1 (edited by KrisMcNic2! 2009-03-23 20:25:28)

Topic: {Solved} Computer will not exit from Linux screen. (Clone & Grow HD)

Hi;  I am completely new to anything Linux, GParted is my 1st experience.

I downloaded (Saved) gparted Live 0.4.1-2, burned it to a CD using Imageburn & got it load successfully I think, as I have not tried any operations yet, just did a little exploring.

When I exit gparted, I am left with the screen I started with; large Icons across the top - Exit, Screen Shot, Terminal, Gparted, Info, Screen Resolution; just like when I started but the reduced gParted window has disapeared.  Clicking on any of the Large Icons does nothing, so the only way to get out of Linux? is to cut the power to the computer @ the Powerbar.  Is this normal??  Even the Power/Reset button does not work, It kind of reminds me of Dos where we would shut down manually.

Just to make sure I did not have a bad dump, I went back & downloaded gparted Live again, with the same results.  I have a Dell Optiplex GX270 running on a stripped down version of XP Pro (123 Compute installed).  I loaded Gparted using all the defaults.  I know about the Checksum, but have not figured out how to extract it from the ISO dump.  How do I find it so I can compare it to the Checksum listed on the site, to confirm a good dump??

I'm hoping that GParted can tell us what happened to a friends Hard drive & may be able to fix it.  He used Nero Essentials Express that came with his LG Burner to tranfer his old C: drive to a newer 20 Gig drive but ended up with it being a 7 Gig drive.  We suspect that NERO may have created a phantom partion.  The plan is to Ghost his Hard Drive onto my computer using DriveImage just in case something goes wrong, as like me he has a preinstalled Windows XP PRO & does not have the Windows Installation disks.  This project has turned into a real adventure & a super learning experience, I just hope it does not turn into the School Of Hard Knocks.  MSDOS was so much simpler, now that dates me.  Any & all help and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I am venturing into unexplored territory & am trying to avoid the landmines.  smile

2

Re: {Solved} Computer will not exit from Linux screen. (Clone & Grow HD)

To exit the GParted Live CD, you need to Double-Click on the EXIT icon on the desktop.  Perhaps that is the problem?

As for disk drive space, I have heard of some newer drives having the capability to "set the size of the drive".  Perhaps you have run into this type of problem?

3

Re: {Solved} Computer will not exit from Linux screen. (Clone & Grow HD)

Thanks gedakc.  The double click fixed the problem.  Dumb old me :blush:

I would still like to know how to read the Checksum for future reference.  Do I need a program to do it or is it already hidden in XP PRO somewhere?

This is not a new drive, probably about 5 years old, but reading the Manual on DriveImage, I am very suspecious that what Nero did is what they called a RAW dump.  Don't really understand it all, but will have to do some more reading.  Like I said "it's a real learning experience".  A friend of my father's used to say "If you don't learn something new every day, then you might as well be dead!", well I'v learned so much these last couple of days that I must have at least a year in the bank by now.  smile

4 (edited by cmdr 2009-01-29 15:12:19)

Re: {Solved} Computer will not exit from Linux screen. (Clone & Grow HD)

Hello KrisMcNic2!,

I would still like to know how to read the Checksum for future reference.  Do I need a program to do it or is it already hidden in XP PRO somewhere?

You need a program for Windows. Look here for further information.

He used Nero Essentials Express that came with his LG Burner to tranfer his old C: drive to a newer 20 Gig drive but ended up with it being a 7 Gig drive.

Best thing would be to have the actual situation as it is seen by "GParted", either by having a screenshot or the print-out of Terminal command "fdisk -l -u" ("l" is a lower-case L).
I assume, you did nothing wrong with copying XP Pro to the bigger disk (sector by sector), but of course it doesn't get resized to the new size automatically. This is a simple task for "GParted" !
To know the pitfalls of cloning Windows, have a look at my draft to that issue.

Regards
cmdr

5 (edited by KrisMcNic2! 2009-01-30 07:00:56)

Re: {Solved} Computer will not exit from Linux screen. (Clone & Grow HD)

Thanks cmdr for all the good info & advice.  I have spent all day reading & testing & trying things out.

I finally figured out how to get the Checksum, I always get confused between RUN & SAVE.  Finally found Command Prompt & had to dust off my old DOS skills.  It took a couple of tries but once I get it right it's mine.  Save, Command Prompt, get it & then run it.

