Windows 10: clone drive that has errors ?

Hello : My sons windows 10 computer the harddrive has errors . Windows will still run but I need to clone his drive . I tried acronis easy migrate but it stops when it tries to copy a error . Any ideas ? thanks . I bought him a new drive today .

:)

 

Drive error detected

ok, I have 2 drives in my system. A C drive (OS) and a E drive (data only drive).

I do not clone the C drive to the E drive.

I clone the C drive to completely different (third) SSD using Macrium Reflect.

I boot from the cloned C drive (not E) and errors are reported on the E drive.

I put the original C drive back in and boot - No errors on the E drive.

There are three drives involved.

Original C, E data drive, and a third SSD that is the cloned C drive.

I disconnect the original C and boot from the third drive (the cloned C).

Immediately get drive errors on E.

Remove cloned C drive and reinsert original C and boot.

No errors detected.

The alert message does not specify which drive has the errors, but experience with this

issue is that the E drive is the drive reporting errors.

 

Drive error detected

Running Windos 10 Pro 64 bit.

I currently have a C drive (SSD) and an E drive (SSD).

I create a clone of my C drive weekly and boot from the clone to

make sure it is bootable.

When I boot from the cloned C drive I get a message in the Action Center that

there is a "problem with your drive".

First, it never tells me what drive has the error and when I click on the

alert it says "Restart to repair drive errors".

I'd like to know before clicking on the alert which drive has the errors.

How do I determine this?

If I ignore the alert and put my original C drive back in and boot from that

I do not get the alert.

This behavior occurs anytime I boot a Microsoft OS (Win 10 cloned drive or

Win 10 Pro Insider). When I revert back to my normal C drive I do not get this

error.

I know from experience that when I'm booted from the cloned drive and let it restart

to repair the errorws that I lose data on the E drive.

How do I avoid this?

EDIT - the drive that windows thinks has errors is the E drive. The E drive is not a cloned drive.

It is purely a DATA drive.

 

I would scan and repair the disk errors first - right click the disk then select Properties / Tools / Error checking or run chkdsk C: \f (or whatever drive letter you need to check) from an elevated command prompt.

I prefer to use Macrium Reflect for disk imaging using the option ‘Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows’ to back up all system files. Backup/restore is preferred rather than cloning since cloning might duplicate the disk signature creating 2 disks with the same signatures. It's also good practice to ensure only your system disc is connected the first time you boot.

 

Hi, your first priority with a hard drive that is apparently failing is to make sure you have a backup of all important data and settings. Do nothing else before you have done that. Depending on the severity of the failure, you may find some failures whilst copying data.

You need to determine if the problem is hard failure of the disk, or corruption of the file system. I would guess the first, given the failure you have noted.

Once you have done the backup, as far as the disk allows, you can try checking its SMART parameters e.g. using Crystal DiskInfo. This will indicate if the disk itself is failing.

You can do a surface test (e.g. Macrorit Disk Scanner - free- there are many programs which support this- to get a picture of your disk and assess the level of error.

If the SMART parameters are ok, then you can run chkdsk.
Windows key + X, click 'command prompt (admin).
Then type
chkdsk C: /F

In future, to guard against the problem of hard drive failure, you need to have been using a disk imaging solution e.g. Macrium Reflect (free). That would mean you could have restored an image (a compressed copy of your partitions/drive to your new hard drive relatively easily.

Lacking that, you will need to reinstall Windows on your new hard drive, assuming you have a significant level of failure, as you don't know what has been corrupted.

 

thanks , tried chkdsk c: /f/ r

Kept failing . But used easy migrate and skipped over the errors . all copied . thanks for your help people ...