Here's a new one - I go into BIOS to look at boot order, make sure everything is fine, discard changes and exit so I don't have to power cycle & insterted DVD. It gives me the prompt to press a key to boot from DVD - then I see the Windows Boot Manager screen: Windows Setup [EMS Enabled]. I'm now in way over my level of technical expertise cuz I've never seen that one before.
Thanks for the tip on PW bootable - I will use that just to be safe. If I ever get to that point... haha
Please post back another screenshot of your maximized Disk Mgmt drive map with listings.
Try a few more Startup Repairs as this is what is required when only DVD will boot the system. Make sure C is marked Active.
Since you'll need PW CD anyway, burn it now using WIndows Img Burner, boot into it to check the Active flag and that disk will boot correctly, click on HD # to highlight it, from Disk tab select Rebuild MBR, Apply.
If Startup Repair or Rebuild MBR will not repair MBR then wipe the SSD with Diskpart Clean Command from DVD Command line (Press Shift + F10 at first screen), then reimage again with HD unplugged if possible.
I don't think I can re image with the HDD unplugged. I could use a boot CD I have with DIXML on it and make a new clone of the old HDD OS partition, and restore it to the SSD from there I suppose.
here's a new SS. The save button on the Snip tool did nothing. File > Save As also did nothing. When I tried to close it and it asked me if I wanted to save it, I clicked yes, and it closed with no prompt. I had to shift + printscreen and copy paste in Paint - luckily that allowed me to save the file. Sounds like a gutted OS...
I did 3 more startup repairs all in a row before I read your post, and before this screenshot.
It looks correct.
If it won't repair or rebuild as I suggested then do the Paragon app over again as it normally works well. This time immediately unplug the HD, setting SSD to boot first, if necessary mark Active and run Repairs.
If that fails I would either try Macrium, Acronis cloning app which comes free with any WD or Seagate in the mix, or Win7 backup imaging.
You can also Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 (same steps for retail) which may be the best choice anyway.
Hmm. Rebuilt MBR from PW boot CD...restarted. Can boot to SSD from PW boot CD to, but not by itself. Repair boot.ini = "The bootable partition does not contain boot.ini file". Looks like I am going to have to start from scratch...if I'm lucky enough that my HDD is still bootable.
edit: plugged in the HDD, took out boot CD, selected HDD from boot list = running OS from SSD. I'm not quite smart enough to know what this means, but it's got something to do with the boot instructions being corrupted or missing from the SSD, right? Cuz whatever it is that is present in the HDD, the Windows 7 DVD, and the PW boot CD is enough to get the SSD up and running.
I'll give Paragon another go. I already tried windows backup imaging....besides the fact that the image (a whopping <30GB) took over an hour to write, it didn't work...for the reasons I listed in my OP. Maybe I'll give it another go.
Whether you reimage or Reinstall, be sure to wipe the SSD first with Diskpart Clean Command as it may have corrupted boot code.
Marked old OS partition on HDD as inactive. Gonna try Paragon again. here's a SS for kicks:
Thank you for the reminder. Does it matter if I do it from shift + F10 in WinRE or just from elevated cmd?
You can wipe SSD from HD if you get it started by running Repairs.
You can't wipe SSD from its own Command Line, of course - only the Road Runner can erase himself.
Either Shift + F10 or System Recovery Options
HDD will boot without SSD plugged in, with the help of Windows DVD. I was gonna just plug in the SSD and do the OS clone with Paragon that way, but...why clone an OS that wont even boot? I'd really like to fix this...I'll run Startup repair on the HDD a few times and see if I can boot the HDD after. If so, I'll do the Paragon thing after that.
Wait...is that what you just said? haha
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