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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

101 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2020-11-26T03:27:06+00:00

    Right, just using Disk 1 and then clone it to disk 2, both of which work perfectly from inside the laptop.

    I made a separate reply about the little red X above...IMHO, it's not an issue, just calling attention to the fact that a tiny 1.7gb was siphoned off the big 464gb partition of make a tiny partition immediately to the left of the red x...its always done that for years.

    I want to say yes, the P51 has the same failure to boot as the P52 which is what was leading me to wonder if some Microsoft update might have clobbered something...but I've covered so much ground today my head is spinning, LOL...I'll double check tomorrow or at least Friday.

    And also start digging into that sata chipset thing...

    Some preliminary looking is where the idea comes up about a Microsoft update(s) possibly clobbering that particular driver, etc.

    But for now, we're getting ready to turn in here for the night, Thanksgiving tomorrow, etc.

    And I'll sign off for the night with really thanking you for the amount of thought & help you've been volunteering...very much appreciated !!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2020-11-26T01:48:13+00:00

    Here's the best I've found that Thinkpads should boot from USB Hard Drives...

    "How to boot a Windows 10 Thinkpad from a USB drive"

    https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/ht118361

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2020-11-26T01:34:45+00:00

    Hi,

    When you right click on the drive and select Properties... Volumes... Does it show MBR or GPT ?

    Does the cloning still work properly on the P51 when making a new clone now ?

    I know the clone of the P52 had issues, but was wondering what is going on with the P51's status..

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2020-11-26T01:27:37+00:00

    PS: Reference wording of Reformatted

    I just realized I shouldn’t have used the word ‘reformatted’…what I really was referring to was “deleting old existing partitions” off of a previously used hard drive in preparation for it to be used for a new Acronis clone copy.

    3 screenshots below show the evolution of preparation activity from:

    CONTROL PANEL / ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS / COMPUTER MGT / STORAGE / DISK MGT

    The bottom drive is being prepped / assigned (E) to become a fresh USB connected spare drive for the next Acronis clone...noticed that all 3 drives have matching characteristics / format.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2020-11-25T20:59:23+00:00

    Yes...so on the one hand, the laptop 'sees / accesses' the USB attached hard drive...executes the Acronis cloning operation with no indication of any troubles...finishes & shuts down normally, etc.

    And when I simply leave it connected to the laptop and boot up normally, I can see the USB drive is recognized and listed as the correct drive, I can look inside and see the copied contents, etc.

    Yet after cloning and attempting to Boot from the very same USB hard drive...it apparently cannot be seen or recognized or something, causing Blue Screen error:  "Inaccessible Boot Device"

    So to my limited knowledge, an actual USB Boot attempt must go through a different path, take different steps than those taken to create the clone in the first place.

    And apparently something is clobbered in that path or steps, that prevents that approach from unfolding and up pops the error message:  "Inaccessible Boot Device".

    And I assume the error message is Windows...which is then followed by Windows automatically working around the situation and continuing on to a normal start up all by itself.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments