11/23/20 – Strange USB Boot problem that I’m thinking is Windows oriented

Anonymous
2020-11-23T22:22:39+00:00

Something I’ve always done over the years is run weekly 100% mirror image bootable backup clones of the C-drive in my ThinkPad laptops…using spare USB cable connected SSD hard drives.  [ connect the drive, run ‘Acronis True Image’ cloning software that I use, done ]

From time to time I’d boot the laptop from a USB backup drive, always worked perfectly…but mostly I’d just make the weekly backups for peace of mind in case the C-drive should ever fail.

But discovered a pesky little problem as I’ve been setting up a new ThinkPad P52 to replace my older P51.  After I finished setting up the new P52 C-drive, I cloned it to a USB attached hard drive like I’ve done on the P51 a couple hundred times…and then just to be sure it worked, tried to boot the P52 back from the cloned USB attached drive.

Failed…blue screen error message: “Inaccessible Boot Device”.

TROUBLE SHOOTING SUMMARY SO FAR:

The P52 ThinkPad boots up normally / works perfectly from its internal C-drive.

All USB flash drives and/or USB cabled hard drives that I plug in all operate normally.

The P52 laptop sees them all, adds them to the list of other drives in the laptop (c, d, e, f, etc.).

I can read/ write to them business as usual, click open / look at content inside normally.

My cloning software works like always because I’ve taken cloned copies and physically installed them inside the laptop as the internal C-drive and the laptop comes right up normally / works perfectly, etc.  I simply cannot BOOT FROM a USB connected clone any longer.

I’ve spent hours over a few days Internet searching, trying this, trying that, no help.

I’ve tried different SSD hard drives, different cables, different USB ports, no help.

Ran a few check-disk kinds of scans and the SSD’s are rock solid as always.

Ensured all Lenovo ThinkPad updates are downloaded and installed.

Ensured all Windows updates are downloaded and installed.

Then started trying the approach of uninstalling Windows updates one at a time but it’s very time consuming and several of the "security related Win updates" wouldn’t let me uninstall them.

So I decided to go back and ensure everything sill worked OK on the original P51, and to my surprise it fails the same way.  Been quite a while since I actually did a USB Boot on the original P51 so I assume something must have changed during the past several months and I’m thinking the Win 10 Pro software is the common denominator.

Thought I’d check here with the Brain Trust and see if anyone might know of a specific Win 10 related finding / fix for this situation…thanks a lot in advance.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Devices and drivers

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-11-28T18:02:24+00:00

    Hi,

    I do not think the EaseUS and True Image idea is going to work... No matter how I attempt to get True Image to Clone or reload an image to the USB SSD, it will not boot...

    I have had mixed results with Macrium Cloning\Imaging to the EaseUS manipulated USB SSD...

    Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't..

    The Linux based bootable EaseUS Cloning tool seems to work quite well although it is slow to boot..

    At least with the bootable media, you would not need EaseUS continuously installed.. Believe it or not, the EaseUS Cloning from the installed version will boot and the Cloning from the Linux based Flash Drive will boot, but the EaseUS WindowsPE based Flash Drive will not..

    Now that I have at least a little better idea as to what is going on, I will see if I can find some other to more permanently set the USB SSD as bootable..

    By chance, did you possibly originally clone to the USB SSD with Samsung's Wizard tool, or whatever it is called ? Was the USB SSD originally cloned while it was an internal drive ?

    Sorry about all the questions, but I am simply trying figure out what is going on now as compared to how things were before.. There is something about what EaseUS is doing that is getting around the issues Acronis and Macrium are not handling.. Part of it may be that Microsoft simply does not want people booting from a USB drive.. Some companies may respect this, and some may not... Like EaseUS for instance..

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-11-28T13:57:31+00:00

    Good gracious...well, when the new Acronis 2021 gets here, I'll contact Amazon and see if I can return it unopened OK.

    Meanwhile, I'll wait until you're finished and then see if I can do your EaseUS approach on my 2016.

    Thank you !

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-11-28T06:03:04+00:00

    Hi,

    The True Image 2020 does not work either.. You may be surprised what has been added to True Image..

    It now has a bunch of Acronis security type features, some of which can not be turned off.

    Personally, I do not think I will ever buy another Acronis program with the exception of maybe Disk Director 12.5..

    I have always had a low opinion of EaseUS because they did not deliver on some of their claims, but they are delivering with this one..

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-11-28T05:20:58+00:00

    Hi,

    I have not tried True Image 2021 yet, although I have an open case with some issues with Acronis Support.. I do have True Image 2020, but have not actually tried to see if it will make bootable clones..

    Personally I do not like the 2020 and above versions.. The only reason I am messing with support is because that their Linux bootable Recovey Media will not display the menu selection with my newer graphics cards..

    I have found that there appears to be something going on with Registry settings when comparing Macrium Reflect to EaseUS.. The first Macrium image I restored to my USB SSD that had been previously cloned with EaseUS worked and booted...

    After deleting everything on the USB SSD and restoring the image with Macrium again, it no longer worked.. Macrium also displayed some messages about updating Registry Hives.. These did not appear the first time..

    I created a basic EaseUS Linux "EmergencyDisk" just to see what it would do.. Because this is a trial version the only option is to Clone.. It has none of the Advanced features as does the installed version...

    I again deleted everything on the USB HDD and Cloned my internal drive to it.. This booted perfectly without any of the Advanced stuff even being used..

    I will try the True Image 2020 version and see what happens.. You might be better off returning the Acronis 2021 and think about the EaseUS... Although there may be other free Cloning programs that would be USB bootable... EaseUS was just the first that caught my attention...

    I will let you know shortly what happens with the True Image 2020.. I expect it will not work, but you don't know until you try..

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-11-28T03:54:37+00:00

    Wow, that's sounds encouraging...you have quite a high level of I/T knowledge & skill !

    It would be great if its as simple as 'setting a flag'...and also begs the question...why in the world didn't Windows offer that simple !

    Through all this work lately, I've come to realize that my latest copy of Acronis True Image is 2016, and I assumed that paying for it again every year it was being updated all the time...not so.

    So I just bought a new 2021 version in case it might offer more flexibility...waiting for it to arrive.

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