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Groups > comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage > #2403

Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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AndyHancock wrote
> Rod Speed <rod.speed....@gmail.com> wrote
>> AndyHancock wrote

>>> OK, running into a few complications that are complicating the picture a bit.
>>> Toshiba Canada says that changing the HDD doesn't void the warranty,

>> Yes, thats the legal situation.

>>> but they are not allowed to provide it in writing.  Seems fishy.

>> Nar, just some fool who doesnt allow the minions to put stuff like that in writing.

> That's a lot of minions.

Not really. There arent that many involved directly with the public.

> It seems to be a company wide policy.

Sure, but obviously set by some particular fool.

>>> So I'm seeking a way to verify the booting off
>>> the clone without removing the native HDD.

>> Thats very undesirable indeed with Win.

>>> I can change the boot sequence so that it boots off of
>>> eSATA-connected auxiliary drive (residing in an enclosure), but I'm
>>> told that unless I actually remove the native drive, there is a
>>> risk that the laptop will see both boot partitions and modify the
>>> registry so that one or both HDDs can't be booted from.

>> And that is correct. In fact its not only a risk its a certainty.

> Now that's a very valuable tidbit.  Thanks!

OK.

>>> I need to dig deeper so that I'm not gambling with my HDDs.

>> You arent gambling if you are careful about removing the original drive.

>>> Of course, if there is no other solution, I guess the only course
>>> of action is to remove the native HDD.  :(

>> Yes, that is your only option and legally unless you do something
>> really stupid mechanically, that will not void your warranty and they
>> wont even be able to work out that you have removed it in the very
>> unlikely situation where it does die coincidentally with you removing it.

> I'll try not to let it get to that.

You dont have any control over that.

Its very unllikely tho.

>>> Now, about Linux, I have zero experience with it,

>> Its just another flavor of unix.

> I know...I meant all the klag about versions, install, packages,
> mapping different file systems and security models, etc.  Once
> I get to a bash command line, I'm happy.  My experience with
> Cygwin reveals that a lot has to go on behind the dashboard to
> give the illusion of unix's when dealing with Windows and its file
> system.  The user isn't always insulated from those things.

Yep, that isnt even possible.

>>> so what I did was resort to my Cygwin install.  That requires that
>>> I mount the partitions as posix paths (I'm assuming), but the
>>> partitions are not letter drives.  Some people have suggested using
>>> fdisk or accessing the partitions through /dev/sda (a folder which
>>> doesn't exist for me).  Also, fdisk assumes that file systems are
>>> at /dev/sda.  So I have a bit more of a journey determining if
>>> non-letter-drives partitions can be mounted.  I likely depends on
>>> the file system, but Toshiba doesn't actually provide any official info
>>> on their partitioning.  There are vague educated guesses on forums.

>> I wouldnt bother with comparing the parttions myself, I would just
>> see if you can boot with the original drive physically removed.

>> The worst that can happen is that you find that you cant and you can just
>> put the original drive back in the laptop again and carry on regardless.

> You know, with all the unknowns, I have considered that more than once.
> If only the Toshiba partitions were like normal, with one SRP and one C-drive.
> However, they have 2 additional partitions for recovery purposes.  I'm now all
> too clear on how they break down, but I believe that the purposes covered of
> those additional partitions are: (1) to make the recovery discs, and (2) to enable
> restoration to factory state in the absence of recovery discs ("HDD recovery").

> I would like to see if I can preserve all the partitions and their
> functionality, but it's not clear how to check additional partitions.

A binary compare of the partitions should do that and you can
check if the recovery operations work with the cloned drive too.

> Just booting probably won't do it,

Yes.

> so the measures I can take to check the clone are to: (1) compare the
> content with the original, (2) go through the motions of making recovery
> discs, (3) do HDD recovery, and (4) restore to factory settings using the
> recovery discs made in #2.

Yep.

> I don't know if I have the will power to go through all
> of these measures, so I'm trying my luck with #1.

That wont tell you if the recovery ops will work.

There isnt that much involved with doing 2-4 with a clone of the original.

>>> All this to say that I may not try booting for some time,
>>> and I likely won't be diff'ing for significantly longer.
>>> Ah well.  I feel myself getting smarter.

>> That usually results in tears before bedtime when it turns out to have been an illusion.

> The very fact that I'm trying to do this may actually show that I'm getting dumber.

Hard to say when we dont know how you operated previously. 

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Thread

Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-01-06 22:57 -0800
  Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-01-08 07:18 +1100
    Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-01-08 16:17 -0800
      Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-01-09 13:53 +1100
        Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-01-11 22:22 -0800
          Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-01-12 19:34 +1100
            Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-01-13 21:08 -0800
              Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-01-14 16:32 +1100
          Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone Mike Tomlinson <mike@jasper.org.uk> - 2012-01-13 11:46 +0000
            Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone Arno <me@privacy.net> - 2012-01-13 17:08 +0000
              Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-01-13 21:14 -0800
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-01-14 16:41 +1100
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-01-14 21:38 -0800
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-01-15 20:37 +1100
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-01-15 21:23 -0800
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-01-16 20:14 +1100
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-01-16 20:57 -0800
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-01-17 19:44 +1100
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-02-15 20:48 -0800
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-02-16 16:10 +1100
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-02-16 20:50 -0800
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-02-17 04:26 -0800
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-02-18 00:58 +1100
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-02-19 15:04 -0800
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-02-20 10:55 +1100
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-02-19 21:27 -0800
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-02-20 20:12 +1100
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-02-20 22:50 -0800
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-02-21 20:20 +1100
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-02-21 22:08 -0800
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-02-22 19:34 +1100
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-02-23 05:09 +1100
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-02-22 20:26 -0800
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-02-22 20:46 -0800
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-02-23 20:04 +1100
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-02-23 18:49 -0800
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-02-24 15:58 +1100
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-02-23 21:09 -0800
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2012-02-24 17:30 +1100
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-02-24 20:39 -0800
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone Winniethepooh@100acrewoods.net (GMAN) - 2012-02-22 15:48 +0000
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone Arno <me@privacy.net> - 2012-01-14 18:37 +0000
                Re: Initialize / format 500 GB Momentus XT to make bootable clone AndyHancock <andymhancock@gmail.com> - 2012-01-14 21:42 -0800

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