The "Screenshot" was pretty easy as I remembered seeing the Camera on the Live desktop, but the "fdisk -l -u" took a little more time.  I have always been scared about anything with FDSK in it, but nothing ventured nothing gained.  After getting nasty messages from RUN & Command Prompt it finally dawned on me that I had to run it from GParted Live.  My only problem is that I have not been able to figure out how to save and/or retrieve it from LIVE, so it looks like I will have to install GParted onto my computer & his to be able to transmit the data if required.  But I will do the work on LIVE as it looks a lot easier & safer.

Wanting to know where all the Landmines are I went through your "draft" again a couple of times & after reading

HOW TO AVOID THIS TROUBLE ?
--------------------------------------

You simply have to delete ONE Registry key BEFORE you use "GParted":

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

(Start - Run "regedit" - Search "mounteddevices"- Delete whole key)

I decided I better try this out.  What I got as a result was not what I expected so I copied & pasted what was on the screen & have put together what was there.  1st line is what I saw on the screen 2nd line is the copied & pasted KEY??

Registry Editor  results from "mounteddevices" search

(Default)        REG_SZ    (value not set)
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2000478354-1957994488-725345543-500\Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru\5603

000        REG_SZ    mounteddevices
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2000478354-1957994488-725345543-500\Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru\5603

001        REG_SZ    gparted
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2000478354-1957994488-725345543-500\Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru\5603

002        REG_SZ    /roor/gparted.jpeg
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2000478354-1957994488-725345543-500\Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru\5603

003        REG_SZ    .flv
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2000478354-1957994488-725345543-500\Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru\5603

004        REG_SZ    ant
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2000478354-1957994488-725345543-500\Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru\5603

005        REG_SZ    ie spell
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2000478354-1957994488-725345543-500\Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru\5603

006        REG_SZ    g-parted
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2000478354-1957994488-725345543-500\Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru\5603

007        REG_SZ    general's daughter
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2000478354-1957994488-725345543-500\Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru\5603

Is "000" what I am supposed to delete?  or am I in the wrong place.  I had expected a list of HKEY....s, find the line & delete it.  Also what is the reference to /root/gparted.jpeg doing there, I was in LIVE when I did the screenshot.  I's very suspecious that I am not in the right place.

If I have everything right the order of battle is:
Do a cleanup with CC & then a Defrag
Delete the Registry Key
Using Live create a partition in my computer for Ronny's C: drive as tempory storage just in case (I have 16 Gig free space out of 40 Gig, so 10 Gig should be plenty or should I make it exactly his current size?)
Reboot 2X
Put Ronny's C: Drive in my computer as the 2nd drive
Using Live Copy his C: Partition (only 1 on his drive) to the prepared slot in my Hard Drive (which should include all of his boot data)
Remove my Hard Drive
Make Ronny's Drive my C:
Boot 2X then delete the Registry Key
Using Live
Delete the phantom partition or stretch his C: partion to full drive capacity.
Boot 2X
Remove his Hard Drive & reinstall my own.
Boot 2x
Delete the Registy Key
Using Live
Delete the Temporary Partion
Boot 2x

Have I got it right??  Have I missed anything??

It looks a lot easier to clone his drive using GParted than DriveImage, as Gparted if I read it right it takes care of the boot data while DriveImage doesn't.  I'll do everything in GParted Live.  Before proceeding I will probably send you a screenshot of what his drive looks like.

Thanks again for your kind consideration & understanding.  I really appreciate the help & don't want to put my foot into it.  smile

Regards
Chris

6

Re: {Solved} Computer will not exit from Linux screen. (Clone & Grow HD)

Hello Kris,

IMPORTANT HINT :
It's clear, that I can't guarantee success nor exclude any damage to data or drive, if you follow my instructions.


How to store screenshots / fdisk print-out on a USB-Stick ?

To get read/write access to storage devices (HDD, USB stick or else), you have to "mount" them with Linux before. Note, that "GParted" can only work (clone, move, resize) on "unmounted" devices. Mounted devices get a lock icon within "GParted". But you can easily unmount them within "GParted" menu (except for the drive, "GParted" was launched, e.g. USB stick).

There are most often two steps necessary to mount a drive : 1. Create an empty folder, where the content can then be accessed (for each partition separately !). 2. Mount ONE storage device at ONE (sub)folder.

