Recovery of Samsung SSD
Thanks to all for staying with me on this issue. I will go back to using my DVD version of WinPE and try some different scenarios. But I am very nervous about re-flashing my BIOS......I've never done that before, and this is a brand new computer. I'm not sure what support I would get from the vendor if I screw that up.
For the record, in no way do I blame Acronis for any of this.....the program works flawlessly on my older BIOS computer. And you all on the forum have provided outstanding support. My new motherboard and this UEFI thing are strange little animals that have caused other quirks.
Two unrelated questions:
(1) Is a spell checker available for forum postings?
(2) When I reply, is there a way that I can enter my answers or comments below a given paragraph in the post to which I am replying?
Thanks again............
I believe I can speak for all of us that we do understand being just users ourselves.
There is no spell check available unfortunately.
You can respond to specific paragraphs using the Quote button on the bottom right of a post but it is not very user friendly.
Tonight I decided once again to try and boot from:
(1) The standard Acronis Recovery DVD that I previously created: Now that I have my BIOS settings correct, this was a total success. The Boot Option Priorites included UEFI: DVD, which I later selected from the boot menu. This took me right into the Acronis UEIF loader message. This time I correctly selected #2-Acronis True Image 2016 (64-bit), and after a few seconds I arived at the colorful menu(s) shown in the attached photos. After I looked around the menus, I closed the window, got the message that the system was closing down, and then it booted right into Windows 7.
(2) The Acronis WinPE-based Recovery DVD that I had previously created: I didn't change any BIOS setings; I simply replaced discs in the DVD player tray and rebooted. Sadly, like before, this did not go well. Nothing happened. The DVD was not even recognized by the system. There was no UEFI: DVD in the boot menu. There was a SATA: DVD listed, so I chose it. Then the system simply ignored the DVD drive and booted right into Windows.
Me thinks my problem is that I don't know how to create a WinPE-based DVD. Everyone thinks I am well-versed in buring discs, creating iso's, Windows ADK, etc........but I'm not. This is my first time to do all of this. As instructed in the manual, I downloaded/installed the Acronis plug-in and the ADK, I selected a DVD as my destination media, and then I just followed directions and burned a disc. But the disc just doesn't work, either as a UEFI device or a SATA device. I've gone through this disc creation process 4 times, and now all I have is a nice set of coasters.
If anyone can give me more precise instructions for creating a WinPE-based recovery DVD, it would be much appreciated.
Thanks as always..........
Sweet - at least your're seeing your UEFI boot options and have booted into Linux bootable recovery media now!!!
As for WinPE, the only thing I can suggest is to remove the ADK completely and remove the Acronis media builder add-on completely, then reboot.
Then reinstall the Windows 10.1 ADK, but make sure to grab it from Microsoft directly . Perhaps the one you downloaded didn't install right, or you originally had another version, or maybe at some point you used the one as linked by the Acronis PE builder if no ADK was originally detected, I don't know. Never hurts to start from scratch to be sure - just sucks that it's such a big download.
Once the ADK is downloaded and installed again, then reinstall the media builder add-in (make sure to install with right click "run as administrator" to install with the highest privileges. Also make sure you are using the latest version as available from your account now - maybe you have an older one? Mine is listed as 19.0.6027 in control panel add/remove programs.
From there, Acronis does the rest. See screenshots as there are only a few steps once the ADK is installed.
It sure sounds like the WinPE that is being created is being done so as a Legacy boot media. I have no idea why that would be but that's my guess. It is obvious that in the instance of the Linux based media it was created as a UEFI mode media as it shows up and boots as expected.
Maybe Paul (Mustang) will drop in and can shed some light on this. Not sure as everything looks right to me.
You didn't show enough in you WinPE screenshot to know if it is complete. Along with the language folders you should see a "Boot" folder and an "EFI" folder. Comfirm this first.
1. Put the WinPE DVD in the drive and go into the BIOS and select the Boot tab.
2. Go down and select "CD\DVD ROM Drive BBS Priorities". Hit enter and make sure your CD/DVD drive is at the top of the list. If it is the only CD/DVD drive in the system, it should be the only drive in the list.
3. Hit escape and go up to Boot Priorities Options/Boot Option #1. Hit enter and look at the list. Select the UEFI entry for the CD/DVD drive. If you don't see this in the list, use the down arrow to see if there any more enties that are out of sight. If you still don't see this in the list, you may have too many devices connected. Remove any USB drives and try again. Once you have selected the UEFI:CD/DVD entry, save the changes and reboot. WinPE should boot without going through the F8 Boot Override Menu. If you do go through the F8 Boot Override Menu, you should see both the legacy and UEFI enties for the CD/DVD drive. Both should boot into WinPE.
