Solved Does Win7 have to be on 1st physical volume for cloned backup?

[MRCS]

I have just done a clean upgrade to my new first SSD, but I have been unable to get a working backup, preferably with it as C: drive, using EaseUS. I cloned the System Reserve to the unallocated space on my backup HDD drive and then cloned the Win7 volume. I can't even get it to run properly, and have tried many of the suggestions here. This was simple and easy under XP.

 

[SIW2]

Does it boot? How far do you get?

 

[MRCS]

Does it boot? How far do you get?

Not very. I have tried every permutation I can think of and the best I have been able to do is to get to a partially functioning safe mode. Most of the time it freezes, thrashes, or tells me to use the install disk to repair, which doesn't help either. Sometimes the repair says it can't fix it, or it says it does, but hasn't.

Here's is my most latest, and I believe cleanest, attempt. Set the BIOS to IDE and booted to Win7 then rebooted to XP on my third drive. I had on previous attempts run bootsect with the /nt60 switch and /mbr to make sure those volumes and mbr for those volumes were NTFS and not FAT32 as the other volumes are. I've also made sure the System Reserved is set to Active. Anyway, I then ran EaseUS from XP, shut down without rebooting, unplugged the SSD, and ran the installation disk repair. From there I've tried both booting to regular mode and safe mode. In safe mode it gets past Preparing Desktop, but ends up with just the background-like theme. Ctrl-alt-del will get me to choices to run Task Manager, which will get me more light blue background. However, if I use Run Task for Explorer, I'll get a temporary user safe mode.

This is not even my best result. Messing around with bcdedit and EasyBCD, I have been able to get to a standard safe mode, and several days ago I was able to get to regular desktop, but never with it as the C: drive. I do a lot of testing and use my backup copy for that. Under XP, when I was done testing I would just clone a new backup. Besides, if I have to tear down my rig every time I want to do backup, I'll just go back to XP and only use Win7 when I have to.

 

[SIW2]

You may need to fix the os drive letter.

dos device C has to match with the volume value it is currently on. Sounds like it matches the volume it was previously on.

If you can get to regedit, you may be able to change the entry in hklm\system\mounted devices

never with it as the C: drive.

What letter does it show as? That is the letter you need to rename to C in mounted devices ( there may be C already, just change to Z or anything else first )

 

[MRCS]

Yes, it will show the previous letter. So, are you saying that the Boot Manager reads the drive letter assignments from the registry in the boot drive designated by the BIOS and before it runs the BCD file?

 

[SIW2]

What previous letter?

Wasn't it C before you cloned it?

 

[MRCS]

The original installation is C:. The drive that I cloned it to is something like N:. When I set the BIOS to boot to the backup drive, it will use the system reserved partition on the backup drive, but after everything is done loading the original drive will still be the C: drive (using the Windows 7 installation there), and backup Windows 7 partition will still be N:.

 

[SIW2]

Thought so.

Boot into the ORIGINAL win7. Then open an ADMINISTRATOR command prompt, and run this file:

NT6fixletter.cmd /currentos:N

 

[SIW2]

Then to make sure you can boot into the clone, run this administrator command:

bcdboot n:\windows

 

[MRCS]

For comparison, when I clone XP to a backup partition, and whether I boot to the original XP drive and choose the backup in the startup menu or boot directly to the backup drive, the backup XP partition becomes C: drive. I am used to the BIOS determining the C: drive, and not being overridden by the OS with seemingly no easy way to do it otherwise.

 

[SIW2]

It seems to be a problem with Easeus either not setting the volume value, or a disk signature collision. That won't matter for XP.

7 is different.

In future, it is much easier to make an image, then restore the image to another HD.

If you follow my previous 2 posts, you should be fine.

 

[MRCS]

Then to make sure you can boot into the clone, run this administrator command:

bcdboot n:\windows

Thanks. I will have to do a fresh backup, which shouldn't take long, and let you know.

 

[MRCS]

Thought so.

Boot into the ORIGINAL win7. Then open an ADMINISTRATOR command prompt, and run this file:

NT6fixletter.cmd /currentos:N

Okay.

 

[SIW2]

Got to go now. I am sure you will be fine.

 

[MRCS]

The fix seems to have gotten me back in the game. I'll have to look into it deeper at another time. I believe your suspicion of an incorrect drive parameter is a good bet. Thanks again for all your help.