Can't Boot after Restore

UEFI requires the drive to be formatted GPT, not MBR.

David, you said "I re-booted using my recovery DVD.  I made sure it used the UEFI option for DVD." then "I used the tool to add a new drive and selected the MBR option." which seems like a contradiction?

If your Windows OS BIOS mode is UEFI then your drive partition mode should be GPT not MBR - you can check the BIOS mode by running the msinfo32 command to check.  The GPT mode will be shown in Windows Disk Management.

Steve, I don't see where I check the GPT mode.  

Ok, as you both said, it is GPT.  So, when does this come into play with my restore?

I assume I still boot into the recovery DVD using UEFI?

I selected GPT when I set up the new drive but I am still getting an inaccessible boot device error.  

When I go into my ASUS bios I am selecting Windows boot manager Samsung 960 as my first drive to boot to.

David, when you made the backup of your smaller SSD, did you do a full disk & partitions backup that included all hidden/system partitions?

Also, are these 2 SSD drives both using the same SATA controller mode, i.e. both AHCI or both RAID?

Booting the rescue media in UEFI mode will deal with the correct partition mode as GPT.

Steve, the answer to your first question is "I believe so."  I may have to make another backup to ensure that.

The answer to your 2nd question is both ACHI.

If I put my old drive back in it boots up fine so this is an issue with the new drive, clearly.

If I go back into the recovery tool and go to the "add a new disk" wizard it shows the samsung as

"F:" with nothing allocated

"J:" with nothing allocated

"E: (Basic GPT) for the first partition with 237.5 GB NTFS

"G:" with nothing allocated

and 227.3 as unallocated.

Are the drive letters messing me up?

David, if the new SSD is showing multiple drive letters then I would suggest wiping the drive and starting again with no partitions on that drive at all.

When doing the recovery / restore, ensure that you select the top-most Disk selection point which will then automatically select all the partitions shown below that level, and select the empty disk as the target.

See the attached PDF document as an example of this type of restore - this was written originally for ATI 2017 but there is very little (if any) difference with ATI 2018 using the rescue media.

Thanks Steve.

What you are describing and what is in the PDF are exactly what I am doing.  If this next try doesn't work I will go back and recreate the backup.

I am confused when I got back into the BIOS after this is all done the SSD shows up twice as a boot option.  One instance is with windows boot manager and the other is just the drive itself.  Neither selection has worked.

David, with UEFI you should always select the Windows Boot Manager option in the BIOS, not the drive itself.

That clears up that but I am still getting the error and can't boot.

David, which version of the Rescue Media are you creating to use here?  There are 3 possible options for the media:  Linux based (as was default with 2017 & earlier versions); WinPE created from your Windows Recovery Environment; or WinPE created from the Windows ADK.

There have been some issues with the Linux media if I remember correctly, so would recommend creating the WinPE media and trying that instead.

See the following KB documents:

KB 60820: Acronis True Image 2018: how to create bootable media

KB 60091: Acronis True Image 2018: how Simple bootable media creation mode works

Steve,

I will have to check.  I think I will just create a new rescue media, create a new backup and try again.

Thanks for all your help.

I am stumped.

I created a new recovery CD, created a new backup making sure everything is being backed up, restored the image and it still won't boot to the new drive.

David, sorry to ask again, but which type of recovery CD did you create & use?

No need to apologize.

I selected "advanced"; "win-PE"; "Windows recovery environment".

I didn't add any drivers and then created the CD.

David, I am also feeling stumped with this one, as it goes against all logic!

I would recommend raising this as a Support Case with Acronis to enlist their engagement with investigating this issue, especially as this is the core functionality of the product in being able to recover a backup to a new drive, regardless of it being a larger size!  When raising the ticket please reference this forum topic and keep us informed on your progress.

Steve,

I opened a ticket earlier today.

I have done this successfully with my Dell laptop so I don't understand why this isn't working.  I guess there could be an issue with my BIOS but my current m.2 SSD works fine.

I will let you know what they say.

David...when you created the backup, was the top level box checked and did you select 'Full Partition List'?  See screen grab below.

I believe that if the top box is not selected and all of the lower boxes are selected, then the restore will not boot.  I will do a trial and see what happens.

Yes.  When I expanded the partition list all the boxes are checked.

David...I have done what you are trying to do without a problem and like Steve, I am stumped.

I can recommend that you buy a m.2 2280 SATA enclosure:

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-M-2-SATA-SSD-Enclosure/dp/B01C7G8W8…

With the enclosure, you could perform a clone operation instead of the backup & restore.

