Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

Big Mac · Dec 19, 2010, 08:55 PM

Running Windows 7 x64 on my home-built PC - I can't seem to reliably clone my boot drive. I want to move from my current 1 GB drive to a 1.5 GB drive that heretofore had been unused. The first time through I tried Norton Ghost and got a blue screen shortly after getting to the desktop, but I wasn't really expecting much from that live boot cloning attempt.

The second time I used Acronis True Image, booting off a USB drive to do the clone. I used EasyBCD to update the bootloader, and at first it seemed like things were fine. But I wanted to access a control panel and found that no control panels would load. I could open up only Control Panels, but clicking on a link to one caused the window to freeze. The only reference I can find to a problem of that nature involved a supposed malware file called cpqikey that I couldn't find on my drive, and besides when I rebooted to my original drive I found no control panel problems. Obviously the clone didn't take precisely.

I'm getting tired of trying to get this done. Now I know why Windows people have a bias in favor of periodically wiping their drives and reinstalling Windows. I'm assuming it has to do with some hard-coded Windows variable that gets thrown off by the cloning process. Again, third party programs all seemed to be fine.

This experience shows me that Windows still is quite primitive in some respects in comparison to Mac OS X. On OS X I could just use Disk Utility (built-in and free) and be assured of a proper clone, and I wouldn't have to deal with arcane manual boot menu creation.

Can anyone give me a hand with this annoying issue? Any Windows 7 cloning tips?

Cold Warrior · Dec 19, 2010, 09:08 PM

Use the built-in Windows 7 backup (imaging option) to make a vhd. Boot from the Win 7 install DVD and do Repair Windows. It should find your vhd and off you go.

Big Mac · 09:46 PM

Awesome response time.

So I have to make an image and then boot of the install DVD and repair just to do a cloning? Convoluted, but I guess that's the price I pay for having an i7 5850 Crossfire Eyefinity setup.

Thank you, CW.

Wait, so do I need a third hard drive to hold the image while I restore it to the second drive? Or can I do it using only two drives?

rjenkinson · Dec 19, 2010, 09:36 PM

Winclone has worked reliably for me.

AKcrab · Dec 20, 2010, 06:01 PM

I don't think winclone supports Windows 7?

rjenkinson · Dec 20, 2010, 07:28 PM

It works fine for me.

Cold Warrior · Dec 20, 2010, 10:05 PM

Originally Posted by Big Mac

Wait, so do I need a third hard drive to hold the image while I restore it to the second drive? Or can I do it using only two drives?

You may be able to save/create the vhd to the local disk. Then with the second hdd in another bay, boot>repair>restore from the vhd on hdd 1 to hdd 2. Once that is done, you should be able to boot from hdd 2 just fine.

Big Mac · Dec 21, 2010, 11:58 AM

Okay. I don't have the room on my current drive for a full image of its contents. That's why I want to upgrade to the larger drive. I'm going to try a repair of the clone I made to see if that will work out, but if not I'll need a third drive.

I'm shocked Windows is so backward when it comes to these kinds of tasks. And after peering into the primitive way the Windows architecture is built behind the scenes it really makes me appreciate OS X even more. Too bad Windows has become my primary OS.