hurdle while trying to clone a Laptop internal HDD onto external HDD

[MSwhip]

Hello,
This is my situation:
I am trying to clone a Crucial_CT512MX100SSD1 [Hard drive] (512.11 GB) -- drive 0, SMART Status: Healthy -inside a Dell Laptop-. onto an external WD My Book 1230 USB Device [Hard drive] (3000.52 GB) -- drive 1, connected to Laptop via USB
I am using Acronis True Image software included as software support for WD disks.

As soon as i clicked "CLONE" and then selected the "source" disk the message quoted below "appears which stopped me cold turkey:

QUOTE
Acronis True Image has detected disks which logical sector size is different from the logical sector size of the source disk. Such disks cannot be selected as the clone destination. You can learn more about this issue in the Knowledge Base article Page not found | Knowledge Base
UNQUOTE


I tried to include here two snapshots from the Acronis as it shows when using it to clone, but it seems that the type of file impedes it to happen.I am sure is my lack of knowledge that prevents me from succeeding.
The info from the snapshots says that Disk 1 the 500GB "source" still has 476.9 Gb and has a MBR with SATA
The Disk2 WD "destination" in the cloning procedure has a GPT with USB interface and total size is 2.729 TB
Both disk show in their properties to be "Primary"

Anyways, as the destination disk had data i did a reformat to pave the way clean.
Did not help at all, same error message as quoted above.

What appears to be the problem and the possible solution, is the issue A. the MBR vs. the GPT. Do both disks have to be the same: either MBR or GPT? or,
B. Is the problem the different partition structure? If so is there an automatic way to make partitions identical in both drives?

Additionally I am planning at a later stage to use the WD 3 TB to save backups from the laptop and even a desktop computer. So am in the right path or instead of cloning should I be doing a mirror image instead?

I have been coming to Seven Forums for the last 5 years or so, i find the support from all you volunteers to be first class, for which I am very grateful.

Thank you very much for whatever help you may be able to offer me

 

[samuria]

The best way with clone is to delete all partition on the target so there is no problems. If it's just backup then use an image which can be compressed so you can get more images

 

[MSwhip]

The best way with clone is to delete all partition on the target so there is no problems. If it's just backup then use an image which can be compressed so you can get more images

Thank you for prompt reply.

I did erase the 2 partitions on the WD target. Now i have all unallocated space. Tried to clone the Crucial Disk ("source one") once again and i get the same error message as in:

QUOTE
True Image has detected disks which logical sector size is different from the logical sector size of the source disk. Such disks cannot be selected as the clone destination. You can learn more about this issue in the Knowledge Base article Acronis True Image Does Not Clone Drives with Different Logical Sector Sizes | Knowledge Base.
UNQUOTE

Same end result as before.
Is there any way that you know of to make the cloning happen now that this looks changed and still no cigar.

Thank you again

 

[dg1261]

It's not clear what your objective is, but I suspect you're after the wrong thing. I think you probably want an image, not a clone.

A clone is a duplicate of the original disk, and is of use only in situations where you intend to immediately boot the clone in place of the original. There are so many reasons why that's not possible in this case, from the fact you can't use the 3TB drive as an MBR disk to the probability the 3TB is encrypted by WD so that it cannot be removed from the external enclosure. IOW, cloning will never work with those drives.

However, it sounds like your aim is to backup your original SSD, not replace it. If so, you should be doing that via an image, not a clone. You also mention wanting to "save backups from the laptop and even a desktop computer", which fits with an imaging strategy, not cloning.

 

[SIW2]

You need a cloning/imaging tool which can handle different logical sector sized disks.

Best Windows Backup and Restore Software | AOMEI Backupper

You could check your external drive and find out if it is 512e or native 4k

cmd prompt (replace Z with the appropriate letter )

fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo Z:

It will give info including Bytes per sector ( logical sector), and Bytes per physical sector. If both show as 4096, then it is reporting as native 4k.

To add to the confusion, the HD in the usb enclosure might be 512e, but the firmware reports as 4k - some of the WD things do this especially if they are above 2tib in size.

Either way - Aomei should be able to handle it. I am quite surprized Acronis doesn't - are you using a recent version of Acronis?

 

[samuria]

Is the wd encrypted some of their drives have there own file system which wd firmware converts on the fly so it appears like normal NTFS