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
    2020-11-27T14:54:25+00:00

    I just found this on the Acronis Support Forum. ...........................................................................................................

    ACRONIS:

    Christo, welcome to these public User Forums.

    END USER:

    Should I be able at all to boot from USB using the new cloned SSD, still having the old HDD in the laptop itself?

    ACRONIS:

    No! Microsoft does not allow Windows to be booted from any external USB device unless you have purchased their Enterprise edition of Windows and are using Windows 2 Go.

    https://forum.acronis.com/forum/acronis-true-image-2020-forum/cloned-hdd-ssd-and-windows-10-does-not-boot-error-stop-code-inaccessible-boot-device

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-11-27T14:18:37+00:00

    Wow, thanks for all the explanation info.

    The only oddity I will raise is that the P51 never had any of these problems, and now it does.

    Been using the same set of spare Samsung SSD drives simply directly plugged into a USB port.

    Never saw or even heard about a "bluescreen inaccessible boot device error" before, and now have it on both the P51 and P52 when I try to USB boot an Acronis clone...never happened before.

    Thanks again for all your good info & time you've spent trying to help...I very much appreciate it !

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-11-27T03:38:18+00:00

    Hi,

    Not a chip inside the actual SSD, but the USB device the SSD is connected to... The enclosure\dock, or whatever you use to connect the external SSD to a USB connection on the computer..

    The data through the USB also has a USB Controller Chip on the motherboard, so there are multiple things that can make Windows unable to boot by USB, as it is not identifying the location of the boot files correctly.. The bios directs your boot to the drive you select.. It detects a windows file and launches it.. The problem is that when this file then attempts to redirect the boot command to the next step, it can't find it because it is not identifying the drive correctly due to needing to go through a couple of USB chips to get to the SSD..

    You may not like to hear this, but this is my opinion\guess as to what is going on..

    I think the entire time you thought you were booting to the USB SSD on the P51 machine, you actually were not.. I think what was happening is exactly what happened when you tested the P51 today.. The USB SSD failed to boot and the machine automatically reverted to the internal Windows installation..

    I think this became more obvious with the P52 machine because it is newer and probably considerably faster.. Especially the USB Controllers.. And possibly the bios functions of the motherboard..

    Like you, I do a lot of backups using Acronis, and before Acronis, a number of other similar type programs.. I save images.. I have images for various machines clear back to 2005... Over 20TB worth..

    I can basically return my machines to any point in time I choose..

    The other day I tested your issue on a 12 year old machine running an image of Windows 7 Pro SP1 from 2016 that has not been updated past that date.. It has the same problem as you..

    That test all in itself completely eliminates any type of a recent update as the cause of the problem in my opinion.. I can only think that your P51 has been doing what happened today all along.. It may be much more noticeable with a faster SSD, USB, and\or newer machine, and therefore it managed to get your attention in a manner it did not before.

    What I would suggest you do if you want to be able to boot Windows externally would be to do what I mentioned the other day... Use a Esata to SATA cable, or similar, to connect to your computers instead of the USB.. Whether you need a eSATA to eSATA cable, or a eSATA to SATA cable would depend upon whether you connect directly to the SSD, or put it in a dock of some kind..

    If using something like a dock, the dock would likely supply power to the SSD... Otherwise you would need to run power directly to the SSD, which is what I do..

    My motherboard has a eSATA connector on the back, or on a add-in card, depending upon the machine.. I have run a 3 foot power cable out the back of the computer case and added a SATA power plug adapter to it.. I use a eSATA to SATA cable... I then connect my external SSDs to those.. It is no more difficult than plugging into a USB Port.. A little more clumsy for sure, but not a big deal..

    Because I participate in various forums I am constantly reloading various images of different Windows 10 versions as well as Windows 7.. It became essential that I could attach a bootable drive externally for the testing..

    If you come up with anything new let me know, or if you have more questions, feel free to ask...

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-11-27T02:42:08+00:00

    Hey...just grabbed a few minutes and retried the P51 to ensure/refresh my memory...exact same situation as he P52.

    The P51 Acronis Clone gets the same 'Inaccessible Boot Device' error when trying to boot it from a USB port.

    The system then goes ahead and works itself on out to a normal startup from the C-drive, and the P51 works perfectly in all respects.

    The P51's never-before / now identical symptoms as the P52 is what got me to wondering about a common denominator...one of which was that huge download of Microsoft updates in October and November, just days before I got the P52.

    At least the good news is still being able to Acronis-clone 100% perfect SSD backup drives is the main thing...just "want" the convenience of being to USB boot a back up copy if I want to.

    Will start trying to understand the "...SSD's USB controller..."next.

    Do I understand you correctly that its literally inside on the SSD circuit board?

    If so...thought occurred to me...when working on the P52 using a spare SSD for USB testing, then clearing it off...then possibly grabbing the same spare SSD to test something on the P51...might be how the problem also "appears" to be in the P51 if the SSD's could have gradually gotten something messed up inside their USB Controller ???   No idea...just thinking out loud.

    Anyhow, hope you had a good Thanksgiving...

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-11-26T03:49:15+00:00

    Hi,

    I'm pretty sure you said that the P51 failed to boot when using the USB SSD created on the P52..

    I'm wondering what happens if the USB SSD is cloned on the P51... Just to clear up the question..

    The chipset I am talking about is in the SSD's USB controller, not in your computer.. The USB Adapter\Dock has a chipset that converts USB signals to something that can be written to SATA...

    It also converts SATA signals to USB signals when the USB SSD is being read... For lack of a better description...

    There is not a direct connection between the USB SSD SATA and the SATA controller in your computer.. It has to go through a USB conversion process in both directions..

    Never mind the stuff about the Red X and etc.. That is all irrelevant now.. The only thing that is important to me at the moment is to know if the P51 functions as you say it used to when the clone is made from it, not the P52..

    I'm not sure what I will be doing tomorrow, but I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving..

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