Auugh! My boot drive was changed by MirrorFolder

[sglinert]

I hope someone can help me. I needed a good backup program so I downloaded a trial of MirrorFolders. I have two identical 750GB drives in my laptop: C (my main drive) and Z (my backup drive). MirrorFolders made an identical copy of C onto Z. That wasn't what I really wanted, because C is partitioned into D and E, and MirrorFolders didn't mirror the other two partitions. The backup methodology wasn't exactly what I was looking for, so I uninstalled the program. After uninstalling MirrorFolders, the machine is now booting to the Z drive, which means I can't format it and try another backup program. Is there a simple way to restore the bootability of my C drive? I read a great deal about copying boot folders and such, but I wasn't exactly sure if these were the right answers and I didn't want to screw things up any worse. I figured I could go into the BIOS and disable the Z drive, but no luck. The machine couldn't find a bootable drive, even though C supposedly has the same files as Z. No answer from MirrorFolder's tech support, so I thought I would ask here and hope someone can fix the problem. Needless to say, if anyone wants to use MirrorFolders, they might want to think again.

 

[Mike Connor]

Well, you can try copying it back again, but it may not work. Some of this stuff is just junk. You may be able to alter the master boot record, I don't know, but it's worth a try.

For a good free backup for personal use;

Free backup software for data backup & disaster recovery. Hard drive system backup software, disk clone and disk image freeware - EASEUS

Regards...Mike Connor

 

[Maguscreed]

You should just need to alter the mbr so it displays both drives and will let you choose.

This may be of use to you
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2676-bcdedit-how-use.html
Give it a good read over, you should be able to
a - remove the boot from z drive
or
b - set it to display both installations so you can choose which drive to boot too.

Alternatively you can intentionally destroy the mbr for z drive, and using startup repair off your windows disk to attempt to recover the original on c
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

 

[Mike Connor]

What he said!

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[sglinert]

I was afraid that this wasn't going to be simply a matter of copying a file or two. I would like to do unkind things to the developers at MirrorFolder. Ironically, I downloaded the Easeus trial too--just happened to install MirrorFolder first. There's a gui for bcdedit called easybcd. Is this any good? I am really frightened of doing harm to my C drive.

 

[sglinert]

I went through all the pages, and most of the stuff was inexplicable--what the heck is a UUID? Where do I find it? Why is this so complicated? Will this work, do you think? bcdboot c:\windows /s c:

 

[Maguscreed]

well first things first let's try something simple to see if c: is even still properly there after this software screwed with it
Just use
bcdedit /timeout 25

Hopefuly on your next boot you will get a choice to choose c or z.
(I kind of doubt it though)
If that doesn't work just have a look at startup repair. It should allow you access back to either installation you'll just have to point it to the right one.

I forget not everyone is accustomed to command line stuff.

 

[Mike Connor]

I went through all the pages, and most of the stuff was inexplicable--what the heck is a UUID? Where do I find it? Why is this so complicated? Will this work, do you think? bcdboot c:\windows /s c:

Some of these things seem extremely complex if you don't know what it all means.

You are not alone in wanting to do something very nasty to various "developers" !!!!

Try what Maguscreed posted first. If anything is unclear, or you are unsure what something means, then ask about it.

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[sglinert]

Okay, I ran Recovery. I tried BCDedit. I tried BCDBoot (bcdboot z:\windows /s c). I ran my system recovery disk that I made first thing.

Nada. Here's the info from BCDedit.
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Suasn>bcdedit

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=Z:
path \bootmgr
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {8cb2d9b0-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
displayorder {current}
{8cb2d9b6-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device boot
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows 7
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence {8cb2d9b4-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
recoveryenabled Yes
osdevice boot
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {8cb2d9b0-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
nx OptIn

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {8cb2d9b6-7c05-11de-842e-b4611d44fefa}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows 7 Professional (recovered)
locale en-US
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows

C:\Users\Suasn>

I am now frantic. Can someone pleeeeze tell me what do do next?

 

[sglinert]

Okay, the second time I ran Repair, it worked. I am back to normal.

And so, um, can anyone recommend a good backup program that will mirror drive c to drive z without making a horrible mess?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

"Backup".

Do you mean imaging? If so, try Macrium Reflect Free Edition.

 

[Mike Connor]

Okay, the second time I ran Repair, it worked. I am back to normal.

And so, um, can anyone recommend a good backup program that will mirror drive c to drive z without making a horrible mess?

I use the Easeus program I originally mentioned.

Free backup software for data backup & disaster recovery. Hard drive system backup software, disk clone and disk image freeware - EASEUS

This will make image backups and also file backups.

Regards....Mike Connor

 

[sglinert]

I've downloaded it and will wait for a few days before I begin another adventure. Thanks, everyone, for all your help.