system recovery option not compatible with version of windows

UserHAL · 17 Oct 2012

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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bigmck · 17 Oct 2012

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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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. Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums

UserHAL · 17 Oct 2012

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.

UserHAL · 17 Oct 2012

DM screen shot

bigmck · 17 Oct 2012

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.

UserHAL · 17 Oct 2012

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)...

bigmck · 17 Oct 2012

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. Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot

UserHAL · 17 Oct 2012

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.

bigmck · 17 Oct 2012

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 Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP or this one Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and Vista If you have two installs of Win 7 on one PC, you need to buy two different Product Keys.

gregrocker · 17 Oct 2012

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.