system recovery option not compatible with version of windows

Was organizing the SATA connectors in case disconnecting/reconnecting a few HDDs, one with the W7 64 bit OS (H1). Then disconnected all HDDs leaving a new one and installed W7 64 bit on it (H2) with only it connected. Performed fine. Disconnected it (H2) and reconnected the first one (H2) and W7 would not launch, so inserted OS disc and it would repair something (I have no idea what as it did not indicate, I found that to be particular helpful by MS) and then W7 would launch. From there on, any time I switched between the two drives each having the respective OS (H1 or H2), the OS disc would need to be used to repair the unspecified problem and launch Win. Did this a few times until the first OS (H1) the disc no longer could 'repair' what ever needed to be fixed and the famous message follows:

"This version of System Recovery Options is not compatible with the version of Windows you are trying to repair. Try using a recovery disc that is compatible with this version of Windows"

The real (dis)interesting part to all of this, is that yes important data is off on drives other than the OS drive though did have a few files with mostly shortcuts on the desktop. In accessing the first OS (H1) via the second (H2), after fighting through the "access is denied" and "ownership rights" UAL BuSines, only half of the files that were on the desktop are actually in the desktop folder/directory. Is it worth fixing the OS on H1 to get into Windows to see if these files magically reappear or is what I'm seeing directly in the folder all that remains.

What happened to files that were on the desktop and what is it with all of these fundamental OS/HDD issues with W7? Wow - epic issues for MS. //Someone should launch a complaint.//

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UserHAL said:

What happened to files that were on the desktop and what is it with all of these fundamental OS/HDD issues with W7? Wow - epic issues for MS. //Someone should launch a complaint.//

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Click to expand...

Using the Recovery Disk multiple times on different partitions did not help the situation. I would guess that your boot partition is messed up because of that. Post a screen shot of your expanded column Disk Management using your Snipping Tool and we will see what you have. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

Well actually, it was used multiple times on different HDDs with separate installations of the OS (i.e., partitions on different disks). How could that affect the boot partitions on different/separate drives/OS installations. Each drive was repaired and OS launched without the other connected. They wouldn't even know the other existed. Getting the screen shots...

/As another little issue: before all of this, there were multiple other HDDs with data, however they couldn't be connected when booting or the OS wouldn't load, dash/underscore would just blink on screen. To boot system (soft or hard - reset, power down/up), all other HDDs had to be disconnected (except for the HDD w/OS). That was fun.

/And: is there a fixmbr on the W7 OS install disc? Why this is not an option at reinstall... MS is such a mess.

DM screen shot

The System Reserved on Disk 0 looks OK to me. I assume you also have your OS on C: drive. == The first thing I would do is unplug Disk 1, and try to boot. See if that works. If it does, you will know the problem is with Disk 1. I suspect the 100 MB partition on Disk 1 is fouling up the works.

Yes, OS is on C:

I only had the second HDD (Disk1) connected so the parameters could be referenced etc. It always is/was disconnected when booting the first HDD (Disk0). As each HDD/OS was booted, the other HDD/OS was never connected. So the problem remains, booting with only Disk0 connected (and no other HDD/OS connected) still produces The Problem (thanks Bill)...

For now I would leave Disk 1 disconnected from the motherboard. == Have you tried a System Restore to a date before you started having problems. == Give this a read and it might have a solution. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219533-troubleshooting-windows-7-failure-boot.html

To be clear. Disk 0 boots the operating system (Windows), so there is no problem with it. Disk 1 does not boot the OS (Windows), and so with it is The Problem (each have their own separate OS loaded). The files on Disk 1 can only be accessed when it is connected and done so via the OS of Disk 0. Because of that, there is no way to attempt a restore point with Disk 1 currently.

So you have two versions of Win 7 on two different disks? Why do you need two of them? Or is it a different OS on the Disk 1? Try these tutorials http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html or this one http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/5166-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-vista.html If you have two installs of Win 7 on one PC, you need to buy two different Product Keys.

Disk1 shows an EFI System partition which means the OS was installed using EFI BIOS to a GPT formatted disk.

