Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

[tw2005]

Hi, been sitting on this problem for a while and i'm at wits end as what the issue is.

basically I have 3 of these, one with an intact HDD so obviously I have 2 options to create OEM partitions.

clone or use a recovery disc set.

problem is, the HDD refuses to clone but operates fine in the laptop.

I burnt a set of discs and at the very end of the installation , fails with an error code which I don't remember off hand.

I can only assume there's an issue with the drive partitions but why a clone does not work has puzzled.

Cloner is working fine have done a few other drives since, no issue

probably a rare one but anyone have any ideas?

I've run out and googling the error code did not lead me to a solution.

[ktmmotocross]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

u can have bad sectors. just in your cloning software enable function to passby that bad sectors./ignore bad sectors/

[tw2005]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

u can have bad sectors. just in your cloning software enable function to passby that bad sectors./ignore bad sectors/

It's a dedicated cloner, no software, have tried also Hirens and I forget which program, failed also. Not seeing any errors on disk check or anything else, Drive is a couple of years old although i realise that can mean absolutely nothing.

I can usually work most things out, but boy, this has me stumped. very frustrated.

regardless if there were errors, surely a bit by bt copy should just replicate it?

i have another drive which had failed to be recognised by bios or accessed externally via windows.

Incredibly a clone worked so with that one I suspect a board issue.

[diif]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

Have you used the hard drive tool for your drive to check for bad sectors ?
I've seen many many weird issues caused by bad sectors on drives, with little or no indication through error messages.
If there are no bad sectors found, run sysprep before shutting down and cloning.

[tw2005]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

Have you used the hard drive tool for your drive to check for bad sectors ?
I've seen many many weird issues caused by bad sectors on drives, with little or no indication through error messages.
If there are no bad sectors found, run sysprep before shutting down and cloning.

It's a Toshiba drive, not sure if there is one but short answer no.

I'll look into sysprep although I'm not familiar with it.

Thanks

[diif]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

Yeah, it's under hard drive tools on Hiren.
Sysprep is more used in the cases of cloning to different hardware. But run the hard drive diagnostic first to rule out bad sectors and problems.

[Agent24]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

Cloning programs can try to be too clever sometimes.

Try sector-by-sector copy with dd command in Linux and then expand partition later if needed.

[tw2005]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

Cloning programs can try to be too clever sometimes.

Try sector-by-sector copy with dd command in Linux and then expand partition later if needed.

Thanks i was reading an article about using Linux. Unfortunately, complete novice in that area but I'm sure googling will do something.

So with a cloning dock, is that software based or are thay generally pretty good?

It's an ASTONE clone doc-232. First time experience. Normally I use a dual drive lappy and hirens to clone. The dock is quicker.

[Agent24]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

It's an ASTONE clone doc-232. First time experience. Normally I use a dual drive lappy and hirens to clone. The dock is quicker.

Looks like it has its own inbuilt system to do cloning? It's possible whatever method they use is not working properly. I would try some real cloning software in a PC.

[tw2005]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

Looks like it has its own inbuilt system to do cloning? It's possible whatever method they use is not working properly. I would try some real cloning software in a PC.

You'd have to define "real", have tried partition guru and easeus.

What is frustrating is the recovery discs burn normal and pass data verification but the set fails when used at the very end so a lot of time (hrs) wasted.

[Agent24]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

Never mind, I saw you said Hiren's didn't work, if those others don't then probably nothing else will either.

Second diif's idea to check HDD health. Try running Crystaldisk Info or whatever Hiren's has and get SMART data. Preferably something where you can post the results here if they don't make sense.

What version of Windows are you trying to clone?

[tw2005]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

Never mind, I saw you said Hiren's didn't work, if those others don't then probably nothing else will either.

Second diif's idea to check HDD health. Try running Crystaldisk Info or whatever Hiren's has and get SMART data. Preferably something where you can post the results here if they don't make sense.

What version of Windows are you trying to clone?

Vista, had no probs with my A300's, all vista and all successful upgrading to larger HDD. Won't get any SMART tonight, running sector scan with partition guru. cyl 0 came up with read time 650ms all else are around the 250

[tw2005]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

cyl 574, not detect, timed out 4174ms, crc errror

[Agent24]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

Sounds like it's got issues.

I suggest doing sector copy with something that supports retry. Gnu ddrescue could work well. Or maybe just run it with bad sector skip and then run chkdsk on the resulting clone to clean up any problems.

How much do you value the data on the drive?

[tw2005]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

Sounds like it's got issues.

I suggest doing sector copy with something that supports retry. Gnu ddrescue could work well. Or maybe just run it with bad sector skip and then run chkdsk on the resulting clone to clean up any problems.

How much do you value the data on the drive?

