My goal for this upgrade would be to clone my current WinXP Home SP3 setup onto the new drive while it is in the external case, then swap the hard drives, so that I would have the exact same setup in my laptop, only with 60gb more space. I would also have a new 60gb external hard drive to backup my important files. I am hoping Clonezilla will help me, as I really do not want to have to buy Norton Ghost.
While I consider myself somewhat technically inclined, the directions outlined on this site aren't quite clear to me. I'm not familiar with the terminology and certainly cannot afford to mess up this process. I was hoping to find a detailed, easy to follow walkthrough that I could use to guide me through the process, but have been unsuccessful in finding one. Can you help a starving student out? Thanks in advance,
-Robert
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Robert,
Sorry for the poor doc in our website. We will try to have a step by step doc recently.
Yes, clonezilla live does can do what you want.
It is recommended to backup your important data first just in case.
The basic step you need to do is burn the clonezilla live iso to a CD, and boot your machine via that CD, follow the dialog to do. You can choose to do device-image or device-device clone. The former is to save the harddrive as an image first, then restore the image to the target disk. The latter is to do disk to disk clone on the fly for you. However, if you are not familiar with the disk name on Linux, better to use device-image clone.
Maybe it's a good idea to practice this on a virtual machine first.
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-unchecked -g-auto (have tried checked and unchecked)
-Use partition table from source (have also tried -k and -k1)
Here we get an HDIO_GET_DMA FAILED error, and "No HD DMA information, maybe this [is] not [an] IDE device!"
Which it isn't, so I don't *think* this is the issue.
It then displays the info for the target device and issues the "existing data" warning. Continue?
-Y
OK, let's do it!
Create the partition in the target... Are you sure?
-Y
The partitions are created on the new disk. The only warning is that partition 2 does not end at a cylinder boundary.
Clone the boot loader? I have tried Y and N...
-Y
Start to clone... are you sure?
-Y
Brief flash of the "restore partition from image file" GUI
Then
*************
Source partition file system is ntfs...
Cloning the /dev/sda2 to /dev/sdb2...
Clean filesystem header in device /dev/sdb2...
*************
Using ntfsclone to clone...
Checking NTFS integrity in /dev/sda2... done!
ntfsclone v2.0.0 (libntfs 10:0:0)
...and that's it. No percentages, just that. For hours.
Using this method produces the correct partitions on the target disk, so I have tried cloning partition 2 to partition 2, rather than the whole disk.
I'm not very linux/command line adept, but can try anything you like if you walk me through it.
Thanks,
SyddyS
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For (2), it's about saving the disk as an image first, then restore it to the target.
For (3), with ntfsclone to save the image of partition and restore the image to target partition.
I knew in your case you need disk to disk, but I need to collect more info so that if the disk -> image -> disk works, it's easier for me to find the bugs and solution.
Thanks in advance.
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I tried saving the image to the 124 GB partition that had been created by the previous efforts. I received the error "Clonezilla image home directory /home/partimag is not a mounting point! Failed to mount other device as /home/partimag! Program terminated!!
If you can walk me through exactly what you'd like me to do, I'd appreciate it. As I said, I'm not very command line savvy.
thanks,
SyddyS
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SyddyS,
Did you mount /home/partimag ?
If not, please run these in Clonezila live:
1. sudo su -
2. prep-ocsroot
Then you will have a /home/partimag mounted, then you can test mroe.
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OK so I burned the iso to a CD. I do not have Linux nor do I know anything about how to run it. I'm assuming that since I have the new drive hooked up via external enclosure, I can do a device-device clone, am I correct? If so, could you kindly give me a quick guide so that I can perform this task? Thanks,
-Robert
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Robert,
Yes, once 2 disks are in the same machine, you can boot your Clonezilla live CD, then follow the dialog on the screen to clone:
1. Choose VGA 800x600 or 1024x768 screen, up to you.
2. Wait a few minutes when booting, then choose language and keymap. For English and US keyboard, just accept the default ones.
