Trying to clone disk and upgrade to W10. WRM and GPT??? (anyone?)

I have a 500GB C drive and a 3TB backup drive. I want to clone the C drive before upgrading from 8.1 to 10. Using Acronis. I need to initialize the 3TB drive. Since it is large I need to use GPT but the C drive is MBR. I cannot get support on the phone si I'm sitting here.
Will I have trouble if I clone an MBR drive to a GPT drive? I could initialize the 3TB drive as MBR, upgrade to W10 and then reformat it once I'm sure everything is OK. I really don't expect a problem but I still need to know if I can use a GPT drive to backup MBR drives. The computer is a Studiocat maybe a year old, probably a little less.
Anyway, I have no idea but I DO know I don't want to cause problems for myself.
Thanks for any help...
 
Julien

The byte sectors on all the disks are 512 and all the drives are Toshiba. I do have a W-8.1 disk in case everything goes south. Perhaps I should clone to the 3TB disk and backup to an internal disk. I know I wont be able to not from a USB drive but if I restore everything from the clone to the original drive shouldn't everything be right again.... I mean that's the whole idea right?
I expect less problems from the upgrade that from the cloning and possible restore.
I need to clone my laptop too.
As long as I'm asking, can I just backup the C drive and the laptop drive to the 3TB drive to different folders? I do not plan to partition it unless I need to. I have no idea if I need to or not. I guess once I do either MRB or GPT I will have to ability to create folders.
Someone throw me a line...
J

What is the difference between a backup image and a clone? Can I do it with Acronis?
Thanks Jon,
 
Julien

First be sure your computer is UEFI not just BIOS. Windows is likely to require some major adjustment (high level manual kludge) to boot a system from a GPT drive using BIOS, since the bootloaders on the two systems are not compatible. In most cases you should assume that there is no way that your system will ever boot windows from a GPT drive without UEFI.
 
Assuming you have UEFI, the safest way to do this is probably to partition your blank 3TB drive so that you have a 500 GB MBR partition created, and leave the rest unallocated. Then you can image your current C drive, and restore that image to your new MBR partition resulting in an MBR bootable image. After confirming that you have a bootable MBR system, you can then run your upgrade, and when you have finished, you can use Windows 10 to convert your drive to GPT. After that you can extend your existing partition into the unallocated space to get access to the full 3TB.
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/convert-mbr-to-gpt-disk
 
Some cloning applications may do this automatically, but I am unable to find a statement from Acronis that any version will do that. 
http://www.backup-utility.com/clone/clone-mbr-to-gpt-disk-4348.html
 
 
 
 

OK, I don't understand all this so since I really don't expect to need this backup after I upgrade to W10 I think I'm going to take Jim's advice and use Acronis to clone. I don't think there is anything wrong with the drive. It is all DAW, no email, no antivirus, only online for downloading samples, instruments, or Cakewalk updates etc. I expect I'll have to reauthorize ADD-2 but like I said, I don't expect to need this clone of 8.1. I do have an 8.1 disk if I need it. I'll run a backup and try the clone, I may see if I can change the partition to 500GB but I don't want a bunch of 500GB partitions and I'm not sure I can change it once done. I'm really not comfortable with three 1TB (or just under) partitions either. I'm not even sure if it will make three partitions. I just set the maximum to 1/3 of the size listed. Minimum is 8mb, I think.
I'll go to the DAW and check some more. I'm doing this on my laptop. This laptop will likely have BIOS since it was originally a W-7 64 computer.
My main concern is about WRM or GPT and if I will be able to load the clone onto a new disk in case of a crash (which I do not expect to need to do) remember this is in advance of upgrading from 8.1 to 10. I know I wont be able to boot from a USB dock, which is where the 3TB drive is, but I could install it in the case.
Thanks.
Julien

Hey Dave, let me know how it goes. I went with the clone because I couldn't find an option for a disk image. As I said, I'm not too worried, I expect W-10 to install and work. I expect that the clone will work too
BTW, where is the disk image option in Acronis, I will use it in the future to backup once W10 is installed and working and to backup my samples and project drives.
I'll have to study more before doing my laptop, I'm sure it is BIOS. Also, Acronis, even though I went with "manual" decided to stay with WRM, I guess since the partitions are smaller than 2TB that is ok... heck, IDK. I'm just clicking and hoping but W10 on my laptop has been really good.
If I have to buy another drive to image the laptop I'll do that. It is 500GB and running out of space. It has about 20GB left so I want to image or clone it and get a bigger laptop drive then put it back just like it is.. if I can. It seems impossible or at least improbable to me but they say it can be done. User error is my biggest concern, ignorance if you will....
Thanks and I hope all goes well for you. When I upgraded this laptop from W-7 to W-10, it went without a hitch. I didn't backup anything. It just worked.
 