Yeah, i know, probably time to backup in case. I would like to keep it intact, heaps of files and programs I've accumulated which is why I'm getting frustrated. I wanted to upgrade 320gb to 750gb HDD.

Simple task except this time

[Agent24]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

If you don't have a backup, stop playing around with it and backup your important files now. You can always reinstall Windows from DVD, borrow\download one if you have to. I assume you already have a product key, that's all that really matters.

Depending on what's wrong with it, every time you attempt a clone or run a disk scan, you may be pushing it one step closer to total failure.

I would image the thing with Gnu ddrescue, hopefully using retry it could recover most or all the data. You could use a LiveCD like http://ubuntu-rescue-remix.org/

[tw2005]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

If you don't have a backup, stop playing around with it and backup your important files now. You can always reinstall Windows from DVD, borrow\download one if you have to. I assume you already have a product key, that's all that really matters.

Depending on what's wrong with it, every time you attempt a clone or run a disk scan, you may be pushing it one step closer to total failure.

I would image the thing with Gnu ddrescue, hopefully using retry it could recover most or all the data. You could use a LiveCD like http://ubuntu-rescue-remix.org/

That's the only error so far and runs fine but I hear you. I'll have a look at your suggestions tomorrow. Normally a checkdisk / fix solves a lot of issues. It came up empty.

SMART has not predicted failure yet but i'll get that too because I don't understand most of the values in there.

What i was hoping was a successful clone and then try recovery on boot up, oi expect it to fail like the discs but since I can't get a clone , I'm not going to try it.

[Agent24]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

That's the only error so far and runs fine but I hear you. I'll have a look at your suggestions tomorrow. Normally a checkdisk / fix solves a lot of issues. It came up empty.

SMART has not predicted failure yet but i'll get that too because I don't understand most of the values in there.

What i was hoping was a successful clone and then try recovery on boot up, oi expect it to fail like the discs but since I can't get a clone , I'm not going to try it.

I don't know how many disks or how much space you have available, but if you can you could always backup your files somewhere, then retry the clone with other methods.

If you do it with the right software you may indeed be able to get a clone that can be repaired. Since you say Windows boots and runs OK on it, that's a good sign.

Personally I'd use it as a good excuse to get a fresh install of Windows anyway. But that's me...


Don't rely on SMART to predict failures, it's only good at actually warning you about 50% of the time. This is partially because all SMART attributes must pass a certain threshold before the drive deems itself as failing. They could be right on the edge and it still won't say anything. You can increase the accuracy by monitoring the SMART attributes yourself over time. I personally use Speedfan as I use it for my sensor monitoring and it has a SMART view and online analysis built in, but it is not automatic. There are some programs which are (mostly not free though)

[tw2005]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

I don't know how many disks or how much space you have available, but if you can you could always backup your files somewhere, then retry the clone with other methods.

If you do it with the right software you may indeed be able to get a clone that can be repaired. Since you say Windows boots and runs OK on it, that's a good sign.

Personally I'd use it as a good excuse to get a fresh install of Windows anyway. But that's me...


Don't rely on SMART to predict failures, it's only good at actually warning you about 50% of the time. This is partially because all SMART attributes must pass a certain threshold before the drive deems itself as failing. They could be right on the edge and it still won't say anything. You can increase the accuracy by monitoring the SMART attributes yourself over time. I personally use Speedfan as I use it for my sensor monitoring and it has a SMART view and online analysis built in, but it is not automatic. There are some programs which are (mostly not free though)

I think you're right a fresh install would be handy, could be corruption and I have a key but on these very unprotected and rubs off. I like the fact I can load the OEM discs on any Toshiba so I'm desparate to get either the recovery creation program to give me a copy or clone this. I have 2 750gb and main PC has a 3Tb setup just for storage so plenty of real estate.

I nearly lost it trying to correct tables but lucky one of the programs could detect the deleted partitons. that's when I gave it up. just trying again now with a clear head. I better backup and at least not lose the lot in case I make another mistake.

[Agent24]

Re: Toshiba A500 - HDD will not clone-recovery discs fail installation

You might already know this, but if you are going to try copying a lot of files from it in Windows, you might want to use something better than the inbuilt Windows filecopy function if you're doing more than a few at a time. It's headache and rage-inducing when Windows explorer throws a fit on an uncopyable file halfway through 10s of GBs of files, and then you have no clue what exactly has copied and what hasn't.

I use SuperCopier (now called Ultracopier) but there are many file copy programs which are a million times better than the one in Windows.


With regard to SMART (again), the best program I think you can use is HDAT2. It's absolutely paranoid and when you run the SMART check it warns you if anything is not 100% perfect. Unfortunately it's DOS-based and has to be run from a bootdisk, but it's a great program. Plus I love the retro interface! It's also good for scanning drives for bad sectors or wiping them.