If you are still not getting boot options for the CD/DVD drive with the WinPE DVD in the drive. Try going back to the BIOS and changing the Secure Boot setting to "Other OSs" and boot again. If this doesn't work, I'm out of ideas.
After you are done experimenting, go back to the BIOS and change the Secure Boot setting back to Windows UEFI mode and change the Boot Option #1 setting back to Windows Boot Manager.
Bobbo - thanks for the detail. Those were the steps I followed, so maybe my ADK is messed up. If need be, I'll download it again tonight while I sleep, lol. BTW, my version of the Acronis media add-on is same as yours: 19.0.6027.
Mustang - and thanks for your steps. I will try and follow each of those. Last time I disabled Secure Boot (i.e., when I selected Other OS), after my system rebooted into Windows, my mouse and keyboard did not work. But maybe I did something wrong, so I will try again. Also, I have attached another screen shot showing a partial listing of the folder/file content of my WinPE DVD......the files you mentioned are there.
Appreciate all the support.....I will keep you posted.
But I have another nagging question. Assuming that I can eventually create a successful WinPE DVD, will it still work to recover my Samsung 950 SSD? Remember that I started this thread by recounting a recent chat I had with an Acronis rep. She said that although I could create an Acronis image of my SSD, I would encounter issues if I tried to recover using this image. She said I would need to await the next Acronis build release, which hopefully would be in the near-term. So is my current effort for naught.....must I await the next build?
Durago,
Yes, the Win PE will give you the necessary drivers to see your 950Pro. I currently have one and so does Enchantech and I believe Mustang too. That's really the only reason, we're still trying to use WinPE at this point.
Hopefully, the next update for ATIH 2016 will be here this month (it's been touted by Acronis support engineers on several posts that tehy expect it to be sometime this month). I've been able to try a beta of it and it does seem to have direct driver support in the default bootable Linux media (which may mean that we won't need WinPE much anymore - at least not until the next new batch of hardware comes out). I can only speculate that it will still be there in the final release, but don't see why it wouldn't be (fingers crossed nothing changes on that part). For now, it's really just a matter of when we'll be able to get the updated version from Acornis as a final, public release. Until then though, WinPE is the only option with these drives.
Holy Moly.....SUCCESS with my WinPE DVD, finally! And just in time, as Mustang said he was out of ideas of other things to try, lol.
In preparation to follow Mustang's steps outlined in his previous posting, I decided to once again create a new WinPE DVD. This time I chose a different brand of DVD blank; specifically, I used a Memorex DVD+R, and this one worked. Previously I had been using Verbatim DVD-R blanks.
To summarize the steps I followed this morning with success:
- With the newly-created DVD in the DVD player, I rebooted my computer and pressed F2 to enter BIOS
- For the first time, I saw both SATA: DVD and UEFI: DVD devices in the boot options (previously I had only seen SATA: DVD). While I was at my BIOS Boot screen, I did as Mustang suggested and selected "CD\DVD ROM Drive BBS Priorities" - sure enough my only drive appeared on the list.
- I then exited BIOS, pressed F8 (a must on my computer) and saw the Boot Menu; I selected UEFI: DVD
- I then got the message to press any key to boot from DVD, which I did
- Then I waited while the disc spun and a little blue 4-square icon appeared on my screen
- Shortly I got a black command screen with Administrator: X\Windows\system32\cmd.exe at the top (see photo)
- Then superimposed on this command screen, I quickly got the same colorful Acronis True Image 2016 menu screen as with my legacy disc (see photo)
- To exit this Acronis menu, I clicked on the Red X and then did the same for the command screen that sat behind the Acronis screen
- At that point, Windows started as expected.
So it's been a good morning. And I can't believe that it was the brand/type of DVD blank that caused my problem.....I've successfully used these Verbatim discs elsewhere. Anyway, I consider this little project closed. I now have two workable Acronis recovery media - Legacy and WinPE. I just hope I never have to use either because of computer problems.
I can't thank you all enough for hanging in there with me.......I'm just sorry you had to spend so much time because of faulty discs.
Regards to all............
Who would have thought it was the media! DVD's have gotten so cheap, it's no wonder though. I only use CD/DVD's when I have not other choice simply for this reason - even in a 50-pack, i'm sure to get all the bad ones when I absolutley need one to work and you'd think that after trying a few, one would have turned out OK. Glad this is finally resolved!
