So you bought a OEM Windows license? Or did you not buy it?

When I first built my rig, yes I did. And today I used the same disk and installed it on the new drive. Same hardware and motherboard, but new hard drive.

When I first built my rig, yes I did. And today I used the same disk and installed it on the new drive. Same hardware and motherboard, but new hard drive.

Oh ok. Just call this number 1 (800) 642-7676. Tell them that your harddrive crashed and you're requesting a new serial key. They should give you one.

It certainly has been a stressful few days.

 

Old drive quit about midway through the backup, but luckily for me the new drive came the next day. I've been wrestling with my brothers computer, trying to get it to recognize my new drive. After it getting recognized, I attempted to clone my disk via Acronis True Image 2014, as recommended above. Well, that requires the "full version" of Acronis, so I bought that. After 2 days of waiting, my key has not come yet. 50 dollars down the drain. So I've begun the long slow process of reinstalling things. And I don't have a "legitimate" copy of Windows, as I installed off my disk but the activation key has been used once already, and obviously won't reactivate. So that's why I'm here.

 

Is there any to transfer a windows license from my old hard drive to this new one? It's the exact same CD I bought last June.

 

Contract ACRONIS they will get you your license key.  They have been around a long time, I'm sure they'll be fair with you.

What a saga - I've been there! Two builds ago I "fried" the external enclosure on my backup HDD. I accidentally connected the motherboard headers for front port USB in reverse polarity. Zapped my external HDD when I plugged it in - thought I lost all my pics ( wife was ###### when she thought I lost our wedding pics).

 

Thankfully I had to tear out the SATA drive, and simply insert direct to my internal sata connection and all data read fine and recovered.

 

About the no key from Acronis - have you checked your spam/junk folder in your email inbox?

I figured I'd post a quasi-wrap up..

 

So after a few hours on the phone with a surprisingly nice Windows assistant, I finally have a genuine copy of windows again. My Acronis serial came this morning, and I'm installing it as we speak, just to see what I can salvage off the old drive. FSX, P3Dv2, and War Thunder are now installed, but I have yet to do any re-installation of any add-ons yet, but as I have 2 "snow" days off of school this week I'll be doing that for the good part of the day today. I have 3 hard drives surrounding me now, with the old drive just sitting ready to be poked and prodded to see what I can pull off of it.

 

I'd really like to thank all of you that have helped me through this. It really taught me a lesson that indeed anything can fail, whether it's 4 months or 4 years old. So to all of you that gave me advice, thanks a bunch!

I figured I'd post a quasi-wrap up..

 

So after a few hours on the phone with a surprisingly nice Windows assistant, I finally have a genuine copy of windows again. My Acronis serial came this morning, and I'm installing it as we speak, just to see what I can salvage off the old drive. FSX, P3Dv2, and War Thunder are now installed, but I have yet to do any re-installation of any add-ons yet, but as I have 2 "snow" days off of school this week I'll be doing that for the good part of the day today. I have 3 hard drives surrounding me now, with the old drive just sitting ready to be poked and prodded to see what I can pull off of it.

 

I'd really like to thank all of you that have helped me through this. It really taught me a lesson that indeed anything can fail, whether it's 4 months or 4 years old. So to all of you that gave me advice, thanks a bunch!

 

 

Hi Wendall,

 

Many of us have been in your shoes, have the DVD and the t-shirt!  Learning about backup and restoring is something all PC owners should consider.  The more complex your situation, the more complex and redundant your backup strategy should be.

 

Operating systems, drivers, software and hardware failures are a recipe for disaster, and even a 'backup image' may be invalid (corrupt) which is the same thing as NO BACKUP AT ALL.

 

So how do you play the strongest version of prevent defense?

 

MULTIPLE IMAGES on MULTIPLE DEVICES at MULTIPLE LOCATIONS.  Really critical data (say your financial stuff like taxes and banking data should even be encrypted on a portable USB key.  The CLOUD is another good place for really important data (be sure it's strongly encrypted though).

 

RAID MIRRORS are a help but not a surefire one.  If you totally blow things off your drive and dump the recycle bin, it may be nearly impossible to recover data that is erased by an innocent (or malicious) child, co-worker or significant other.  Raid Mirrors can help if your data is in tact but one of the two drives in the raid mirror is teetering on failure.

 

However, cloning a drive that is becoming full is far easier on a non-raid setup.  Making moving to a larger hard disk from one that is nearly full-up a snap.  Acronis clone disk is ideal for this task.  That is part of their Acronis True Image 2014 paid version.  Watch for special offers.  You can sometimes get a real deal on Acronis.  Each PC needs its own license key for Acronis though.  You can't buy ONE copy and then load it on 3 PCs.

