Can restore image but not boot into Windows 10 on laptop with NVMe RAID controller
I can't seem to boot into Windows 10 from a restored drive image on my new Dell Inspiron 16 laptop, which has two 512 GB NVMe M.2 SSD drives in a RAID configuration using the Intel RST VMD storage controller.
I was able to use Acronis Rescue Media Builder to inject the proper RAID drivers (downloaded from the Dell Support site) when creating the bootable USB stick and got it to successfully restore my drive image to the SSDs while in RAID mode. However, I can only seem to get a successful boot into Windows 10 if I go into the BIOS and switch the NVMe drives to ACHI mode. Whenever I try to boot while using RAID mode, I keep getting a bluescreen error that says "INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE". After three warm reboots into the bluescreen, I will get the "Automatic Repair" menu but that always fails and forces me to shut down, and I also managed to get into the menu that allows Safe Mode bootup but that always fails as well.
I tried using Acronis Universal Restore and the RAID drivers seem get injected properly, but the boot process always ends up at the bluescreen of doom "INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE".
So basically, I can boot into Win10 only in AHCI mode, but this negates the performance benefits of a unified RAID array using both 512GB NVMe SSDs.
When is Cyber Protect Home Office going to address these RAID issues because most of the newer high-end laptops come factory-configured with their NVMe drives in RAID mode and consumers want the performance benefits of RAID and not be forced into ACHI just so they can use their Acronis drive images from older machines.


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IanL-S wrote:As you have a new computer, you would not need to use Universal Restore.
Recent Intel based PCs use a new RAID implementation which, as I understand it, requires to drivers to be loaded, but owing to the way they are configured, only one is loaded when creating recovery media. Unfortunately, I do not have the solution to hand; just got back from a road trip, but there are knowledgeable users who can guide you through the process.
Isn't Universal Restore specifically used for restoring a drive image to a new machine with dissimilar hardware? That's what I'm trying to do.
As far as I can tell, there are only two VMD storage controller drivers that I need to inject into the recovery media. I downloaded both from the Dell website, which has always been excellent for listing specific drivers for a specific model of desktop or laptop you are using.
Just seems like Acronis needs to contact these manufacturers and get better instructions on how to inject these VMD drivers into recovery media. It's getting really confusing and complicated because many new laptops have some variation of NVMe drives that are either configured for ACHI mode or RAID mode or both, and some will let users choose the mode in the BIOS and others won't let you change the mode at all. It's a real mess for those of us who restore old drive images to new machines!
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Universal Restore will not solve any problems here as it has not been updated for some years (Augst 2020) which predates the new Intel raid architecture.
If the old and new PC are relatively modern, then Universal Restore is not needed. What you need is recovery media created on the new PC, which if you use Simple recovery media, that uses the Windows RE (recovery environment for that PC).
My understanding is that the two Raid drivers are in the same folder, and use they need to be in different folders.
I think you will find the solution in this thread: Intel VMD Raid0 drive wont show up in the True Image 2021 BootStick!
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IanL-S wrote:If the old and new PC are relatively modern, then Universal Restore is not needed. What you need is recovery media created on the new PC, which if you use Simple recovery media, that uses the Windows RE (recovery environment for that PC)
Just to reiterate, I am able to successfully restore my old drive image to my new laptop when it's in RAID mode.
The roadblock I have is booting into Windows 10 after the image has been restored. So you're saying creating recovery media on the new laptop (using Windows RE) somehow injects the proper VMD drivers into the restored drive image, which would result in a successful Windows bootup?
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So you're saying creating recovery media on the new laptop (using Windows RE) somehow injects the proper VMD drivers into the restored drive image, which would result in a successful Windows bootup?
To my knowledge no current version of Acronis (ACPHO or ATI) handles VMD drivers correctly without requiring user intervention to inject these, hence Ian's suggestion for you to review the forum topic: Intel VMD Raid0 drive wont show up in the True Image 2021 BootStick! that topic went into great detail on this subject and gave a successful outcome for the users involved.
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I am growing increasingly angry about the lack of any response or acknowledgment of this problem from Acronis. I have had two recent instances of running into this particular issue while attempting a Universal Restore. Tech support doesn't seem to have a clue that the problem exists as I spent an hour going in circles with them last week.
Universal Restore is probably the biggest selling feature for me over any competing products but it won't work on many new Intel-based systems.
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Tony, sorry but you need to open a forum topic in your own right and describe what issue you are having so that we can try to help you find a resolution?
Universal Restore is actually not needed with more recent versions of Windows such as 10 and 11 - this is simply because those versions have much improved handling of changed hardware whereas earlier versions did need help with such changes.
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Tony Latour wrote:I am growing increasingly angry about the lack of any response or acknowledgment of this problem from Acronis. I have had two recent instances of running into this particular issue while attempting a Universal Restore. Tech support doesn't seem to have a clue that the problem exists as I spent an hour going in circles with them last week.
Universal Restore is probably the biggest selling feature for me over any competing products but it won't work on many new Intel-based systems.
Hello Tony,
I would like to apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced with our product or support. I understand that you had previously raised a ticket and I hope that the issue was resolved to your satisfaction.
If you have any further feedback or comments about the issue, please feel free to let us know by replying here. We always appreciate hearing from our customers and are committed to continually improving our product and support services.
Thank you for your understanding and patience.
Best regards, Jose Pedro Magalhaes
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