Now that you know WinPE can boot, you can move on to trying the USB WinPE. The same procedure should work. You should see two enties for the USB drive. Just select the lowest entry on the list for the UEFI:USB drive. If you don't see the USB drive, try different ports. Not all USB ports are bootable. As a last resort, you may need to check some USB BIOS settings. USB 3.0 drives boot really fast so it is worth the effort.
Mustang, I tried several different ports except for two in back of the tower. I even tried the port where my little USB SanDisk data flash drive is always seen as a UEFI device. But I could never see the USB WinPE listed. I am going to save my USB WinPE, and the next time i crawl to the back of my tower, I'll try it in one of those ports. But for now, I'm going to call it quits. This project has been going on for better than a week, and I'm getting a little tired of working on it. You members of the forum provided great help to me in understanding by BIOS settings, and I finally got a workable WinPE DVD created and booted. So my initial objectives have been met. I'm a happy camper at this point.
And, again, thanks to all........
One more simple thing to check. Enter your BIOS and go to Advanced/USB Configuration. Look at Legacy USB Support. That needs to be set to Enabled or Auto. If it is set to Disabled, USB devices can only be used for storage. They will not show as boot devices.
Thanks...........I'll check the Legacy USB Support in the morning. If that was my problem, I'll try my USB WinPE again. Will keep you posted.
Mustang, I checked my Legacy USB Support and it was set to Enabled. Then I tried my USB WinPE flash drive, and again it wasn't recognized. As I held the flash drive in my hand, I noticed that it was an 8GB Verbatim 'Stow & Go' stick. Knowing that I had problems with Verbatim DVD-R blanks, I grabbed a blank 16GB SanDisk Gruzer Glide stick and recreated my USB WinPE recovery media using it.
Well, it was SUCCESS again. The USB SanDisk was recognized as a UEFI device, and I was quickly able to boot into the Acronis True Image 2016 menu screen.
So in both cases, problems were cause by Verbatim devices........first the DVD-R disc, and then the 8GB USB Stow & Go flash drive. Once I switched 'brands' and recreated my WinPE media, everything worked as you all said it would.
So thanks again to everyone on the forum. I learned a lot from you about recovery media and about my UEFI BIOS settings (I still miss the old BIOS).
Glad it all worked. We all miss the old BIOS.
Thanks.
Anyone want some free Verbatim DVD-R discs and/or Verbatim USB 'Stow & Go' flash drives?
None here thank you, I'll just stick with my Lexar and Toshiba flash drives, they have always been solid performers! Glad to hear of your successes.
It's me again, and I'm back to respectfully request your help on a related matter. My approach to backup & restore has always been to have at least two programs that will generate system images and then do the recovery if/when needed. The two programs I'm using today are ATI 2016 and Windows.
As you know, I struggled to get Acronis setup to work on my particular system with my Asus Z170-P motherboard and Samsung 950 Pros SSD. But with your dedicated support and knowledge of these system components, I achieved success by tweaking the UEFI BIOS settings.
Now I'm having problems on the Windows 7 Pro side of things, and I was hoping you could guide me to a resolution. I'm getting the 'Not Compatible' error shown in the attachment, and I'm getting it in two different places:
(1) When I try to generate a System Repair disc via Control Panel>Backup & Restore>Create System Repair disc
(2) When I try and boot using the Install disc that came with my computer. It gets me as far as the System Recovery Option menu, but then when I select System Image Recovery, I get the same error. Same things happens when I boot from an Install USB flash drive.
So I'm thinking there must be some setting in my current UEFI BIOS that is causing this repeated error. But I have no idea where to start, and that's why I need help. I do have several external Seagate USB 3.0 drives attached if that makes any difference. I just don't know what the error message means when it implies two different versions of Windows.
Any guidance or recommendations would be sincerely appreciated, as I'm once again at my wit's end (and I don't have too much wit, lol).
BTW, I just downloaded the new Build #6559....is this the anticipated one that will work with my Samsung SSD?
Hello again, a search in Google gave the following hits for the System Recovery Options compatibility issue:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/this-version-of-system-recovery-options-is-not/16d5d1e6-b383-451f-8bfe-c7501c582fe0?auth=1 - issue caused by multiple HDD's and drive boot order.
http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/328622-version-system-recovery-options-not-compatible.html - issue related to booting in UEFI mode and correct boot device order.
