HDD replacement on R&S ZND VNA - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: E.Buer
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2025, 07:52:19 pm
content: Hi.My R&S ZND network analyzer has recently become very slow, taking upwards of an hour to boot.With some patience, it eventually starts, and i manage to open the VNA application.Once the VNA-application has started, then the instrument runs smoothly, but trying to save a trace halts the instrument again.Powering down the instrument also takes ages.I have a suspicion it is the HDD that is going bad, so i have cloned the HDD to a Kingston SSD, using ddrescue on my mac.sudo ddrescue -f -n /dev/disk5 /dev/disk4However, when trying to boot into the cloned SSD, the instrument gives the following error message:"An operating system wasn't found. Try disconnecting any drives that don't contain an operating system."I have tried looking in the BIOS, but there are no other boot options than: Use BIOS Setup Boot OrderDo any of you have an idea what i may have done wrong?

author: BreakingOhmsLaw
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 14, 2025, 08:55:34 pm
content: Cloning a drive with "dd" can go wrong if it is not the exact identical type of disk.Try to mount the new and old disk and see if that works.

author: E.Buer
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 15, 2025, 04:52:03 am
content: Hi BreakingOhmsLaw.Both drives mounts successfully on my Windows 11 PC.Below you can see them in disk manager.When both are connected to the PC, one (the new SSD) is offline due to "signature collision".The second image show disk manager with just the SSD connected.

author: squadchannel
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 15, 2025, 05:37:26 am
content: I don't know what OS is running, but you need to rebuild the MBR.Of course, cloning will create a disk with the same partition structure, and since the unique IDs written in the MBR are the same, a conflict will occur.

author: DaJMasta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 15, 2025, 07:10:45 am
content: That, probably comes down to making the drive bootable - while the information is present on any OS installed disk, the specifics of it seem to be ignored by a lot of cloning utilities.I don't know if it works on Mac, but I've used Macrium Reflect Free Edition to clone a number of test equipment drives and migrate them to new ones and it handles the bootability as well as resizing appropriately.

author: squadchannel
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 15, 2025, 09:27:05 am
content: The ACTIVE flag is already set. It is bootable.

author: coromonadalix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2025, 10:07:36 am
content: your ssd may be too big, the hdd is a 500meg, try to find an ssd of 500mbnormally any good cloning software should do the job from start to finish and resize if needed, find an pc and try other pc software(s)but to be sure, do an hdd backup before trying to clone itand for your slugginess if it is windows based, you can or could have some crap loaded who slow the R&S down

author: E.Buer
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2025, 05:35:46 pm
content: The instrument is running Windows 7 embedded.I made a Windows "Recovery Drive" USB-stick and tried booting it on the instrument. It did not work.I got the same error as earlier:"An operating system wasn't found. Try disconnecting any drives that don't contain an operating system."I´ll attempt to fix the MBR using the Recovery Drive on my desktop.Before I tried ddrescue, I tried cloning it with "Acronis® True Image for Kingston", but it failed quite early in the cloning process.

author: E.Buer
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2025, 06:30:17 pm
content: I booted into the recovery drive on a desktop with only the cloned SSD connected and ran bootrec /fixmbr.I then tried booting the VNA again. I still get the no operating system error.I then ran bootrec /scanos. It finds C:\Windows.bootrec /fixboot gives "Access is denied"I then run bootrec /rebuildbcd.It gives an error message:"The requested system device cannot be found."

author: Harry_22
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 16, 2025, 07:53:06 pm
content: Hi!I will try to send you the image for ZND IPS2 controller.It is 10GB. I'm not sure if I can make it smaller.

author: E.Buer
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 17, 2025, 07:17:50 pm
content: Thanks Harry!Could you elaborate on what IPS2 controller is exactly?

author: fzabkar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 18, 2025, 12:14:39 am
content: A dd or ddrescue image should be byte-for-byte identical to the source drive, assuming that both source and destination have a sector size of 512 bytes. Is it possible that the SSD is not being detected by the instrument? Does the instrument still report "OS not found" if there is no drive present?Could it be that the instrument is doing some "funny" business for IP protection reasons? How many sectors does ddrescue report for the capacity of the Toshiba? There should be 976773168. Perhaps there is a hidden area (HPA).

