Solved What software to use with SSD clone and for backup too? Many Choices!!

[LeftC]

Make the boot order (in BIOS using F2)

- Removeable Drive (=floppy). If it fails
- USB . if it fails
- CD/DVD .if it fails
- eSATA .if it fails
- Hard Drive --- ST1000. if it fails
- Network

And save it!
I want it to try removable drive, usb,cd/dvd, esata first. All should fail (if no CD/DVD in drive) so it boots from harddrive st1000. Works?

insert a bootable DVD and boot without pressing F12. Boots from DVD?

All works as described above... if so continue. Eject the DVD

Boot normally. Mark the SSD partition ACTIVE and boot. (you can mark it active in diskmangement, just right click on partition-> "mark partition as active") What error message do you get? I think "bootmgr is missing" (that would be great ...we found the ssd). If it boots normally post screenshot of diskmangement please.

If not booting ... change boot order in bios by placing harddisk before esata in the list. Try to boot. It boots succesfully to win7? If not place harddisk even higher in the list.

post results

I am working on doing this right now. I can almost post results.

 

[LeftC]

Make the boot order (in BIOS using F2)

- Removeable Drive (=floppy). If it fails
- USB . if it fails
- CD/DVD .if it fails
- eSATA .if it fails
- Hard Drive --- ST1000. if it fails
- Network

And save it!
I want it to try removable drive, usb,cd/dvd, esata first. All should fail (if no CD/DVD in drive) so it boots from harddrive st1000. Works?

This booted up to SSD drive. It was just a few seconds slower than when I had it set like this:
- Hard Drive
--- ST1000 hard drive
USB storage device
Removable Drive
eSATA
CD/DVD
- Network
--- Realtek PXE B03 DOO

insert a bootable DVD and boot without pressing F12. Boots from DVD?

Win 7 install DVD didn't boot up using your latest boot order??

All works as described above... if so continue. Eject the DVD

Since DVD didn't boot up, I don't know what's next. What is next?

Boot normally. Mark the SSD partition ACTIVE and boot. (you can mark it active in diskmangement, just right click on partition-> "mark partition as active") What error message do you get? I think "bootmgr is missing" (that would be great ...we found the ssd). If it boots normally post screenshot of diskmangement please.

If not booting ... change boot order in bios by placing harddisk before esata in the list. Try to boot. It boots succesfully to win7? If not place harddisk even higher in the list.

post results

Do I still do this even though it didn't boot up to DVD.

 

[Kaktussoft]

put CD/DVD on top of boot priority. then it tries to boot from dvd first. Of course put bootbale DVD in first. Of course save the bios settings. It should boot from dvd. How did you manage to boot from dvd otherwise?

 

[Kaktussoft]

Do you save bios settings each time???

 

[LeftC]

put CD/DVD on top of boot priority. then it tries to boot from dvd first. Of course put bootbale DVD in first. Of course save the bios settings. It should boot from dvd. How did you manage to boot from dvd otherwise?

It booted to the Win 7 DVD when CD/DVD was first choice in BIOS.

Gosh, I keep answering your question about CD/DVD booting first. Are you overlooking it?

 

[LeftC]

Do you save bios settings each time???

yes

 

[Kaktussoft]

What happens if boot other is:
cd/dvd
....
....
....
esata
harddisk
network


.... can be anything else.
Put it that way and boot (without DVD inserted). What happens?

Sorry I didn't understand DVD as boot priority first

Post screenshot of disk managemnt if it boots succesfully. Screenshot of disk management please

 

[LeftC]

What happens if boot other is:
cd/dvd
....
....
....
esata
harddisk
network


.... can be anything else.
Put it that way and boot (without DVD inserted). What happens?

Sorry I didn't understand DVD as boot priority first

Post screenshot of disk managemnt if it boots succesfully. Screenshot of disk management please

It booted successfully. Here is the disk management screen.

 

[Kaktussoft]

If boot priority is:

cd/dvd
....
....
....
esata
harddisk
network

It still booted. It booted from harddisk (system reserved). BIOS can't address SSD as boot device as you proved. Most likely you built it in on same spot where DVD drive was(?)

Anyway I give you instructions how to clone and how to boot.

1. You added document last days on SSD? You want to keep them? Copy them from SSD to old disk. So from C to D
2. Mark old harddisk OS active. So mark D active.
3. Reboot. If not success. Stop and report back. But it should boot.... why not... it alway did if OS partition was active
4. Assign "system reserved" a drive letter... I use P in my example. Maybe it has a drive letter already.
5. In http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/783-elevated-command-prompt.html do
   

   attrib  -h  -s  P:\boot\bcd
   del  P:\boot\bcd

   Bootmenu (not used at all now) is gone now.
6. Delete partition on SSD using disk management. Now SSD is totally empty

All went succesfully? If so continue.

1. Clone the old disk to SSD as described before. Do it using macrium. Clone OS only, not system reserved! Be sure it's active and primary. Be sure it uses full SSD space. Be sure it's aligned "VISTA/WIN7".
   Cloning a disk using Macrium Reflect v5 - YouTube
   
2. Start the clone process
3. If done post screenshot of disk management

 

[LeftC]

Sorry, I've been out of town all day and I just got back. I hadn't been able to do any computer work.



