[RESOLVED] Can U Take aImage os my O/S after HDD Failed ?
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 16

Thread: [RESOLVED] Can U Take aImage os my O/S after HDD Failed ?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    999

    Resolved [RESOLVED] Can U Take aImage os my O/S after HDD Failed ?

    One of my laptop, a Sony VGN, 32 bits, HDD failed and I had replaced it with another HDD. But I can still see my C and D drive on the failed HDD if I connect it to another laptop using a USB adapter. Is there a way I can take a image of my o/s on the failed HDD and then use the image to install on my new HDD ? I have Macrium Reflex and Arconis - both are free edition to copy the image.

    Any advise greatly appreciated. Thanks

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Arkham Asylum, Cell 13
    Posts
    11,686
    Even if the imaging is successful, it will be a copy of the damaged drive. I doubt you'd be able to restore it to a new drive.

    I would just do a clean install of Windows, but it's your call.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    999
    Quote Originally Posted by Midknyte View Post
    Even if the imaging is successful, it will be a copy of the damaged drive. I doubt you'd be able to restore it to a new drive.

    I would just do a clean install of Windows, but it's your call.
    Thanks for your advise. But I thought the failure of the HDD is the mechanical part of he drive, not the saofware ? So I was wondering if the software is affecte4d when the HDD mechanics failed.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Arkham Asylum, Cell 13
    Posts
    11,686
    Yes, the software is affected when there is a hardware failure. The hardware is like the foundation of a house; if the foundation goes, then the house falls down.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    999
    Quote Originally Posted by Midknyte View Post
    Yes, the software is affected when there is a hardware failure. The hardware is like the foundation of a house; if the foundation goes, then the house falls down.
    Thank you for the clarifications and for saving me a lot of wasted time to try and image it and reimage it on the new HDD, Have a good weekend.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2000
    Location
    Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA
    Posts
    18,063
    I have actually done this successfully on a few drives. However, your chances of success are not good. Even if you can restore the image to another drive, you may need to perform a Repair Install to make it bootable again. Your best bet would be to copy off any data files that you need to a clean install.

    The best success I had was on a drive where the section that went bad was all being used for Temporary Internet Files. The image was successfully created using Acronis and selecting the option to skip bad sectors, and it restored to a new drive and booted. It took about 24 hours to complete though.

    Most of the time, the part that goes bad is either the Master File Table or the Windows system files.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    999
    Quote Originally Posted by jdc2000 View Post
    I have actually done this successfully on a few drives. However, your chances of success are not good. Even if you can restore the image to another drive, you may need to perform a Repair Install to make it bootable again. Your best bet would be to copy off any data files that you need to a clean install.

    The best success I had was on a drive where the section that went bad was all being used for Temporary Internet Files. The image was successfully created using Acronis and selecting the option to skip bad sectors, and it restored to a new drive and booted. It took about 24 hours to complete though.

    Most of the time, the part that goes bad is either the Master File Table or the Windows system files.
    jdc2000 - thanks for your reply. I only see it now. In that case, I will give it a try. I think I did get a brierf message saying some problem with the MBR before I changed the HDD.
    Question is how do I take a image of the drive when it is now external via a USB adapter ? If I put it back on the laptop, I will not be able to access the C drive which is where the o/s is and the laptop will not start ? I can only access the C drive from the USB adapter.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2000
    Location
    Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA
    Posts
    18,063
    If your Acronis is not already on a disc (CD/DVD), you should be able to create a bootable disc and boot from that. You can then image any drive that is attached to the computer.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    999
    jdc2000 - Do you mean:
    1) I have to first reinstall back the old faulty HDD and use Arconis to try and boot up the old HDD, then take the image of the o/s
    or
    2) I can just use the current new HDD that I have working now, connect the old HDD via a USB adapter and take a image ?

    I have Arconis already installed on my current new HDD. So I can just use it to take an image of the old HDD via the USB adapter if I don't have to reinstall it back on my laptop first and boot from the Arconis boot disk

    Just want to clarify this first before I try it over the coming weekend. Thanks
    Last edited by slickcondo; June 11th, 2017 at 11:20 PM.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
    Location
    Sheboygan, WI
    Posts
    53,392
    To write to C:\ druve, you can not be booted to it.
    Now make the rescue disk , or what ever it is called.
    Then boot to it

    Now the reescue disk can write to the C drive.

    But I hope you have another hdd as it will wipe the one you just did a fresh install to.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2000
    Location
    Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA
    Posts
    18,063
    How to make an Acronis emergency boot CD:

    https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...=1497242176883

    You would make a bootable Acronis CD, once you have that, you boot from it and create an image of any attached hard disc drive.

    If you have Acronis already installed on a replacement drive, you could probably just run it and make an image of the drive that is attached via USB. Or you can boot from the Acronis bootable CD and make an image using that.

    Once you have an image, it can be restored to a good drive to see if it can be made to boot, possibly needing a Repair Install of Windows. Normally, for this I would use a new disk drive, in case it did not work.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    999
    Quote Originally Posted by Train View Post
    To write to C:\ druve, you can not be booted to it.
    Now make the rescue disk , or what ever it is called.
    Then boot to it

    Now the reescue disk can write to the C drive.

    But I hope you have another hdd as it will wipe the one you just did a fresh install to.
    I have already use the spare HDD and used it to restore a earlier image on it and I am using it now to write this. But the imagie was over a year old and some of the files and folders that were saved/made over this recent year is not there. It is annoying to find that they are not there when you come to use it and have to look for it and see if a copy of the back up was made. Very time consuming. That is why I wanted to know if it is possible to make a image and restore it of the most recent o/s before it went bad.
    Last edited by slickcondo; June 12th, 2017 at 02:54 AM.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    999
    Quote Originally Posted by jdc2000 View Post
    How to make an Acronis emergency boot CD:

    https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...=1497242176883

    You would make a bootable Acronis CD, once you have that, you boot from it and create an image of any attached hard disc drive.

    If you have Acronis already installed on a replacement drive, you could probably just run it and make an image of the drive that is attached via USB. Or you can boot from the Acronis bootable CD and make an image using that.

    Once you have an image, it can be restored to a good drive to see if it can be made to boot, possibly needing a Repair Install of Windows. Normally, for this I would use a new disk drive, in case it did not work.
    Thanks for the clarifications. I will try and see if I can take the image of the damaged HDD from the USB adapter from the installed Arconis this weekend. I hope this can be done without having to put back the old HDD in the laptop and then use the Arconis bootable disk to take the image. Fingers crossed.

    Talking about needing a new drive, I am thinking of getting a SSD as I understand it is not as prone to failure and problems as an ordinary HDD. Do they work the same in terms of using it, installing it on the laptop and restoring an image to it ?
    Last edited by slickcondo; June 12th, 2017 at 03:02 AM.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
    Location
    Sheboygan, WI
    Posts
    53,392
    About all I use any more are SSDs. The price of the 240-256 GB are not that bad. And with no motor in them, the laptop lasts longer on the battery.
    Sure boot faster.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2000
    Location
    Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA
    Posts
    18,063
    If you have Acronis installed on your current boot drive, you should be able to use that to make an image of the USB attached drive without making a bootable CD. A bootable CD is a valuable tool to have however, so I do suggest you create one. When making the image from the drive with the problem, you may need to use the Acronis option to ignore bad sectors.

    SSDs have no drive motor, and so they use less power. This is not really a big concern on desktop systems, but on laptops they can provide much better battery life. They are much faster than magnetic drives, and with no moving parts can be more reliable in laptops. However, when they go bad, which they eventually will (like any drive), you likely won't be recovering anything from them, so backups are essential.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •