Need help reatoring Windows backup on SIMATIC VOX PC

[Robski]

The OS (WinXP) lives on  CompactFlash card. I''m getting the immanent failure warning so trying to create a backup. Used ghost to create a image but there is a problem. The restored OS complains about missing paging file and the D:\ drive is missing. I can see the second partition on different computer but not when the machines OS starts. Tried to run a forensic copy with Macrium Reflect with the same issue.

[Kilo Tango]

Does the computer still boot with the original drive ?. Trouble is when you plug a hard drive/storage device into windows, it writes something to somewhere on the drive, thus it will not boot after ( haven't figured what and where yet ! ). However Linux Mint has 2 programs that perform block by block copies, DD, and DDrescue, they are a bit difficult to 'drive' unless you can cope with command line instructions.

I recently bought a Tek scope which had the classic IBM 10G hard drive. I had an old PC running Linux Mint 18, which I had used to back up drives for my R & S FSIQ 26 analyser some time ago onto a Compact flash card in a CF to IDE adaptor. There was a GUI version available that made things a lot easier.

I tried to use it to program a M2 16G drive in a standard cheap 'n  chearful caddie to make a copy of the HD, however Mint 18 had problems detecting things, or maybe the machine was not powerful enough, or motherboard was too old ?. So I dug out another no longer used PC with  GA-MA785GT-UD3H motherboard, with athlon 2 and 8G ddr3, and installed Mint 20.3. Only problem here was some MBD's will not boot from USB so its a pain trying to install software from CD or DVD.

 I then bought DDrescue-GUI, cost around £5 so not a lot. This gave me the tools to copy the old system HD. OK it is not as easy to drive as Windows, but it gets the job done without having to 'phone home' every few minutes. Having IDE and SATA slots, it should cope with any sort of drive, and its the machine you can stick away in a corner at very low cost for the next time it is needed. Net result is the scope starts much faster, and if the M2 drive dies, I have an image file so can make a copy easily.

Works for me,

Cheers Ken

[Robski]

It's bloody Siemens and I think it's hardware set to look for partition data somwhrre where "normal PC" doesn't. I copied some italian cnc drives to ssd, few opc but never Siemens. This one starts but cannot assign the letter to the partition after c:

[Psi]

Just to be clear what you are doing.

Is this imminent failure warning coming from the CF via smart, or the SIMATIC VOX PC itself?
Are you trying to copy the compact flash card data/OS to a replacement compact flash card and then boot it up in the same PC ?
Or are you trying to move the OS to totally new hardware ?
Even if the ultimate goal is moving OS to a new PC, try copying the CF to a replacement CF and prove that works in current PC before trying to get it running on new HW.
Also, are you sure drive D is on the CF and not some other flash drive storage built onto the motherboard?


If the partition structure is oddball you may need to copy the CF to another CF/HDD using a byte for byte copy. Rather than tools that try to interpret what they are reading.
You could try using DD in linux to do an exact copy. Just make sure you get the input/output around the right way and don't overwrite the good drive.
Ghost/Macrium Reflect may actually have an option to do a byte for byte copy. Just need to have a look.  A byte for byte copy doesn't deal with partitions it's drive to drive.

[coppercone2]

Oh I get it I thought it was a mispost but this is a machinists computer

[Robski]

It is a SIEMENS BOX PC. The Compact Flash is also SIEMENS. The original card still works it is just giving us a warning about SMART failure. Restoring the old backup or making the backup now with different bit-by-bit programs gives the same result - missing paging file and cannot show drives other than C: regardless what I try.

[Psi]

It is a SIEMENS BOX PC. The Compact Flash is also SIEMENS. The original card still works it is just giving us a warning about SMART failure. Restoring the old backup or making the backup now with different bit-by-bit programs gives the same result - missing paging file and cannot show drives other than C: regardless what I try.

Need more info about what you mean by that.

Is this using the same PC but a different CF card that has been copied from the faulty one?

[Robski]

The original card still works it is just giving us a warning about SMART failure. For that reason we need to be prepared for card failure - have working backup. Unfortunately the backups I tried, all end up with the same issue. The D: partition is there but does not have a letter and I cannot assign any letter to it. As a result of that, Win XP boots up, complains about "missing or too small paging file" and no files from D: drive.