3. Choose to start clonezilla instead of entering command line
4. Choose device-device clone -> disk to local disk
5. Choose the source disk, it will show you the harddrive model and type. Make sure you are 100% sure it's source disk.
6. Then choose the target disk. You must be 100% sure it's the target disk.
///NOTE///
For 5 and 6, if you choose the wrong one. Your existing data might be gone. Therefore BE VERY CAREFUL!
7. Then for the advanced parameters, in your case, you can check "-k1". As for "-g auto" and "-r", you can uncheck them.
OK, in the end, if you are 100% sure, and you are ready, say yes to let it clone for you.
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Thanks again. I think I can follow those directions. Once the cloning is completed, can I take the target drive out of the external enclosure, swap it with the source drive in my laptop, and boot WinXP from the new drive? That is my end goal. Thanks,
-Robert
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Sorry for all the hassle. I followed your directions exactly as you had them, but I ran into trouble. I don't know how to put it into words, but instead I took pictures of step by step what I did. See this: http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/rdulay83/clonezilla%20trouble/
What am I doing wrong? What do I need to do so the cloning process goes successfully? Thanks,
-Robert
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I'm in a similar situation, only with me it is my desktop.
I ran through basically the same setup as Robert, but it actually appears to have started the copy
the last line of test displayed was:
ntfsclone v2.0.0 (libntfs 10:0:0)
and then nothing
Its been sitting here for a good 2 hours. I can't tell if it should be doing anything.
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MorbenDK1,
No, it's abnormal.
Normally it will start show the progress with percentage.
I still can not reproduce the problem here. I cloned a disk with Debian Linux to a larger disk, and cloned a disk with Windows XP to a larger disk, both work here.
If the problem can be reproduced here, it will be easier for me to fix that.
Maybe you can give testing or experimental Clonezilla live a try.
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I found another solution for the time being-- old drive was becoming way to full to use so i needed it now.
Anyway, I'll give those a shot- I'm very interested in Clonezilla as a cloning tool for work. It looks to be very easy to create/restore machines and the flexibility of it makes it extremely appealing.
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SyddyS,
Thanks for your info.
I still guess this issue is about kernel.
Please let us know if the experimental clonezilla works or not there when you give it a try.
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SyddyS,
So you mean it's not working only for vista, but works for MS Windows XP ?
A lot of people already reported that clonezilla live works for their vistas. So maybe we have to isolate the problem to see where does it come from.
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I have tried many versions, forward and backward, including testing and experimental. All versions stall at the same point. BTW it took almost a day to download the experimental from the Taiwan server, which seemed to be the most recent.
I was able to successfully clone an XP laptop to another using 1.2.0-25, so this experiment hasn't been a total waste, but I really was hoping to clone the Vista machine. Any thoughts you might have would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
SyddyS
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Exactly. I was able to clone an older XP laptop to another through the use of an external USB HD. So that means at least I'm not a total idiot :)
This Dell, though, is proving most troublesome. I have tried, as I mentioned, pretty much all the versions of Clonezilla I can get my hands on, but ntfsclone stalls out at the same point for all. I have run about every disk checker I have, and there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with either the Laptop HD or the USB HD (which of course worked fine on the XP clone). I have (a couple of times due to being slow on setting the boot order) re-booted to windows, re-done the Vista setup, checked that everything was intact, and then re-Sysprepped the machine to get it back into cloning state.
There are only two partitions on the machine, a small Dell utility partition and the main OS partition. I have tried doing an entire disk clone as well as just the OS partition.
Frankly I think I've tried every possible option on my end, and will have to abandon this project and *gasp* set up the other Dell laptop manually. I've probably already spent more time trying to clone than I would have just setting it up...
If you can get back to me quickly, though, I'm willing to help you solve the mystery in the name of Open Source Love.
Thanks,
SyddyS
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SyddyS,
Great. Let's fight this bug!