author: Whales
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 18, 2025, 12:37:13 am
content: QuoteLooks goodI also like to add an extra argument to specify a mapfile (a bit like a logfile, useful if your ddrescue session is interrupted).Also see my note further down about copying the disk to a file rather than to another raw disk.Quote from: BreakingOhmsLaw on July 14, 2025, 08:55:34 pmWhat do you mean by "disk type"?SSD vs HDD? That should not matter to dd other than the performance differing, both are block devices that expose 4k blocks of data via the SATA protocol.Quote from: E.Buer on July 15, 2025, 04:52:03 amYes that's expected. The NTFS partitions have a unique ID in them and Windows is confused by the fact they have identical IDs.N.B. I would not recommend changing the partition IDs, thatmightupset the windows bootloader.Quote from: DaJMasta on July 15, 2025, 07:10:45 amdd does not suffer this problem, it clones all data identically byte for byte. If the old disk was bootable then the new disk is bootable.EDIT: I might be wrong here and you might be right if the windows bootloader is using device IDs instead of partition IDs. It's been a long time since I cloned a windows system like this.Issues of bootability are caused by disk cloning tools that create new partitions, new partition tables and then copy just the files across (ie not a byte-for-byte disk copy). These tools are faster (you don't have to copy unused space) and allow you to shrink/grow the resulting disk (very useful); but they then have to fix lots of small details afterwards to make a bootable system, including:* Marking partitions with the right types & flags in the partition table (MBR/GPT)* Setting flags & values in the filesystem headers* Setting flags on specific files in the filesystems* etcI've had these smarter tools fail sometimes; but for an older OS they normally work fine.Quote from: E.Buer on July 16, 2025, 06:30:17 pmWoah. Something is really going wrong here if it won't boot on another computer either.Your problem might be one of these:(0) (EDIT): The new machine needs to expose the disk in the same way the old one did or Windows often refuses to boot. I have seen BIOSs expose SATA disks in three different ways:* As "emulated IDE devices" (old & compatible)* As AHCI devices (common for the last 15 years or so)* As devices plugged into fake/emulated RAID controllers (I have no idea why some mobos do this by default)You might need to tweak the BIOS settings of the testing laptop. Otherwise windows will go "I think I'm supposed to boot IDE device 0... wait why are there no IDE devices? What do you mean SATA? I've never seen that before! That disk claimed it was IDE! I have the slips to prove it!".Linux doesn't give a damn about this and I think (but don't quote me) they might have fixed this in Windows 10 and later.(1) Your ddrescue clone did not succeed.What did ddrescue's output say? Was it a 100% successful, or were there skipped blocks?If the original disk is only 10GB then I would suggest cloning the old disk to a file, not raw to another disk. That gives you a number of advantages, including:* Lets you test the disk image in a VM (very useful!)* Gives you an unmodified backup to play with* Allows you to perform multiple rescues on different days and then checksum them, to see if the old drive is evolving like mould in ways ddrescue doesn't detect.Also be wary of some USB-to-SATA converters, I've had ones that change the size of the block device slightly! Use internal SATA if you can.(2) The new disk has leftover data in it that is confusing the OS. All I can think of are GPT backup bootblocks which get stored at the _end_ of the disk where ddrescue won't write over them. Sometimes bootloaders & OS's might see these and think they are real.Try gdisk /dev/device or similar, if it gives a warning about corrupt GPT headers then this might be your problem.

author: Whales
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 18, 2025, 01:05:47 am
content: Quote from: fzabkar on July 18, 2025, 12:14:39 amOh god, I'd forgotten about that stuff.Still probably worth getting the clone to work on either a different device (OP's laptop) or a VM first to rule out the other issues first.

author: Harry_22
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 18, 2025, 06:20:00 pm
content: Quote from: E.Buer on July 17, 2025, 07:17:50 pmThe part number is 1325.5605.02

