FDISKed? And the very last part you mean
> that I should after cloning c: remove it from the cable and set the
> cloned drive to be the master and then reboot???
Win2K (as well as NT and XP) "remembers" drive letters by matching with a
unique hardware signature for each partition and recording that in its
registry. When Win2K boots, it reviews the signatures of all partitions it
sees and checks them against the remembered drive letter table. If a match
is found, that partition gets the same drive letter it had before. If no
match is found, a new drive letter is assigned to the partition and recorded
for future bootups.
If you boot old-2K with the new drive in place and fresh partitions visible,
old-2K says, "Aha, new hardware! Let's give it a drive letter and remember
that in the registry." Of course, the drive letter won't be 'C' because the
old disk has that, so it might end up being 'H' or something else. When you
subsequently clone old-2K over to the new disk, the registry (and its
remembered drive letter table) goes with it. Then when you try to boot the
new disk, the new Win2K starts to boot and says, "Oh, look! I recognize the
disk I'm on -- it's 'H'." So it boots up calling itself 'H', which is a
problem because the OS and lot of other stuff expects to find a 'C', which
isn't there. Don't let old-2K see the new disk before cloning, and no
memory of the new disk will be carried over to foul you up.
If new-2K doesn't recognize its own partition, it will do so the first time
it boots up, assign a drive letter, and remember it for future bootups. If
it sees no previously assigned 'C' drive around, it will assign itself
'C' -- which is good because that's what it used to be on the old disk. But
if the old disk is still installed (even as a slave!), new-2K will spot it,
remember it was 'C', and assign itself something else because now 'C' is
taken -- again, bad news. So, leave the old disk out the first time new-2K
boots so it will assign itself 'C' and remember that for future bootups.
After new-2K fixes its drive letter table, everything will be fine and you
can reinstall the old disk as slave if you want; it's just that first bootup
when new-2K is sorting things out that you need to be careful.
If your new WD disk doesn't come with a utility floppy, download it ("Data
Lifeguard Tools") from the WD site. It contains the tools to create your
partitions and copy over the old-2K partition to the new disk, all without
having to boot into old-2K to prep the new disk:
(1) remove your backup disk;
(2) connect the new disk;
(3) boot from the DLT floppy, choose 'Install Disk';
(4) prep the new disk and copy the Win2K partition from the old disk to the
new;
(5) remove the floppy;
(6) remove the old disk and put new as master (rejumper if necessary);
(7) boot the new disk.
Be careful to copy in the right direction, and don't reformat your old disk
until you're sure new-2K is working correctly. Once new-2K has booted up
and rewritten its drive letter table, you can shutdown and reinstall your
backup disk.
Like I said earlier, the freebie utils may not be all that robust or
comprehensive, but the price is right and it usually works. Try it, and if
DLT doesn't do the trick for you, you'll still have your old-2K disk to try
again with something more powerful like PartitionMagic, DriveImage, Ghost,
et al.
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