For the new build 6559 question - hopefully yes it will work with your Samsung SSD - See the List of Changes notice: https://www.acronis.com/id-id/support/updates/changes.html?p=38724
Thanks, Steve. But I've been to both of those sites and read them until I'm blue in the face. There are so many suggested solutions that I don't know where to start and what will work for my configuration. And I'm just not that well versed on all the settings in my UEFI BIOS. I was hoping that someone with a configuration identical/similar to mine would have been down that road before and could guide me. You all were SO helpful to me in tweaking my UEFI BIOS to get Acronis working on my computer.
Sorry that I can't help more in this area, all my systems are still using MBR, hence I haven't contributed very much to the UEFI discussion - my son's laptop has UEFI but I doubt he would be happy if I broke it for him having a 'play' with the settings!
You will need to wait on one of the other MVP's such as Bobbo coming online who have similar hardware to guide you.
Thanks anyway, Steve. This is my first UEFI BIOS, and I'm not sure I like it. Yes, I think Bobbo, Enchantech and Mustang all have systems similar to mine. And all are much smarter than me, lol.
Durago,
I think it's how you boot your system recovery as well. I don't use the built in recovery manager from Windows. Instead, I created a bootable USB drive using the Windows media creation tool for Windows 10. I then boot to it (like you would with Acronis media), making sure to boot the UEFI mode if the OS was installed as UEFI. Instead of installing, you can then do repair options with the media.
Since you're using Windows 7, just use the media you used to install Windows 7, but be sure to boot into UEFI mode of it and hopefully that will allow you to repair/recover. The Windows recovery media has some limiations
1) Must be booted in same mode as the OS was installed
2) if OS is UEFI, needs to be in GPT format - most likely this is the case4 for you, but it is actually possible to install UEFI on an MBR disk - although not easily and not by default.
3) In some cases with Windows 7, I actually had to install Windows 7 "fresh" on a new drive. Then go into recovery from within Windows to restore a backup image. Not always, but it has been a work-a-round that has brought some success. Ideally though, you won't have to do this and your Acronis recovery will work without needing to do so.
4) Did you know that Acronis can restore Windows .VHD files (not VHDX files from Windows 8.1/10 - at least not yet, but can restore Windows 7 .vhd backups). This is from an older version of Acronis but still applies for ATIH 2016: https://kb.acronis.com/content/3648
Bobbo, thanks for the response. I've got a few questions:
(1) How do I know in what mode my Win 7 Pro was installed.......it was done by the vendor? Is there a test I can run or a place I can look to see the install mode?
(2) I did use the install media used by the vendor when I tried to boot, and my BIOS did show UEFI: DVD. Like I said, I got to the place where I selected System Image Recovery from the Repair menu, then it stopped and gave me the error message. Have you ever seen that error message before?
(3) So you are saying that I can use my Acronis restore DVD or USB flash drive to recover both the tib image created by Acronis AND the vhd image created by Windows? If that's the case, then I really don't need the Windows Repair disc, do I. Nor do I need to boot using my Windows install disc to recover a Windows image, do I?
(4) Right now, I am reluctant to do an actual recovery or a fresh install, as my computer is running so well and I have installed so many programs & data on it, that I'm just not ready to take a chance. My philosophy is that if I create & save enough images (I currently do 2 Acronis and 2 Windows images weekly to different HDDs) and if I have a good boot DVD or flash drive that will get me to the point of restoring an image, then I'll just take my chance and wait until I need to restore. Surely one of the images will work. I know I should probably test things, but in the last 14 or so years I have only had to do two image restores, and they both worked.
Again,, thanks for hanging with me on this........
(1) How do I know in what mode my Win 7 Pro was installed.......it was done by the vendor? Is there a test I can run or a place I can look to see the install mode?
I'm going to guess UEFI based off all your other issues, but to be certain, check this online tutorial out. http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/29504-bios-mode-see-if-windows-boo….
(2) I did use the install media used by the vendor when I tried to boot, and my BIOS did show UEFI: DVD. Like I said, I got to the place where I selected System Image Recovery from the Repair menu, then it stopped and gave me the error message. Have you ever seen that error message before?
I have not seen that error before, not sure what is causing it exactly. If your OS is installed as UEFI, then selecting the UEFI boot method woudl be correct. If your system is Legacy install, then you'd want to boot Legacy on the repair disk too. This isn't one of those verbatim's is it :)
(3) So you are saying that I can use my Acronis restore DVD or USB flash drive to recover both the tib image created by Acronis AND the vhd image created by Windows? If that's the case, then I really don't need the Windows Repair disc, do I. Nor do I need to boot using my Windows install disc to recover a Windows image, do I?
