Clonezilla
 

I use an Asus G2S-B1 Laptop, the only modifications I have made to it, was doubling the RAM to 4GB, and upgrading the HDD from 300GB to 500GB.

Well, 500 is no longer enough space, so I just ordered a 1TB HDD to replace it.

Rather then go through the headache of reinstalling my OS from scratch for the umpteenth time, I decided to take advantage of software to clone my system's OS partition to a set of DVDs. The software I decided to use is Clonezilla. I downloaded and burned the ISO to a blank disc, and booted up the LiveCD just fine.

I was following the directions @ http://clonezilla-sysresccd.hellug.gr/restore.html

Here is my choice listing:
Start_Clonezilla
device-image
local_dev
sda1 ~ (cloning a Windows 7 partition, 24GB of data)
/ Top_directory

I hit Enter, and everything looks like it's working fine. No errors at this point.

Beginner mode

Then I select "recovery-iso-zip", and here is where things go haywire.

No disk image is found in /home/partimag!


I am trying to create an image, not restore an image. I restarted the procedure several times, but I get the same results every time. Looking at the next step listed at the URL above, it says "Choose image file to restore", which is confusing, considering I am trying to create, not restore. Other people seem to have no problems making images, I am surprised I am having any issues at all.

I need to pull the 24GB of data, and put it directly onto a set of blank DVDs, because my HDD is jam-packed, or I'd just save the image to the HDD, and burn it later.

Am I asking too much of Clonezilla, or am I just screwing up the process by choosing the wrong selections?

As far as I can discern from what you posted, you omitted the backup part, i.e. you did not create the .iso file to burn to your DVD. Look here http://clonezilla-sysresccd.hellug.gr/doc.html to see the whole procedure and follow it step by step from here http://clonezilla-sysresccd.hellug.gr/backup.html.

P.S.: Nice resource / link you provided. Bookmarked ;).

I'm not exactly sure , so don't quote me, but clonezilla does support creating the cd's but no ones been able to restore from cd's.
Easier to clone the drive to the 1Tb then use the other for storage.
If I am wrong I apologize in advance.

Shortly after posting my question, I started reading the fine print, and realized I was expecting Clonezilla to do something not supported, and it clearly says that on the Clonezilla Homepage. Another case of me jumping headfirst without looking.

Because my Laptop only has a single drive bay, I was unsure how to move the data through any means other then HDD--> DVD ROM--> New HDD. As it turns out, My laptop has an eSATA port on the back, so I bought a connector that allows me to connect the new HDD to the back of the Laptop, and do a direct copy.

Now I have been trying to clone my partitions, but it keeps failing. The New Partitions that fail become unreadable to my OS, and require reformatting. I can get it to start analyzing my partition data, then it fails. It doesn't even post any clear error, it just says it failed to clone in red text, says Press Enter, and it locks up. Pressing Enter does nothing. Ctrl-Alt-Del wakes it up.

After making a dozen tries with various partitions, and getting no results, I have decided to just copy 400GB of files from window to window over the next few days.

I appreciate the responses, Thank You.

Is your original drive intact, if so just clone the drive,that way you can do transfer files from 1 os to the other & not have to restore the image. You can also store an image of the whole drive or parts.
If you choose cloning or copying partition for partition it may not include MBR(not sure so don't quote me. But if you clone drive it asks if you want MBR or it does it automatically.

I tried to just clone the entire old drive to the new one, and got the same crash. I wish I could post a screenshot of what it displays when it locks up, but I have no idea if it's even possible to get a screen capture.

I am going to try to do a clone of the entire drive again, snap a picture of the screen with my camera, and post it, maybe someone can make sense of it.

I thought that using a cloning software was going to be easier than reinstalling the OS from scratch. If getting the cloning process to finally work takes longer than a day, I really am not saving any time vs. just reinstalling the OS from scratch. I can install the system in 3 or 4 hours, and copy the data from window to window in about the same time.

The reason I say clone whole drive is for access to documents data bookmarks in other words unretrieveable data(worse case scenario).
Did you buy an external drive or replacement drive?
If external it's not a passport is it.

Another thing if you do a direct clone , even partition to partition clonezilla will format so you don't have to.

Ok, let me provide more details about my system.

sda1 (29GB) is C:\Windows 7 64, cloning to sdb1 (35GB) : Appears to work properly.

sda5 (9GB) is D:\ Windows Page File, cloning to sdb2 (8gb) : fails for obvious reasons, not important.

sda6 (15GB) is E:\ a blank partition I intended to install an alternate OS on, but never did. It's counterpart is sdb3 (15GB)

sda7 (210GB) is F:\ a Program Files partition, containing the Steam Folder, and all my games. Cloning to sdb5 (537GB). This cloning also fails consistently, but I can just copy/paste the folders, so I am not worried about this one.

sda8 (218GB) is G:\ the Data partition, contains the "Documents and Settings/Users" folder for Windows, along with Temporary Internet Files, all the "My Documents" type folders, and user data. Cloning to sdb6 (402GB) : Appears to work properly.

Where the rubber meets the road: I really only need C:\ and G:\ to clone, because those are the only critical system partitions, all the other crap is superfluous.

I seem to have had success where it counts, now I just need to swap drives, and run my install disc, and pray that Windows fixes the boot sector, and is back up as normal. In all honesty, this is what I get for using Microsoft, but this is my gaming rig, so I have little choice.

I just built a gaming rig for my 11 year old nephew out of spare parts I have piled up here at home, and we're taking it over to his house today. I intend to bring my laptop to run diagnostics on the side while I get everything set up, so I can't do any surgery on it today. Perhaps tonight, and I'll post the results when I have them.

sda2 is extended partition, which contains sda5,6,7,8
you can see that if you use gparted-live-cd.

My suggestion clone the drive, then after getting up & running, go back & erase &remove unnecessary partitions.

Disk utility shows the first partition labeled as sdb2
 

Mistake made was creating new thread, wasn't hijacking thread.
explantion in post #12.

Before anyone replies to my post I was starting my own new thread & it posted here. I'm going to do that now and remove the previous post

I tried to run the Startup Repair tool using the Windows install disc, and I ran it 5 times, and the drive still would not boot. The Partition was active, but it just wouldn't work.

I wound up buying Acronis, and cloning the drive that way. I got all my partitions cloned perfectly.

Clonezilla never did work on any of my partitions, but I appreciate the replies.