A clone operation always involves risk, so I would recommend that you read the link below:

https://forum.acronis.com/forum/acronis-true-image-2017-forum/important…

The m.2 enclosure will also allow you to use to old m.2 drive for external storage (once this issue is resolved).

Thanks.

I am stumped too. I feel like I have done the backup and recovery process correctly.  And when I do recovery I don't get the error saying that the new disc won't be bootable meaning that I booted with the CD correctly.

I will buy the enclosure and see if the clone works.

David,

You are restoring to a new Samsung 960 M.2 PCIe based drive on an ASUS motherboard.  You must supply the Intel(R) Chipset SATA/PCIe RST Premium Controller driver in the Recovery media so that the driver is added into your restored image on the new drive for this to work.

The error you are getting is Windows complaining that no driver is found to boot the drive.

You have 3 options here:

1. Use the Simple Recovery Media option in the Acronis Media builder tool to create new media.  This should carryover the Intel storage controller driver needed to boot the new drive.

2. Use the Advanced builder method that you used previously and add the driver when prompted.  You can create WinPE or WinRE media this way with WinRE carrying over more of the necessary drivers than WinPE will.  You can download the latest Intel driver DRIVER HERE

Make certain when you download the driver that you download the correct x64 or x32 bit driver.  I assume you need x64 download so in that case you would want the fifth one in the list f6flpy-x64.zip.  you will need to unzip the contents of this download package into a folder such as Intel Driver on your computer and then unzip the contents there.  When you select to add the driver to the media point the media tool to this folder and the tool will find the necessary files to add.

The third way to do this is to use the MVP Media builder tool which will also allow you to add the drivers but is a bit more complicated to use.  You can find that tool MVP Media Builder Tool.

Once you have added the driver and completed the media build process I encourage you to disconnect all drives from your computer except those that are essential to the recovery which should be your new M.2 drive the DVD/CD drive with the media installed to boot as well as the drive holding the backup image you are using.  This will lessen your chances of selecting the wrong drive as a recovery target and will lessen the chances of Windows messing things up as well!

EDIT: Unfortunately the drive enclosure recommended by FtrPilot will not work with your drive as that enclosure is for SATA based drives, yours is PCIe based.

Wow.  Thanks for this detailed information.  I will follow your instructions and report back.

I followed all the instructions but to no avail.

Attached is a picture of what the recovery screen looked like before it created the disk.  What I don’t understand is why the last item says MBR.  Shouldn’t it say GPT?

Here’s what the drive looks like after the recovery.  I don’t see any issues here unless the extra drive letters are an issue.

David...I believe my earlier recommendation WRT a M.2 enclosure is not valid for M.2 NVMe.  Please review the specs before your buy.  My apologies.

Which method of the 3 listed did you use to perform the recovery, 1, 2, or 3?  I have done this procedure myself using methods 2 and 3 but not method 1.  Method 1 creates a WinRE recovery media which is suppose to bring with it critical drivers such as the storage controller driver during the restore process.  This may not work however so I encourage you to use method 2 instead it this is the case.

I used method 2.  I downloaded the driver from the link that you posted and added the .inf file to the driver list.

Just to make sure, did you point the add driver in the tool to the folder where you extracted the .zip?  If you just added the .inf file itself, not even sure that is possible, but if you did then you are probably missing one or more of the required drivers.

I am going to run through a mock recovery on my side here shortly to see if I am missing something. 

Question, why in your last screenshot do you have 3 disks connected in the machine?  What I expected to see there were 2 drives, the drive where the backup file is located and the new NVME drive.  I have had occasion with ASUS motherboard where boot files have been written to the wrong drive during a recovery when additional drives are connected to a machine beyond the ones necessary.  This has only occurred to me when having multiple SSD's connected however, that does not rule out this possibility.

Another possibility is that you should try to completely shutdown the machine after the restore process rather than rebooting straight into the new drive.  The bios firmware used today by ASUS I have found to be finicky at times and refuses to look to the correct drive when attempting to boot.  A cold start usually corrects the issue.  When you cold start the machine boot straight to the bios, go to the boot menu and make sure the Windows Boot Manager is first in the boot order, you may find that it is not.

David,

Did you create the backup image file using the installed Windows application?  I suspect yes, did you select to create the backup image using Sector by Sector?  I suspect yes you did.

This maybe cause of your issue, not sure.  Here is what I would suggest if the shutdown/cold start proves not to work.

Using the Recovery media you created you should create a new backup image of the old M.2 drive.  When you do that you should see showing as Disk 1 your Windows C: drive contents which should be a 300MB partition, a 100MB partition, a 237.5GB partition and a 450MB partition.  You should check the box to the left of Disk 1 which will select all of the partitions on that disk.

