Macrium Reflect HDD to SSD cloning, cloned SSD not booting properly


  1. Posts : 11
    Win 7 Home Premium x64
       #1

    Macrium Reflect HDD to SSD cloning, cloned SSD not booting properly


    I have a dying hard drive, this pc is a work pc and acts as a small web server for my company. The IT guy that set it up is no longer around so I needed to clone the hard drive with all the settings in order to keep the site going. I used Macrium Reflect to clone the windows 7 hard drive to a new SSD. After the cloning I used the boot menu to pick the SSD and it appeared to load up that drive but I dont think it actually did. I think it still boots into the dying HDD. Though if I only have the dying drive connected, it seems the boot takes longer and the windows is slower. Another thing I noticed is if I pick the SSD from the boot menu, change the background color, if I restart and pick the dying hard drive, the same color I just picked is now the color on that drive. Which again tells me Im not actually getting into the SSD.

    If I disconnect the dying drive, when I try to boot into the SSD it keeps saying "loading desktop" then the loaded screen is just a blank blue screen with the cursor and at the bottom right it says “This copy of windows is not genuine”. I tried bringing up task manager and starting new task, entered explorer.exe which brings up a very basic desktop but Im limited in what I can access. No control panel or windows explorer, ect.

    I really need to get a proper cloned copy of my dying hard drive til we can find someone to help re-setup our site which could take a while. I don't know what my options are, Im willing to redo the clone again if needed and I have another standard HD that I could clone to if I need to try another drive. Thanks for any help.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 11
    Win 7 Home Premium x64
    Thread Starter
       #2

    After playing around with this for a few hours today, I can no longer boot into the dying drive. I can still boot into the cloned one but ONLY when the dying drive is still plugged in. Otherwise I still get the none genuine copy of windows blue screen. The one thing I did notice is that when I boot into the cloned SSD, it still shows the original dying drive as drive C and the cloned one as drive E. Im not sure if that is the problem or how to fix.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #3

    Bootmgr - Move to C:\ with EasyBCD

    Sounds like the boot files are on the dying drive. If it isn't connected, the good drive has no boot files, so the PC can't boot unless the bad drive is connected.

    You might try copying boot files from bad drive to good drive with EasyBCD, using the above tutorial.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 11
    Win 7 Home Premium x64
    Thread Starter
       #4

    ignatzatsonic said:
    Bootmgr - Move to C:\ with EasyBCD

    Sounds like the boot files are on the dying drive. If it isn't connected, the good drive has no boot files, so the PC can't boot unless the bad drive is connected.

    You might try copying boot files from bad drive to good drive with EasyBCD, using the above tutorial.


    I assume I try this from the cloned copy I can access when both drives are connected.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #5

    mudslag said:
    ignatzatsonic said:
    Bootmgr - Move to C:\ with EasyBCD

    Sounds like the boot files are on the dying drive. If it isn't connected, the good drive has no boot files, so the PC can't boot unless the bad drive is connected.

    You might try copying boot files from bad drive to good drive with EasyBCD, using the above tutorial.


    I assume I try this from the cloned copy I can access when both drives are connected.
    Yep. Then disconnect the bad drive and see if you can boot.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 11
    Win 7 Home Premium x64
    Thread Starter
       #6

    ignatzatsonic said:
    mudslag said:
    ignatzatsonic said:
    Bootmgr - Move to C:\ with EasyBCD

    Sounds like the boot files are on the dying drive. If it isn't connected, the good drive has no boot files, so the PC can't boot unless the bad drive is connected.

    You might try copying boot files from bad drive to good drive with EasyBCD, using the above tutorial.


    I assume I try this from the cloned copy I can access when both drives are connected.
    Yep. Then disconnect the bad drive and see if you can boot.

    It's didn't work, I think the problem is that no matter what, the cloned SSD is still labeled as E drive. Should I try to switch the finial step of Easy BCD to drive E or is there a way to switch the E drive to C drive?

    If I disconnect the old drive and boot into the clone, it gives me a blank blue screen with "This copy of windows is not genuine". I can get into explorer.exe through task manager but have extremely limited function.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #7

    If Windows ever boots from the new drive, it should certainly be labeled as C at that time.

    I have no idea whether or not you used EasyBCD correctly.

    It might help to post a screen shot of Windows Disk Management when booted with both drives connected.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 11
    Win 7 Home Premium x64
    Thread Starter
       #8

    This is the screenshot from the SSD clone, the drive letter for this drive is E.


      My Computer


  9. Posts : 12,012
    Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, 64-bit
       #9

    E is flagged as "system", indicating that it contains boot files.

    I'm not sure what's going on.

    My offhand guess is that the clone simply failed--possibly because the old drive is too far gone.

    You may or may not have better luck with imaging to the new drive, rather than cloning. Macrium can do either.

    If you try imaging, you should include System Reserved on Disk 1 as part of the image.

    System Reserved should not have a drive letter. It shows as F on Disk 1. I'd get rid of that drive letter, although I'm not sure it would solve any of your problems.

    Likewise--you normally want to see only 1 active partition on a PC. You have 2, but I'm not sure changing one of them to inactive would necessarily solve your problems.

    It may well be that neither imaging or cloning will work because the old drive is past the point of no return---which means you'd have to do a clean install onto the new drive.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 11
    Win 7 Home Premium x64
    Thread Starter
       #10

    I believe I have it fixed, I had to use Rescue kit express from this suggestion to change the drive letter to C. Im not sure if the other things suggested also helped but it seems to be working great now. I appreciate the help that was given here.
      My Computer


 

  Related Discussions
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 7 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 7" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

© Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:57.
Find Us