J

The disk image is just the back up.  Clone is in the tools menu.  A disk image ends up being smaller than the actual drive.  I'm currently 90% installed.

Hi,
 
I'm not the expert here, and won't try to suggest that. But I have a question or two.
 
Why are you worried about an "image"? 
1. An image includes everything and the kitchen sink. On a backup, you do not need Windows, the programs, and all the other garbage that is in your computer. 
 
2. Why not, just make sure that all your work is on the other drive, and all the files pertinent, and please note that every program creates their "own" location (I do not allow that, btw!!!!!!!!), and you just need to check the settings on the 5 or 6 programs that you have, re-open them, and them have that piece of music (let's say) be saved over THERE, on the other drive, and then you can re-check it, and remove the one in the bad location.
 
3. I only have 2 locations for all my work. "Files" and "Writing" ... and they have their subdivisions within for various uses. The only thing I really need to backup in my computer is those two things.
 
4. VST's on my computer. A copy of them all is on my locations. Again, anything created with them, and saved is in the Files locations.
 
In my way of seeing, and YES, I DO NOT have as much music and stuff as you guys do, making sure that things are all in a central location, will save you a lot of time, space and hassle, and not have to deal with compatibility issues. Not to mention crashes.
 
In my case, I have copies of those 2 locations in 2 other machines ... Files 2 and Files 3 and Writing 2 and Writing 3. So when I go to the lake, for example, I plug in the laptop, turn on the network and then copy the Writing stuff over. When returning I can do the same to the original. I guess I'm not as diligent at copying the folders, but in general, every Sunday night I burn 15 minutes to make sure I am backed up. I can also put these on a CD, if needed.
 
When you setup W10, it will create a return point, and it should (should!) be able to return everything back to what it was. But I would make sure and cover your own work. You can reinstall a program or two ... but redoing your work can be a hassle, as you feel you lost too much.
 
Losses are interesting for me. When I let them go, guess what? I gained more and something else in return. Don't ask me to explain that.

The upgrade went well. It went quickly. Everything I've tried opens at least. I hid Cortana. I would like to delete Cortana, I guess I'll have to Google that.
It also seems to have installed Windows Defender. I do not want anti-virus software on my DAW, however it does not show up in APPs or Programs (where you uninstall). Does anyone know how to get rid of these. I think I managed with all the security, location off, stuff like that etc. I think I'll be able to delete the clone of Windows 8.1
 
Thanks all.
 
Julien

Here's a link to get rid of some of the Win 10 apps. I don't see Cortana in the list.
 
http://www.tenforums.com/...dows-10-a.html

God Dave!
 
Thanks Mook.
I found a link on how to get rid of Defender. I think I'm rid of Weather. I'm wondering if I should keep Defender and just turn it off when I use Sonar. The only other things I do on the DAW is downloading programs, samples, and Sonar related stuff, no email or anything). Maybe Defender wont be a problem if I turn it off... then again, I read that it will turn itself back on if not used for a while.
J

jbow
God Dave!
 
Thanks Mook.
I found a link on how to get rid of Defender. I think I'm rid of Weather. I'm wondering if I should keep Defender and just turn it off when I use Sonar. The only other things I do on the DAW is downloading programs, samples, and Sonar related stuff, no email or anything). Maybe Defender wont be a problem if I turn it off... then again, I read that it will turn itself back on if not used for a while.
J

Defender (8.1) has a place to specify exclusions.  I excluded Sonar back when the huge Rap Pro libraries were slow loading.  Excluding Sonar sped that up considerably.
 
Point is you can keep Defender from interfering without turning it off/on ... a pain to remember for me

Seems like people wanted to turn this into a rocket science.
I never had an issue with all versions of True Image.
For what it's worth I had a W7 machine with True Image 2010 Home.  I upgrade to 10 to get my free upgrade and reverted it back to 7 with the same software.
I never had a problem cloning.

You can choose what Defender scans. Usually the best thing is to set it not to scan itself. BTW it is not a resource intensive app.

kitekrazy1
Seems like people wanted to turn this into a rocket science.
I never had an issue with all versions of True Image.
For what it's worth I had a W7 machine with True Image 2010 Home.  I upgrade to 10 to get my free upgrade and reverted it back to 7 with the same software.
I never had a problem cloning.

FWIW, If you've used True Image for years, it's child's play.   
For someone new to the process, they just want to be sure they get it right.
 
I've used True Image hundreds of times (myself and for clients) over the past 12 years.
Never had an issue.  It's never failed...