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
    2020-12-01T23:13:04+00:00

    OK, understand.

    FWIW, setting aside the actual ‘Boot’ aspect of this thread, and going back to my original thinking out loud about the possibility of Windows updates causing the sudden “INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE” errors.

    Did my monthly safe deposit box hard drive swap today.

    Brought home the 11/01/20 - P51 clone which had no Windows updates installed since October 24.

    Went through the normal USB Boot motions and did not get the ‘Inaccessible Boot Device’ error.

    Before I shut back down I looked and sure enough, Windows updates had already poured in...had a dozen updates pending, so I put them all in ‘hidden’ status, then unplugged the USB SSD clone.

    Will see if I can get any search hits for each of those update KB numbers regarding that error.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-12-01T20:56:50+00:00

    Hi,

    I checked out the Lenovo Forum and it seemed to be too scattered among various models of machines, so I passed on that.. I am not interested in giving Lenovo any personal information should that be required.. Especially since I do not have a Lenovo..

    That "Windows To Go" feature you have seen, was actually at one time a Microsoft feature.. From what I understand, it is only available in the Enterprise version of Windows now.. All it really does is to make a external drive acceptable by changing some type of internal Windows Boot File setting.. I wish I new how it was done myself..

    I think it is probably frowned upon in the Forums to accept any type of compensation... It is supposed to be free assistance and up to the volunteer as to how deeply they want to get involved in a thread..

    I learned something out of this as well, so this was mutually beneficial.. I may investigate in the future to see if I can find what type of settings changes are needed to make a external Windows drive bootable..

    I was actually looking for that type of thing when I stumbled across the EaseUS and WinToGo..

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-12-01T13:44:27+00:00

    PS:

    Sent a brief followup Email to WinToUSB support asking them...since it appeared so simple & fast, what / where does 'Convert' make a change...laptop USB...Windows, etc?

    Reply was:

    WinToUSB changes the settings in Windows 10 Pro clone on the USB SSD hard drive.

    ............................................................................................................................................................................

    So Lenovo was fine...once something got tweaked in the Windows USB clone copy, the Lenovo Boot Menu executed as it was supposed to.

    Seems very odd to me for something so quick & simple, that Microsoft won't include the simple option to enable Boot from a USB Hard Drive...especially given that they already enable USB Flash Drives to boot...

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-12-01T01:26:28+00:00

    Well, my personal preference would have been to buy you dinner or something.

    If you change your mind, as I said, the Lenovo Forum does have private messaging available between members.

    You've spent a significant amount of time & effort getting into this problem and I'll never forget it, thank you again very much !

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-11-30T23:30:39+00:00

    Hi,

    In reality, the using convert function with your Acronis Clone\Image is probably the best choice..

    You have given plenty of thanks... and you're welcome...

    Let me know if you have any more issues, or redirect me to the new thread if needed..

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