[PLUG] cloning old drive

[Denis Heidtmann]

I am working with an old computer with custom hardware and SW than cannot
be regenerated.  We want to clone the HD so that if the existing one fails
we have a chance of being able to continue using the system.  The HD is 1G;
the OS is Windows 3.1; the computer is a compaq.

A clone was attempted to a 20G HD, but it will not boot (I forgot the error
message, but it finally said not a system disk.)  And at this point I do
not know what SW was used to do the cloning.

My first guess is that the BIOS cannot  handle the drive, even though the
cloning leaves only 1G available.  Is this a likely explanation?  My second
guess is that perhaps Compaq did something non-standard to prevent drives
other than theirs from being used.  (They would not be the first nor the
last company to be SOBs.)

I have searched for ideas, but the answers are so varied that I do not know
which ones to trust.

Anybody here have suggestions?  What cloning SW is suggested?

(If this question is unacceptable for a Linux group, I can move it to Talk.)

-Thanks,
-Denis