Pretty much. Acronis can restore a .vhd (Windows 7 backup) just fine. It can't restore .vhdx (Windows 8/8.1/10 backups - at least not yet). So technically, if you have a full Windows System Backup in VHD, you can restore it with Acronis bootable media and not need to use the Windows recovery media.
(4) Right now, I am reluctant to do an actual recovery or a fresh install, as my computer is running so well and I have installed so many programs & data on it, that I'm just not ready to take a chance. My philosophy is that if I create & save enough images (I currently do 2 Acronis and 2 Windows images weekly to different HDDs) and if I have a good boot DVD or flash drive that will get me to the point of restoring an image, then I'll just take my chance and wait until I need to restore. Surely one of the images will work. I know I should probably test things, but in the last 14 or so years I have only had to do two image restores, and they both worked.
I hear you. Famous last words though! I would think you'll be fine too, but if you've never tested a single recovery, there's no way to be certain at this point. If you do decide to test recovering your VHD with Acronis (heck, if you decide to restore an Acornis backup instead, or both), remove the current, primary and working drive and replace it with something else for testing purposes. That way, if things don't work, you still have the original drive to pop back in and it should be like nothing ever happened. I'd recommend having an extra drive on hand, just for this purpose - a cheap Samsung EVO 850 250GB if your OS would fit on it, would be a relatively quick and easy way to test this. Otherwise, by a cheaper, but larger mechanical drive, but the recovery will be slower writing to the mechanical drive. 1-3TB mechanical drives can be dirt cheap these days. You have the 950Pro now and with the bios issues you've had, I don't blame you for not wanting to muck with anything else unless you absolutely have to.
Durago,
I have seen your error message before. Happens frequently on machines with multiple disks installed. Disconnect or disable all disks excempt the OS System disk usually solves this.
If you created the recovery disk prior to the latest update service pack you have installed this error would also occur. So, you might try creating a new recovery disk if that is the case.
Bobbo: Good info you provided....thanks. I went to the tutorial you referenced, and both methods for Windows 7 showed that my computer boots in UEFI, as you suspected. No, I didn't use a Verbatim disc.....I donated those to the local gun range for skeet practice.
I do have a full Windows System Backup VHD, so I will at least test to see if my Acronis bootable media will recognize it (but I still won't do a recovery at this point). I assume the Acronis media we are talking about is my WinPE-based one that I created for my Samsung SSD? With the help of this forum, I (finally) successfully created both a DVD and a USB flash drive bootable media. Although I just downloaded Build #6559, I haven't yet used it.
OK, you lost me on replacing my current primary drive with another cheapo drive for testing purposes. In years past, I have gone inside a tower to replace or add drives, so I could probably do that. And then are you saying try and do a system restore on this new drive? Can you do that if the drives are different, i.e., if I made a system image of my Samsung drive, can I then restore the image on a new/different drive? I already have two mechnical HDD drives inside my tower....could I use one of those and simply 'disconnect' my Samsung SSD (rather than remove it)?
Enchantech: OK, I want to try disconnecting some of my drives and see what happens......seems I read someplace before that multiple drives could be a problem. As I mentioned, I do have three external USB Seagate 2TB drives connected to my computer; all go through a powered USB hub, which I can easily disconnect. Also, these three drives are plugged into the same surge protector, so it's easy to power them all off with one switch.
But internally, I also have two 2TB mechanical drives in addition to my Samsung SSD. Are you recommending that I disable these mechnical drives also?
Although I have disconnected/unplugged devices before, I have never 'disabled' via Device Manager. If I do so, I assume that it's just as easy to then go back and enable the device when I'm ready?
You mentioned the latest update service pack......are you talking about SP1? My computer came with Win 7 Pro w/SP1 installed, and I have kept up with all important updates (except for a dozen or so that I just received). As regards a Windows recovery disc, my problem is that I have not yet been able to create one. So if disconnecting/disabling my drives solves my problem, my recovery disc would be very current, wouldn't it?
Again, thanks..........
I assume the Acronis media we are talking about is my WinPE-based one that I created for my Samsung SSD? With the help of this forum, I (finally) successfully created both a DVD and a USB flash drive bootable media. Although I just downloaded Build #6559, I haven't yet used it.
OK, you lost me on replacing my current primary drive with another cheapo drive for testing purposes. In years past, I have gone inside a tower to replace or add drives, so I could probably do that. And then are you saying try and do a system restore on this new drive? Can you do that if the drives are different, i.e., if I made a system image of my Samsung drive, can I then restore the image on a new/different drive? I already have two mechnical HDD drives inside my tower....could I use one of those and simply 'disconnect' my Samsung SSD (rather than remove it)?
