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- HP Community
- Desktops
- Desktop Operating Systems and Recovery
- Cloning a Hard Drive

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09-20-2017 08:35 AM
I have a HP Pavilion 500-205 desktop with Windows 7 Home 64 bit
I am trying to clone the C Drive which is 1 TB to another SATA Drive that is 1 TB. I am using Parted Magic Clonezilla software. The C Drive has several partitions, one for the OS and another for the HP Recovery File
The cloning software stops part way through the process and displays the following message.
Source partition file system is vfat
Cloning the /dev/sda1 to /dev/sdb1
/dev/sdb1 not found
Failed to find this partition in this system /dev/sdb1
Note sda1 is the source (C drive) and sdb1 is the target drive.
I tried cloning all partitions at once and also one at a time but it makes no difference.
I have another HP desktop model 6000 with an 80 GB hard drive also running Windows 7 Home. I was successful in performing the cloning. However that PC does not have the HP Recovery File.
Regards
Gerry
09-20-2017 09:09 AM
HI welcome to HP Forum
We are happy to help you. please find the below link to download free software for HDD cloning,
https://www.todo-backup.com/backup-resource/clone/free-windows-10-hdd-clone-software.htm
Also Kindly follow the below steps for clonning HDD,
1. Launch EaseUS Todo Backup and click Clone.
2. Select source disk you want to clone.
3. Select the destination disk. Under Advanced options, sector by sector clone option enables you to clone all sectors from source disk to destination disk.
4. Preview the disk layout after cloning.
5. Click Proceed to execute cloning.
I hope this might helps you in cloning HDD.
Dark_Panther.
I am an HP Employee.
Note: Please click the Thumbs up + button if I have helped you and click Accept as Solution if your problem is solved.:smileyhappy:
09-20-2017 05:13 PM
I have used Macrium Reflect for years, on OSs including Win7, and have had no problems with it ...
What I recommend is the following:
1) Download and install Macrium Reflect (MR)
2) Connect the new drive to the PC using a USB-to-Hard-Drive drive adapter (like the one illustrated below)
3) Follow the instructions in this link: http://knowledgebase.macrium.com/display/KNOW/Cloning+a+disk
4) Shutdown the PC when done
5) Swap the drives and reboot the PC.
Typical USB-to-Hard-Drive adapter:
Good Luck
I am a volunteer and I do not work for, nor represent, HP
09-20-2017 06:19 PM
> I am trying to clone the C Drive which is 1 TB
> to another SATA Drive that is 1 TB.
Is either of the disk-drives manufacturered by SEAGATE?
Is either of the disk-drives manufacturered by WESTERN DIGITAL?
If the answer to the first question is 'yes', then download free disk-cloning software from www.seagate.com
If the answer to the second question is 'yes', then download free disk-cloning software from www.wd.com
Both programs are based on the ACRONIS disk-cloning software, and both programs have always worked for me, even when the "target" disk-drive has a different capacity than the "source" disk-drive.
I have "cloned" Windows 7 systems and Windows 10 systems. No problems.
09-21-2017 06:57 PM
> I downloaded Acronis from the WD site. It did not work, froze my computer ...
Saying "did not work" is not very descriptive, nor helpful.
I have used that same software, from WD, to create a bootable USB memory-stick.
All desktop computers I have worked on have at least 2 SATA ports (disk-drive and CD/DVD).
Connect the "source" disk-drive on one SATA port, disconnect the CD/DVD drive, connect the "target" hard-drive to the second SATA port, , and boot from the USB memory-stick.
> but I was able to recover.
Holding-down the ON/OFF switch until the computer turns off is my "recovery" method.
P.S. If the "source" drive is inside a laptop, I remove the disk-drive, and connect to a "bare-bones" desktop computer, because the second SATA port cannot be disconnected from the laptop's CD/DVD drive.
09-27-2017 03:48 AM
Have the problem been fixed? If not, you can try the disk cloning software AOMEI Backupper to clone the hard drive to another. You can follow this link to check more detailed steps since this software is very easy to use and understand.