Imaging of IBM Laptops...

[goobernoodles]

I have a number of laptops I need to build. All IBM Lenovo R60e's. 60gb SATA drives. Anyways... I built one, updated everything.. then used Ghost 7.0 to clone that drive to an identical 2nd drive.

Pop the drive in... "Read disk error"

Pop the original drive into the 2nd laptop, and it works.

What is the issue? Is this some type of built in thing by IBM that makes it impossible to use cloned drives?

 

[imported_scoobydoo]

Are the R60e's using SATA HD's? If they are, check that the BIOS has set the HD from AHCI to Compatibility mode.

 

[goobernoodles]

Yes, I stated that they were SATA drives. I have BIOS set to Compatibility mode.

Thanks for the input though.

I heard that IBM uses some strange boot sector that is probably the source of the issue... Does anyone know any solution to bypass this?

 

[imported_scoobydoo]

You could try asking your question on The thinkpad forums (forum.thinkpads.com) they have a lot of people there that might be able to help you with your problem.

 

[goobernoodles]

I'll give it a shot, and post a solution if found. Thanks.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: goobernoodlesI heard that IBM uses some strange boot sector that is probably the source of the issue... Does anyone know any solution to bypass this?

I suspect a bad cloning job. Ghost is not very good at that. A good cloning job would be a bit-by-bit duplicate placing everything on the target drive exactly where it was on the source drive. That is what cloning is all about.

Maybe you only imaged the drive?

 

[goobernoodles]

It's definitely not ghost, nor a bad cloning job.

The drives are completely identical if i look at them on another PC.

My coworker has run into the same issue with previous models, with multiple imaging programs... It has something to do with lenovo's startup process..

 

[WackyDan]

Here's your answer:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=migr-57590

Ignore the first paragraph there as it's unrelated to your issue.

Unprotect the pre-desktop area in the bios following the directions. You can blow away the whole drive at that point using Gdisk...

I might also point out that the other reason you are having issues is your version of Ghost and whether or not it supports using the -ib switch.

 

[goobernoodles]

Nice, thank you. I'll give it a shot.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: goobernoodlesIt has something to do with lenovo's startup process..

A properly cloned drive would have the IBM startup process totally replicated. No difference at all.

Are you cloning using a bootable CD and not loading Windows at all? That is step one of proper cloning - not to involved the systems' operating system.

Next, do it manual mode - delete all partitions on the target drive. Keep all data on the sources drive. If the drives are identical, then clone "as is." Otherwise, proportionally.

There is no way you can tell if the cloned product is truly a clone just looking at the content. It is not what is one the drive, but where it is placed on the drive that makes it bootable.

Acronis True Image would have no problem with this as long as you use the user prepared bootable CD.

And, I agree with Wacky Dan's suggestion - Ghost 7 is too long in the tooth.

 

[WackyDan]

Actually.. most disk cloning apps have fun with ThinkPads.... IBM/Lenovo just does things a bit different or I should say, ahead of the the other vendors. Eventually they'll all be using a pre-desktop environment as well.

That predesktop partition is about 145-155 meg and is protected by the bios. The problem with cloning a ThinkPad is that unless you unprotect that area of the drive via the bios, and use the -ib switch in ghost to maintain the MBR and relevant bootstrap info, you are hosed.

 

[goobernoodles]

Originally posted by: corkyg

Originally posted by: goobernoodlesIt has something to do with lenovo's startup process..

A properly cloned drive would have the IBM startup process totally replicated. No difference at all.

Are you cloning using a bootable CD and not loading Windows at all? That is step one of proper cloning - not to involved the systems' operating system.

Did you even look at the link posted?

It is not a 'startup process'.. is essentially a sector of the hard drive that is unable to be cloned due to the bios protecting it.

I've been using a bootable floppy w/ ghost on a desktop with the two SATA drives hooked up to it as a cloning machine.

Anyways, I'm going to try and do the cloning on one of the laptops now, since I have to disable the predesktop.

 

[corkyg]

I read your thread - and still say that Acronis TrueImage 10 will clone your Lenovo drive with no problem. Ghost is simply not as capable - did you notice in that Lenovo tech bulletin it only mentioned Ghost?

Note this from IBM:

IBM

Like I said before - the problem is Symantec Ghost - yesterday's new.

 

[goobernoodles]

I successfully cloned the drive and booted with a 2nd laptop.

For some reason I was unable to image the original drive to another drive, so I had to make a clone of the drive. I had to use a 3rd drive, which was 80gb, as opposed to the original 60gb.

I disabled the predesktop in bios on the original machine, then copied that drive to the 3rd drive using the -ib switch.

Once finished, I cloned that drive to the 2nd laptop drive. Bam. It boots.

 

[WackyDan]

Originally posted by: corkyg
I read your thread - and still say that Acronis TrueImage 10 will clone your Lenovo drive with no problem. Ghost is simply not as capable - did you notice in that Lenovo tech bulletin it only mentioned Ghost?

Note this from IBM:

IBM

Like I said before - the problem is Symantec Ghost - yesterday's new.

Hate to say this... It's not just Ghost. MS RIS, ALteris, all have issues from time to time including Acronis. The IBM site you linked is pimping a server solution for backing up servers, not a corp imaging app for wide scale deployments.

 

[WackyDan]

Originally posted by: goobernoodles
I successfully cloned the drive and booted with a 2nd laptop.

For some reason I was unable to image the original drive to another drive, so I had to make a clone of the drive. I had to use a 3rd drive, which was 80gb, as opposed to the original 60gb.

I disabled the predesktop in bios on the original machine, then copied that drive to the 3rd drive using the -ib switch.

Once finished, I cloned that drive to the 2nd laptop drive. Bam. It boots.

I migfht suggest upgrading Ghost.....That should prevent all the steps you have taken. You are way out of date/

 

[bob4432]

i use acronis 9 on my t42 and do the whole hdd to the home server - never had an issue - but i have not had to use it. i have been able to look at the image and get files out of the image but acronis never has a problem.

i use to be a big fan of ghost and used corporate 7.5 for a very long time. then i found acronis 7 or 8 and never looked back....acronis is good stuff.

 

[WackyDan]

You realize your T42 is about 2+ years old and things change from a hardware perspective right?

 

[Trader05]

i've had this problem multiple times with all sorts of computers. After you clone, use a win98se bootdisk (bootdisk.com) and use F-Disk, make the right partition active. that should solve your problem

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: WackyDan
You realize your T42 is about 2+ years old and things change from a hardware perspective right?

actually it has been 1yr 4mos and i do realize stuff changes hardware wise. and i also stated i have never had to actually use the image to restore at which point i may find out that i am screwed.....but i can still access the data.

i would assume that acronis 10 would recitify any issues