Hint : Linux "Terminal" commands in further text are "quoted"; type them and of course hit [ENTER] after each "active" line. Linux is case-sensitive ! Omit lines starting with # (=comments). Do not confuse this # with the console prompt, where it's just a separator.

Type

fdisk -l -u

As a result, you see all detected storage devices and their geometry, but they are not yet accessible ! Write down their device names; e.g. /dev/sda; /dev/sda1; ...
 
Plug in your USB Stick now and wait until its LED stops flickering, then again type

fdisk -l -u

A new device name is added, e.g. /dev/sdb; /dev/sdb1.
Write down the new name with number 1, e.g. /dev/sdb1, and use it from now on, whenever it's referred to.

mkdir /mnt/myusb

Creates a new (sub)folder ("/mnt" always exists; there are also preconfigured empty subfolders, but you can't rely, that each Linux distro offers the same set.

mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/myusb
# Replace "sdb1" by your actual device name !

Now the USB stick is accessible via folder "/mnt/myusb", which corresponds to the root folder "\" of your stick.

Start "GParted" by clicking on its (Linux) Desktop icon and take a screenshot, when finished.

Copy it to the stick and store the output of "fdisk"

cp /root/screenshot.jpeg /mnt/myusb
#Storing the output directly !
fdisk -l -u > /mnt/myusb/fdisk_out.txt
#Use "Wordpad" to view this text with Windows

To get it publicated, just upload it to a file sharing site (e.g. mediafire.com) and give us the link.


What should you know about Linux storage device names ?

"/dev/hd..." indicates an IDE/PATA-drive, "/dev/sd..." is a SATA-drive, USB stick, photo flash storage or other removable storage device. The following letter ("a") indicates the first detected physical device (e.g. "hda";IDE0 interface), "b" the second and so on. At last the number defines the partition number of the logical volume, if any ("hda1" = logical volume on first primary partition of drive "hda" / in DOS "C:", if bootable). Extended partition numbering starts with number 5, because the 4 possible primary partitions hold numbers 1 - 4. Note, that the maximum configuration is 3 primary partitions and 1 extended with a total maximum of 26 drives under DOS ("A:" - "Z:"; A: / B: Floppy; C: / D: / E: primary partitions on harddisks; F: CDROM ; G: - Z: up to 20 logical drives in extended partition).

Coming from Windows world, you should give your drives Volume names, which are foolproof, before you start; e.g. "SOURCE" and "TARGET" (see below) with cloning operations. "GParted" shows them !

--------------------------- Snip ! ---------------------------------------

The Registry Key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/MountedDevices

The above SINGLE key has to be deleted. You let the PC search it or do it yourself.
You listed keys under HKEY_USERS. This is a totally other Registry hive ! For Heaven's sake,
DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING THERE !

Search it this way : Open "regedit" - Close all [-], until you only see the five main keys (hives).
Click on "[+]HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE", click on "SYSTEM" and you see "MountedDevices". Right-click
on "MountedDevices" and "Delete" it. See below for the right timing !

--------------------------- Snip ! ---------------------------------------

My "Order of Battle"

A. First Cloning

1. Install source and target harddisk in one PC
- (Re-)Name Ronny's old harddisk : SOURCE0
- (Re-)Name Kris' harddisk : TARGET1
2. TARGET1 (running OS) : Clean up harddisk SOURCE0 (CC, Defrag; do not yet delete Registry Key !)
3. Launch "GParted"(running OS)
- Right-click on Desktop / "Fluxbox" opens / Choose "File/System utils" / Launch "MC_HxEd"
- Click on all [+] to unfold treeview, write down hexadecimal value of SOURCE0 Drive ID (e.g.(Set)_Drive_Id_0x4d6f2234)
- TARGET1: Shrink Partition and gain approx.10 GB unallocated space (always + 500 MB than the source's size)
- Reboot system twice (TARGET1 running OS)
- Reboot (TARGET1 running OS), delete Registry Key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/MountedDevices"

Note: If you are cloning, there is no need either to partition or to format the target area. It must
simply be big enough for the source.

4. Launch "GParted"(running OS)
- SOURCE0 : Copy ...
- TARGET1 : ... Paste (to the "unallocated space" of 10GB)
- Apply
5. Have some cups of coffee until finished

Note: Normally Volume ID in Master Boot Record is not cloned; Bootflag gets deleted on TARGET1, if a valid MBR gets overwritten, which is NOT the case here ! Keep in mind, that you have a critical state of your (TARGET1) harddisk at the moment. You have two MBR structures on the drive. Do not start Windows !!!

6. "GParted"(running OS) : Rename "TARGET1" to "SOURCE1"
7. Shutdown "GParted"(running OS), install Ronny's new, big harddisk to your PC
8. Launch "GParted"(running OS)
- (Re)name Ronny's new, big harddisk "TARGET2"

B. Second Cloning

SOURCE1 : Partition on Kris' harddisk
TARGET2 : Ronny's new, big harddisk

1. "GParted"(running OS) still waiting.
- SOURCE1 : Copy ...
- TARGET2 : ... Paste (to the leftmost beginning of the harddisk)
- Apply

Note : Do NOT resize it to fit the whole drive here !!!

2. Second coffee break until finished !
3. Set the "boot" mark to TARGET2 primary partition, if missing.
4. Inspect Drive ID, see A 3. Former and actual value have to differ !
5. If not : Use "MC_HxEd", double click on "(Set)_Drive_ID..." (Editor opens),press [F2] to edit, change at least one hexadecimal pair, store it with [F6], control it and quit "MC_HxEd".
6. Shutdown "GParted"(running OS), remove TARGET2 (Ronny's new disk) from your PC and put it back into his machine
7. Do not boot Ronny's PC at the moment; it's my screenplay !


C. Clean Up Kris' harddisk

1. Launch "GParted" (running OS)
- Delete volume SOURCE1
- Apply  -> unallocated space
- Grow OS partition to its former size
- Apply
2. Cross your fingers and start Windows
- Reboot twice
- chkdsk /f twice

... and here is the CLIMAX

D. Settle Ronny's new harddisk

1. @Ronny : Cross your fingers on both hands. @Kris : Start Ronny's PC
- Note any fault message appearing !
- Let Windows do "chkdsk", if it claims for !
- Reboot twice
- chkdsk /f twice
2. Launch "GParted" (running OS)
- Grow the partition to fill the whole drive
- Apply
3. Start Windows again
- Reboot twice
- chkdsk /f twice
4. Champagne !!!

Good luck, Guys
cmdr

7

Re: {Solved} Computer will not exit from Linux screen. (Clone & Grow HD)

Wow cmdr;  Now that was an answer.  I can see you put a lot of thought & effort into it & it is greatly appreciated.  The world needs more people like you in it!  I've been sick for the last couple of weeks, but am now on the mend, so Ronny is bringing his computer over on Saturday, so that I can do the deed.

We spent a whole Saturday, printing out all of the instruction manuals & your detailed instructions & I have "Highlighted" all of the important bits, so I will have them close to hand to use as a Bible.  We did not have a Flash Drive (USB-Stick), so we tried taking pictures using a Digital Camera to capture the Screenshots (not a very good idea as they came out kind of fuzzy).  I have posted them at

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=4119 … eaa7bc68bc

I don't think they will be of much use so I copied them by hand & they are as follows

Ronny's GParted Screenshot of his C: Drive

                                                /dev/hda  (19.14 GiB)

    _________________________________    ________________________________________________________
    l                l    l                            l
    l    /dev/hda1        l    l    Unallocated                    l
    l    7.15 GiB        l    l    11.99 GiB                    l
    l_______________________________l    l_______________________________________________________l

/dev/hda1    note 1    NTFS        7.15 GiB    6.00 GiB    1.15 GiB    boot

Unallocated    note 2    Unallocated    11.99 GiB    -----        ----        ---


Model:        Maxtor    6L020j1
Size:            19.14 GiB
Path:            /dev/hda

DiskLabelType:    msdos
Heads:        255
Sectors/Track    63
Cylinders:    2498
Total Sectors:    40130370

    note 1:    Green Box
    note 2:    Grey box


        Ronny's GParted Screenshot of his D: Drive


                                                /dev/hdb  (7.15 GiB)

    ________________________________________________________________
    l                                l                   
    l        /dev/hdb1                    l
    l        7.16 GiB                    l
    l_______________________________________________________________l

/dev/hdb1    note 3    note 4    NTFS        7.15 GiB    ------        -------        -----


Model:        Maxtor    30768H1
Size:            7.15 GiB
Path:            /dev/hdb

