Computer cannot start properly after doing a disk-to-disk clone

Products

• Ghost Solution Suite

Issue/Introduction

You copied one disk to another disk on the same computer by using Ghost to perform a disk-to-disk clone. When you start the computer, you see any of the following problems:

• Messages indicating problems with the hardware or software configuration
• Messages indicating that an application cannot find a file
• Windows is running in MS DOS Compatibility Mode
• Windows will start in Safe Mode but not in Normal Mode
• The computer cannot access one or more drives after the C drive, such as a CD-ROM drive or removable drive

Environment

GSS 3.x

Resolution

This problem happens when you perform a disk-to-disk clone and leave both drives in the computer after Ghost finishes cloning. The problem happens because Windows sometimes reassigns the drive letters, and because both drives have a partition that is marked as Active in the partition table.

To resolve the problem:

1. Turn off the computer
2. Remove the second drive from the computer
3. Restart the computer.

If some of the problems still appear, shutdown the computer and restart it. Windows sometimes requires more than one restart to repair registry inconsistencies.

To prevent this problem, remove one of the drives after Ghost completes the disk-to-disk clone but before you restart the computer into Windows.

Another way to avoid the problem is to perform a disk-to-image clone instead of disk-to-disk clone. A disk-to-image clone creates an image of the hard disk and saves that image as a file at another location, such as on another local hard drive.