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
    2020-11-30T19:56:32+00:00

    Hi,

    Those potential issues probably do not apply to your laptop, so there may have been no response to that..

    Answer A is most certainly for older machines..

    I do not have issues with Answer B, but I am aware some machines have that problem.. Sometimes a Bios update will fix that..

    Answer C does in fact apply to one of my older machines.. It does not have USB 3.0 on the motherboard..

    It does have a USB 3.0 add-in card.. It will not boot from the add-in card USB 3.0, but will boot from the USB 2.0 on the motherboard..

    The only issue that might apply to your machine is not on the list, and would be booting from USB being disabled or restricted in Bios.. Your machine boots from USB 3.0.. Your USB SSD flashes the Windows Logo before the boot error message.. If your machine was not able to boot from USB 3.0, your would never get that far..

    Try the free version of the WinToUSB.. Click on Tools on the upper right corner... You will see Convert to Windows To Go.. It takes about 10 seconds.. That will answer your question about that specific feature anyway..

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-11-30T19:39:55+00:00

    Well, I'm human...I could have fooled myself if that was the case, as I recall looking into the two different OS listings on the two different hard drives listed under "This PC" and satisfying myself that the USB version had booted up properly after selecting it in the Boot Menu...but maybe not, anything is possible.

    Bottom line I'm just trying to at least chip away at possibilities that are somewhat under my control.

    As an aside, with WinToUSB support mentioning 3 possible issues that deal with computer BIOS and USB ports...I'm surprised I've still received zero replies from the Lenovo Community Support pointing out this or that as a laptop cause for "Inaccessible Boot Device" errors.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-11-30T19:17:27+00:00

    Hi,

    As a follow up, I still have doubts as to whether you were ever actually booting to the USB SSD Clone..

    Your Bios could have recognized it as not valid and ignored it and went straight to the internal SSD..

    I actually had this happen to me yesterday.. In testing the WinToUSB I created a clone with one of the optional features.. It appeared to work, and when I selected it as the boot device the computer booted..

    I later disconnected the internal drive so I would not get them mixed up, and suddenly the machine would boot from the USB SSD.. It would not boot from the SSD when connected internally either..

    There were no error messages of any kind when I thought I was booting to the USB SSD and was not..

    Once I removed the Internal SSD the error messages came up..

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-11-30T19:10:24+00:00

    Hi,

    I do know for a fact that works... That is what I was saying is the products "Saving Grace"...

    Even if you are unhappy with how it clones, that specific feature does in fact work..

    I tested it using both Acronis and Macrium Reflect.. It simply marks the USB SSD as being an "Acceptable" boot device along with a minor change or two concerning Fast Startup and Hibernation, which are removed for safety purposes..

    EDIT...  This even works on the Free version..

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-11-30T18:59:26+00:00

    Thanks...also got this follow-up reply from WinToUSB Software Product.

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

    ".....We recommend that you try "Windows To Go conversion" on the external disk cloned by Acronis to see if it can solve the "INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE" problem....."

    http://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/faq/en_US/How-to-convert-Local-Disk-To-Windows-To-Go.html

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

    But here again, its a matter of throwing out $30-40 without "knowing" if that'll work.

    I sill keep coming back to the fact that my P51 never had any "Inaccessible Boot Device" errors, prior lots of Windows upgrades, and possibly Lenovo upgrades.

    I did have a brain storm a while ago:

    In addition to my rolling 4 weeks of cloned SSD drives, at the end of each month I make a 5th clone and stop by my bank safe deposit box to at least have a monthly copy off site.

    It occurred to me that the monthly November 1st off-site copy is from the P51, and would not have the rash of mid November Windows updates on it...so when I stop by the bank this week to swap out the P52 12/01/20 monthly drive with the P51 11/01/20 drive, I'll save the 11/01/20 P51 Acronis cloned USB drive as is instead of wiping it clean.

    Then USB connect it to the P51 and see if it gets the 'Inaccessible Boot Device" error without all the November Windows Updates on it.

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