author: E.Buer
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2025, 10:30:52 am
content: Some new developments.The cloning attempts up to this point have been through a USB-SATA adapter.Aside from the copy from HDD to SSD using ddrescue on Mac, I have also made a copy to file of the original HDD, using "HDD Raw Copy Tool" on Windows, through a SATA-USB adapter. I have not tested this image yet.I wanted to try saving an image for future cloning, using SATA-cable straight to my Desktop.I connected the HDD to the desktop and booted the PC.The ASUS BIOS had a 5-second countdown asking to click a button to disable fixing the G-disk.I let it have a go.After the ASUS BIOS "fixed" the drive, I made a clone in Windows 11.The drive now seems a lot more snappy. I can browse the files in Explorer on Windows 11.I then tried to boot the VNA using the original, now "repaired" HDD.Now I get the "An operating system wasn't found. Try disconnecting any drives that don't contain an operating system." error even on the original HDD.When no drive is connected, the instrument displays a different, no media found message, so I know both the SSD and HDD are recognized.(EDIT) I'm not sure if i have tried booting the original drive since cloning it the first time, so it might have been corrupt the whole time.This would make a bit more sense, considering the clones would not boot either.Inspecting the MBR of the first clone (The direct clone over to the SSD, before any modifications) gives a hint.The MBR of the SSD clone:3ÀŽÐ¼�|ŽÀŽØ¾�|¿�¹�üó¤Ph Ëû¹�½¾€~��| …ƒÅâñÍˆV�UÆFÆF�´A»ªUÍ]rûUªu ÷Á�tþFf`€~�t&fh����fÿvh��h�|h�h�´BŠV�‹ôÍŸƒÄžë¸»�|ŠV�ŠvŠNŠnÍfas þNu €~�€„Š�²€ë„U2äŠV�Í]ëž>þ}Uªunÿv�è�uú°Ñædèƒ�°ßæ`è|�°ÿædèu�û¸�»Íf#Àu;fûTCPAu2ùr,fh»��fh���fh���fSfSfUfh����fh�|��fah��ÍZ2öê�|��Í ·ë ¶ë µ2ä�‹ð¬<�t »�´Íëòôëý+Éädë�$àø$ÃInvalid partition table�Error loading operating system�Missing operating system���c{š†çëJãØ€ !�þÿÿ����P8:������������������������������������������������UªMBR of the SSD clone after running fixmbr:3ÀŽÐ¼�|ŽÀŽØ¾�|¿�¹�üó¤Ph Ëû¹�½¾€~��| …ƒÅâñÍˆV�UÆFÆF�´A»ªUÍ]rûUªu ÷Á�tþFf`€~�t&fh����fÿvh��h�|h�h�´BŠV�‹ôÍŸƒÄžë¸»�|ŠV�ŠvŠNŠnÍfas þNu €~�€„Š�²€ë„U2äŠV�Í]ëž>þ}Uªunÿv�è�uú°Ñædèƒ�°ßæ`è|�°ÿædèu�û¸�»Íf#Àu;fûTCPAu2ùr,fh»��fh���fh���fSfSfUfh����fh�|��fah��ÍZ2öê�|��Í ·ë ¶ë µ2ä�‹ð¬<�t »�´Íëòôëý+Éädë�$àø$ÃInvalid partition table�Error loading operating system�Missing operating system���c{š†çëJãØ€ !�þÿÿ����P8:������������������������������������������������Uª

author: E.Buer
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2025, 08:20:23 pm
content: I managed to get it up and running on the SSDI took made a sector-by-sector clone of the HDD through SATA.Burned this to a 500 GB SSD. This would not boot.Then i took the windows recovery USB stick in the VNA with the SSD in the SATA port of the VNA.During boot, i pressed Escape to enter a BIOS menu (turns out there are two menus, i didn't find this in the beginning of the thread).Here i selected to boot into the recovery USB.In the recovery USB, i open shell, run fixmbr like before, then i ran chkdsk, then i ran "bcdboot C:".I then ran the diagnosis tool in the recovery drive.After this the analyzer successfully boots into the new SSD.

