Repair F8 Repair Your Computer Option

Well I want to have a way back to factory preinstall just in case...I am going to attempt to clean reinstall once I make sure I have a way back to factory preinstall secured. Plus, knowing I can properly clone disks will have it's advantages down the line. I tried Windows' built in System imaging but, it doesn't image all of the partitions. It only images C: & System Reserved. I do like Acer's clear.fi so, I know I'm definitely gonna want to be able to use it after a clean reinstall. It is available for download on the Acer website but, you can understand my need for assurance.

& yes I am an enthusiast but, I also am currently fighting a case which interferes with work. I'm gonna beat the case but, money to replace any potentially damaged hardware is scarce. I don't think I'll ruin anything as I'm simply not that stupid. Just as an insurance salesman, I learned a thing or 2 about risk lol.

I regret to inform you all that I chose the wrong option while cloning & the Arcade partition didn't transfer over to the right size...Here we go again...I'll be back in a while...Plus I'm rather hungry...

Sorry for the wait guys. I cloned the disc using Seagate DiscWizard but, I chose the wrong option. With that, the ARCADE partition was shy about 1.19 GB so, I had to re-do it. Other stuffs happened throughout the day as well...The option I should've chose was As is...That kept the PQSERVICE, ARCADE & SYSTEM RESERVED partitions the proper size & the Acer C: partition just copied over the data as long as the target partition has enough space. Note my original (cloned) drive is 740 GB & my target (clone) drive is only 500 GB. Because my data on my original drive didn't exceed the remaining space on my target drive, it copied over with no hiccups. The cloned drive boots just fine in bay but, I can't seem to get either drive, cloned or original to boot via USB connection. No biggie though. This laptop has 2 bays. Now a reason to get 2 new harnesses & a SATA cable.

I tried to enable USB boot by starting an elevated command propmt & entering my Windows 7 disc & using the command lines:

D: CD BOOT (D: is my Optical drive)
CD BOOT
BOOTSECT.EXE/NT60 F:

Then I copied the contents from the Windows 7 disc to the drive.

It didn't work for both drives. Again, not really a major issue for me but, any suggestions would help. I didn't format first because I thought the purpose of that was to set it to NTFS which it already is...So is that step neccessary?

I tried Alt+F10 hotlink & F8 tools on the cloned drive & the clone drive. It seems F8 works when it wants to. Alt+10 still isn't working on either drive. I'm now going to ignore that issue for now & just do a clean install. My major concern was having a way back to system configuration which I now have. I'll post back with updates.

Win7 doesn't boot from USB, except eSATA.

Choose which drive you want for your Clean Reinstall carefully. Ask if you need any advice as we have experts on that.

Well that is very limited being that USB 2.0 is old & ugh. Forget it. You get where I'm going...I was going to use my original 750 GB drive. Should I not use this one & use the clone 500 GB drive instead?

What are the speeds, makes and models? Someone else will advise.

Either one as far as I'm concerned. Others may differ.