[WiseMan]

I have a problem.

I used the Western Digital Drive 2 Drive clone tool through windows. It copied all but 3 files, which the Western Digital prog said were not needed in order for the operating system to run.

So I turn off pc, remove failing hard drive, change jumpers, and set new one to main. Start up my pc, windows xp loads, and the logon screen comes up. I enter my username/password, and then it says Loading Users Settings...then it just stays on that and keeps loading...doing nothing.

So, obviously something is missing. How can I fix this? Should I just wipe the new drive and try again? Any help is appreciated, I need it for tomorrow.

(im back on my old, quickly dieing drive)

 

[Jackiefrost9]

If you remember what the files were, copy them manually.

 

[WiseMan]

No I don't. So, I suppose I will do it all over again, and then write them down this time like an intelligent being would do. Psssstt lol Okay, thanks.

 

[Elvandil]

Chances are that the 3 files are really not needed---hibernation file, page file, and various index.dat files, all of which will be recreated by Windows on boot.

Did you wait a good amount of time, say 5 minutes or more? Due to the new drive being installed, XP needs to reconfigure registry settings and the activation hash. This can take a while.

 

[WiseMan]

No, I waited around a minute - a minute and a half tops.

Dang...your right...it was those files that Windows will recreate. However, my drive is currently formatting, so I get to wait for that to finish, and then I will clone it all over again! Hah, what a night, thank god my iPod was just updated.

I logged on, it said Loading Personal Settings, and then the "Loading Personal Settings" box disappeared, but the little box still stayed there loading. I knew I should have waited it out lol! That is what it should do right? Its the box that comes up after this:
http://helpdesk.nus.edu.sg/support/user/guides/WinXP-Quick/resources/logon-1.gif (couldnt find actual image of that box.)

By the way, Elvandil: I really can't thank you enough for the help you've provided me with through all of this. I really sincerely appreciate it and the time.

 

[Elvandil]

You must have turned off some of the eye candy and gone with the Windows 2000 logon window. I'd wait a good while for that thing to adjust to its new environment before giving up on it. It certainly isn't a taste of things to come---it won't always load this slowly. It is double-checking to decide whether you need to activate again due to hardware changes, too, as well as recreating the "missing" files.

And you're welcome. I just hope this goes as smoothly the rest of the way as it seems to have gone so far.

 

[WiseMan]

Sorry for not clarifying on that. It is the Windows XP equivelant of it that comes up. I didn't notice it was the Win2k version in the image, sorry.

Yeah, what I did was made the clone, shut it down, removed my failing harddrive, changed the jumpers on the new one to main, then rebooted it. Thats when it happened...so its all there...as my old harddrive wasnt even connected to my pc.

It should run smooth as could be from now.

Almost done with the format of my new drive, then ill clone it again, and be inactive while that happens, as i dont want to mess with my machine while that goes on.

 

[JohnWill]

A trick I've heard of using for such situations that may work is boot from an MS-DOS floppy and type:

FDISK /MBR

XP/2K records a signature in the boot record of a drive and maps it to a drive letter. If you clone to a disk that has already been formatted and is a drive letter other than C:, it will screw up the login process, right after the login screen. Worth a shot, and it's easy to do.

 

[WiseMan]

That sounds like it would work. My only problem is that my floppy drive isnt working. I may have to pick one up.

Is there an alternative? Wouldn't the drive default itself to C: once I remove the other drive? Because when I start my computer, everything comes up fine up to the login screen. I type in my username and password, it says "Loading Personal Settings..." and then that message disappears, but the box stays and is still loading. Then, about 1.5-2 minutes later, the box says Logging off... saving settings... Then takes me back to the username/password screen. Its an endless cycle. Any ideas on a resolution without a floppy? Thanks a lot!

 

[JohnWill]

This is the problem. There is another way if the machine is on a network, you can actually attach to the registry from a remote machine and edit the entries. This normally happens when this disk has been in a machine and has had a drive letter assigned. You then clone to the disk and try to change it to be the boot drive.

Open Regedit, File, Connect Remote Registry, browse to the machine and connect.

Browse to the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SYSTEM, Current Control Set, Mounted Devices

There are a bunch of keys labeled DosDevices\x: where x is a drive letter. Pick the C: drive and change the C to X. Pick the drive letter of the previous location that the disk was located when it was cloned, change it to C

Disconnect from the remote registry.

 

[WiseMan]

Okay, I am going to give that a shot.

So you are saying that even if I physically disconnect the old drive and reconnect the new one as the main drive, with main jumpers, it still wont be seen as the C: drive, yet as the F: drive as it currently is even though it is the only drive connected?

Also, I am on a wireless network. However, I don't know how to make the comps see each other. And it only shows the option of connecting to MSHOME in the registry editor, but im on another network, with its own unique name that isnt shown...??

Also, the four files the program couldn't copy over are:
F:\System Volume Information\MountPointManagerRemoteDatabase
F:\pagefile.sys
F:\System Volume Information\tracking.log
F:\System Volume
Information\_restore0B9D5C5C-0B24-4AEB-8D8D-609CB87B723A\RP261\change.log

As an alternative, would I just be able to put in my Windows XP cd-rom after I remove the failing drive, and do a repair install after booting my comp to the cd-rom?

Also, last bit, my failing hard drive is C:, and the one that I just installed is seen as F: