Bootmgr missing on SSD after Restore
I just restored a backup to a new SSD from a Win8 backup I created today with Acronis 2013. The back up was from a larger non SSD drive. When I went to boot it gave me the message "Bootmgr is missing".
I did go and do a bootrec.exe /FixMbr and it came back as successful. Upon reboot it came back with the same message. I then went back and did a bootrec.exe /FixBoot and it came back as successful. At reboot I got the message "an operating system was not found". I also went back and did a bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd and still no success in finding the operating system.
Can anyone provide me with some insight in what I did incorrrectly and how to fix this? Mujch thanks in advance for anyone's help.
Thanks for responding. In my original system I have two physical drives. One is partioned into data (DRV I) and he other as Acronis Backups (DRV J). The other disk is my C (OS and boot) and D (Programs). When I backup using Acronis Backup and Restore I pick both partitions. So that is what I used to restore to the SSD. Did I not make the right choices at that point and thayt is where I am erroring?
I have attached a snapshot of my drives
I did go back and do a backup as a disk but still fails
I am assuming that the Disk that is 160GB is the SSD. If that is the case, the first partition is not marked active, and the second is. If the 500GB drive is the original disk, you can see the active partition is the first one, not the second one. Assuming the 2TB drive is external, I would suggest the following:
Boot your system to the Rescue Media with only the SSD connected to your system (disconnect the data cable from the original drive), with the connection to your system board the same as the where the original drive was connected. Use the tool, "Add a new disk" to wipe the SSD partition and signature information (create an MBR layout - no partition creation is necessary). Then perform the restore to the now unallocated SSD, one partition at a time starting with the primary partition being sure it is set as an active partition, and resize as necessary. While still booted to the Rescue Media, restore the Programs partition to the remainder of the SSD. After both partitions are restored, while still booted to the Rescue Media, restore the MBR/track 0. Do not restore the disk signature initially if you intend on using both the SSD and spin drive together in the system. Once this is done, reboot the system normally, and hopefully Windows will start. If so, you can then shut down the system and add the original drive back into the system, but do not change the data connection from the SSD back to the spin disk, use a different connection. Boot the system to see if everything is normal, and then you can do whatever you would like with your older disk. If the disk signature being different on the SSD is a problem, you would need to change the disk signature on the original drive and restore the disk signature from the backup while booted to the Rescue Disk once more. It is VERY important to not have two drives with the same disk signature in your system at one time. Windows uses the disk signature to assign drive letters, and this may make your system un-bootable.
Ok, you triggered an idea that worked. I booted up using the non SSD with the SSD connected up to another Sata Port. I thne went into Drive Management and selected the SSD and drve C and right-clicked and set it to active. I then shut down and put the SSD on the boot Sata and fired it up and it booted just fine. So I have a question for you. My plan is to use the SSD and do regular backups to the drive I have dedicated to Acronis backups. I will then use the to restore to another SSD if the curent on goes down or a 500G standard drive. Any procedural recommendations on how I can prevent this and create a standard reliable backup and restore process? I use to just clone from 500 to 500. Now I think it will be more complicated with the SSD.Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. By the way, thank you very much for your help.
A full disk backup should work for you. If is important to note, that if the SSD fails and/or you replace it, you must place the new drive on the SATA port that the older SSD was originally connected to, when doing the restore. Normally the first partition is marked active by Acronis when doing individual partition restores. If you boot to the Rescue Media and use the "add a new disk" tool on the replacement SSD, then perform a full disk restore, normally you should not have to worry about an incorrect partition being marked active as Acronis will restore to the new disk with the partitions marked active the same as the original drive. It is always a good idea to have bootable Windows recovery media that has diskpart available for just such an issue. The standard Windows 7 and Windows 8 rescue/recovery and installation media contain this utility.