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
    2020-11-26T03:27:06+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 !!

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-11-26T02:30:00+00:00

    Hi,

    That residual drive from the UEFI installation still has the UEFI boot partition on it.. The 260mb one to the far left..

    So you are primarily cloning Disk 1 to Disk 2, and both are MBR disks ?

    These questions are all based upon the Red X on your Acronis picture, and trying to determine the problem..

    As log as the drives work when placed internally, then the questions are moot..

    I would still like to know if you at this moment can create a clone of the P51 to the SSD, and if it will boot from the USB SSD as it has always done..

    The link you provided concerning booting with a USB is just a "In General" type discussion..

    Booting a flash drive of Windows Installation Media, bootable Linux based Acronis True Image, or something else, is an entirely different matter than booting a Windows operating system..

    Your SSDs are in fact booting are they not ?.. You are getting a Blue Screen during the boot process, correct ? They are not completing the boot, but it is actually loading the initial Windows boot files..

    Then you get an Inaccessible Boot Device crash... This is because there is some type of error when the boot loader is redirected to the boot file, and they are not found, making the SSD inaccessible..

    I suspect that this is somehow related to the USB to SATA chipset in the SSD's enclosure, but that is just an educated guess.. The boot sequence is seeing the USB Chip, not the SSD for instance, and making the SSD inaccessible..

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-11-26T02:03:55+00:00

    Not sure I understand the point about there being some mismatch?

    Some info:

    Disk 1 was the original C drive, defaulted at UEFI.

    I disabled secure boot, switched UEFI to Legacy, installed a copy of my P51 hard drive in the spare bay inside the P52, and the P52 has been been working perfectly.  (except for the USB boot issue.

    The system automatically renamed the original C drive to D.

    I wiped it clean and just use it for various storage, work areas, etc.

    Disk 2 is the C-drive

    Disk 3 is the E drive for Acronis to copy to.

    The C drive works perfectly inside, and all USB cloned drives also work perfectly when physically installed inside.

    Can you elaborate?

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  4. 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

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-11-26T01:39:06+00:00

    Hi,

    I just noticed that your Disk 1 Partition 0 is a EFI partition... That indicates that your OS is on a GPT drive and using UEFI Bios..

    If so, this would require that your USB SSD would also need to be GPT...

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