Screwed up clone os disk...

[Turbof1]

I am having a difficult time with an otherwise straightforward task.

 

So here is the deal: a buddy of mine wants his hdd from his laptop replaced with ssd. I said sure, I did it in the past.

 

So I cloned the os disk with minipartition. The drive is not recognized as boot drive. The data is certainly on the disk if I plug it in a different pc. However, after troubleshooting and the original hdd disk not being recognized, I accidently set that drive to master boot record and now the files are not being shown anymore on the drive. I am a bit desparate.

 

Can I undo what I did with the original hdd os disk? And if not, can I do something with the ssd disk to make it actually be bootable as os disk, as a fill fletch clone?

[Viper9]

Plug the SSD on a PC using a SATA to USB adapter and follow the steps:

 

1. Launch command prompt has admin (cmd)

2. diskpart

3. list disk

4. select disk X (X = the number of the SSD)

5. clean

 

Then you should be able to install Windows on it normally. 

[Turbof1]

4 minutes ago, Viper9 said:

Plug the SSD on a PC using a SATA to USB adapter and follow the steps:

 

1. Launch command prompt has admin (cmd)

2. diskpart

3. list disk

4. select disk X (X = the number of the SSD)

5. clean

 

Then you should be able to install Windows on it normally. 

Will this whipe data or settings? Because I absolutely want to avoid that.

[Viper9]

11 minutes ago, Turbof1 said:

Will this whipe data or settings? Because I absolutely want to avoid that.

Yes this will wipe everything on the SSD. 

[Turbof1]

Just now, Viper9 said:

Yes this will wipe everything on the SSD. 

So that is not a solution. The hdd's data is not accessible. The data that was cloned to the ssd is accessible. If I whipe that, I will whipe my friends data. I am sorry, but there has to be a different solution.

[Viper9]

1 minute ago, Turbof1 said:

So that is not a solution. The hdd's data is not accessible. The data that was cloned to the ssd is accessible. If I whipe that, I will whipe my friends data. I am sorry, but there has to be a different solution.

Just backup your friend data on another drive before doing the clean. You'll need to reinstall the applications but usually it's no big deal. 

[Turbof1]

It involves emails, settings, numerous programs he has a license to,... . I would like to do that only as a last resort.

 

I am trying to recover the partitions through easeUS partition. I had to buy a license.

[Viper9]

3 minutes ago, Turbof1 said:

It involves emails, settings, numerous programs he has a license to,... . I would like to do that only as a last resort.

 

I am trying to recover the partitions through easeUS partition. I had to buy a license.

First backup his files ASAP. Then, the simple way to do it is using a software like EaseUS or MiniTool and try to recover the partition. But you might need to pay for a licence.

 

You can take a look at AOMEI Partition Assistant I'm not sure if you can recover partitions with the free version. 

[Turbof1]

1 minute ago, Viper9 said:

First backup his files ASAP. Then, the simple way to do it is using a software like EaseUS or MiniTool and try to recover the partition. But you might need to pay for a licence.

 

You can take a look at AOMEI Partition Assistant I'm not sure if you can recover partitions with the free version. 

No you can't. I did buy the license, so that unlocked that feature. Fingers crossed it can recover everything.

 

I did make a backup in the meanwhile.

[Turbof1]

An update on this:

 

I assumed the ssd had a copy of the hdd. However, I found out this wasn't the case as it unexplicably cloned the wrong drive.

 

Luckily, I was able after pulling an all nighter (and still going) to get the os on the hdd back to working. I recovered all of the data, but had to do literally hours to find the solution to rebuild the mtr. It is an experience I never want to go through again, although knowing now what the solution is, I will never again have to in a similar situation.

 

I am now trying to clone again, this time with software that has a better reputation. I am tired, angry, but also thrilled I perservered.

[Zurc]

For Cloning i like to use the following: Acronis & Paragon 

Both are great, i prefer Paragon. 

Just make sure you select the correct Source disk. 

[Turbof1]

11 hours ago, Zurc said:

Just make sure you select the correct Source disk. 

Yeah, I screwed that one up. I was luckily able to undo the damage. Ultimately, I was able to have a windows recovery usb rebuild the master boot records. So my buddy now has what was promised.

 

 

[MichiganBroadband]

Good that you have got it going.  
I have spent weeks in spare time trying to manually repair corrupt or unbootable Windows 10 installations (to save days of work) without any success.  
It's frustrating to lack the knowledge to manually repair some of these what seems should be simple to re-create the boot data and point to an OS installation.  
I've tried to fix MBR and UEFI installations that were not bootable after some NON virus and Non malware event rendered them unbootable.  
All files seemed to be intact but various versions of blue screens on bootup or advanced boot menu not available etc.    
There is so much useless mis-information on the web and in youtube videos on this matter.   
Anyhow I have a ways to go and a lot to learn about Windows startup and how it actually works.   
Almost the entire world takes the easy approach to reinstall Windows to fix just about everything rather than fix the actual problem.   
Windows 10 is going to be around for awhile and I think it's worth my investment of time and effort to get an actual handle on this.  
It seems that virtually nobody out there actually already does and if they do they are keeping it close and not sharing the information.  