 

Windows 7 has a built-in backup (Windows 8 might have this as well), but as far as how robust and flexible that is, I cannot say.

 

Best of luck to you in future.  Other threats and good reasons for backing up besides what I've mentioned thus far also include Malware and Viruses, along with poorly written (buggy) software that may or may not uninstall properly and gracefully.  When things go awry, a solid backup image can save the day.

any of us have been in your shoes, have the DVD and the t-shirt!  Learning about backup and restoring is something all PC owners should consider.  The more complex your situation, the more complex and redundant your backup strategy should be.

 

Could not agree more with Robert.  I instituted  a three HD rotation about a year ago when I changed graphics cards from ATI to Nvidia.  I am lucky that my off-the-shelf gaming system has not only two cabled internal bays, but also two caddy-based slide in bays via a door on the front panel.  The original 1.5 TB drive in my system was a widely-available Seagate model.  I was able to pick up two additional drives of the same model.  I then at least once a month clone my primary HD to one of the two additional drives using software supplied by Seagate, and I am pretty sure its written by Acronis.  Once the clone is made I power down, slide it out of the system, and store it.  I date stamp the drive with a small post-it note and rotate these as I make new clones.  I also clone immediately before I allow Windows Update to proceed with any new updates.  I have also at one point rotated a clone into the internal bay where it then became the primary, and use the former primary in the caddy rotation.  Thus I now have a primary with much less tear and wear on it.

 

Robert, one thing I do not understand is if the clone must be to a matching drive, meaning model or size/capacity.  There is little documentation with Seagate Disk Wizard.  So could I for example clone my 1.5 TB to a 3.0 TB drive and have it work without issues?  Seems I recall some software in the past created a system "thumbprint" for EULA purposes and recognized the swap as need for a new license.

 

 

Robert, one thing I do not understand is if the clone must be to a matching drive, meaning model or size/capacity.  There is little documentation with Seagate Disk Wizard.  So could I for example clone my 1.5 TB to a 3.0 TB drive and have it work without issues?  Seems I recall some software in the past created a system "thumbprint" for EULA purposes and recognized the swap as need for a new license.

 

You're right, the Seagate clone software is a boiled down el-cheapo version of Acronis.  You're also right that some software reads a combination of the hard disk drive to verify licensing.  That said, major software vendors will make it right if you call in and explain all you did was move to a larger hard disk drive.

 

Microsoft has gotten a little edgy with their licensing in the last few years.  The 3000 lb Gorilla has now become the virtual DeathStar.  Years ago (think DOS and even XP days, before the "Registry" came to pass) you could easily migrate your entire setup by simply copying everything over to a new blank drive.

 

This is no longer the case in Windows 7 or 8.  Microsoft has an easy migration tool built in to their accessories, system tools folder that can move your own pictures, music and videos to a new system, but sadly, it can't move your operating system as well, so all of your custom setups and add-in software have to be re-created and re-installed.  In addition, the "license" that came with your off-the-shelf PC does NOT transfer to the new PC you just built yourself!  That seems wrong to me, but I can't win a fight with Microsoft or either one of my ex-wives.

 

Happily you CAN buy a "System Builder" version of the Microsoft OS, be it Windows 7 or Windows 8.  These are typically Home Premium editions.  For most folks, those are fine. 

 

Not crazy about Windows 8, but that's just me.  I will say Win 8 boots faster on a hard disk system than my 4.7 ghz Solid-State screamer system running Win 7.  So if boot time is important, Win 8 has an edge.  That's about it, unless you are a touch-screen user, then you might like the i-Pad-like tile-sliding...

Not a huge thrill, and I -do- have an HP Rove all-in-one 20" touchscreen (see my videos) for the PFD and ND in my glass cockpit.

 

Touch screens aren't 'quite there' yet imho.  They work sometimes, but often you must repeat the touch to have it work.  Annoying.

 

M$ has just announced end-of-life for XP support.  That's a bummer for some pilots who have systems with custom software built around XP that costs extra $ to run on Win 7/8.

 

Which statements below are FALSE?

1. Computers are time-saving devices
2. Computers save money
3. Computers make day-to-day tasks much easier than the 'old-school' way
4. Computers are easy to operate and maintain
5. Life without several computers would be like a return to caveman days
6. Anyone can buy a computer,  Even a 2 year old can run one.
7. All computers can be upgraded.  Buy a happy-meal, then turn it into a powerhouse by upgrading!
8. Like most things you never knew you needed, Computers are a necessity.
9. There is no need to protect your data stored on your PC. 

