The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Need help, new HD only boots in safe mode

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by homstead_us, Aug 29, 2009.

  1. homstead_us

    homstead_us Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    118
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Heres what I have, Sony FZ laptop. Problem is I bought a new HD, a blacl scorpio 320 gb 7200 to repalce the original HD. So I did my reading on here and used acronis to image the old drive to the new one. After that I installed the drive and it wont boot up. It sits at a windows screen with the scrollingthing at the bottom and the HD light stops blinking. I can boot in safe mode for some reason though, what did I do wrong?
     
    homstead_us, Aug 29, 2009
    #1
  2. Lithus

    Lithus NBR Janitor

    Reputations:
    5,504
    Messages:
    9,788
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    205
    Images are very unreliable. My guess is that a non-vital part of the operating system was corrupted in the image. You're much better of reinstalling the operating system than making images.
     
    Lithus, Aug 29, 2009
    #2
  3. homstead_us

    homstead_us Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    118
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    31
    serious? what about all my files, how can I back them all up? I can re-install vista np but Im worried about all the other stuff i have.
     
    homstead_us, Aug 29, 2009
    #3
  4. Lithus

    Lithus NBR Janitor

    Reputations:
    5,504
    Messages:
    9,788
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    205
    Back them up while in safe mode. Or buy an external HDD case or a SATA to USB adapter and use your old HDD as an external.
     
    Lithus, Aug 29, 2009
    #4
  5. homstead_us

    homstead_us Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    118
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    31
    I have a external case, thats how I imaged the new drive. I wasnt sure if it would be recognized or not. thanks for replying Ive been working on this thing all night since I got the HD in the mail and now im kinda pissed. Everyone else seems to never have a problem imaging their disk, then when I try it something goes wrong, go figure.
     
    homstead_us, Aug 29, 2009
    #5
  6. homstead_us

    homstead_us Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    118
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Well I cloned the drive last night and when I got up this morning. It was done, so I loaded the drive and now when the comp boots its goes to the recovery screen. Anyone have any ideas?
     
    homstead_us, Aug 29, 2009
    #6
  7. goofball

    goofball Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    358
    Messages:
    1,710
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    did you plug the drive in when you were in Windows? I've had problems where because Windows has assigned and acknowledged it before you imaged over so it gave it another drive letter and expects it to be that even though you imaged it over.
    the other thing you can try, once you get your data off, is to remove the HDD controllers in safe mode, reboot, and see if that will let you back into the OS.
     
    goofball, Aug 29, 2009
    #7
  8. homstead_us

    homstead_us Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    118
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    31
    I will try that, but what kills me is I just cloned it again, for the 3rd time. And it still only boots up in safe mode. I tried to clone the disk with a Acronis recovery CD and it wouldnt do it, because its a trial. Ill try mess with the bios but is there another clone program that is free and actually works?
     
    homstead_us, Aug 29, 2009
    #8
  9. goofball

    goofball Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    358
    Messages:
    1,710
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    goofball, Aug 29, 2009
    #9