Next, make certain that no other disks showing in the list of disks have any partitions selected.  If you find any remove the check mark from them so that all you have selected are the partitions as outlined above.

Click next after you have done that, click the browse button to select a location for the backup image file that will be created.  Make sure you remember where this file is located and give it a unique name and preferably its own folder.  with that done click Next again which will bring you to the Finish screen.  This will have a list of all partitions selected for backup.  In your case you should see a total of 5.  If you see any more than that or any less than that click Cancel and start over.

If all looks correct then click on Backup method that shows under Optional steps.  Click the Full method here.  I cannot explain why incremental is the default selection here.  Once you have that selected click Proceed to start the backup.

Do not choose to Shutdown or Restart the computer when the backup completes.  Once the backup completes you will be shown a message indicating that backup was successful.  If you then click on the Log button of the Home screen you can view the log file created during the restore.  you might see some information or warning messages there which is normal but what you need to see is at the bottom of the log is an information message saying Backup operation succeeded.  If you see any error messages then something has not gone right and we need to know what the error was exactly.

Now to shutdown your computer from here close out the True Image window and in the Command Prompt window type wpeutil shutdown.  This will shutdown the machine.

Now you can remove the old M.2 drive and install the new one,  boot the machine back into the Recovery media again.

Once the True Image app is loaded select Recover/My Disks.  Browse to the location of the new backup file you just created and once it shows in the selection window click on it to select it.then click Next.  Your nest screen will be to Choose recovery method on which you need to select Recover whole disks and partitions, click Next after that selection. You will now see the Select items to recover screen.  Note that you will see Disk 1 with an empty box to the left near the top of the selection window.  Click on this box to select all the partitions listed which again there should be 4 and Track 0 to total 5.  All should be selected.

After that selection you should see the application processing and locking the partitions.  When that finishes you will be shown the Select destination of Disk 1 screen.  Select your new M.2 drive from this list.  Note that at the bottom of the screen you will see a graphical representation of what the resultant restored disk will look like.  Comparing that to the screenshot you supplied here you should see a difference, that being that there should not show any unallocated  space at the end of the disk.  You should see the 5 partitions you are restoring in the same order as they were listed in the first recovery window where you made the Disk 1 selection.  After you select you new M.2 drive click Next and you should see a warning message telling you that the destination disk contains useful data and asking you click OK to confirm deletion of all partitions on the destination disk.  Select OK. 

Once you select OK the application will begin processing and locking the partitions on the destination disk.  The next screen you will see is the Summary screen which will be on the Finish stage of the recovery.  You should note you no longer see the Sector by Sector notations for the partitions being restored.  This is what you would expect to see when restoring a backup file created in the Windows app without the Sector by Sector option chosen when creating the backup.  Please note that you will now see 5 items that are to be recovered.  4 partitions in order as was previously and the Recovering MBR which is normal and indicates that Track 0 was selected when you made your Disk 1 selection on the Select items to recover screen.  If all that looks in order select Proceed and the restoration process shall begin.

Again, do not select the reboot or shutdown options on the recovery screen.  Just allow the process to complete and once it does and shows a message that the operation has completed successfully have a look at the log file again to make sure no errors are showing.  If there are errors write them down and post them here or you can save the file to a location of your choosing and then post the entire thing here.

I am confident that if you do this as described above you'll meet success.

Thanks again for the detailed response.

I did not create the backup using the sector by sector option.  What I have read is that that isn't necessary.

I will try your step by step process later today or Saturday.

Thanks again.

David,

In that case I would suggest that you clear all data and formatting from the new drive prior to attempting the restore again.  You can use Windows Diskpart utility clean command to clear the drive from the WinPE environment.  

After booting the recovery media minimize the True Image app window or click on the command prompt window to bring it to the forefront if you can see it to do so without minimizing the TI window.

At the prompt type Diskpart and press enter.  When it starts you will see the prompt change on screen.  Once that happens type List Disk.  This will display all installed disk drives and show size info for each drive in a numbered sequence.  

Assuming your new drive is Disk 1 in the list at the prompt type Select disk 1.  Diskpart will respond that disk 1 is now selected.  Now type Clean.  You will be prompted for confirmation, accept the confirmation and the clean will be run.

Once completed Diskpart will notify you . At this point you can restore the TI app window and follow the restore operation I outlined above.  You might have to use the Add New disk tool to initialize the disk so that TI can work with it.  Initialization should prompt you for format choice, choose GPT.

Once that is completed you can perform the restore.

The final resolution on this issue was Acronis offering me a refund.  The said there is no fix to my issue

So, that doesn’t leave me in a good place.  I have been wondering if updating the BIOS would help the situation.  I really don’t know why it should but I have run out of moves.