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
    2020-11-29T21:58:58+00:00

    Hi,

    The free version of WinToUSB has some glitches in the way it clones.. Most of the problem is that the features that might resolve the problem do not work in the free edition.. It has a major saving grace though, which is the Convert\Unconvert to "Windows  To Go"..

    This tool may be what actually works best for you.. If you do not like the way it clones, you can still clone with Acronis and then use the conversion tool to make the Acronis clone bootable on the USB SSD.. If you want to then move the USB SSD to a internal drive you can simply switch it as is, or convert it back to it's original state..

    I am currently typing on a OS that was converted to Windows To Go on the USB SSD drive, then moved to internal. It booted right up.. Both internal and external..

    One thing I would suggest though, is that you create an actual image with Acronis and store it on a different drive.. The images are considerably smaller than the used space on the drive.. They can be copied\pasted like any other file.. Just so you have a fall back should something go haywire long the line..

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-11-29T22:56:31+00:00

    That sounds really encouraging...

    I sent this Email to their Tech Support & Sales Email addresses earlier today...hopefully I'll hear back in a day or so and barring something unexpected I'll go ahead and buy their software.

    On another note, I really appreciate the extent of your assistance & time you spent working on this problem like you did...I'd still be nowhere if it wasn't for you.I've looked and can't find any way to contact via private message or something...do you know of a way?

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

    Email text to their Tech Support:

    I’m interested in buying your product...but some of the wording I’ve seen in various Internet articles on this subject has / can cause some confusion.

    Examples: USB Drive, USB Flash Drive, USB Hard Drive, USB HDD, USB SSD, etc. As a result I want to specifically ask a question as precisely as I can.

    And ask for a reply that is also precise before I can buy your product.

    My set up:

    Top of the line / high performance Lenovo Thinkpad laptops, all day-every day.

    Windows 10 Pro/64, Norton, Malwarebytes, Acronis, etc…all software kept up to date.  I don’t trust / do not use ‘clouds’ for backing up my data.

    Routinely use Acronis True Image to clone my C-drive for several years.

    Make weekly full bootable C-drive clones to USB connected SSD drives.

    Have physically replaced laptop’s internal C-drive SSD with USB cloned SSD, always works perfectly.

    What I ALSO WANT to be able to do:

    USB connect an SSD backup drive that has a full C-drive clone on it.

    Interrupt over to the boot menu and select the USB SSD drive to boot from.

    Boot from the USB connected cloned SSD drive, same if it was physically inside the laptop.

    Windows 10 Pro will not USB boot like that…in spite of making all the appropriate BIOS Menu changes, Windows says “Inaccessible Boot Device”…..yet it sees the USB connected SSD drive and Acronis makes a perfect 100% mirror image clone to the SSD Drive every time.

    QUESTIONS IN ORDER FOR ME TO DECIDE ON BUYING YOUR PRODUCT:

    1-Will your product easily / reliably create a 100% fully bootable clone of my laptop’s internal SSD C-drive to a USB connected SSD drive?

    2-If so, will your fully cloned copy on the USB connected SSD drive Boot Up the laptop from the USB connected SSD drive location…just the same as if was installed inside the laptop itself? Thank you..."

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-11-29T23:13:23+00:00

    Hi,

    I think the answers to your questions will probably be yes.. The issue I discovered is how the final images end up.. At least the ones I could make with the free version.. I certainly could not call them "Mirror Images", although the feature that would probably do that was disabled..

    As I mentioned... You could still do your cloning with Acronis, then use the tool in the WinToUsb to make the USB drive bootable.. There are two methods available to make a USB bootable Clone..

    When you mention "Private Message".. are you referring to me or the WinToUSB people ? The forum does have a type of private messaging, but I'm pretty sure is is limited to communication between members and moderators.. Normally any email type addresses get deleted from the posts quite quickly..

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-11-29T23:26:13+00:00

    Yes, wondering if there was some way get in touch with you like a 'private message' sort of thing.

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-11-30T01:30:22+00:00

    Hi,

    Unfortunately no, other than providing my email address which is highly frowned upon and likely would be removed before you could see it..

    That can be done to a certain degree through this thread, or another..

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