Here I do not have any exact machine as you have, so I can only guess, and provide some ways to let you test:
1. I uploaded another experimental version, 20080926-intrepid (http://www.clonezilla.org/download/sourceforge/experimental/iso-zip-files.php). If the problem is about kernel, this one uses a newer kernel. *Maybe* it will work.
2. When you save the image, try to choose the "empty" option in the "-q*" option list (the bottom one). i.e. to use partimage to save the image only. Maybe you can try to use "-q1" (dd), too (although it really takes a very long time to do via dd).
3. If you are familiar with command line, please enter command line prompt, then use command "ntfsclone" to save the partition so that maybe we can get more info: http://man.linux-ntfs.org/ntfsclone.8.html
The command to be run is like:
ntfsclone --save-image --output backup.img /dev/hda1
Please keep me posted.
Thanks in advance.
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SyddyS,
Thanks anyway.
I'd like to see why then fix it, but since I do not have similar environment so that I can reproduce the problem and test it, it's really difficult for us to fix it.
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I'm afraid the time I have to work on this has run out. I was hoping for a little more "step by step" as I mentioned before. Had I received that I might have been able to help...
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Hi, I am a college student and I found out about this program from PC Magazine. My Dell Inspiron E1505 has a 60gb hard drive, and it only has ~4gb of free space left. I'd prefer to not have to lug an external hard drive around to class, so I went ahead and bought a 120gb hard drive and an external case from Newegg.com:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136072
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817106099
My goal for this upgrade would be to clone my current WinXP Home SP3 setup onto the new drive while it is in the external case, then swap the hard drives, so that I would have the exact same setup in my laptop, only with 60gb more space. I would also have a new 60gb external hard drive to backup my important files. I am hoping Clonezilla will help me, as I really do not want to have to buy Norton Ghost.
While I consider myself somewhat technically inclined, the directions outlined on this site aren't quite clear to me. I'm not familiar with the terminology and certainly cannot afford to mess up this process. I was hoping to find a detailed, easy to follow walkthrough that I could use to guide me through the process, but have been unsuccessful in finding one. Can you help a starving student out? Thanks in advance,
-Robert
Robert,
Sorry for the poor doc in our website. We will try to have a step by step doc recently.
Yes, clonezilla live does can do what you want.
It is recommended to backup your important data first just in case.
The basic step you need to do is burn the clonezilla live iso to a CD, and boot your machine via that CD, follow the dialog to do. You can choose to do device-image or device-device clone. The former is to save the harddrive as an image first, then restore the image to the target disk. The latter is to do disk to disk clone on the fly for you. However, if you are not familiar with the disk name on Linux, better to use device-image clone.
Maybe it's a good idea to practice this on a virtual machine first.
No go on that build, either.
Here's the exact steps I'm taking (though I have tried many variations)...
Defaults all the way to "Start Clonezilla"
-device disk/part to disk/part
-disk to local disk clone
-(source) sda 250GB WDC_WD2500
-(target) sdb 500GB Simple Drive
-unchecked -g-auto (have tried checked and unchecked)
-Use partition table from source (have also tried -k and -k1)
Here we get an HDIO_GET_DMA FAILED error, and "No HD DMA information, maybe this [is] not [an] IDE device!"
Which it isn't, so I don't *think* this is the issue.
It then displays the info for the target device and issues the "existing data" warning. Continue?
-Y
OK, let's do it!
Create the partition in the target... Are you sure?
-Y
The partitions are created on the new disk. The only warning is that partition 2 does not end at a cylinder boundary.
Clone the boot loader? I have tried Y and N...
-Y
Start to clone... are you sure?
-Y
Brief flash of the "restore partition from image file" GUI
Then
*************
Source partition file system is ntfs...
Cloning the /dev/sda2 to /dev/sdb2...
Clean filesystem header in device /dev/sdb2...
*************
Using ntfsclone to clone...
Checking NTFS integrity in /dev/sda2... done!
ntfsclone v2.0.0 (libntfs 10:0:0)
...and that's it. No percentages, just that. For hours.