DiskLabelType:    Loop
Heads:        255
Sectors/Track    63
Cylinders:    934
Total Sectors:    15004710

    note 1:    Yellow Triangle with "!" inside
    note 2:    Green box




        Ronny's GParted "fdisk -l -u" results

Disk /dev/hda :  20.5 GiB, 20547841536 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2498 cylinders, total 40132503 sectors
units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier : 0xf702f702

DEVICE        BOOT    START    END        BLOCKS        ID    SYSTEM

/dev/hda1    *    63    14988644    7494291        7    HDFS/NTFS


Disk  /dev/hdb :  7683 MB, 7683637248 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14888 cylinders, total 15007104 sectors
units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier : 0x69205244

This doesn't look like a partition table
Probably you selected the wrong device

DEVICE        BOOT    START        END        BLOCKS        ID    SYSTEM

/dev/hdb1    ?    218129509    1920119918    850995205    7    HDFS/NTFS
partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundry

/dev/hdb2    ?    729050179    1273024900    271987362    74    UNKNOWN
partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundry

/dev/hdb3    ?    168653938    168653938    0        65    NOVELL NETWORK 386
partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundry

/dev/hdb4        2692939776    2692991410    25187+        0    EMPTY
partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundry

Partion table entries are not in disk order

This did not come out quite like I thought it would as we are getting wrap around so I just also posted them in the same folder as an afterthought they should be in the same link as above or maybe they are here <a href="http://www.mediafire.c … </a> , this is another 1st for me.

Ronny's C: Drive looks like a pretty simple fix, with all we have to do is "Grow" his OS partition to take up his whole drive, but I will go through the whole "Clone" operation just in case something goes wrong & we will have a fallback position.  His D: drive on the other hand, looking at the "fdisk -l -u" printout looks a little weird, but then if it's not broke why fix it?

I've made a couple of dry runs, checking out all the operations that I will have to do & it looks like we are good to go.  I have found the correct Register Key, thanks for setting me straight on that one, & the edit mode.  Just to be on the safe side when you say

My "Order of Battle"

A. First Cloning

1. Install source and target harddisk in one PC
- (Re-)Name Ronny's old harddisk : SOURCE0
- (Re-)Name Kris' harddisk : TARGET1
2. TARGET1 (running OS) : Clean up harddisk SOURCE0 (CC, Defrag; do not yet delete Registry Key !)
3. Launch "GParted"(running OS)

Do you mean that while in XP I rename the 2 drives from "Local (C:) drive" to "TARGET1" & Ronny's which will be my "Local (D:) drive" to "SOURCE0".  I was afraid that I would get a conflict if I started with the 2 Hard Drives installed in XP as they are both boot drives, but then I guess the conflict only occurs once one of them becomes a clone.  After they are both cleaned up & I have shrunk my XP OS partition to make room for the clone then everything is done in GParted Live, until I am back to only 1 drive (& that one with the clone removed).  I'll lock my computer so it will only boot with the GParted Live CD until the whole operation is completed.

I wasn't too sure if I should "Grow" Ronny's HD in my computer as mine is a Pent 4, 2666MHZ, while his is a Pent 3, 700MHz & it would speed up the operation, but then thinking about it, maybe it would be better for his own computer to do the final steps on it's own.  Your "Settle Ronny's new harddisk" instructions kind of confirmed my suspicions on that one. 

Thanks again for all the info, guidance & patience.  I owe you one!  I'll let you know how it goes.

smile

Regards;
Chris

8

Re: {Solved} Computer will not exit from Linux screen. (Clone & Grow HD)

Hello Chris,
nice to hear, that you recovered from your sickness ! I just took a closer look to your posted information about the involved harddisks.

His (Ronnys) D : drive on the other hand, looking at the "fdisk -l -u" printout looks a little weird, but then if it's not broke why fix it?

fdisk partition printout of D : looks totally weird, it makes no sense at all. The physical data seems to be correct. The whole drive has 15,007,104 sectors (= 16 heads * 63 sectors/per cylinder * 14,888 cylinders) and each sector 512 Bytes  resulting in a total size of 15,007,104 * 512 = 7,683,637,248 Bytes (=7.15 GiB). I can't believe, that this "object" boots flawlessly !  The starting sector of the first primary partition is far beyond the last physical sector ( 218,129,509 >> 15,007,104) of the HDD !  I assume, that the original Master Boot Record (MBR) was replaced by a third party Bootmanager and that we look upon source code instead of the expected partition table format.

