Blocked during HDD to SSD cloning with Acronis True Image 2014
Hello,
I have an Asus TX201LA PC running Windows 8.1 and I want to switch its slow 500Go 5400rpm HDD for a Crucial MX100 512Go SSD.
I followed the step-by-step HDD cloning procedure and launched it in automated mode, in order to clone the partitions and data from my old HDD to my new SSD.
My PC restarted and booted on Acronis, showing the cloning progression bar. When it was finished, my PC turned itself off.
At this point, I thought that the cloning was over and that I could remove safely the SSD drive. But I think it was a mistake...
When I turned on my PC, it booted on Acronis again, showing a "Proceeding" window.
After a minute of loading, it showed an error message, explaining that "one or several removable drives might have not been started yet. Click on "Yes" to wait until the devices have started..." (see attached picture).
At this point, I plugged back my SSD to the PC.
I tried clicking "Yes", but the error message kept coming even though the SSD was plugged.
I also tried clicking "No" or "Cancel", but it always ends up showing the same Acronis "proceeding" window and the same error message. It won't boot on Windows.
Please help!!! How can I get myself out of this and start the whole cloning procedure all over again (this time without unplugging my SSD until it's well and over).
Thank you very much for your answer and advice tuttle.
But I'd say my most urgent issue is: How do I get out of this infinite Acronis boot loop???
This is the thing. Starting clones and recoveries from Window can lead you to tricky situations. At this point you have 2 options:
- using a Windows installation DVD to repair the startup of your computer, then clone again from the recovery CD,
- do the clone from the recovery CD, then remove the originial disk and boot the computer for the first time. Maybe Windows will repair itself.
Thank you Pat L.
I figured that my SSD clone would be unusable, but I did not think cloning could jeopardize the original HDD...
Christ, is there no other way but restoring Windows???
Acronis should have thought about that situation. Or, at least, a warning message should be displayed during the first phase of the cloning. Something like "Your computer will restart several time during the cloning process. Do not disconect your disk drives until the cloning is completed."
:(
I read the software's Help content (since that' the only thing I can still do...), in the "Tools and utilities" > "Disk management utilities" > "Disk cloning" > "Security" (translated from the French version).
It says that "No data will be lost because the original disk in the read only (no partition is modified or resized). The system transfer proceedure does not modify the original disk at all."
So I should be able to recover my original HDD, shouldn't I?
How can I stop booting on Acronis and boot on Windows, or at least the BIOS, instead?
I read the software's Help content (since that' the only thing I can still do...), in the "Tools and utilities" > "Disk management utilities" > "Disk cloning" > "Security" (translated from the French version).
It says that "No data will be lost because the original disk in the read only (no partition is modified or resized). The system transfer proceedure does not modify the original disk at all."
It's true that ATI won't alter the source disk. But, you could wipe out the source disk by accidentally cloning to it rather than from it. And, if you allow Windows to reboot with both disks attached, Windows may render one of the disks unbootable. Again, we recommend you perform clones only from the Rescue Media, and even better would be full disk mode backup and restore rather than cloning.
Thank you Pat L.
I figured that my SSD clone would be unusable, but I did not think cloning could jeopardize the original HDD...
When you start the boot or recovery in Windows, Acronis DOES modify the disk: the boot records, as you can see. It is supposed to put it back to where it was after the operation.... if the operation is successful. It happened to me where I started the recovery in Windows because I couldn't boot on my UEFI USB flash. The computer restarted nicely, but the image was deemed corrupted, so the operation failed and I was left with an unbootable computer :-\
Christ, is there no other way but restoring Windows???
Restoring windows, no. Just repairing the startup of Windows with original installation DVD. If that fails, then you will have to reinstall Windows, yes.
Thanks for your reply Pat L.
Unfortunately, I didn't have a Windows CD provided with my computer (it actually doesn't have a CD reader). I do have a recovery image on an external HDD though.
Can you please tell me how I can get out of that Acronis loop and restore my system? When my computer starts I do not see any way to access the BIOS or anything.
Good news: I took a chance and installed my new SSD in my laptop, on the advice of the members of another forum, and guess what... it works perfectly! :)
Another Acronis user told me that after the first cloning phase, the SSD was completely ready and bootable, even though the original HDD is bootable only after the second "preparation" phase is completed with success. Seems that Acronis is using the SSD clone boot records to repair the original HDD, or something like that.
I am glad I do not have to restore Windows or anything like that!
Thanks a lot for your replies anyway. I hope my little experience will help other distressed Acronis user.
It would be a good thing to add a warning message telling the user not to unplug the cloned disk though.
Good to hear. At any rate, remember you should never boot with the source and the clone at the same time in the system.
Thanks, I won't.