[captainron276]

OK folks, here is a problem I just noticed since moving from Vista to Windows7 this week. I have been using the free edition of Acronis supplied by Western Digital for over a year now with absolutely no problems. When I cloned my hard drive Acronis would make an exact duplicate on my second internal hard drive. I have on several occasions had to use my clone to get my system back to normal after messing up my original. I seem to do that now and then Anyway, like I said, when making these Clones which I do weekly they would be identical meaning if my C: drive has 55G's on it my cloned drive D: would have the same 55G's.

Now I just in the past few days have done a custom install of Windows7 and it is running GREAT! So, last night before I went to bed I did my Acronis Clone. This morning I noticed that my D: drive was 29G's smaller than my C: drive? OK, so I thought I would go ahead and do a quick format of D: drive and try Acronis again. After it completed both drives were exact amount, YEA I thought. Now, just 30 minutes later I checked to see the difference knowing that C: drive would be growing as I used it; but to my dismay D: drive was almost 30G's smaller? What is going on?

Thanks,
Capt

PS, I'm using ATI 2010 build 14.157

[captainron276]

I tried the newer version Free trial; but it did not have the Cloning feature activated Anyone with ideas?

[managed]

I don't know why the D drive usage is changing but I've found this free Partition tool useful, it includes a Disk Cloning option however I have not used that option myself.

http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-...n-manager.html

You can make a bootable CD with the installed program or download the Iso here :- http://www.partitionwizard.com/parti...otable-cd.html

[captainron276]

Thanks for that info, will check into it. I do have two different makes of drives. WD Black and a Seagate both Sata. The Seagate is the one giving me problems. I downloaded the SeaTools from Seagate to check out the drive.

Update, drive passed all tests. Hummmm

[captainron276]

Managed,

I burned the bootable CD and tried using it; but when it loaded in DOS, I was unable to use it due to no keyboard or mouse I have a wireless set and no USB set laying around. Anyway, I took the CD out and shut her down. I am wondering if my Seagate drive is going? I did run the Seagate HD program and all checked out; but am considering purchasing another WD Black series drive since my Seagate is over 5 years old.
When I finished up for the night I set Acronis to due a Cloning and then shut down when finished. When I turned on the computer this morning both drives were identical in size; but after 10 minutes of use the Seagate drive lost half of it's size again

Oh well, maybe somone else will have an idea

[managed]

I think you can make a clone from the installed program. It may reboot and actually make the clone before windows starts.

Can you check to see which folders/files go missing on D ?
I have a hunch windows is doing this and the drive is ok.

[captainron276]

Managed,

I checked the folders of each drive and they are identical, nothing is missing; but when I click on C:drive it shows 67.8G's and D: drive shows 33.3G's.
I am still using the WD Acronis and after it completes and brings me back into Windows both drives show the same. Oh well, I feel pretty sure it's all there; but still might get another WD drive coming soon. I am also thinking of getting either Acronis 11 or 12, still have not made up my mind on that.

[managed]

What does Disk Management show for the each drive ?

[captainron276]

It shows the same as the rest, that my backup drive (Seagate) is 32G;s shy of the WD Drive. It also shows them identical right after completing a Clone. Very strange...

[captainron276]

I have run the Seagate and WD software drive tests and all pass...

[captainron276]

Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.2
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Service Pack 1, 32 bit
Processor: Genuine Intel(R) CPU 2160 @ 1.80GHz, x64 Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 2
Processor Count: 2
RAM: 3070 Mb
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT, 1024 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 610258 MB, Free - 545180 MB; D: Total - 152531 MB, Free - 120854 MB;
Motherboard: Dell Inc., 0RY007
Antivirus: avast! Antivirus, Updated and Enabled

[managed]

And the clone works ok even though it seems to be smaller than the original ?

When you run the clone what does it show for the disk sizes ?

[captainron276]

Managed,

I have not run the clone. The only way I know how to do this is to turn off computer, take the side off and then swap Sata cable. I have on occasion when I have wiped out my main drive from stupidity and it always worked. Basically all I do is use my D: drive as a backup, never run it.

[captainron276]

OK, I figured out how to boot to my other drive by clicking F12 during start up to get to Boot options. I booted up using the Seagate drive and sure enough, it is only showing half the amount of Data as my WD drive. This is crazy. I think it's time to get a new HD.
I do have a new Acronis coming in next week and will see if that is the problem. Will let you know.

[captainron276]

Here's the latest.

After running D: drive for a spell, and all working normal, I rebooted and selected C: drive. C: was showing 66G's and D: was showing 33G's. I then did a check disk on C: all was fine, and after booting up it is now showing 33G's and both drives are the same. Driving me nuts...lol