If you answered all 9 statements, you win an extra-large pizza from your local Italian restaurant, plus an armed guard to deliver it to your home.  Pizzas now cost more than some computers!

So Robert, in a nutshell using same model/capacity HD's works fine, as I have learned, but cloning to a larger capacity drive may cause issues?  Is that correct?

So Robert, in a nutshell using same model/capacity HD's works fine, as I have learned, but cloning to a larger capacity drive may cause issues?  Is that correct?

 

Actually, if the make of the drive is different, you -might- still have a licensing issue with Microsoft Windows, which is easily resolved by calling Microsoft and explaining your situation.  You will be asked that the current copy of Windows is installed on HOW MANY MACHINES?  You would answer "ONE" and the new key would be issued to you by Microsoft.  You may even be able to do it using their robotic assistant and their 800 number.

 

I would not be afraid to migrate to a new LARGER drive, if you have a choice.  Drive prices are ridiculously low right now.

 

Best bet:  7200 rpm or higher (or SSD if your budget and space requirements can fit it) SATA drive, 2TB or larger.  1TB is the new 500GB drive.  64mb on-drive RAM.  Big ram space means excellent drive data caching and faster performance.  Can you ever have too much storage space?  Note:  NEVER use defragmenting software on a Solid-State Drive.  The data does NOT need to be sequentially stored on a non-mechanical drive!  There is NO GAIN in performance.  2nd Note:  Will even a Solid State Drive eventually wear out?  YES.  The NAND storage cells eventually will fail to retain data.  Although the failure is not "mechanical" like in a traditional hard disk.  3rd Note:  Some SSDs (notably from Crucial) do NOT play well with NON-INTEL SATA CONTROLLER CHIPS (Think "MARVEL SATA 6") and can actually 'disappear' from your system Bios and act as if they had failed.  The quick fix involves a convoluted process described on the Crucial support site.  The better 'fix' is to NOT USE the Marvel SATA 6 controller connections on your motherboard, but see if in fact you might have an available SATA 6 --INTEL-- connection available.  Voila - no more disappearing SSD!

 

Acronis True Image 2014 can migrate your current setup including the Registry and the OS automatically to your new BIGGER drive.  It will write a temporary boot image to your hard disk (the current one), and then reboot and clone itself to the new larger drive.  This would be the PAID version of Acronis.  Worst case, you might have to call Microsoft to re-activate the new Windows on the new drive.  I have done this several times, it's not an issue, so long as you are not going to use your OLD hard drive to boot from.

 

AVOID keeping a suspect drive as a new 'backup' drive.  Toss it.  Before you do, you can use Acronis 2014 to Wipe it clean of data, including Government level wiping.  Be sure to dispose of dead electronic parts lawfully.  Many PC parts contain hazmat materials.  Many local disposal services offer e-waste disposal.

 

Did you know?  Norton 360 has excellent tools to defragment your traditional hard drives (remember to disable this feature for any SSD drives you might have on your system.  Other tools remove dead temp files and perform other housekeeping duties.  The only KNOCK I have on Norton 360 is 'disk thrashing'.  Norton claims to run cleanup tasks only when your system is "IDLE".  Trouble is, it doesn't seem to STOP THRASHING once it has begun, even if you are USING your system, like trying to write a forum post or answer e-mail.  "SILENT MODE" is a feature in Norton 360 where you can STOP the disk thrashing, but is limited to ONE DAY MAX and then you have to re-enable it again if desired.  This is a HUGE knock, IMHO, of Norton 360.  The concept is strong, the execution of "only when your system is idle" is poorly executed.

This is a HUGE knock, IMHO, of Norton 360.  The concept is strong, the execution of "only when your system is idle" is poorly executed.

 

I use Iolo System Mechanic and it works great in the background without those annoyances.  If I separately check my disk fragmentation with the Windows tools they report little if any.

 

I have had a strange issue twice in the past 90 days.  I have the 1.5TB drive as my primary, and it includes my OS (Win 7-64 premium) and all of the programs I run, all of my docs and photos, and includes FSX, add-on avionics, add-on aircraft, and all add-on scenery except MSE2.  Then I have a separate 2TB in the system that contains only my installed MSE2 scenery (40 states and 5 MSE2 ultra cities).  When my 1.5TB is cloned, the clone then shows just under 400GB used of the 1.35 available TB.  But my primary has twice at the time of cloning ballooned to  something just under 700GB used of the 1.35 TB.  When this has happened the cloning takes some 3 hours, compared to about 75 minutes when it hasn't ballooned.  In all cases, once created, the new clones report just under 400GB again.

