AOMEI Backupper - HDD Failure after clicking 'Cancel' while cloning
I was using the AOMEI Backupper Standard to clone a HDD.
Source was a WD 1 TB Black HDD (primary drive in my computer)
Destination was a WD 1 TB Green HDD (in an external USB enclosure).
Within 30 seconds of the start I changed my mind and clicked 'Cancel'.
I believe the cloning hadn't started yet and the Backupper program was in the
information gathering stage.
Now the destination HDD is not seen when attached to my computer, either in
the external USB enclosure or when installed as the primary drive.
The HDD still works - I can hear and feel the disk spinning.
I have reviewed the 'Clone' section of the AOMEI Backupper User Manual (p.
31, 32) and there is no mention of the 'Cancel' button.
Do you know what is wrong?
What needs to be done to the HDD so it is recognized by my computer?
If the HDD cannot be recovered, may I respectfully suggest that some sort of
message be put in the Backupper program to warn future users about the
times during the cloning process when clicking the 'Cancel' button will result
in the loss of their HDD.
Comments
Perhaps try: right click 'My Computer' or 'This PC' (depending on version of Windows), then click 'Manage' --> Storage --> Disk Management.
There you should be able to see your 'green HDD', remove all partitions on the green drive (right click on the partition and choose Remove volume) and then repartition and reformat the drive.
If you cannot see your green HDD in Disk Management the drive is invisible for Windows, in that case you should try if you can make the drive visible again in the BIOS (redetect, autodetect, etc.).
If that also is impossible you should go to the website of WD and try to download some kind of emergency tool to repair the drive. This tool usually has to be placed on a bootable USB stick, and then boot from this USB stick in order to repair the green HDD. Be sure to choose the correct HDD, you would not want to lose the data on your main HDD!
renehoss, Thank you very much for taking the time to reply, and for your suggestions. I will try them out shortly and post acomment with the results.
AOMEI Support sent me a email regading this problem, below is the email and my reply.
You mean you can not find your HDD via "disk manager"? Could you please
insert your HDD to another computer to see if you can view it not?
Hello,
Thank you for your reply.
I will answer your questions inline:
You mean you can not find your HDD via "disk manager"?
-Yes. The HDD will not boot up and therefore cannot be found in "Disk
Manager".
Could you please insert your HDD to another computer to see if you can view
it not?
-I installed the HDD as the primary (and only) drive in a second computer. The
computer did not boot up or start. The following messages were displayed:
PXE-E53: No Boot Filename Received.
PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel Boot Agent.
No Bootable Device - insert boot disk and press any key.
What happened to my HDD?
Why did clicking the 'Cancel' button during the clone process cause my HDD
to be unreadable or unrecognizable by my computer?
You should be able to see the HDD in diskmanagement when installed in the external USB enclosure connected to a working Windows PC.
Or view it in command prompt: cmd.exe -> diskpart -> list disk.
renehoss
Thanks so much for your detailed suggestion, it worked!
Perhaps try: right click 'My Computer' or 'This PC' (depending on version of
Windows), then click 'Manage' --> Storage --> Disk Management.
There you should be able to see your 'green HDD', remove all partitions on
the green drive (right click on the partition and choose Remove volume) and
then repartition and reformat the drive.
Take care,
Kevin
JohnnyboyGo,
Thanks for replying, this:
You should be able to see the HDD in diskmanagement when installed in the external USB enclosure connected to a working Windows PC.
is exactly what worked.
Take care,
Kevin
My second reply to AOMEI Support apologizing for not following their advice:
Hello,
Please ignore my last reply - you were right, the HDD did show up in the Disk
Manager window and I was able to recover it.
My apologies for not reading your email more closely.
Thank you for your time,
Kevin
OK, glad that things are working again.
The problem wasn't really the fault of Backupper, but just the result of a broken off cloning process.
However, AOMEI could improve their Backupper program by not leaving the HDD in such a state when cloning is interrupted.
When the cloning is cancelled by the user Backupper should leave behind a clean partition that can be read by Windows, that is a much more user-friendly solution...
renehoss
Agree with all your points.
Again thanks for your time and help, it's much appreciated!
Kevin