Windows 7 corrupted after cloning

dedew said:

I'm transfering all my data to a new hdd using gparted. My ubuntu partition went fine but my windows 7 is corrupted or broken. I tried twice to clone the partition but the new one is behaving oddly. Here's a screenshot

http://i34.tinypic.com/2637g44.png


first when windows starts theres nothing on the screen, i have to ctrl+alt+del and create a explorer.exe process, then I can't navigate because any attempt to enter "computer" or any explorer windows returns a warning with "no such interface supported". All my data is still there but is currently unusable

I really want to clone it because reinstalling everything is going to be too much time consuming

thanks in advance

First things first; I'll be honest, I'm not familiar with GParted, but regardless I would recommend using Norton Ghost instead (I've used it for years with no problems), it's included in Hiren's BootCD 11.0 - www.hiren.info under "Disk tools".

Other than that, what you could try do is boot from your Windows 7 DVD, and attempt the "Startup Repair" option, this simply checks all files and settings regarding Windows startup and attempts to correct any problems it finds.

Lastly, you could also try a system file check; in an elevated command prompt (Elevated Command Prompt) run the following command (keep your Windows 7 DVD handy just in case):
sfc /scannow

If GRUB is managing the Boot Menu, then try copying the Win7 partition over using free Partition Wizard bootable CD while both HD's are plugged.

Otherwise use free Macrium Reflect to image the Win7 partition.

If both of these fail then you may have a GRUB issue.

ZaLiTH said:

First things first; I'll be honest, I'm not familiar with GParted, but regardless I would recommend using Norton Ghost instead (I've used it for years with no problems), it's included in Hiren's BootCD 11.0 - www.hiren.info under "Disk tools".

Other than that, what you could try do is boot from your Windows 7 DVD, and attempt the "Startup Repair" option, this simply checks all files and settings regarding Windows startup and attempts to correct any problems it finds.

Lastly, you could also try a system file check; in an elevated command prompt (Elevated Command Prompt) run the following command (keep your Windows 7 DVD handy just in case):
sfc /scannow

the startup repair didn't found any problem...
the elevated command prompt doesn't run "H:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe the specified path does not exist"

that's really weird, I shouldn't have a H: drive, and looks like I'm running a default login, my desktop and taskbar shortcuts aren't here, just as if i resetted to a fresh install

any place where i can get a free ghost?

I'm getting really stressed with all this, is there any way I can create an image of my old windows and restore on my new partition?

Hi Dewdew,

D/L this freebie. Paragon Rescue Kit Free Edition - Product Tour

Boot it up .

Select Normal Mode>boot corrector>Search for windows installations to correct>Correct drive letters in system registry.

Select the cloned installation.

Change it's drive letter back to whatever it was originally ( usually C )

gregrocker said:

If GRUB is managing the Boot Menu, then try copying the Win7 partition over using free Partition Wizard bootable CD while both HD's are plugged.

Otherwise use free Macrium Reflect to image the Win7 partition.

If both of these fail then you may have a GRUB issue.

did it with partition wizard, this time windows don't boot, i get a black screen with a flashing cursor. I ran startup repair but theres 2(?) windows installations detected, but both are in a unknown partition

SIW2 said:

Hi Dewdew,

D/L this freebie. Paragon Rescue Kit Free Edition - Product Tour

Boot it up .

Select Normal Mode>boot corrector>Search for windows installations to correct>Correct drive letters in system registry.

Select the cloned installation.

Change it's drive letter back to whatever it was originally ( usually C )

will try

Uh oh.

If you copied your original with PW and overwrote the clone - you may now have a different issue.

There was nothing wrong with the clone boot process - it was the os loading which was affected by win 7's habit of switching drive letters. It could have been fixed by Paragon in a minute.

What is the situation now?


Your best bet now is to use the free Macrium to make an image of your original 7 installation , then restore that image to the other HD.

Si, I looked at the screenshot in OP and it didn't look like drive letter slippage which normally shows "Windows isn't genuine" on blue screen yet gives access via Task Manager.

What tells us that it is a slipped drive letter?

My thought was to copy with PW (hence without MBR) so GRUB could pick it up if GRUB is managing the boot, then if GRUB doesn't pick it up Mark 7 active and write the MBR using Startup Repair three times. Of course GRUB corruption can bollix everything anyway.

Paragon helped fix a slipped drive letter here yesterday when OP had bluescreen non-geniune fail after repartioning. It would be helpful to know how else to spot that condition. Thanks

GParted is definitely not a tool of choice for cloning. Its primary function is partition mangement...creating, deleting and especially resizing.

dedew said:

any place where i can get a free ghost?

I'm getting really stressed with all this, is there any way I can create an image of my old windows and restore on my new partition?

Ghost is included in Hiren's Boot CD, along with many other tools that you'll quite likely one day need. I posted this link in my first post: Hiren's BootCD 11.0 - www.hiren.info

For the record, my current Windows 7 installation has been moved to it's third harddrive now using Ghost (from a SATA 160GB to a 80GB, and lastly to a 250GB. drive has always had two partitions) and I've never had any issues. But, I suspect there's something different with the way you're diong it that's causing problems...

Got one very important question though; if you try boot off your old drive (your source for the cloning process attempt) does your original Windows installation still boot?

Also, when you copied the partitions, in your first post you said your Ubuntu partition went fine, but the Windows one is giving problems... Were these two partitions on the same drive? And if so, did you place them on the new drive in the same locations as they were on the old drive? If not, that may be one problem..

I would highly recommend trying again with Norton Ghost; instead of moving partitions individually, simply duplicate the entire disk. The partitions will be resized according to the destination drive size.