Moving 2-partition Ghost image blows up

[jaginger]

I've got 2 laptops, a Dell and a Toshiba.

I partitioned my Toshiba hard drive; I've got the OS (XP) and my program files on C: and the MyDocuments (with lots of pictures and songs in their appropriate spots) on D:

I made a Ghost backup of both C: and D: (separately) and put them on an external HD.


On the Dell, I'm running XP also. I used PartitionMagic to give myself a C:, D:, and G:. I also installed BootMagic. Then I restored the Toshiba C: to the Dell G:, and the Toshiba D: to the Dell D:.

My original OS on C: still works fine on the Dell, but if I try to boot up the OS on G: (using BootMagic), I get a blue screen system error. I first get the Windows XP screen (the one with dots running back and forth across the bottom) which stays on for a minute or so and it looks like all is normal. But then the system error out of nowhere. I don't think BootMagic is causing the problem, I think it's the restored drives

Any ideas on what I should do?

BTW, the blue screen error says:

STOP: c000021a {Fatal System Error}
The Session Manager Initialization system process terminated unexpectedly with a status of 0xc000003a (0x000000000 0x000000000).
The system has been shut down.

[Whyzman]

Yikes, a bit confusing first thing in the morning for me...

Are you attempting to boot the Dell using the operating system that has been configured for the Toshiba?

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[jaginger]

[QUOTE=Whyzman]Yikes, a bit confusing first thing in the morning for me...

Are you attempting to boot the Dell using the operating system that has been configured for the Toshiba?
QUOTE]
Ummm, yeah.... :p Is that a bad thing?

If that's something that's impossible to do, then what would be the procedure for migrating my Toshiba stuff to my Dell? I want to save all the programs and whatnot that already exist, as I don't really want to have to reinstall everything.

Thanks for any advice.

j

[deddard]

Ghost literally copies everything - as far as the OS is concerned after you have reloaded it from Ghost, it should still be running on the same system it was originally created on.
If you try to install a ghost image created on one PC to another, Windoze will trip over it's own feet during bootup - it's trying to load drivers for equipment that isn't there, and the HAL won't like it a lot.
The only way to Ghost from one machine to another is to use sysprep (from within windoze) - this utility is used to strip out all identifying data such as mobo type etc from the ghost image, so it can be distributed to lots of PCs at once.

[Whyzman]

Ummm, yeah.... :p Is that a bad thing?

Ah, I see deddard is swift of fingers...;)

[jaginger]

Ghost literally copies everything - as far as the OS is concerned after you have reloaded it from Ghost, it should still be running on the same system it was originally created on.
If you try to install a ghost image created on one PC to another, Windoze will trip over it's own feet during bootup - it's trying to load drivers for equipment that isn't there, and the HAL won't like it a lot.
The only way to Ghost from one machine to another is to use sysprep (from within windoze) - this utility is used to strip out all identifying data such as mobo type etc from the ghost image, so it can be distributed to lots of PCs at once.
OK, thanks for the info.

So, is there something OTHER than Ghost that will work for me to transport over all existing programs, etc, or is the sysprep with Ghost option you suggest the only way to do it?

[deddard]

I don't know of anything other than cloning and sysprepping, but as sysprep is designed for corporate environments (or OEMs) I don't know whether it would work with a retail version of XP (or the retail version of Ghost for that matter)

I've never done a sysprep, so I can't really point you in the right direction.
maybe someone who has done this with retail versions can help.

[Whyzman]

There shouldn't be any problem with ghosting an image from one installed/configured computer's operating system into a partition on another computer...it just can't be used to boot.

There's a fundamental flaw in what you are attempting to do. An operating system installation disk is "generic" until it is installed onto a computer. At that point it is no longer generic. As deddard was pointing out, once the OS has polled all the devices on a specific computer and installed supporting software, that computer "owns" the configuration.

When you attempt to install an "owned" configuration onto another computer that has different hardware and boot from it, Windoze does a "double take!" You can almost hear it go..."What the...where'd all my friends go!" :) Who are these new guys...??

[jaginger]

There shouldn't be any problem with ghosting an image from one installed/configured computer's operating system into a partition on another computer...it just can't be used to boot.

There's a fundamental flaw in what you are attempting to do. An operating system installation disk is "generic" until it is installed onto a computer. At that point it is no longer generic. As deddard was pointing out, once the OS has polled all the devices on a specific computer and installed supporting software, that computer "owns" the configuration.

When you attempt to install an "owned" configuration onto another computer that has different hardware and boot from it, Windoze does a "double take!" You can almost hear it go..."What the...where'd all my friends go!" :) Who are these new guys...??
Gotcha. So, I'm pretty much stuck with reinstalling everything on my new PC then, I guess.

[Sylvander]

See "Move Me" here http://www.spearit.com/about_MoveMe.html
Notice it costs $40, not sure what you get for that.

You could always run a "repair" re-installation of Windows.
That will redetect the new hardware and set up windows for use with it and add it to the registry hardware tree.
The windows installation would then have settings in the registry that would make it capable of working on BOTH sets of hardware.
When Windows boots it detects the hardware that's connected, selects the appropriate registry settings and drivers, sets up windows for use with that hardware and all's well.
The big difference with WinXP over previous Windows versions is that once it is operating with that hardware set you only have 30 days before you'd need to have it "re-registered", or whatever the term is.
Plus the registry is bigger than it really needs to be, so this strategy is generally avoided. Although Windows was designed specifically to be capable of running on multiple sets of hardware [different combinations or configurations].

[Paul Komski]

In effect - you have copied a system partition from one PC to another PC. Presumably this is a primary partition in its new location; if it is a logical partition that complicates things considerably.

You best hope is to boot to a retail editon of WinXP and run a repair installation of the transferred partition - as Sylvander has suggested.

You would then need to re-activate the repaired installation since the OS will know it is on changed hardware.

The other problem is that you may not be able to "get in" at all because the mounted devices will no longer match the new hardware. In particular the HDD will have a different ID, the partition is in a different position on the drive and its mounted devices algorithm will therefore no longer match.

I would turn off BootMagic while this is going on. Ensure that the C and D partitons are hidden (use PM to do this) and have your G partition as the only visible primary partition and ensure it is marked as active. If you manage to get the OS running then reconfigure your visiblility and BootMagic at that point.

[jaginger]

In effect - you have copied a system partition from one PC to another PC. Presumably this is a primary partition in its new location; if it is a logical partition that complicates things considerably.

You best hope is to boot to a retail editon of WinXP and run a repair installation of the transferred partition - as Sylvander has suggested.

You would then need to re-activate the repaired installation since the OS will know it is on changed hardware.

The other problem is that you may not be able to "get in" at all because the mounted devices will no longer match the new hardware. In particular the HDD will have a different ID, the partition is in a different position on the drive and its mounted devices algorithm will therefore no longer match.

I would turn off BootMagic while this is going on. Ensure that the C and D partitons are hidden (use PM to do this) and have your G partition as the only visible primary partition and ensure it is marked as active. If you manage to get the OS running then reconfigure your visiblility and BootMagic at that point.
OK, I'll see what happens. Thanks.

[deddard]

I forgot to mention the Boot Magic - Paul Komski is spot on here - Ghost can sulk big time if any third party disc management is involved.