However,  Drive C : as clone of D : looks boringly normal. I would urgently suggest, not to clone drive D : a second time, but to proceed with C :. You might clone C : to your HDD, to have a roll-back, if growing of the file system crashes.

Do you mean that while in XP I rename the 2 drives from "Local (C : drive" to "TARGET1" & Ronny's which will be my "Local (D : drive" to "SOURCE0".  I was afraid that I would get a conflict if I started with the 2 Hard Drives installed in XP as they are both boot drives, but then I guess the conflict only occurs once one of them becomes a clone.

While in XP give Ronny's and your harddisks Volume names ( don't mix it up with "Computer names", which are important for network issues) according to my suggestion to have a captive identification in "both worlds" (Windows and Linux). Nothing is worse than to revert accidentally a cloning direction ! -

The bootflag plays a role on ONE physical HDD. Don't forget, that you can have more than one bootable HDD in your PC, since you can choose Boot Sequence in BIOS. If a HDD is not "asked" by the BIOS to boot, what should the bootflag do against it ? -

The problem in ONE PC are - as you stated correctly - the "cloned twins", because XP can not cope with that situation.

You didn't mention it expressively : Ronnys big C : drive boots already, even with the unallocated space above ?

Regards
cmdr

9

Re: {Solved} Computer will not exit from Linux screen. (Clone & Grow HD)

Hi cmdr;

I had written a long reply giving you the history of what happened to date but somehow I lost it after 2 hours of composing, so this one is going to be much shorter.

Canadian Winters do not seem to be condusive to weekend projects as it always seems that someone is sick and or we are digging ourselves out of a snowbank.  In Ronny's case it seems like he is like a New Bride, really eager to go but a little scared that it might hurt.

To answer your question;

You didn't mention it expressively : Ronnys big C : drive boots already, even with the unallocated space above ?

YES Ronny's New big C: Drive boots & works well even with all of the unallocate space.  I guess since Windows does not recognise it or see it, Windows just thinks it is working with a 7 GiB HD instead of a 20 GiB HD.

We are going to try again to do the deed this weekend if the weather & Ronny's heath permits.  I am going to clone his C: Drive just in case as a 2nd rollback position & if all else fails we can always use the Backup that created this whole mess/puzzle.  Cloning his D: Drive was never an option as it no longer has his OS & original data on it, as it is now functioning as a purely Data & extra storage device & is working just fine in this function, even with all the weird partitions.  I think this may be a leftover from a previous life as it came installed as a C: Drive with Windows XP Pro preinstalled when Ronny bought his computer 2nd hand from a 3rd party.  Maybe it was not correctly wiped and or prepared before the OS was installed.  The only problem he was experiencing with it was that it was mysteriously, slowly losing available Free Space & we could never figure out why, that is why we ended up swapping the 2 HDs to get him some more room as he was to the point where he could not even Burn CDs as there was not enough room left to create a mirror for a CD & Windows would not allow us to free up more room by moving Programs to the larger D: HD.

Thanks for all the help & concern you have been showing us.  smile

Regards;
Chris

10

Re: {Solved} Computer will not exit from Linux screen. (Clone & Grow HD)

Hi cmdr;

Just want to let you know that the operation was a success & both patients are doing well.  Maybe somebody should change the Title of this Post as we ended up going way off topic & anybody looking for a similar fix would never know it was hiding here, also somebody shold also flag this as PROBLEM SOLVED, pls.

We got slowed down by some physical damage to Ronny's computer, he tried to remove the Monitor Cable without unscrewing it (never should have let him try to do it himself), so that had to get repaired.  I spent Friday saving files on my computer, so I could make lots of room for the Clone (only needed 7 GiB, but went & got 14 GiB to give us lots of Buffer room), then went through the 8 STEPS (Techspot), which is Avista (Anti-Virus), CC, MBAM, SAS to make sure that I was Clean & Lean.  Then did my old DOS cure all of CHKDSK/f & DEFRAG.  Not being happy with what Windows DEFRAG did (it did not look very compact), I ran DEFRAGGLER 3 or 4 times until everything was clean & tight.

