odd cloning issue, will not boot

[pcpete]

We have a sony vaio with uefi which when doing a full disk clone using both Macrium, our normal product, and also tried AOMEI with the same issue. We get a boot error, A device required is not connected or can't be accessed. The strange thing is if we do a sector copy it works fine. We quoted for a 240gb job, but may just give the client a 1tb SSD at the same price since that is big enough for a sector copy. We will still make money and everyone is happy.

Any ideas why a file based clone is failing?

 

[Porthos]

We have a sony vaio with uefi

Most Sony's I have encountered were Win 7 generation and did not use UEFI.
There are some really high-end ones sold now though.

 

[pcpete]

Most Sony's I have encountered were Win 7 generation and did not use UEFI.
There are some really high-end ones sold now though.

You assumed it was a 7 upgrade . It has an 8 coa on it, but we also upgrade tons of 10 machines to SSDs

 

[Porthos]

It has an 8 coa on it

Must have been some of the last before they stopped making for a while. 2013 ish.
I have a client with 2 21" AIO/Tablet computers I upgraded. Both were 8.

when doing a full disk clone using both Macrium, our normal product,

Do not clone, IMAGE to an external and restore back and it should work and downsize to the smaller drive. Nothing to do with UEFI or even MBR.

 

[pcpete]

Do not clone, IMAGE to an external and restore back and it should work and downsize to the smaller drive. Nothing to do with UEFI or even MBR.

We have always cloned, it saves one step and cuts the time in half as opposed to imaging to your computer, then imaging a second time to your destination drive. We have been using this process to do several per day for the last three years without issue. For some reason this Sony drive will only work if we clone or image it using a sector process instead of a files based process. That is the hiccup.

 

[backwoodsman]

Could be some weird issue between the BIOS and the drive's sector translation, or something along those lines. It would be interesting to know if it works with a different 240GB drive.

 

[pcpete]

Could be some weird issue between the BIOS and the drive's sector translation, or something along those lines. It would be interesting to know if it works with a different 240GB drive.

We tried different brands and all different sizes. Even the 1tb samsung we used that worked when we did a sector copy clone failed when we did a file based clone

 

[HCHTech]

Must have been some of the last before they stopped making for a while

TlL Sony started making computers again. I hope they have a different target than before. It always seemed to me they were trying to be the Apple of the PC world. Expensive, oddly & maddeningly constructed, very difficult to get parts...

 

[Porthos]

I hope they have a different target than before. It always seemed to me they were trying to be the Apple of the PC world. Expensive, oddly & maddeningly constructed, very difficult to get parts...

Seems to be the same
https://us.vaio.com/collections/vaio-sx14

 

[britechguy]

Seems to be the same
https://us.vaio.com/collections/vaio-sx14

Yes, they do still seem to want to position themselves as the ultra-deluxe PC.

At least I'll give them credit for not offering any touchscreen model. A touchscreen on a true laptop (as opposed to a convertible to tablet) is like teats on a bull - useless (and for those who insist on playing with them, makes the screen an absolute mess and harder to read).

 

[Diggs]

makes the screen an absolute mess and harder to read

+1

Never understood touchscreen laptops. Please don't touch my screen!!! I don't want your greasy fingers making a mess on any laptop.

 

[britechguy]

+1

Never understood touchscreen laptops. Please don't touch my screen!!! I don't want your greasy fingers making a mess on any laptop.

I even annoy myself on those rare occasions where I touch my own non-touchscreen screen by accident, as I hate "greasy fingerprints" or even disturbing the dust layer that I haven't cleaned off in a few days.

But, just as importantly, if I'm working with someone where having to point at the screen is a part of it, I don't want the computer "doing something" when I invariably accidentally touch the screen while pointing something out. And the thing it invariably does causes the very thing being reviewed to disappear and then we have to go through the gyrations to get back to it!

 

[Markverhyden]

TlL Sony started making computers again. I hope they have a different target than before. It always seemed to me they were trying to be the Apple of the PC world. Expensive, oddly & maddeningly constructed, very difficult to get parts...

Exactly what they tried to do. I did work for a company that had a contract to handle onsite warranty repair for their laptops some 10 years ago. I will say some of their equipment was really nice, just like some of Apple's and some other OEM's. But had the same repair problems as noted. I can remember some of their "thin" laptops were a serious problem, especially the screen. A couple of models the lid was so thin there was no way to separate the bezel from the lid without breaking the retaining clips. Not to mention their retail stores. Not sure who on here saw those but I saw two locations in the Boston area several times. While the decor was different the operation was the same as Apple's retail stores. Of course Sony failed.

Seems to be the same
https://us.vaio.com/collections/vaio-sx14

It's not Sony anymore. They sold it off to another Japanese company in 2014.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaio