HDD cloning

[mr.nobody]

Hi!
I have a PC running a POS software and needed a second one so i bought a second PC exactly the same as the first one.
I take out the HDD from the first PC (40Gb) opened in WinHex as physical drive,Ctrl+a,copy to file the entire HDD.
Then mounted the file as HDD and cloned to the second PC-s HDD witch is identical as well. The second PC boots up from this, but the software is not running (starts then closes immediately). Before WinHex i tried a lot of different cloning softwares like Ghost,Acronis,ConeDisk,etc. but nothing worked.I thought making a bit-by-bit copy solves my problem, but it didn't!
The POS software is a homemade one, by somebody who's not in the country anymore and i can't reach him anymore... so i need a suggestion how to clone the first HDD to work in the second PC.
The two PC-s are brand and hardware identical.
Thanks,
Mr.Nobody

[pcimage]

Maybe the s/w has some copy protection that checks the s/n of the drive?

[mr.nobody]

Maybe the s/w has some copy protection that checks the s/n of the drive?

A simple dir/p shows that both HDD-s have the same serial BC6C-A1A1. I forget to mention that the s/w is running under Win XP and is started on boot from registry in Winlogon/userinit with a .cmd file. I thought that is some protection built in s/w but an 1:1 cloning to a same h/w will transfer the protection too... It seems that i can't transfer the s/w, right ? I thought so, but i needed a confirmation from somebody who knows more about HDD-s than me... Thanks.

[fzabkar]

Maybe the s/w has some copy protection that checks the s/n of the drive?

A simple dir/p shows that both HDD-s have the same serial BC6C-A1A1.

There is a serial number on the HDD's label ...

[pcimage]

Maybe the s/w has some copy protection that checks the s/n of the drive?

A simple dir/p shows that both HDD-s have the same serial BC6C-A1A1. I forget to mention that the s/w is running under Win XP and is started on boot from registry in Winlogon/userinit with a .cmd file. I thought that is some protection built in s/w but an 1:1 cloning to a same h/w will transfer the protection too... It seems that i can't transfer the s/w, right ? I thought so, but i needed a confirmation from somebody who knows more about HDD-s than me... Thanks.

Serial number of the actual drive, not the drives volume label.

[mr.nobody]

Yes, of course that's (must to be ) the only difference. I thought there are some hidden sectors that can't be copied. The volume label is POS on both HDD-s. Thanks !

[HaQue]

Hi,
There are thousands, probably millions of different types of copy protections in the software world, if that is indeed what the issue is. There is not enough information here to really help you at all.

Cloning the whole hard drive is, in my opinion, overkill, though it is an idea that is quite feasible to try.

It might be better to build a good running system and copy the software's install folder only, and any dependencies, and Reg keys. This will rule out windows having any problems due to cloning.

There are also other reasons why the software doesn't work that is not related to copy protection.

Have you tried right clicking and "run as administrator"? I have some software that opens then closes straight away, and run as administrator will make it work.

Have you looked through the windows event logs? This can point to the reason why it isn't working. It make show a file access error, or show some hint about what you need to fix.

Tools from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb545021.aspx can monitor your system and give you very detailed analysis, I have used filemon, regmon, procmon etc to watch the software in question.

another option is to send an image to someone that knows more about software and reverse engineering. Maybe PM someone in this or other forums that seem to know abit about it. If the software is truly "abandonware" it is possible this person can reverse engineer the software, find out what is stopping it and patch out the issue. I have seen some extremely awful protections on POS (there is a reason that acronym also stands for Piece of Shit!), where if you even looked at the CD it would die.

Also maybe look at other software this ninja wrote and see if there is a common way he tries to protect it. In my experience writing great software and having great protection is mutually exclusive.

BTW there are many differences to 2 "exactly the same " PC's... motherboard serial numbers, versions, video card serials, product IDs, sound card, network MAC etc etc etc

[mr.nobody]

Hi HaQue !
The only thing that bothers me is that the software on the cloned HDD is not working even
as replacement in the first ( "original" ) PC ! So the hardware is not the "key" ... I take a look in the cloned HDD MBR and even the drive signature at 0x1bb8 is the same with the first one... I really don't know what's the difference ...
I think i leave it alone...
Gather some money and change the POS.
Thanks for helping.

[fzabkar]

The only thing that bothers me is that the software on the cloned HDD is not working even as replacement in the first ( "original" ) PC ! So the hardware is not the "key" ...

Once again, the difference must be in the serial number on the label of your HDD.

[mr.nobody]

The only thing that bothers me is that the software on the cloned HDD is not working even as replacement in the first ( "original" ) PC ! So the hardware is not the "key" ...

Once again, the difference must be in the serial number on the label of your HDD.

And that serial is stored somewhere on the HDD and the S/W reads that specific sector/data ?

[fzabkar]

And that serial is stored somewhere on the HDD ...

Yes.

... and the S/W reads that specific sector/data ?

Apparently so.

Just about every HDD tool reads the serial number, eg CrystalDiskInfo, HD Sentinel, smartctl.

[HaQue]

usually these types of things are not that hard to "crack" as they use functions that are quite easy to spot as being odd, compared to regular software.

The idea of a small shop or one man POS author coming up with a very good protection is doubtful, though I know one particular software written by one man with a very good protection, so not impossible.

Almost always the method of copy protection is in the documentation as customers need to know so that they treat their install media, install base and hardware accordingly so that they don't screw up the install unknowingly.

[fzabkar]

What is the model number of the HDD?

[mr.nobody]

What is the model number of the HDD?

ST380815AS, firmware3.CCA

Meanwhile the problem was solved.
Change to another POS software...

Thanks for your help,
Mr.Nobody