Using this method produces the correct partitions on the target disk, so I have tried cloning partition 2 to partition 2, rather than the whole disk.
I'm not very linux/command line adept, but can try anything you like if you walk me through it.
Thanks,
SyddyS
SyddyS,
So did you try the (2) and (3) I mentioned here:
https://sourceforge.net/forum/message.php?msg_id=5331506
For (2), it's about saving the disk as an image first, then restore it to the target.
For (3), with ntfsclone to save the image of partition and restore the image to target partition.
I knew in your case you need disk to disk, but I need to collect more info so that if the disk -> image -> disk works, it's easier for me to find the bugs and solution.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Steve,
I tried saving the image to the 124 GB partition that had been created by the previous efforts. I received the error "Clonezilla image home directory /home/partimag is not a mounting point! Failed to mount other device as /home/partimag! Program terminated!!
If you can walk me through exactly what you'd like me to do, I'd appreciate it. As I said, I'm not very command line savvy.
thanks,
SyddyS
SyddyS,
Did you mount /home/partimag ?
If not, please run these in Clonezila live:
1. sudo su -
2. prep-ocsroot
Then you will have a /home/partimag mounted, then you can test mroe.
Thanks for the reply Steven.
OK so I burned the iso to a CD. I do not have Linux nor do I know anything about how to run it. I'm assuming that since I have the new drive hooked up via external enclosure, I can do a device-device clone, am I correct? If so, could you kindly give me a quick guide so that I can perform this task? Thanks,
-Robert
Robert,
Yes, once 2 disks are in the same machine, you can boot your Clonezilla live CD, then follow the dialog on the screen to clone:
1. Choose VGA 800x600 or 1024x768 screen, up to you.
2. Wait a few minutes when booting, then choose language and keymap. For English and US keyboard, just accept the default ones.
3. Choose to start clonezilla instead of entering command line
4. Choose device-device clone -> disk to local disk
5. Choose the source disk, it will show you the harddrive model and type. Make sure you are 100% sure it's source disk.
6. Then choose the target disk. You must be 100% sure it's the target disk.
///NOTE///
For 5 and 6, if you choose the wrong one. Your existing data might be gone. Therefore BE VERY CAREFUL!
7. Then for the advanced parameters, in your case, you can check "-k1". As for "-g auto" and "-r", you can uncheck them.
OK, in the end, if you are 100% sure, and you are ready, say yes to let it clone for you.
Steven,
Thanks again. I think I can follow those directions. Once the cloning is completed, can I take the target drive out of the external enclosure, swap it with the source drive in my laptop, and boot WinXP from the new drive? That is my end goal. Thanks,
-Robert
Steven,
Sorry for all the hassle. I followed your directions exactly as you had them, but I ran into trouble. I don't know how to put it into words, but instead I took pictures of step by step what I did. See this: http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/rdulay83/clonezilla%20trouble/
What am I doing wrong? What do I need to do so the cloning process goes successfully? Thanks,
-Robert
Something went wrong here:
http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/rdulay83/clonezilla%20trouble/?action=view¤t=computerproblems025.jpg
I can only see the lower part in the photo, no idea if there more error messages in the upper screen.
I will try to do a test here to see if it works or not here.
Robert,
I did a test to clone disk to disk, but I can not reproduce the problem here.
Does the problem always happen there ?
I'm in a similar situation, only with me it is my desktop.
I ran through basically the same setup as Robert, but it actually appears to have started the copy
the last line of test displayed was:
ntfsclone v2.0.0 (libntfs 10:0:0)
and then nothing
Its been sitting here for a good 2 hours. I can't tell if it should be doing anything.
MorbenDK1,
No, it's abnormal.
Normally it will start show the progress with percentage.
I still can not reproduce the problem here. I cloned a disk with Debian Linux to a larger disk, and cloned a disk with Windows XP to a larger disk, both work here.
If the problem can be reproduced here, it will be easier for me to fix that.
