The laptop discharged in the middle of restore process
Hello all,
The laptop discharged in the middle of restore process using bootable media. Then, a next restore performed well: partition C was Unallocated, partition D seems Ok, a message that the restore finished successfully. But Windows cannot start; it initiates Window repair immediately. I have tried to restore different backup files which I am sure in, also restore of EFI partition did not help.
What might it be? Any options before reinstall Windows?
Thanks.
BR, Oleksandr.
Hello Ian,
I use an ISO image downloaded from Acronis website (Linux based bootable media). I am sure in this media as it has been used many times already. If I misunderstood your question, please clarify it.
BR, Oleksandr
Oleksandr, when you booted from the DVD media did you boot using UEFI mode as needed with your drive having an EFI System partition?
When doing the restore of your backup, this needs to be done as a Disk & Partition restore and at the top Disk selection level.
Please see forum topic: [How to] recover an entire disk backup - and in particular the attached PDF document which shows a step-by-step tutorial for doing this type of recovery / restore.
If you used the same recovery disk that has been successfully used in the past then I suspect young selected UEFI DVD rather than just DVD from the boot menu.
Rereading your initial post it is not clear if you did a recovery that had all partitions on the dive, dither than just UEFI or System partition. If you have not done so, I would try it now. You could also try deleting all partitions from the drive before doing the recovery - not sure if this can be done with the Linux recovery media - very long tine since last used it,
It occurs to me that there is a possibility that there is a problem with the drive itself. If you know the model and brand of the drive, it is probable that the drive manufacturer has a stand alone recovery media - this is more likely to be the case for HDD rather than SSD (either SARA, m.2 SATA or m.2 NVMe drive.
Hopefully some one else will have an easy solution that did not occur to me.
Ian
Dear Steve and Ian,
Thanks for your answers.
Unfortunately, I cannot identify the mode, as my screen is different than in the link provided by Steve. Please find here what I see when loading from USB media.
I used Recover -> My Disks -> then 3 partitions separately: Windows C, EFI, and Recovery. I did not backup neither the whole disk nor Disk D (Data). Now, disk D is accessable where backup files are stored. So, I cannot restore the entire disk.
The hard drive is SSD, the laptop model is HP Spectre x360.
BR, Oleksandr
Dear Steve and Ian,
Thanks for your answers.
It looks UEFI, although my screen is different than in the link provided by Steve. Please find here what I see when loading from USB media.
I used Recover -> My Disks -> then 3 partitions separately: Windows C, EFI, and Recovery. I did not backup neither the whole disk nor Disk D (Data). Now, disk D is accessable where backup files are stored. So, I cannot restore the entire disk.
BR, Oleksandr
A model of this laptop is HP Spectre x360; it's SSD 1 TB.
https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-spectre-15-df1000-x360-converti…
Oleksandr, your top image shows you are booting in UEFI mode (Starting x64 UEFI Loader...) so that should be correct.
What order are you restoring your 3 separate partitions?
Looking at my own UEFI laptop OS drive, the order that I see is as shown in the image below:
As above, the order shown is:
128MB System Reserved partition
260MB EFI System partition
464GB Data partition (Windows 10 OS & applications)
979MB Windows Recovery partition (Windows RE tools)
Are you recovering your partitions using the same partition order, i.e. EFI first, then OS, and finally Recovery?
Hi Steve,
Originally, I have made backups of EFI and Recovery partitions just after Windows install. Then, I used to make backups and restores of Windows partition C only. It worked very well.
Last night, laptop discharged during the restore process. After trying several backup files of partition C, I restored EFI partition the first and only time. Unsuccessfully.
Let me to highlight that issue occurred due to unexpected shut down.
Below the partitions that I can see now.
Oleksandr, I would recommend that you should delete all the existing partitions on the target drive to leave only your disk D: with your backup file(s), then recover your original partitions to the drive again but ensuring you have power supplied to avoid any issues with the battery.
Thanks, Steve. I will try.
Meanwhile, can ATI delete partitions?
Does order of partitions restore matter?
Oleksandr, the ATI 'Add new disk' can delete partitions but would also delete your D: disk if you use this. I would suggest connecting the laptop drive to a different computer and deleting the partitions from there. Download a copy of the free MiniTool Partition Wizard software to use for doing this as Windows Disk Management will not let you delete system partitions.
The order does matter! EFI first before C: and Recovery last.
Note: you could leave the Recovery partition out and just recover the EFI and C: partitions.
Hi Steve,
I can delete partitions via Windows installation tool.
My concern is Partition 3 MSR - should I delete it as well?
Alternatively, I think to install Windows again. Then, to restore my backups: EFI, Recovery, windows partition C. What do you think?