How do I delete all the info on SSD? I can use the Samsung Magician for this, I do believe. Also, I can do diskpart "Clean All" I do believe.

Do I then do this?​

Then you need to align the SSD and define an active partition on it. Use elevated command prompt for this:

Diskpart

List disk​

Select disk n (where n is the number that was given for your SSD in List disk)​

Clean​

Create partition primary align=1024​

Format fs=ntfs quick​

Active (assuming you want to install an ​

Exit

Cone or Image? Do I do a clone or should I do an image using Macrium? whs mentioned using an image in his SSD - Install and transfer the Operating System tutorial. And you are saying clone. Just curious as to why??​

A few weeks ago I bought the $20 Paragon Migrate OS to SSD 3.0. Would this be an option to clone/image instead of Macrium?​

I don't have an extra partition on the SSD now. See snip.​

I'll finish up the other part of your directions later. It is getting late here.​

 

[Kaktussoft]

You can use Paragon Migrate OS to SSD 3.0 but I don't know how that works.
You have to do #129 step 1 to 5 anyway. Post diskmanagement screenshot afterwards

You can delete SSD by right clicking the partition in disk management and select "delete volume". you don't have to "clean" the disk. But to be able to do it, you have to boot from old C. Otherwise SSD is in use and you can't delete the volume.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Sorry, I've been out of town all day and I just got back. I hadn't been able to do any computer work.



How do I delete all the info on SSD? I can use the Samsung Magician for this, I do believe. Also, I can do diskpart "Clean All" I do believe.

Do I then do this?​

Then you need to align the SSD and define an active partition on it. Use elevated command prompt for this:

Diskpart

List disk​

Select disk n (where n is the number that was given for your SSD in List disk)​

Clean​

Create partition primary align=1024​

Format fs=ntfs quick​

Active (assuming you want to install an ​

Exit

Cone or Image? Do I do a clone or should I do an image using Macrium? whs mentioned using an image in his SSD - Install and transfer the Operating System tutorial. And you are saying clone. Just curious as to why??​

A few weeks ago I bought the $20 Paragon Migrate OS to SSD 3.0. Would this be an option to clone/image instead of Macrium?​

I don't have an extra partition on the SSD now. See snip.​

I'll finish up the other part of your directions later. It is getting late here.​

Image is a partition backup. It's 1 large file with all parition stuff in it (label, type [primary/logical], file system type, size and so on). For example you make on image of C and put the result on G and keep 3 versions. In case your harddisk dies you can restore it by booting from macrium rescue cd in case windows is dead.

You also use image to backup to external disk, and later swap faulty disk. after that restore the image.

A clone is just a partition copy. It's actually the same as making an image and restoring it.

So use clone in your case

 

[LeftC]

If boot priority is:

cd/dvd
....
....
....
esata
harddisk
network

It still booted. It booted from harddisk (system reserved). BIOS can't address SSD as boot device as you proved. Most likely you built it in on same spot where DVD drive was(?)

Anyway I give you instructions how to clone and how to boot.

1. You added document last days on SSD? You want to keep them? Copy them from SSD to old disk. So from C to D
2. Mark old harddisk OS active. So mark D active.
3. Reboot. If not success. Stop and report back. But it should boot.... why not... it alway did if OS partition was active
4. Assign "system reserved" a drive letter... I use P in my example. Maybe it has a drive letter already.
5. In http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/783-elevated-command-prompt.html do
   

   attrib  -h  -s  P:\boot\bcd
   del  P:\boot\bcd

   Bootmenu (not used at all now) is gone now.
6. Delete partition on SSD using disk management. Now SSD is totally empty

All went successfully? If so continue.

It went great until I hit number 5.

It boots to SSD with that boot order that you have. When I make the hard drive active, it boots to hard drive.

1 - I moved the few items saved to the hard drive.
2 - I marked the HD as active.
3 - It booted successfully.
4 - System Reserved was marked as "E" drive.
5 - I am not sure about this. I kept getting a message that "path was not found." Are there supposed to be 2 spaces between the letters and words in those commands. I tried copying and pasting, 2 spaces like you had between letters/numbers and I also tried 1 space between them. It just didn't work right, The E drive still shows up in disk management. How can we check it?
6 - I deleted what I had on the SSD ( a clean install of Win 7 and Office 2010 Professional Plus plus a zillion updates. The SSD also had 2 clones of the HD.)

Below is a snip of the disk management.

1. Clone the old disk to SSD as described before. Do it using macrium. Clone OS only, not system reserved! Be sure it's active and primary. Be sure it uses full SSD space. Be sure it's aligned "VISTA/WIN7".
   Cloning a disk using Macrium Reflect v5 - YouTube
   View attachment 253038
2. Start the clone process
3. If done post screenshot of disk management

I didn't get to this cloning point. I stopped like you told me because I couldn't finish the above.. .