Click on Disk 1 in Disk Mgmt to see if it's available to be converted to MBR disk as shown in this tutorial: Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk - Windows 7 Forums

If that is the case then you have an MBR disk for DISK0 and a GPT disk installed using EFI on Disk1 which are not compatible. I would move the data off of DISK1, wipe it with Diskpart Clean Command then format it MBR disk and partition it as desired.

I am confused by a couple of things. Your Disk 0 is your boot disk with a 100MB system reserved,active and the 2nd partition "Boot" is your OS. But my confusion is that:
1) you have your pagefile which is a system file on Disk 1.
2) Disk 1 which is GPT/EFI seems unnecessary for such a tiny HDD.

I would put your pagefile back on the Disk 0 2nd partition and run Disk 1 as a standard MBR.

Okay okay. To clean up the misconception here some... Neither of these two HDDs (disk 0 or disk 1) were ever used/booted together continually. They're actually SSDs, but anyway they each were used separately, in the same box. They were only connected simultaneously for 2 reasons:

1. When Disk 1 was no longer bootable, Disk 0 was booted with Disk 1 connected (hot-plugged after Disk 0 loaded the OS), so that the files on it (Disk 1) could be accessed via the booted Disk 0.

2. To show both of the drives parameters in the DM screen shot as requested in this thread/post.

Both used to work fine independently, and why wouldn't they - they were connected separately, hence my previous comment about they had no idea the other existed - i.e., no conflict between the two could arise since they never were together (so to speak).

All I'm interested in doing now is having a look at the desktop from within Win 7 (booting Disk 1 without Disk 0) to see what files are there, or see if a restore is available to access/retrieve them.

This has nothing to do with compatibility - I don't and won't ever use them together. The one (Disk 0) was only implemented to access the other (Disk 1), via explorer.

bigmck:

Why two OS installs on two different disks: When the one was no longer bootable, it's not good practice to all of a sudden load another instance of the OS on the same disk - reason: data to be preserved could be overwritten (think forensics, though that's not the application here). So, to be SAFE - load another instance of the/a OS on another separate physical disk, boot into it and access the the other damaged OS via the file system. In other words, to break this down further: no disk write operations to a volume with data to recover, only read operations. I hope that clears it up.

greg: this had nothing to do with compatibility. The two disks were used separate of one another. They were only connected simultaneously for two purposes:

1. To access the damaged OS (on disk 1) from a known good working OS (on disk 0).
2. To indicate both drive parameters in the DM screen shot for this thread/post.

The two will never be used together. All I'd like to do is access or repair the damaged OS (on disk 1 in this arrangement with both connected, or it would be disk 0 if only it were connected - as it was before Win failed to boot/launch) to have a look at the desktop from within the windows environment (not accessing via the file structure via a second connected disk/os) to see what files are on the desktop or if a restore is available for the desktop etc.

mjf: I didn't change anything here. Two instances of the OS were loaded onto two separate drives. I'd swap one in the box for the other, then all of as sudden the one (currently showing as disk 1) stopped booting and required the recovery process. These two were never connected simultaneously prior to the booting problem. Only now for troubleshooting to see the parameters for both in the DM.

Of course the GPT/EFI was unnecessary, not being 2TB, was just experimental - however nothing to prevent it from functioning it being "small", just because GPT is to accommodate massive storage devices (capacity).

BTW: they're SSDs, not HDDs - just stated that so most could follow along.

Why change it to MBR when it worked previously as GPT etc.? I'm not sure that's the problem here.

bigmck: re: buying two different product keys, I don't think that's necessary for a temporary install to recover files. In other words, no long-term continual usage. That was your interpretation though, I have many OSs with separate keys - not a EULA issue. Difference between OS (version/type) and license (SN).

If an answer doesn't come along won 't be able to wait much longer than today to get this resolved. Probably have to just wipe the drive - typical.

Now you have explain some things. I think you should be able to retain Disk 1 (the non boot SSD) as GPT if it's only for data but move the pagefile back to the 2nd partition of disk 0.
But after the experiment I'd still make disk 1 an MBR (data) disk because of any potential software compatibility issues.

Since I reinstalled the OS on Disk 0, isn't by default the pagefile then also on Disk 0? I suppose I can check..

Please post back another Disk Mgmt screenshot so we can see the config after reinstall.

Is the data seen from the GPT disk in Win7 now?