Boot.ini Issue

  • Thread starter Thread starter WJB
  • Start date Start date
W

WJB

Hi,

I'm trying to update my laptop to a larger internal drive and tried several
tools, including Norton Save & Restore, Windows Backup/Restore, Perfect
Image, and none appear to be problem-free. I'm about to try Ghost and would
appreciate any advice on this BTW.

My main issue here is that I now see several entries when I boot my machine,
the top default being Microsoft Windows Vista, but followed by two entries of
just "Windows Vista", one corrupt from the above scenarios and the other
boots from a secondary drive, but that OS is deficient I suspect because all
its registry references go back to the original drive.

In Xp and prior, there was a boot.ini file that contained all these entries
and one could edit it to remove unwanted entries. In Vista, I don't see a
boot.ini in the root of the C Drive. Is there a different mechanism and how
do I accomplish that?

Thanks
 
Download and install VistaBootPro (www.vistabootpro.org). Once installed run
the program and click on the 'manage OS entries' option. You can remove
superfluous entries from there. Vista's answer to boot.ini is BCDedit.
BCDedit isn't for the faint hearted. I think you will find VistaBootPro more
to your liking.

I personally don't like Ghost or, for that matter, anything Norton. For
imaging I use Acronis True Image and I haven't had any problems so far.


--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
Web: http://www.silversurfer-guide.com

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
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mail/post..
 
Thanks for your answers there, John.

So for my superfluous Vista entires, deleting them from MSConfig is not good
enough then?

And with Acronis (I assume you're referring to ATI 11 Home), would you
backup the entire C drive then restore to the larger drive, or would you do a
cloning? I want to get it right the firs time as I have had too much trouble
with my previous attempts.

I really appreciate your guidance there.
 
Thanks for your answers there, John.

So for my superfluous Vista entires, deleting them from MSConfig is not good
enough then?

And with Acronis (I assume you're referring to ATI 11 Home), would you
backup the entire C drive then restore to the larger drive, or would you do a
cloning? I want to get it right the firs time as I have had too much trouble
with my previous attempts.
Click to expand...

Backing it up produces an image that isn't bootable, but that can be
used to restore your drive if it's needed. This method only uses the
space needed to produce the image and leaves everything else intact.

Cloning to the new drive uses the entire drive (it wipes it clean
before cloning) and produces a drive that can be booted. Only use
that if you plan to use the cloned drive as your system drive.
 
Thanks, Paul. I do intend to use it as my new system drive. However, my
experience with other such tools is they clone all the partitions on the
drive to same size partitions on the new drive thus defeating the purpose of
using the tool to upgrade to a larger system drive. Does Acronis allow
partition resizing in the cloning process?

Thanks
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 
Thanks, Paul. I do intend to use it as my new system drive. However, my
experience with other such tools is they clone all the partitions on the
drive to same size partitions on the new drive thus defeating the purpose of
using the tool to upgrade to a larger system drive. Does Acronis allow
partition resizing in the cloning process?
Click to expand...

Acronis will use the entire drive. If your current setup uses 40G, it
will use the same on the new drive and all the rest of the space will
be leftover.

ATI is a GREAT product! Buy it at Newegg.com for the lowest price, and
free 3-day shipping.

While you're at it, why not get Acrons Disk Director Suite as well?
Might be the best partitioning program on the market.
 
Not sure I undestood this last one:

Will Acronis use the entire new drive or will it use the same size on the
new drive. These two seem to be conflicting. Now, if I also purchase the Disk
Director Suite, then I assume the answer to the first question becomes
irrelevant since the Partition Manager in the suite would allow me to resize
the new drive's System/Boot partition after cloning. Or am I understanding
this incorrectly?

Thanks for your guidance there.

WJ
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
After you clone, the drive will be partitioned to the same size as the old
drive.
But in Vista, you should be able to expand that partition after the fact and
make it bigger.
Once it is cloned & booted, look at disk management.
 
