[mechanic]

My operating system is vista home premium and was pre-installed when i bought my acer laptop model 7520.The hdd is only 80 gbs and is partitioned as c and d.I am running out of space on the c drive and decided to clone the hdd and then replace it with a larger one.I downloaded HDCLONE and copied the entire hdd.I then found that i could not boot from the cloned hdd.I had changed the boot sequence and the hdd was recognised.I used AOMEI PARTITION ASSISTANT to increase the space available on the c drive but cannot find any info to allow the cloned hdd to boot.Can anyone help? I should mention that i don`t have a system disc to reinstall vista should my hdd crash so this was another reason to clone the hdd.

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Can you put the original disk back in and post a screen shot of a full screen Disk Management window?

To open Disk Management, press Windows key next to the left Ctrl key and the R key, type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter or click GO. Make it full screen.

Vista and Windows 7: How to Use the Snipping Tool in Vista - Vista Forums (says it's for Vista but also works with Win 7).

Use the Browse and Attach This File buttons below the text input area while using the Full editor to upload and insert here.

You can do a Clean Install of Vista. If you do not have a Windows Vista installation DVD, you can download a legal copy with SP1 integrated from here:

Download Official Windows Vista RTM with SP1 Setup Files (32-bit and 64-bit).

Only Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1 (32-bit or x86) download is available, but if, during the install, you do not enter the product key when initially prompted for it (which you must have to use the download), then you will be prompted to select the version of Vista you want to install.

• Windows Vista Home Basic
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Windows Vista Business
• Windows Vista Ultimate

There is no .iso to download, you download 3 files for X86 or X64. You activate Vista once it's installed.

X86:

• X14-63542.exe
• boot.wim
• install.wim (this is the bigest one)

X64:

• X14-63543.exe
• boot.wim
• install.wim (this is the biggest one)

Then as is stated on the site,

If you want to create a setup disc for clean installation, run the EXE file and it'll extract the required setup files in a folder which can be used to create a setup disc using a freeware given here.

Here is what I did, you can use the X86 version if that is what you need:

Downloaded the Vista X64 files.

install.wim
boot.wim
X14-63453.exe

Double clicked on X14-63453.exe. It extracted all the files into a Vista sub-folder.

Downloaded Windows Bootable Image Creator zip then extracted the files to a folder.

Open the folder and run WBICreator.exe
Click Next
Select OS Type: Windows Vista
CD/DVD Label: VistaX64
Setup Location: The Vista folder created when you double clicked on X14-63453.exe.
Output Path: Somewhere with enough free space to hold the .iso file that will be created (3,837,112KB).
Click GO.

When done a VistaX64.iso file will be created in the Output Path you chose.

You can use the .iso as input to a burner program like ImgBurn to create a Vista Install DVD, or you can use it as Input to Universal USB Installer – Easy as 1 2 3 to create a Vista install flash drive.

I created and tested a flash drive and it worked great.

Remember, use X86 if that is the version of Vista you currently have.

[Ztruker]

Can you put the original disk back in and post a screen shot of a full screen Disk Management window?

To open Disk Management, press Windows key next to the left Ctrl key and the R key, type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter or click GO. Make it full screen.

Vista and Windows 7: How to Use the Snipping Tool in Vista - Vista Forums (says it's for Vista but also works with Win 7).

Use the Browse and Attach This File buttons below the text input area while using the Full editor to upload and insert here.

You can do a Clean Install of Vista. If you do not have a Windows Vista installation DVD, you can download a legal copy with SP1 integrated from here:

Download Official Windows Vista RTM with SP1 Setup Files (32-bit and 64-bit).

Only Windows Vista Ultimate with SP1 (32-bit or x86) download is available, but if, during the install, you do not enter the product key when initially prompted for it (which you must have to use the download), then you will be prompted to select the version of Vista you want to install.

• Windows Vista Home Basic
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Windows Vista Business
• Windows Vista Ultimate

There is no .iso to download, you download 3 files for X86 or X64. You activate Vista once it's installed.

X86:

• X14-63542.exe
• boot.wim
• install.wim (this is the bigest one)

X64:

• X14-63543.exe
• boot.wim
• install.wim (this is the biggest one)

Then as is stated on the site,

If you want to create a setup disc for clean installation, run the EXE file and it'll extract the required setup files in a folder which can be used to create a setup disc using a freeware given here.

Here is what I did, you can use the X86 version if that is what you need:

Downloaded the Vista X64 files.

install.wim
boot.wim
X14-63453.exe

Double clicked on X14-63453.exe. It extracted all the files into a Vista sub-folder.

Downloaded Windows Bootable Image Creator zip then extracted the files to a folder.

Open the folder and run WBICreator.exe
Click Next
Select OS Type: Windows Vista
CD/DVD Label: VistaX64
Setup Location: The Vista folder created when you double clicked on X14-63453.exe.
Output Path: Somewhere with enough free space to hold the .iso file that will be created (3,837,112KB).
Click GO.

When done a VistaX64.iso file will be created in the Output Path you chose.

You can use the .iso as input to a burner program like ImgBurn to create a Vista Install DVD, or you can use it as Input to Universal USB Installer – Easy as 1 2 3 to create a Vista install flash drive.

I created and tested a flash drive and it worked great.

Remember, use X86 if that is the version of Vista you currently have.

[mechanic]

The hdd is still connected using the usb .Hope i have done this screenshot correctly as its the first time i have done it!

Attached Thumbnails

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[Ztruker]

Is the 242GB partition where you cloned the old C: to?

Follow the directions I posted to create a bootable Vista install DVD.
Disconnect to old drive so just the new one is connected.
Boot the Vista install DVD and run Startup Repair (up to 3 times).

How to Do a Startup Repair in Vista

If that doesn't work, do as above only do a Clean install of Vista from the install DVD.

How to Do a Clean Install and Setup with a Full Version of Vista

[mechanic]

Apologies for the delay in replying ZTRUKER. The 242gb is were the c drive was cloned to.I had problems with the downloads you said as it would not run.It said there was no os files on the disc!It got a bit complicated for my limited experience with computers.I have upgraded the cloned drive with windows 7 and fitted the drive to my laptop and all appears to be well.Many thanks for the time you have taken to help me with the problem.Your links to different sites and programmes have helped me gain more confidence in dealing with problems on my computers.Thanks again.

[Ztruker]

Glad you are up and running again. Thanks for letting me know.