Durago, yes, unless you install the latest version and create bootable media with it, stick with your currently working WinPE. There is really no advantage to grabbing the newer bootable media for your system as the existing WinPE has everything necessary for your system now. Better not to open that can of worms if things are working as they are now.
Yes, you can restore an image from one drive to another different type of drive in the same PC without issue (you may have to go into the bios to change the bootorder in this case since you're using a PCiIE nvme drive to boot currently though ... if you put in a new standard SSD or standard hard drive) without issue. I only mention removing the original to 1) avoid accidentally overwriting it (by taking it out, you leave it "as is" and can simply put it back later if things go south and/or you want to return to it. 2) Hopefully it will make booting to it easier in the bios without another "bootable" hard drive installed at the same time.
Yes, you could use one of your existing mechanical drives for restroing an image to. Just be aware that restoring a full disk image to a drive, will format the one you restore the image to, so if you have data on it, don't do this. If it's a spare drive, or you can easily move the data off of it, then you could use one fo your existing mechanical drives. Just be sure to go into the bios and move the boot priority to that drive as the first one after a restore is completed.
Yes, you could just disconnect your original drive instead of removing it (in most cases). However, ou have a PCIE NVME hard drive though, you bascially have to pull the Samsung 950 Pro (click for pictures) out (loosen one screw and slide out). There's no SATA cable on that, it fits right into a port on the motherboard or is using a PCIE adapter.
Your 2 internal 2TB drives would need to be disconnected in order to test and see if having multiple drives is in fact your issue with the error you got. Windows will not boot from an externally attached drive so those should not be a problem.
Do not attempt to disable these drives in Windows, shutdown your computer, unplug or disconnect the power supply, press the power on button on the case, this will discharge any current inside the PC. Open the case and pull the data cables from the drives but make note of which cable goes to which drive so that you can put them back to the same drive when that time comes. After that plugin the power cable, start the PC and see if you can now create the Windows restore disk.
When you are finished just do the above again to reattach the data cables to your 2TB drives.
Since you have never created the rescue disk before then the service pack issue is not relevant as that would apply if for example you had already created a rescue disk then, at a later date you installed a service pack and then wanted to use the previously created rescue disk. In that scenario you could get the error you have.
Normal Windows updates are not an issue as well.
You all have given me many good recommendations and ideas to consider, and I thank you very much for that. I will go away now and try some or all of these to see if I can create my Windows System Repair disk. I will keep you posted on my progress, and I will try not to bombard you with more questions (at least until I have tried all your current suggestions, lol).
I'm most inclined to test and see if my Acronis WinPE repair media will indeed restore not only my Acronis image, but also my Windows system image......if it does, then I won't even worry about continually trying to create a Windows Repair disk. And Bobbo, I heed your advice about just sticking with my existing working WinPE media.........I certainly don't need another worm in my can!!
You have one great forum here, and I'm most appreciative of your help. Best regards.........
Well, my progress toward creating a Windows System Repair Disk has come to a screeching halt. I finally communicated with the vendor's Director of Engineering where I bought my computer, and he confirmed that my Skylake system with the Samsung boot drive was a problem in Windows 7. His exact words were as follows:
"The specific boot drive selected in your system is a newer bleeding edge technology called NVMe. Windows 7 does not natively support this drive, so an external driver is required to get the OS to be able to recognize it. With that being said, the built in restore process in windows 7 will not function due to the NVMe drive being your boot drive. We actually do not recommend using the built in windows restore, because it is not as robust as other solutions out there that will allow you to make images to restore from."
He said they use both Acronis and Macrium; so as he suggested, I am going to forget about Windows restore and turn to Acronis and Macrium.
And again I repeat.....you have one great forum here, and I'm most appreciative of your help. I didn't mean to lead anyone on a wild goose chase, and I thank all for your efforts on this issue. I consider this problem resolved. Best regards.........
Thanks for keeping us informed. Most likely this is going to be the case for others as well. Good to know!
Just so you know, the Windows 7 recovery disk is a WinPE disk. I'm sure you could add the NVMe driver used in Windows 7 to get it to work with your drive.
Just so you know, the Windows 7 recovery disk is a WinPE disk. I'm sure you could add the NVMe driver used in Windows 7 to get it to work with your drive.
Just so you know, the Windows 7 recovery disk is a WinPE disk. I'm sure you could add the NVMe driver used in Windows 7 to get it to work with your drive.
