Cloning Bootable Compact Flash

priley0830 · March 2023

I'm trying to clone a bootable compact flash card with windows xp embedded. It doesn't seem to be working. I am doing a disk clone and it seems to copy everything, but when I use the new card, it doesn't boot. Any suggestions? Also, I am running the AOMEI Backupper Professionial v7.2.0

aiArtisan · March 2023

Hello, I understand you are wanting to clone one disk to another disk, but the target disk does not function properly. Are you cloning SD, SD Micro or other camera cards? I do not know about Windows XP Embedded, or copying flash cards, but it may be the case that your target disk needs to have the same Disk Signature UUID as the source disk.

You could use a Intelligent Sector clone, and then manually change the Disk Signature in Windows > Diskpart, or other software. Or you could use Partition Assistant with Sector-By-Sector setting. The Sector-By-Sector

In the uncommon case that you must use Disk Clone method with exact sector-by-sector setting, I recommend using Partition Assistant for that instead of Backupper, because only PA will copy the Partition Table MBR/GPT; in my experience Backupper does not copy the Partition Table MBR/GPT, even with Disk Clone & sector setting.

Create Partition Assistant WinPE USB:
Please add custom drivers, such as NVMe, if necessary

Aomei WinPE Builder 2.0 USB, includes: Partition Assistant, Backupper, Recuva, OSF Mount, CPU-Z, Bootice. Does not support internal NVMe disks.

Great tools not from Aomei:

Hirens Boot PE - live USB tool suite
To add custom drivers such as NVMe, simply put them into the “CustomDrivers” folder. Hirens is not recommended in combination with Ventoy USB.

Ventoy - bootable USB Creator

Clonezilla - non-GUI cloning

If the source disk has Bad Sectors, use Expert Mode > "-rescue" option to continue cloning all readable sectors

priley0830 · March 2023

Yes, I cloned a CF card to another CF card. Everything copied fine. The problem might be because the CF card I have is not a fixed, true IDE card. I haven't had any luck trying to make it a fixed card. If it is seen as removeable media, from what I read, it won't boot.

aiArtisan · March 2023

On the source disk, what is the output of Windows > cmd > Diskpart > lis dis > sel dis # > uni dis ?

Please select the source disk #.

After cloning to the target disk, what is the output of Windows > cmd > Diskpart > lis dis > sel dis # > uni dis ?

Please select the target disk #.

Please display the results below, thank you.

priley0830 · March 2023

Target Disk - B20B0BDF

Source - D23AD23A

priley0830 · March 2023

Would making the target disk ID the same as the source ID fix it?

aiArtisan · March 2023

"Would making the target disk ID the same as the source ID fix it? "

I'm glad you caught on to that.

Did you read my original post? If your target disk has a different Disk Signature, then you probably did not follow the directions. Please reply with which of the 2 methods you tried.

Here is some more information that might help.
Always backup your disks before performing operations in Diskpart. In general, do not have 2 disks simultaneously inserted that have the same UUID / Disk Signature, that could cause a collision, or one disk could be turned offline.

Change Disk Signature of target disk to that of the source disk:
Windows > Diskpart > lis dis > sel dis # > uni dis id=D23AD23A

Confirm the target disk has the correct Disk Signature:

Windows > Diskpart > lis dis > sel dis # > det dis

With the source disk removed, and after confirming the target disk has the same Disk Signature as the source disk, please use the target disk, and tell us if that solved your problem.

Diskpart

priley0830 · March 2023

Hey, thanks for the help and the patronizing, really appreciate it. I'll let you know if it works.

Cloning Bootable Compact Flash

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