Saturday morning Ronny arrived with his computer (now physically repaired) & I started the operation.  Removed his HD, changed it's jumper to make it a Slave & installed it into my PC. Then we hit the only snag in your instructions:

My "Order of Battle"

A. First Cloning

1. Install source and target harddisk in one PC
- (Re-)Name Ronny's old harddisk : SOURCE0
- (Re-)Name Kris' harddisk : TARGET1
2. TARGET1 (running OS) : Clean up harddisk SOURCE0 (CC, Defrag; do not yet delete Registry Key !)

Discovered that CC will not clean up a Slave HD, it would only removed a couple of items, so I ended up pulling his HD, putting it back into his PC, downloading & installing CC, then let CC clean up almost a GiB of garbage on his PC, then it was back out of his PC & back into mine.  So for future reference in a Cloning operation always do a CC in the Source computer while the HD is still a C: HD, after that everything went well.

I don't know why there seem to be so many mentions of how long it takes for GParted to do it's thing, because for me I didn't even have time to make a cup of coffee let alone drink it after I hit the APPLY button on any of the operations, maybe it is due to some of the prep work I did which did take up a lot of time, maybe it was overkill or is my Pent IV @ 2666 MHz so much speedier than everybody else or is it because we were only working with a 7 GiB Cloning operation? 

I took a lot of notes, so this might help somebody else & here is a short version of what I did over & above your "Order of Battle"
- Installed the Cleaned (CC) Source0 HD in my PC.
- Booted PC & let it discover the new HD & let it do it's own CHKDSK.
- Rebooted system 2X.
- Run CC.
- CHKDSK/f Target0 2X.
- CHKDSK/f Source0 2X
- DEFRAGGLER Target0 until clean & tight (in my case 2X as I had already had prepared it the night before, so maybe it was overkill.
- DEFRAGGLER Source0 until clean & tight (gave up on 4th X as 2 Files with 34 Fragments with total size of 635 Meg would not Defrag but better than 447 Files, 11,924 Fragments @ 2.5 GiB).
- Then onward with cmdr's "Order of Battle"

It took me a slow careful 20 minutes to prepare to SHRINK Target0 HD.  I hit "APPLY" & in only a surprising 2 minutes the SHRINK had been completed.  Did the Reboot 2X, then Reboot again & Deleted the required Registry Key.

Prepared to do the CLONE & hit the "APPLY" button & again another pleasant surprise it only took 5:00 minutes to Clone the 7GiB Sourc0 HD.

Put Ronny's HD back in his PC.  Rebooting 2X took 15 minutes (his Computer is a lot slower than mine) & CHKDSK/f 2X took another 40 minutes then spent 11 minutes getting GParted ready to Grow.  Hit the "APPLY" button & GParted was off & running but even before I could get out of my chair in under 1 minute the deed was done & Ronny had a healthy 19.1 GiB HD.

I then went to my PC, deleted the clone & did the same sequence with a lot less time (Reboot 2X in 6 & CHKDSK/f 2X in 50, but then I had 27 Gib to do compared with 7 Gib) & GParted did the Grow in under 1 minute.  I waited until I was sure Ronny's HD was OK before doing mine as I wanted a Fallback for a 2nd try if required & if I had cleaned up my HD first then that opportunity would have been lost, otherwise your instructions were perfect.

We started the whole opperation at 11:00 in the morning & I finally had both computers back together & running @ 3:00 the next morning, so the total operation took 17:00 hours but in actual fact it took GParted only a total of 9:00 minutes to Shrink, Clone & then Grow the 2 HD, so why is it taking 6 hours, for other people.  What takes the time is the Reboots, CHKDSK/f's & DEFRAG's.  I can only think that giving GParted a nice clean, neat workspace to work on makes it go a lot faster & would be much less prone to failures.  In my case I think it was well worth the extra Prepartion time.

Once again many thanks cmdr for all the help & patience, yesterday was ST. PATRICK'S DAY, so I hope a Leprechaun left his Pot of Gold under your bed, because you deserve it.

Regards;

Chris   cool

11 (edited by cmdr 2009-03-19 00:42:08)

Re: {Solved} Computer will not exit from Linux screen. (Clone & Grow HD)

Hello Chris, hello Ronny,

Congratulations for your successful work and  - most of all -  your perfect report about it. You are now HDD cloning experts with "GParted" !

... and many thanks for the "flowers" wink

Regards
cmdr

PS: As thread-opener, you can change the title by editing your first post and add [SOLVED], of course.