 

[Kaktussoft]

From elevated command prompt

attrib -h -s  E:\boot\bcd
del E:\boot\bcd

Even if it failes, do the clone process. Post disk management screenshot afterwards.
then:

diskpart
sel  vol  E
active
exit

Now boot from win7 repair disc or win7 install dvd and perform "startup repair" 3 times with reboots in between.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

 

[LeftC]

From elevated command prompt

attrib -h -s  E:\boot\bcd
del E:\boot\bcd

Even if it failes, ...

This was not successful. It failed.

... do the clone process. Post disk management screenshot afterwards.
then:

Cloning went fine. Used Macrium with alignment checked and used whole disk like you suggested.

diskpart
sel  vol  E
active
exit

Now boot from win7 repair disc or win7 install dvd and perform "startup repair" 3 times with reboots in between.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

This went OK, but there are problems. I ran startup repair 3 times each with SSD and hard drive. Now on startup, it won't start unless I use Win 7 installation disk. I get the following error message:
File: \Boot\BCD
Status: 0xc000000f
Info: An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data.

Below is a snip of disk management after cloning. Can we fix this?

 

[Kaktussoft]

From elevated command prompt

attrib -h -s  E:\boot\bcd
del E:\boot\bcd

Even if it failes, ...

This was not successful. It failed.

... do the clone process. Post disk management screenshot afterwards.
then:

Cloning went fine. Used Macrium with alignment checked and used whole disk like you suggested.

diskpart
sel  vol  E
active
exit

Now boot from win7 repair disc or win7 install dvd and perform "startup repair" 3 times with reboots in between.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

This went OK, but there are problems. I ran startup repair 3 times each with SSD and hard drive. Now on startup, it won't start unless I use Win 7 installation disk. I get the following error message:
File: \Boot\BCD
Status: 0xc000000f
Info: An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data.

Below is a snip of disk management after cloning. Can we fix this?

in screenshot you posted I see you're bootong from disk 1 C. That's new disk isn't it? how did you do that beacuse that's OK!! You didn't have a problem whatn making the screenhot. When did you have that bcd error?

diskpart
sel vol E
inactive
exit

system still boots?

 

[LeftC]

From elevated command prompt

attrib -h -s  E:\boot\bcd
del E:\boot\bcd

Even if it failes, ...

This was not successful. It failed.


Cloning went fine. Used Macrium with alignment checked and used whole disk like you suggested.

diskpart
sel  vol  E
active
exit

Now boot from win7 repair disc or win7 install dvd and perform "startup repair" 3 times with reboots in between.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

This went OK, but there are problems. I ran startup repair 3 times each with SSD and hard drive. Now on startup, it won't start unless I use Win 7 installation disk. I get the following error message:
File: \Boot\BCD
Status: 0xc000000f
Info: An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data.

Below is a snip of disk management after cloning. Can we fix this?

in screenshot you posted I see you're bootong from disk 1 C. That's new disk isn't it? how did you do that beacuse that's OK!! You didn't have a problem whatn making the screenhot. When did you have that bcd error?

diskpart
sel vol E
inactive
exit

system still boots?

I got the bcd error after cloning and trying to start the system up.

It had to do a startup repair, but it booted up after this last change in command prompt.

When it starts up, I get a black screen with two "Windows 7 Ultimate (recovered)" choices in white print. They appear like this:
Windows 7 Ultimate (recovered)
Windows 7 Ultimate (recovered)

The first option has the hard drive starting first and with the second option, the SSD boots up. I just looked in "boot priority order" and the SSD isn't listed as a choice like earlier. How do we fix it so that the SSD boots up first? The C drive is the SSD and the F drive is the hard drive. E is system reserved. See snips. Should we move "E system reserved" from the hard drive to the SSD? The boot order is unchanged from how you told me to set it:
cd/dvd
....
....
....
esata
harddisk
network

 

[Kaktussoft]

Boot to win7 ultimate SSD (so not HDD!). Now do in http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/783-elevated-command-prompt.html

diskpart
list vol
---- write down volume letter of "system reserved". Assume it's E
sel vol E
inactive
sel vol C
active
---be sure SSD is active!

Try to reboot. Iy eiter boots succesfully... that's fine. Or it doesn't boot at all. If not booting at all.
Boot from DVD->command prompt.

diskpart
list vol
---- write down volume letter of "system reserved". Assume it's Q
sel vol Q
active

If it does boot with "system reserved" inactive, but gives an error.. post back error. and do a startup repair 3 times.

 

[LeftC]

I did both commands as you suggested. They went well. I did 3 startup repairs each on the HD and the SSD.

When it starts up, it gives me two choices as to what boots up. They are:
Windows 7 Ultimate (restored) {actually the HD}
Windows 7 Ultimate (restored) {actually the SSD}

The HD is the first choice and the SSD is the second. Can this be reversed?

The 100MB partition is on the HD. Should it be on the SSD?

Below are snips of partition wizard and diskpart. Notice the free space info shown in diskpart. There is a snip of disk management too.

Thank you so very much for helping me with this project!

 

[LeftC]

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