I restored onto a new SSD using Acronis True Image Home, but it won't boot; how do I make the system boot from the new SSD?

Question

My SSD died yesterday. I have made regular backups using Acronis True Image Home. I've restored the image onto a new SSD which I have purchased and installed. I have verified it is there. It also contains that small hidden partition at the front of the disk.

However, for some reason, the system will not boot that disk.

I have used a Win 7 System Repair Disk, which I previously made, to try and "repair" the problem - to no avail.

How can I get my system (tower, not laptop) to boot this new SSD that contains my restored Win 7 installation?

Solution 1

If Windows isn't attempting to boot at all, I would first try repairing the system partition manually. This can be done in much the same procedure you would use after restoring a WIM. See using imagex

1. Boot into Windows PE from either PE media you have prepared earlier, or from a windows installer disc. If using the installation media method, you want to open the command prompt. I think there is a way to access this through the wizard following the 'repair' steps, but you should be able to just press shift+F10 on the 'select disk' page of the windows new installation wizard to open the command prompt.
2. Run DISKPART by typing DISKPART.
3. From the disks listed, identify the disk which is the new SSD.
4. Type 'Select Disk 0' where '0' is the desired disk id.
5. Now type 'List Volume' to list the partitions.
6. Identify the windows partition and the system partition.
7. Type 'Select Volume 0' where '0' is the windows partition.
8. Type 'Assign Letter='W'' to give it drive letter W (don't worry, this won't change it from C drive in Windows when booted successfully).
9. Type 'Select Volume 1' where '1' is the system partition.
10. Type 'Assign Letter='S'' to give it drive letter S
11. Type 'active'
12. Exit Diskpart by typing 'exit'
13. Now run 'W:\Windows\System32\bcdboot W:\Windows /l en-US /s S:', note that you may need to modify this command in accordance with the BCDboot options.
14. Reboot.

This can be a temperamental process as there is a lot of variables, but if you search for how to restore a WIM file to a hard drive, and study the post-restore process to create the system partition, you will probably have success.

If this procedure fails, make sure that your backed up image does actually include a system partition. If you don't have 2 partitions, or the alleged system partition isn't formatted, you may need to create it with the remaining space. You should be able to isolate the steps needed from the procedure detailed here. It will be an additional two commands in disk part before you assign the drive letter 's'. Something like 'create partition primary size=100' and format FS=NTFS LABEL="System Volume" QUICK'. Don't forget to make the system partition active.

Good luck :).

Solution 2

How to Repair the MBR

1. Boot into the Windows 7 Repair Disk
2. Select your language, then select "Repair your Computer"
3. The disk will search for Windows Installation, in which case it should find nothing, then select the first radio button(Use recovery options...) and hit Next
4. Once you get to "Startup Recovery Options," select Command Prompt
5. At the prompt enter: C:
6. Then: bootrec.exe /FixMbr
   This will repair the master boot record
7. Reboot
8. If you are still unable to boot into windows enter this command aswell bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd

Solution 3

Step 1: Recover Partition - From PC with windows installation

1. In Acronis True Home, choose to recover the backup partition.
2. Select the drive you wish to recover to under "Choose Recovery Destination"
3. Go into Partition Properties and change type to Primary Active
4. Click OK and recover the partition

Step 2: BCD Deployment - From PC with windows installation

1. Install EasyBCD free version
2. Once partition is recovered in Acronis, Open Easy BCD and go to the BCD Deployment button
3. Select the partition you want from the dropdown menu
   note: you may need to go into computer management and give it a drive letter
4. Click Install BCD and follow the prompts

Step 3: Startup Repair - From original PC

1. Put the drive into the PC that it is intended for
2. Insert Windows RE disk or install disk
3. When disk loads up you should receive a prompt to repair an error
4. Restart and boot into windows

Comments

[Moab]

What version of Acronis did you use to restore the image to the new drive?

[Kinnectus]

Do you have "Startup Repair" on your System Repair Disk?