Mustang, where can I find this NVMe driver for Win 7? And once I have it, how do I go about adding it to the Win 7 recovery DVD that I previously created (or to a new DVD if that's what I need to do)? I know that's probably what the vendor used when they installed Win 7 Pro for me, but I doubt that this driver is on the OEM Win 7 disk they provided me.
Another question if you don't mind. I'm just trying to ascertain whether the vendor is blowing smoke up my butt, or whether what he says is true about the restore process in Win 7 not functioning with my NVMe Samsung 950 Pro drive. I know you and others have this Samsung drive, so I was wondering if any of you experienced this same issue. Of course, you are probably not using Win 7 like I am. I was advised by many people to step up to Win 10. But at my age (78), I was not really wanting to learn another OS.....wasn't sure if my old feeble mind could stand the strain and pain, lol.
The easiest way to deal with this is to create a new Windows 7 Repair CD on a rewriteable CD. Load the CD and copy out sources\boot.wim. This is the only file that needs to be modified to add the driver.
Now follow my guide to add drivers to a WinPE media here https://forum.acronis.com/forum/100770 . This guide will tell you how to get the driver from your Windows 7 system and add it the boot.wim file. You will look in Control Panel/Device Manager/Storage Controllers to find the NVMe device.
Once you have modified the boot.wim file to add the driver, replace the existing boot.wim file on the CD with the new boot.wim file. It should now work with your NVMe drive.
Mustang, where can I find this NVMe driver for Win 7? And once I have it, how do I go about adding it to the Win 7 recovery DVD that I previously created (or to a new DVD if that's what I need to do)? I know that's probably what the vendor used when they installed Win 7 Pro for me, but I doubt that this driver is on the OEM Win 7 disk they provided me.
You're right, it's not a Windows 7 driver since Windows 7 came out before these drives. You can get it from Samsung though as the 950 Pro Driver is available for Windows: http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/support/downloads.html
Unfortunately, the 950 driver from Samsung is an installer file so you can't just use it to grab the drivers out of it for injecting into the Windows Restore WinPE. Also, you already have the Windows 7 drivers for your 950 Pro on your computer. You can use something like DoubleDriver to scan your system and have it save the 950 Pro driver in specific folder that you can then use with DISMGUI when it's time for that (see below).
Another question if you don't mind. I'm just trying to ascertain whether the vendor is blowing smoke up my butt, or whether what he says is true about the restore process in Win 7 not functioning with my NVMe Samsung 950 Pro drive. I know you and others have this Samsung drive, so I was wondering if any of you experienced this same issue. Of course, you are probably not using Win 7 like I am. I was advised by many people to step up to Win 10. But at my age (78), I was not really wanting to learn another OS.....wasn't sure if my old feeble mind could stand the strain and pain, lol.
They're not blowing smoke - the default Windows 7 recovery does NOT support the new drives like the 950 Pro. Windows 7 came out well before these drives did so it's not in the drivers that come with the restore media PE when it's created in Windows. It is possible to insert the drivers in this recovery media, but it's probably beyond most users capabilty to modify the existing WinPE, but technically is not that hard. It just seems daunting if you don't have much IT background or have never done this beforee.
1) You need to have Windows ADK already installed - you do so you're good there.
2) You want to convert your Windows Restore media to a bootable UsB to make it easier to work with the files since you can't easily modify a .iso or a DVD that has already been burned.
If you don't have an .iso, but do have a DVD, you can use imgburn or something like that to fist convert your DVD to an .iso.
Then use something like win32diskimager to convert the .iso to a bootable USB.
Once you have a bootable Windows Recovery USB drive, DISMGUI is probably the easiest method for modifying the boot.wim file which is located in the "Sources" folder on the root of your Windows Recovery bootable USB drive.
Use DISMGUI to mount the boot.wim on your Windows Restore bootable USB.
Once mounted, click on the second tab "Driver Management" and point it to the 950 drivers you saved off with DoubleDriver. Be sure to select "force unsigned" and "recursive" .. just in case.
Once the drivers are injected, dismount the boot.wim and commit the changes.
That's it. You should now have Windows 7 recovery media on a USB that has drivers for your 950 Pro drive.
Mustang & Bobbo -
And I use to think I was smart, back in my college days (we used sliderules......no computers, lol). But you guys blow me away with both your knowledge and you ability to share this knowledge with others in a non-intimidating manner.
Wow, Mustang........a very impressive and helpful Guide, that I'm sure proved helpful to a lot of your forum members. Thanks.
And Bobbo, you've hung in there with me from the beginning and now give me another approach. Thanks to you also.
But as usual, I do have a few questions when you have time.
