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unable to boot

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I am trying to clone a HD to an ssd using the software provided by Crucial.  I ran Acronis and opted for a full clone. It went through loads of screens and finally ended, claiming to be successful.

 

The SSD does not boot, the HD does not boot. I now have an almost dead laptop!  The small Windows emblem appears and then a small dark circular with dots running round just goes on and on.

IT will not go into recovery mode or system restore.

 

HELP -  Novice user, please keep it simple.

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I am trying to clone a HD to an ssd using the software provided by Crucial.  I ran Acronis and opted for a full clone. It went through loads of screens and finally ended, claiming to be successful.

 

The SSD does not boot, the HD does not boot. I now have an almost dead laptop!  The small Windows emblem appears and then a small dark circular with dots running round just goes on and on.

IT will not go into recovery mode or system restore.

 

HELP -  Novice user, please keep it simple.

John, welcome to these User Forums.

Please see KB document: 2201: Support for OEM Versions of Acronis Products for the official Acronis statement on how your Crucial supplied software is supported and by whom.

Please see topic: [IMPORTANT] CLONING - How NOT to do this!!! which was written in response to many users coming to these forums like yourself.

Perhaps an awkward question at this point in time, but did you make a backup of your HDD before performing the clone to your SSD drive?  This is one of the key points in the above forum topic and would be the means of your easiest recovery if you have!

I suspect that the clone was performed using the OEM Acronis application when running within Windows, where this then required the computer to be restarted to continue the clone action.

Have you tried disconnecting the SSD and removing any Acronis or other boot media, then tried booting from the original HDD drive in the laptop?

Have you checked that your BIOS Boot Priority settings are shown correctly, i.e. either with the Windows Boot Manager (if UEFI) or the HDD drive if BIOS?

If you have a Windows OS Installation disc i.e. Windows 10 install DVD, have you tried booting from this and doing a Startup Repair for the HDD?

In reply to by truwrikodrorow…

No sadly I only backed up all my files.

I have tried both the ssd and old hdd in the laptop neither works - they both do the same.  So there is no way (that I know of) of removing any Acronis stuff from either.

Basically nothing boots, seems to be looking for something as the circle just goes round and round.

I would prefer not to lose an apps or files or settings.  This was billed to so easy by Crucial, I am bitterly disappointed. As I followed the instructions to the letter.

No sadly I only backed up all my files.

I have tried both the ssd and old hdd in the laptop neither works - they both do the same.  So there is no way (that I know of) of removing any Acronis stuff from either.

Basically nothing boots, seems to be looking for something as the circle just goes round and round.

I would prefer not to lose an apps or files or settings.  This was billed to so easy by Crucial, I am bitterly disappointed. As I followed the instructions to the letter.

John, sorry to hear that you do not have a full backup of the original source HDD - this is not an uncommon issue to be reported here in these forums unfortunately, and Acronis has no real involvement in the documentation provided by the OEM companies like Crucial.

I am sure that there are many users who do exactly as you have done and the procedure will work just fine, but there are users like yourself for whom it can be a disaster!

Do you have a Windows System Image made using the Windows 7 Backup function of the OS that you could try using?

For clarification, what were the exact steps that you followed to do the clone?  Under normal circumstances, doing a clone should not alter your source drive but this can change when cloning is done from within Windows, as the Acronis utility has to modify your Windows Boot Configuration in order to create then boot from a temporary Linux environment to do the cloning.  The real issue with this change comes when it doesn't get reversed afterwards and the computer is left in an unbootable state.

If you have a Windows boot disc, i.e. Windows 10 Install or Repair DVD, then there are some commands you can try to work with the Boot Configuration Data, but you need to get to a Windows Command Prompt window to do this.

One further question, do you know how many partitions are on your original HDD?  Depending on the OS and the way it was installed, you should have between one and 3 or more partitions.  If Windows was installed to an unformatted drive, then you would have a Microsoft System Reserved or an EFI System Partition (depending on the BIOS type), then the OS partition and possibly a Microsoft Recovery partition (created when doing Windows upgrades with Win 8.1 or 10).

Hi thanks for that.

I simply downloaded Acronis from the Crucial given code. Then ran it and followed the on screen instructions from Acronis for a full clone. It did what it had to do and it ended with the laptop shutting down.  I unplugged the USB-SATA cable from the laptop which would then not boot.  So that reversal you talked about did not happen.

After 3 re-boots I can get in Windows Repair environment  - Tried :

System Restore - failed

Startup Repair - failed

Reset Pc - failed

 

This environment does give access to the command prompt but I have no idea what commands to input.

I can examine the SSD on another machine via USB and it is filled with lots of stuff I do not understand, but I can also see all my personal files are recorded on it. As I mentioned the SSD will also not fire up the laptop.

I have some recovery media for Win 7 but not sure it will work as the laptop has been Win 10 since last year several significant update including creators edition.  If I went back to Win 7 could I then put Win 10 back on, I have no media, but I think there is some sort of media creation tool from Microsoft. No idea how that would work. 

No idea how many partitions on the HDD and don't know how to find out.

My other laptop runs Win 10 pro  64bit - my dead one runs Win 10 Home.  Is it possible to make a recovery usb from the good machine to use on the dead one?

Sorry I am not too tech savvy.

 

 

 

John, you can download the Windows 10 Home installation media (as an .ISO file to burn to DVD) using the tool on the following web page:

Microsoft Windows and Office ISO Download Tool

Download the program and run it, then select your Windows 10 version, i.e. the top option in the list shown for Windows 10 Home/Pro then select your Language from the next box shown (after clicking on the Confirm button) and confirm the language, then you will be offered two download links, one for 64-bit and one for 32-bit media.

The alternative method is to use the Microsoft Media Creation tool which can be used to create the media for a different computer, so you could run it on your other computer, making sure to select the correct version again.

If you are willing to go into the Windows Command Prompt, then have a read of webpage:  How to Use the BCDEDIT Command Line Tool  - this was written for Windows 7 but is still valid for later versions of Windows as the commands have not changed.  Alternatively, see webpage: BCDEdit – Guide for Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10 which also offers a repair tool that you could consider if you are worried about using these powerful commands.