author: fzabkar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2025, 09:56:48 pm
content: Quote from: E.Buer on July 19, 2025, 10:30:52 amThose are identical.Code:Offset(h) 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F00000000 33 C0 8E D0 BC 00 7C 8E C0 8E D8 BE 00 7C BF 00 3ÀŽÐ¼.|ŽÀŽØ¾.|¿.00000010 06 B9 00 02 FC F3 A4 50 68 1C 06 CB FB B9 04 00 .¹..üó¤Ph..Ëû¹..00000020 BD BE 07 80 7E 00 00 7C 0B 0F 85 0E 01 83 C5 10 ½¾.€~..|..…..ƒÅ.00000030 E2 F1 CD 18 88 56 00 55 C6 46 11 05 C6 46 10 00 âñÍ.ˆV.UÆF..ÆF..00000040 B4 41 BB AA 55 CD 13 5D 72 0F 81 FB 55 AA 75 20 ´A»ªUÍ.]r..ûUªu00000050 20 20 F7 C1 01 00 74 03 FE 46 10 66 60 80 7E 10 ÷Á..t.þF.f`€~.00000060 00 74 26 66 68 00 00 00 00 66 FF 76 08 68 00 00 .t&fh....fÿv.h..00000070 68 00 7C 68 01 00 68 10 00 B4 42 8A 56 00 8B F4 h.|h..h..´BŠV.‹ô00000080 CD 13 9F 83 C4 10 9E EB 14 B8 01 02 BB 00 7C 8A Í.ŸƒÄ.žë.¸..».|Š00000090 56 00 8A 76 01 8A 4E 02 8A 6E 03 CD 13 66 61 73 V.Šv.ŠN.Šn.Í.fas000000A0 1C FE 4E 11 75 0C 80 7E 00 80 0F 84 8A 00 B2 80 .þN.u.€~.€.„Š.²€000000B0 EB 84 55 32 E4 8A 56 00 CD 13 5D EB 9E 81 3E FE ë„U2äŠV.Í.]ëž.>þ000000C0 7D 55 AA 75 6E FF 76 00 E8 8D 00 75 17 FA B0 D1 }Uªunÿv.è..u.ú°Ñ000000D0 E6 64 E8 83 00 B0 DF E6 60 E8 7C 00 B0 FF E6 64 ædèƒ.°ßæ`è|.°ÿæd000000E0 E8 75 00 FB B8 00 BB CD 1A 66 23 C0 75 3B 66 81 èu.û¸.»Í.f#Àu;f.000000F0 FB 54 43 50 41 75 32 81 F9 02 01 72 2C 66 68 07 ûTCPAu2.ù..r,fh.00000100 BB 00 00 66 68 00 02 00 00 66 68 08 00 00 00 66 »..fh....fh....f00000110 53 66 53 66 55 66 68 00 00 00 00 66 68 00 7C 00 SfSfUfh....fh.|.00000120 00 66 61 68 00 00 07 CD 1A 5A 32 F6 EA 00 7C 00 .fah...Í.Z2öê.|.00000130 00 CD 18 20 B7 07 EB 08 20 B6 07 EB 03 20 B5 07 .Í. ·.ë. ¶.ë. µ.00000140 32 E4 05 00 07 8B F0 AC 3C 00 74 20 20 20 BB 07 2ä...‹ð¬<.t ».00000150 00 B4 0E CD 10 EB F2 F4 EB FD 2B C9 E4 64 EB 00 .´.Í.ëòôëý+Éädë.00000160 24 02 E0 F8 24 02 C3 49 6E 76 61 6C 69 64 20 70 $.àø$.ÃInvalid p00000170 61 72 74 69 74 69 6F 6E 20 74 61 62 6C 65 00 45 artition table.E00000180 72 72 6F 72 20 6C 6F 61 64 69 6E 67 20 6F 70 65 rror loading ope00000190 72 61 74 69 6E 67 20 73 79 73 74 65 6D 00 4D 69 rating system.Mi000001A0 73 73 69 6E 67 20 6F 70 65 72 61 74 69 6E 67 20 ssing operating000001B0 73 79 73 74 65 6D 00 00 00 63 7B 9A 86 E7 EB 4A system...c{š†çëJ000001C0 E3 D8 80 20 21 00 07 FE FF FF 00 08 00 00 00 50 ãØ€ !..þÿÿ.....P000001D0 38 3A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 8:..............000001E0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................000001F0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................00000200 00 00 55 AA ..UªAn Examination of the Windows™ 7, 8/8.1 or 10 MBR:https://thestarman.pcministry.com/asm/mbr/W7MBR.htmThis is the partition table:Code:LBA:0 block: 0Disk Id (Windows):9A7B6300hBoot: First :Sys: Last : : Relative : Number of:Flag:Cyl Head Sec:ID :Cyl Head Sec: : Sector : Sectors :80h : 0 32 33 :07h:1023 254 63 :NTFS/exFAT: 2048: 976769024: 500 GB00h : 0 0 0 :00h: 0 0 0 : : 0: 0: 000h : 0 0 0 :00h: 0 0 0 : : 0: 0: 000h : 0 0 0 :00h: 0 0 0 : : 0: 0: 0MBR signature (0xAA55):AA55h

author: Whales
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2025, 10:25:01 pm
content: Congrats for getting the new disk to work! Please still keep some more backups, you never know when you'll need them.Quote from: E.Buer on July 19, 2025, 10:30:52 amThankyou for the screenshots of that.This is not your BIOS:It's actually CHKDSK, a component of Windows. It's repairing the filesystem (not the MBR).Your BIOS' logo is a leftover from EFI boot and CHKDSK/Windows is deciding not to replace it. It's totally misleadingNB I've never heard of a BIOS that does filesystem or MBR "fixes". That's the responsibility of the operating system, the job of the BIOS is to be as compatible as possible with whatever junk the OS gives it.