Mustang: As discussed earlier in this thread, with the help of forum members I did create a WinPE-based bootable DVD using the Acronis plug-in and the Windows ADK. My Samsung is recognized when I create an Acronis image, and I assume that this DVD will recover this image if/when the need arises; however, since my computer is running so well, I am hesitant to actually try and perform a recovery. But is this a logical assumption?
It was also implied elsewhere in this thread that when I perform an Acronis recovery with this DVD, I will actually have the option of restoring either the Acronis image or the Windows system image. Is this true; if so, do I really need the Windows Repair CD created by your Guide. If I do, then I will certainly follow your steps.
Bobbo: It appears as if you have given me an alternative method, that being one of creating a bootable USB drive via DISMGUI. But when I was creating a bootable WinPE-based DVD, I also created a corresponding bootable USB. So the same questions I asked Mustang apply here....do I really need to create another bootable USB via DISMGUI, or will my current USB drive suffice to recover either my Acronis image or my Windows image?
And one more (stupid) question. When you say "Use DISMGUI to mount the boot.wim on your Windows Restore bootable USB", what do mean exactly? Does that mean drag the boot.wim file from the Sources folder to the bootable USB?
Truth be told, I am exhausted from woking on my Windows 7 recovery disc issue, so it may be a day or so before I implement the steps in either of your postings. But if necessary, I certainly will and I will keep you posted. Thanks again.
Your USB WinPE Acronis drive will do the restore.
I don't know if the Acronis disk will restore the Windows image. I've never tried this.
I know the Windows 10 Repair Disk will include the NVMe drivers. As far as upgrading to Windows 10 from your Windows 7 system, I would recommend you do. In many ways Windows 10 is easier to use than Windows 7. Making a Windows Repair disk is one of these instances. Control Panel/Recovery creates a USB Repair disk directly. Windows 7 does not. Just make a full disk backup of your Windows 7 system disk and do the free upgrade. If it goes wrong, you can just restore the Windows 7 backup.
Thanks Mustang. After resting a few days, I am going to again try to create a Windows repair media.....I will probably try both your DVD Guide and Bobbo's USB method. If that still doesn't work, I will (for now) give up on Windows Repair Disk and use Macrium as my second program. Then when I feel that I have solid system images from two programs, I will give serious thought to upgrading to Windows 10.
If we're talking about a bootable USB Window 7 recovery drive, if you have one already, no, you don't need to create another one. I'm under the impression you're still wanting to get a Windows 7 repair media (not Acronis). If you don't have one already (Win 7 repair USB drive), that's what I was mentioning doing with your existing Windows 7 repair CD/DVD or .iso to convert it to a Windows 7 repair USB.
Do you really need one - for repairing Windows, perhpaps. For restoring a Windows .vhd image, nope. Acronis can restore Windows .vhd files made in Windows 7 and I have done so. These instructions are from an older version of Acronis, but they still apply in Acronis True Image 2015/2016 too. KB 3648: Restoring Windows 7 VHD Backup Files with Acronis True Image Home . Easy way to test is restore a .vhd to a spare drive and pop it in and see what happens. Should work just fine though.
IF you still want to try and get a working Win 7 repair USB drive for your Samsung 950 Pro, that's where I was going with DISMGUI. DISMGUI is not a requirement, it just does the command line ADK stuff with GUI buttons so I think it is going to be easier for most people looking to inject drivers.
When working with ADK, you're basically "mounting" a .wim file (boot.wim in this case) to modify it. The process of mounting a .wim the contents into a folder and the contents of that folder look like what you'd expect to see on an OS hard drive (program files, windows, users folders, etc). As soon as you start DISMGUI, it asks you to select a folder to mount in (I usually create one on the root of a hard drive and call it "mount" to keep it simple). The next tab is for injecting drivers - just point it to the folder with your 950 drivers (.inf files) and let it run wiht the force signed and recursive options. Go back to the main tab and dismount the image and when it asks if you want to commint the changes, say yes.
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/89286#comment-269034
You can use the Acronis rescue media to recover Windows Image Backups created by Windows 7. It does not support Windows Image Backups created by Windows 8 or later.
Bobbo, thanks again for all the good additional info, including the photos. Yes, you are correct......I am still wanting to create a Windows Repair media, as neither the DVD nor the USB that I've created work (both still yield the 'not compatible' error). I didn't mean to confuse the issue, but I don't always get the nomenclature right. After I rest a few days, I will give your method and the one suggested by Mustang a go.
And Joey, thanks for confirming that Acronis media can be used to recover Win7 system images. And is that an Alabama or and Auburn logo.....I get them mixed up, lol.