[RndTbl] failure of OS loaders

Problem: after copying a partition, the OS in it cannot be booted. # dd if=/dev/hdc3 of=/dev/hda3 bs=1M

I did not have this particular problem copying Linux (I had other problems). But after copying a partition with Windows 2K and attempting to boot to it, getting to the partition by Grub, I get the messages:

Invalid BOOT.INI file Booting from C:\winnt\ NTDETECT failed

The partitions copied to and from are the same size, but slightly different positions on the drive. I am guessing that the stage one loader is present, but has the location of files for the next stage hard coded (and wrong because of the offset position of the file).

Yeah, I know - get rid of Windows and I won't have to worry about such things. Any other suggestions?