 

Why is the reported used amount of my primary ballooning like that, since when cloned the clones are back to normal size, and work interchangeably.  i.e. I can change the BIOS boot order and boot from the clone and it functions fully like the primary despite the some 300GB of difference in reported size. 

 

 

Why is the reported used amount of my primary ballooning like that, since when cloned the clones are back to normal size, and work interchangeably.  i.e. I can change the BIOS boot order and boot from the clone and it functions fully like the primary despite the some 300GB of difference in reported size. 

 

I'm a little lost by your question.  I'm going to try to paraphrase it and see if I understand you.  You have two drives, you use Acronis True Image 2014 via clone drive function to duplicate your drives.  Sometimes one or both of the resultant drive images are not true to size but are much larger than the real drive being cloned.  In addition this process takes a very long time.  After performing this cloning process, you can change the boot order and the cloned  drive functions as expected.

 

If all of the above is true, I have to say I'm confused.  I cannot understand how a CLONED image could be twice as large, unless the software is failing to erase the prior image from a previous clone process (?) this is only a guess.  Simply put, 'cloning' implies an exact duplicate, with no compression used (regular backups use compression algorithms to save space).  Thus, clearly this is an issue for Acronis support (if indeed you are using Acronis) - and you should search their forums to see if someone else has experienced your issue.

 

If a USB device is part of this cloning process, then the extremely long times could be due to the very poor data throughput of USB 2.0.   In addition, if you are trying to backup to a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device across a network, there can be a slowdown due to the verification of data packets as they transmit/receive across the network.  One solution here would be a gigabit network, which requires all gigabit components (network cards, cables and hubs all must be gigabit).

Sometimes one or both of the resultant drive images are not true to size but are much larger than the real drive being cloned.  

 

No!  The other way around.  The primary, the one being cloned, reports to be around 700GB, but when cloned the "new" clone drive reports to be just under 400GB.   And both work the same.

 

In early December this happened.  Once I noticed it (due to the time it took for the cloning process) I took steps to clean it up and see where the seemingly recoverable space was being consumed.  I never figured it out.  So I swapped that drive of 700GB (lets call it alpha) out in favor of the new clone (lets call it beta), which weighed in at under 400GB.  So at that point "beta" became my primary HD and "alpha" was pulled from the system.  Not even in the chassis.  Never skipped a beat afterward, running off of beta like nothing ever happened.  So ????.  

 

This past week the same thing happened.  Now beta, primary in the system, had ballooned over the past 60 days to around the same level as what I had found with alpha in December  (near 700GB).  I cloned beta to the third HD in my rotation, lets call it "charlie".  Charlie as the new clone reported in at just under 400 GB. The same result that had happened with alpha to beta in December.  Charlie has now been swapped into my system as the primary, and beta has been removed from the chassis.  Next I slipped alpha back into the system and cloned charlie (394 GB) to alpha.  Once created, alpha reported in at the same size, 394 GB.  So alpha is now the one on the shelf as my most recent clone.

 

So why would my primary in each case balloon like that over the course of a month or two, and have the cloning process create clones that are back in the lower range ?

You might try totally formatting the target drive before trying to clone an image to it.  This would positively remove any prior image.  Then see if the ballooning occurs.  This is only for testing purposes.  If it works and you never have a balloon issue again, you can conclude there is a defect in the backup software where it is not properly totally erasing the drive before cloning.  Also, Acronis Clone has a feature called "automatic" where the software will clone a smaller drive to a bigger drive and vice-versa (if space permits). You might try playing with the manual feature in lieu of automatic and see if that works with the cloning process and see if it will keep your drive image size the same every time. Finally, I would inquire if you are manually running this clone process (I assume yes) as opposed to making it a scheduled task?

 

Otherwise, I'm stumped.  I recommend you contact Acronis Support.  You can't be the first person experiencing this issue. Likely they will have a solution available.  Be sure you have the 2014 version of their product.  Earlier versions had some known issues, though this one is pretty off-the-wall to me.  Best of luck.

 

 

If it works and you never have a balloon issue again, you can conclude there is a defect in the backup software where it is not properly totally erasing the drive before cloning.

 

I still appear to have you confused despite my alpha, beta, charlie.  The target disks are coming out fine.  They show lower.  So how would formatting them make a difference if when produced they are fine?  It is what is happening to the primary when it is in use that is the question.  That is when the ballooning is happening.  When in use over say 60 days.  To the primary in-use HD.