[jimeu]

Yes,
I can make a copy of the original drive with Dolly without problems.
it took about 80 minutes to do the cloning, even though the original drive is empty, I deleted all files and reformated on the snap, before the cloning to minimize the time on cloning and rechecking.

I then install the new 120Gb on the snap1000 and it does boot up and I can see the drive. with status OK in green. Assist can find it and I am able to browse.

my problem is that after this point.

I visit snap/config/debug/
and enter: "config devices info"
I can see that the server has recognized the drive as a 30Gb and its device 10000.

I then enter "config devices format 10000 /reinit"
and it prompts for me to reboot
so I enter "reboot" on the command prompt.

The drive goes into formating mode (two blinks on the system and orange steady on the Disk) and for more than 24 hours it has been at this.

Usually when you format or check the drive, even though the drive is offline, you can still browse the snapserver web page, and I know it is boring to see the progress... but you are able to see it.

When I issue the command and for those 24 hours, I am unable to ping or to browse the snap to check on progress.... so at least I know it is doing something.

Any ideas / suggestions on how to proceed from here...??
its a Maxtor diamondplus9 120GB ATA 100

Thank you again for your help.