Maybe you can give testing or experimental Clonezilla live a try.
Thanks Steve.
I found another solution for the time being-- old drive was becoming way to full to use so i needed it now.
Anyway, I'll give those a shot- I'm very interested in Clonezilla as a cloning tool for work. It looks to be very easy to create/restore machines and the flexibility of it makes it extremely appealing.
Mine stops in the same place as MorbenDK1...
Dell inspiron 1525 trying to clone to external USB HD for purposes of restoring a full config to another 1525.
Steps taken:
Sysprep Vista and shutdown
Boot to Clonezilla Live CD
Use all defaults for a disk to disk clone
All appears to be OK, then stalls on ntfsclone version info as with Morben
It does appear that the proper partitions of proper sizes are created, but no cloning occurs.
The only thing I can see that *might* be tricking things up is that Dell has a very small (41MB) utility partition.
I have tried partition->partition clone on just the Vista OS drive to avoid this partition, and it stalls out at the same place.
I will try the testing or experimental, but I thought you might like to know another situation like Morben's...
-SyddyS
SyddyS,
Thanks for your info.
I still guess this issue is about kernel.
Please let us know if the experimental clonezilla works or not there when you give it a try.
SyddyS,
So you mean it's not working only for vista, but works for MS Windows XP ?
A lot of people already reported that clonezilla live works for their vistas. So maybe we have to isolate the problem to see where does it come from.
I have tried many versions, forward and backward, including testing and experimental. All versions stall at the same point. BTW it took almost a day to download the experimental from the Taiwan server, which seemed to be the most recent.
I was able to successfully clone an XP laptop to another using 1.2.0-25, so this experiment hasn't been a total waste, but I really was hoping to clone the Vista machine. Any thoughts you might have would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
SyddyS
Exactly. I was able to clone an older XP laptop to another through the use of an external USB HD. So that means at least I'm not a total idiot :)
This Dell, though, is proving most troublesome. I have tried, as I mentioned, pretty much all the versions of Clonezilla I can get my hands on, but ntfsclone stalls out at the same point for all. I have run about every disk checker I have, and there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with either the Laptop HD or the USB HD (which of course worked fine on the XP clone). I have (a couple of times due to being slow on setting the boot order) re-booted to windows, re-done the Vista setup, checked that everything was intact, and then re-Sysprepped the machine to get it back into cloning state.
There are only two partitions on the machine, a small Dell utility partition and the main OS partition. I have tried doing an entire disk clone as well as just the OS partition.
Frankly I think I've tried every possible option on my end, and will have to abandon this project and *gasp* set up the other Dell laptop manually. I've probably already spent more time trying to clone than I would have just setting it up...
If you can get back to me quickly, though, I'm willing to help you solve the mystery in the name of Open Source Love.
Thanks,
SyddyS
SyddyS,
Great. Let's fight this bug!
Here I do not have any exact machine as you have, so I can only guess, and provide some ways to let you test:
1. I uploaded another experimental version, 20080926-intrepid (http://www.clonezilla.org/download/sourceforge/experimental/iso-zip-files.php). If the problem is about kernel, this one uses a newer kernel. *Maybe* it will work.
2. When you save the image, try to choose the "empty" option in the "-q*" option list (the bottom one). i.e. to use partimage to save the image only. Maybe you can try to use "-q1" (dd), too (although it really takes a very long time to do via dd).
3. If you are familiar with command line, please enter command line prompt, then use command "ntfsclone" to save the partition so that maybe we can get more info:
http://man.linux-ntfs.org/ntfsclone.8.html
The command to be run is like:
ntfsclone --save-image --output backup.img /dev/hda1
Please keep me posted.
Thanks in advance.
SyddyS,
Thanks anyway.
I'd like to see why then fix it, but since I do not have similar environment so that I can reproduce the problem and test it, it's really difficult for us to fix it.
I'm afraid the time I have to work on this has run out. I was hoping for a little more "step by step" as I mentioned before. Had I received that I might have been able to help...