If you reinstall Windows it will create a new recovery partition and the EFI partition. So notebook manufacturers have customised installation media which includes useful utilities and sometimes completely useless apps. I would check that out rather than downloading an installer from Microsoft.
It may be the lest painful way of getting out of the problem. It that works, then we know the problem is not with the HDD/SSD. You will have to reinstall applications and recover data files from your most recent backup - been there done that,
Ian
Hi Ian,
The last Windows is not from the manufacter - I installed it from scretch by myself.
My mian goal is to keep Data on partition D.
The second priority is to avoid reinstalling and customizing Windows and applications again, if possible.
If I install new Windows, it will create new Recovery and EFI partitions. What if I restore these partitions from my backups later? Will it work?
Oleksandr, If you do a clean install of Windows, then I would suggest only restoring just your Windows C: partition and leave the other partitions as created by the clean install.
Thanks, Steve.
I also wonder what is partition MSR (Reserved)?
Why ATI does not see it and does not allow to backup it?
The MSR partition is a remnant from when most systems were Legacy / MBR boot but has lingered on with the newer UEFI / GPT boot systems. My own laptop also has a small (empty) MSR partition as shown in my earlier post with the screen image.
ATI does show all essential / required partitions but does not show my own MSR partition either in the full partition list in the ATI GUI. This should not be a problem for recovery and wasn't an issue when I upgraded my OS SSD from 128GB to a new 500GB SSD recently and used Backup & Recovery to do this, and ATI recreated the MSR partition during the recovery.
Thanks, Steve, for your answer.
The partition C has just been formatted before installing new Windows. However, when laptop starts it offers to select Windows 1 or Windows 2. Do you know on which partition this selection is stored? In other words, which partition should I overwrite so that this screen will disappear
Drive 0 Partition 4 Windows 100GB is what your earlier screen image showed.
Steve, for your information:
1. I reinstalled Windows, formatting partition C before, not deleting any partitions. Then I restored the following partitions from my backups in this order: Recovery, EFI, Windows. After all Windows was not able to start, as before.
2. Next, I reinstalled Windows again, also formatting partition C before, not deleting any partitions. Then only partition C (Windows) was restored from my backup. Wiindows looks ok, as it was before the issue.
The only difference is a Windows selection screen at the beginning: Windows 1 or Windows 2 I want to use. As it was not a case before, I assume that this parameter is stored somewhere else than partition C (Windows). It is not nice, it is not completely as it was before.
The only difference is a Windows selection screen at the beginning: Windows 1 or Windows 2 I want to use. As it was not a case before, I assume that this parameter is stored somewhere else than partition C (Windows). It is not nice, it is not completely as it was before.
Are you seeing this on the Windows boot menu when starting up the laptop?
Have you tried selecting both options 1 and 2 and do they both boot into the same copy of Windows?
Yes, it’s Windows boot menu.
The second option cannot start Windows: Preparing automatic repair --> Diagnostic PC --> Shut down
Ok, then this is just an extra BCD entry that needs to be removed.
Download a copy of EasyBCD and use this to remove the unwanted broken entry.
Select the Edit Boot Menu option, then select the unwanted Windows 2 entry and click on Delete from the options shown above it. Finally, click on the Save Settings button.
Thanks, I will.
Nevertheless, where BCD entries are stored, on which partition? If it's Windows partition C, then why restore does not overwrite it?
The BCD entries are stored in either the EFI System partions (UEFI / GPT systems) or else can be in either the MSR partition, or hidden in the C: partition on Legacy systems, depending on how Windows was installed.
Manually editing the BCD is not recommended unless you fully understand what you are doing - it is not something I have attempted hence the recommendation to use EasyBCD or a tool like BOOTICEx64_v1.3.4.0 etc for guided editing of the BCD data.
So, it is EFI partition in my case, right?
It seems that the previous EFI partition was broken at the moment when energy stopped. After reinstalling, Windows recreated EFI partition and it works now. So, the question: does ATI touch EFI partition when restoring partition C (Windows)?
I believe the answer has to be 'it depends' as if you are just restoring only the C: partition there should be minimal reason to touch the EFI partition, but if you are doing a disk restore or using a different boot mode, then ATI will touch the EFI partition to ensure that bootability is enabled, which means updating the BCD for the restored OS partition.
The key lesson for this topic is to always connect power to laptops when doing any recovery type actions. Unfortunately it is all too easy to cause problems when the laptop shuts down prematurely due to battery running low! I have had the same happen on more than one occasion over the years!
The lesson is taken.
However, I do not understand why having backups of all three partitions I cannot restore the system as it was. It appears something else exists on the disk, that is not considered.
Anyway, thank you for your support and help.
BR, Oleksandr