WJB there is no edit facility in the Vista msconfig for you to remove
entries, hence the need to either use BCDedit or VistaBootPro. BCDedit, as I
have pointed out, is rather complex to use; VistaBootPro, however, is far
more user friendly.

ATI 11 Home is the 'current' version available for download; however, I am
testing the latest beta version imaginatively named ATI 2009.

As you want to move your operating system over to a new drive I would
recommend cloning.


--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
Web: http://www.silversurfer-guide.com

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..
 
ATI 11 Home is the 'current' version available for download; however, I am
testing the latest beta version imaginatively named ATI 2009.
Click to expand...

Anything notable in that? I thought about playing with it, but
passed.
 
Paul Montgomery said:
Anything notable in that? I thought about playing with it, but
passed.
Click to expand...

How many machines do you have? Do you backup onto a central server? I
think the Echo Workstation version is a lot better. You can automate
backups, and push tiny agents through network, onto desktop computers and
laptops, without actually having to install anything else on them. The only
thing that sucks is the cost of the Echo Server version, which you need to
install on Server 2003/2008, but you could always use a virtual machine for
the Backup Server component. You cannot do this to actually backup the
server itself though, as it needs direct hardware access, as far as I can
tell. Maybe using the Boot CD would work.

ss.
 
How many machines do you have? Do you backup onto a central server? I
think the Echo Workstation version is a lot better. You can automate
backups, and push tiny agents through network, onto desktop computers and
laptops, without actually having to install anything else on them. The only
thing that sucks is the cost of the Echo Server version, which you need to
install on Server 2003/2008, but you could always use a virtual machine for
the Backup Server component. You cannot do this to actually backup the
server itself though, as it needs direct hardware access, as far as I can
tell. Maybe using the Boot CD would work.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Doesn't look like I'll have any use for it.
 
The only thing that jumps out at you with ATI 2009 is the new, crisper
graphical interface. The general 'workings' are the same as previous builds.

--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
Web: http://www.silversurfer-guide.com

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..
 
I did download ATI Home 2009 beta last night. Sounds like you like it. Would
you recommend I try it out for reliably cloning my system drive?
 
Would I recommend you try it? Well the first thing you need to know is that
ATI 2009 is 'beta' which basically means it is still in the testing phase,
so if you try it and something goes wrong you only have yourself to blame.
Okay the same thing can happen with RTM copies (Release to manufacturer) but
the chances of something going wrong worsens in beta software.

Obviously the beta is free, so you could try it without actually expending
capital on something that may turn out like all the other cloning
applications you have used. If it works okay you've lost nothing; if it
doesn't then you are back to square one.

All I can say is that, if you try this beta version, you ensure that you
first have a backup copy of your original hard drive saved, either to a
removable hard drive or a set of DVD's. If any corruption occurs on your
main hard drive (the one you are cloning) you can at least re-image your
backup back.

I'm sorry about the cautious approach but beta software can be unpredictable
and you need to be aware of this before you start.

I've used Acronis for a number of years and haven't had any issues, so you
could say that I like it' In most cases you will also find that the hard
drive manufacturers also use Acronis as part of their cloning software
generally distributed with retail hard drive packages.


--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
Web: http://www.silversurfer-guide.com

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..
 
Thanks, John. I will proceed with great caution. I already have a couple of
backups on external drives. So we'll see how welll this one works.

I do have another issue that I hope you can help me with. It is listed in a
separate posting under "The Group Policy Client service failed the logon.
Access is denied." in the "Windows Vista Administration Accounts and
Passwords" group. This one is pretty urgent and unfortunately caused by me
being too trusting of Symantec's Tech Support. Tough lesson learned very much
the hard way. Never again. I hope you can go to that group, read the posting
and suggest a resolution.

Thank you again for your help and advice.
 
You're Welcome WJB

As to your other problem it isn't something I am familiar with but see my
reply in the relevant newsgroup.


--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
Web: http://www.silversurfer-guide.com

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..
 
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