[onefootswill]

@Moab I used True Image Home 2012.

[onefootswill]

@BigChris I do have Startup Repair on that disk and have run it several times.

[Cosco Tech]

In order to get the Master Boot Record, you would have to have a backup of the whole disk, made in "Disk Mode." If your backups are made in "Partition mode", they will not include the MBR.

[onefootswill]

@CoscoTech Do I have any recourse from here? I don't know whether Acronis used Partition Mode. Sounds like not.

[Cosco Tech]

How bad is the ssd. In many cases you can still clone/backup a defective hard drive.

[user]

Since the partitions (and data) is all there, presumably all you need to do is set the correct partition as "active" or "bootable" in the MBR/GPT. Gui's answer appears reasonable; just be careful so you work with the right disk and you should be fine.

[Cosco Tech]

I got my partition to load up, answer is below

[Élie]

I'm unsure what the downvote is for, but the procedure is covered in most study material for the 70-680 MCTS Exam: Configuring Windows 7, and is pretty low risk given that you already have an image you can restore again. If you are concerned, just unplug your other hard drives first so you don't have to worry about formatting or upsetting the wrong thing.

[onefootswill]

I'm getting started with it now. For the record, I am not the one who down-voted you. I'm grateful for the detailed instructions.

[Élie]

I'm happy to help further if you get stuck with any particular step, I've done this process many times when deploying low volume OEM system images, and transferring images between virtual/physical machines. The important thing is just to pay attention to the output of the 'list' commands and ensure each step is successful before moving on.

[onefootswill]

Thanks! I got the following error after typing 'active'. "The ACTIVE command can only be used on fixed MBR disks." Have you seen that before?

[Élie]

I have seen this before, but unfortunately it could mean a number of things. It sounds like you probably are using EFI. This SuperUser question may help. The answer that Harvey provided (3rd down) worked for me. Try continuing anyway, and as soon as you exit diskpart, type 'bootsect /nt60 W:', then continue with the rest of the procedure. If it doesn't boot successfully on restart, attempt again to flag the volume as active by repeating steps down to #11.

[Élie]

@Ramhound, I'm happy to delete the questions from the answer; I only placed them there, because I don't have enough rep to post them under the OP's question. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[Élie]

@Ramhound I respect that view. I have removed questions from answer, and rephrased various parts to acknowledge variability.

[onefootswill]

@Gui I've had no success with any of the options. I keep hitting an element not found error after running bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

[Élie]

Bootrec, as @Cosco Tech mentioned, it supposed to be the tool for the job. I don't have much experience with Acronis, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was an issue restoring your image. Do you have the option in Acronis to just restore the windows partition data? (I use Clonezilla). I would clean the drive (using DISKPART; select disk 0; clean), create a new partition for the system volume, add an additional partition using the remaining hard drive space for windows, restore just the windows partition data to this partition, and finally retry using bootsect and bcdboot.

[Cosco Tech]

I have successfully recreated the situation. Copied a windows 7 partition onto a new drive, which fails to boot, i will see if I can add the boot record now and get it working.

[Ramhound]

Since my objections to this answer were address I have removed my previous comments and reversed my vote. I can't issue an upvote, because the answer is more generic, and what instructions do exist are really rough around the edges for my personal tastes.

[Cosco Tech]

Heres a good read, nothing worked for me though - social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/…

[Cosco Tech]

@onefootswill - Finally got my partition to boot up, not sure if it was the exact same scenario as yours, but its worth a shot.

[onefootswill]

Thanks for this. I am going to come back to this. I had to get something up and running as I had lost 2 days already and work from home. But when my contract ends in a month, I intend to revisit this because my Win7 installation had heaps of configs etc which would take me ages to re-implement (even if I could remember them all). Thanks again and I will be back. Perhaps even this weekend.

[Karan]

Why a separate answer and not an edit to your existing one?

[K7AAY]

Seriously? I get marked down for verifying why the operation failed?