Ghost Solution Suite

To anyone,

I wanted to clone a Windows 8.1 Thinkpad T440S using Symantec Ghost suite 2.5.1 from one hard drive to and bigger HD on the same laptop.
I created a PC-DOS USB through the Symantec Ghost Boot wizard, Standard Ghost Boot Package.

I was able to upload the ghost image to my Ghost server, using Symantec GhostCast Server on Create Image, command line on the Ghost Cast server -ib

On the menu I did a Ghost cast-unicast

The thinkpad T440S connect to my GhostCast server.

I selected the Drive 2 Local on the Select local source drive by clicking on the drive number.

the ghost image uploaded fine.

Now when I restore the image back to a another HD on the Thinkpad T440S it goes into a loop on Windows 8.1 Pro repair mode.

What did I do wrong? This way works for Windows 7 Pro on a Thinkpad T440S

Did you copy both partitions?

No I didn't copy both partitions, is that the problem. How do I copy both paritations and download both paritions on to the new HD.

I did copy both partitions from the old hard drive to a share using the Ghost cast server.

The first one is  called local drive 1 Size is 981MB one paritation and use the command switch -szee

I copied the 2nd partition named local drive 2 size is 244198 MB.

In the bios I changed the UEFI to Legacy to be able to boot to USB Ghost boot disk.

Then I restored the first partitions to the new hard drive and the 2nd partition.

Then rebooted the laptop while changing the UEFI back to the UEFI in the bios.

Then when I reboot I get the blue screen Recovery your PC Needs to be repaired an required device isn't connected.

Does anyone have a solution for me to clone a Windows 8.1 Thinkpad T440s.

What happens if you leave the bios in legacy mode - does it boot then?

Hello Edt

I went to the bios-Apps Menu-Setup- and tried these combination with these results.

UEFI/Legacy Boot  setup to Lgeacy only with CSM support- result could not find the SSD drive kept booting up in the Pixe Boot mode.

UEFI/Legacy  setup to UEFI only- caused the error your PC needs to be repaired.

UEFI/Legacy setup to Both with UEFI/Legacy Boot Priority set to Legacy First caused Your PC needs to be repaired. and the same if I set it for UEFI boot Priority set first.

Looking back over the original posting, I notice you are using a PCDOS boot.  This may also be a part of the problem as PCDOS does not understand SATA devices nor does it understand UEFI.  I would strongly encourage you to try with WinPE instead of PCDOS.

Ghost 3 is currently in Beta - not sure if the beta is still open to applicants, but it does provide a lot more support for modern hardware than the version you have. It also supports UEFI bioses which your version does not.

Hello EdT

I created boot USB Boot Windows PE (Default) from the Symantec Ghost Boot Wizard and when I connect to the cast server I don't get a IP address I just get that generic 127.0.0.0 IP so I cannot cast that is why I use the PCDOS as the Thinkpad would get the IP 192.168.x.x

If you can tell me how to ge the WIndows PE to work to get the IP address that would be great to connect to the cast server.

You need to add drivers for the NIC and SATA chipsets on your machine. They need to be Vista 32 bit drivers to match the version of WinPE that ships with your version of Ghost.  The drivers are added using Ghost Boot Wizard, and make sure you select them after addition to make sure they get included in the WinPE build. Or you can load them dynamically using DRVLOAD from the WinPE command line. The two links below should help:

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH110134

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/do-i-have-correct-driver-winpe

the Thinkpad T440S uses the Intel 1218-V NIC and when I went to Intel to download the drivers they don't have Vista, can I uses Windows 7 drivers

No, you cannot.  However, this article: https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/creating-and-using-winpe31-image-gss-251  will allow you to build a version of WinPE which does support Win 7 drivers.