  

 
 

[Turbof1]

20 hours ago, MichiganBroadband said:

Good that you have got it going.  
I have spent weeks in spare time trying to manually repair corrupt or unbootable Windows 10 installations (to save days of work) without any success.  
It's frustrating to lack the knowledge to manually repair some of these what seems should be simple to re-create the boot data and point to an OS installation.  
I've tried to fix MBR and UEFI installations that were not bootable after some NON virus and Non malware event rendered them unbootable.  
All files seemed to be intact but various versions of blue screens on bootup or advanced boot menu not available etc.    
There is so much useless mis-information on the web and in youtube videos on this matter.   
Anyhow I have a ways to go and a lot to learn about Windows startup and how it actually works.   
Almost the entire world takes the easy approach to reinstall Windows to fix just about everything rather than fix the actual problem.   
Windows 10 is going to be around for awhile and I think it's worth my investment of time and effort to get an actual handle on this.  
It seems that virtually nobody out there actually already does and if they do they are keeping it close and not sharing the information.  

  

 
 

There are people sharing it. I found my solution in this video:

 

I don't think the issue is so much people not sharing, but actually 2 separate issues:

1) To fix a problem, you first need to understand it and ask the correct question. At first I did not know more than the bios message that no boot drive was found followed by an error code. That still give a whole range of what the problem really is and what the appropiate solution is, meaning you still have not pinpointed the underlying issue yet. That requires trial and error. I went from the error code, to windows usb repair, to command prompt (and finding out the /fixboot command did not work for me), to googling how to fix the fixboot (which I think the above solution is a workaround actually).

 

2) This is such a specific problem, which probably has only happened to a few thousand people in the world. Usually 0.1% of the people bothered to share the solution is good enough for everybody else, but if your starting population is already so small, it'll be more difficult to find the solution.

 

My solution will probably not be your solution. Again these are highly specific issues, so I can only give a message of encouragement. Just don't give up. Ask yourself "am I asking the correct question?" "did I interpret the issue correctly?" etc.

 

I also wasn't a big fan of windows 10 a couple of years ago. One of the updates just messed up a windows installation completely (the infamous may 2018 update), which should never have happened. However, since then microsoft has made massive improvements on that front. It is their best system hands down. And the fact you can just swap the OS drive to a different system and get that working perfectly fine is such a QoL improvement.

[MichiganBroadband]

The problem is indeed sharing or lack of available information to share.. whether this information comes from Microsoft or not.
WHERE do I get the information that I need? the video posted above is ok and I have of course seen this same video and many others like it over the past 2 years.
It is another one of the same "try this" "try that"  follow the step-by step instructions.   
It has not applied to any of the actual situations I have tried to actually repair.   
It also does not "share" or explain anything that is going on or how it works or what it is doing nor what do at any any stage if it fails to work... 
Which guess what...  
Exactly... 
 
In my situations this has failed to work.   
Indeed I have to understand what is going on with windows startup and all that to be useful doing this.  
Videos like this have not yet helped me with specific problems that I have ran into.  
I have yet to learn how it all fits together and how to actually troubleshoot load/startup problems in Windows 10.   
Which I will ultimately do.  

Thanks for the response!    
Windows 10 usually just works but I find the information that I actually need to repair it when it does not very non-existent so far.   

There are a LOT of variables that this video does not cover.   
And in the real world I have run into those variables.   
There is a lot more to it.
 
I could start out with a simple question just as an example.   
There are a bunch of 'versions' of windows 10 out there now.   
The latest and common are 1709 1803 1809 1903 and 1909.   

Does the windows recovery version that you happen to boot have to actually MATCH the OS install you are working on in order to work?
Or can you use 1909 boot media to repair 1803 1809 1903 and other versions?
When a buddy hands you a broken Windows 10 laptop that absolutely won't boot how do you quickly and easily find out what version of windows 10 is installed on it?   
What if it crashed/failed right in the middle of an update from 1809 to 1903 or 1909?    
Where exactly can anyone find this definitive information.  
This is just ONE of the many variables and questions I have run into when trying to do boot repair that very much will not cooperate despite trying to understand what is going 
on, how it works and following many videos and posted instructions.   
That approach is NOT working for me to be a good and effective tech.  
I need to know and understand the pieces and these bits of information are what I find to be not shared anywhere.  















  













  

[MichiganBroadband]

From the video I can piece together in my mind what is going on because I have *some* experience.  
He's reformatting the FAT32 partition and then writing the boot files to it _from the os drive.   
Simple and understandable.   
Didn't work for me.
    
Files on the OS drive did not cooperate another error. not covered in the video STOP.  
Had similar tries that did not work on MBR systems as well. 
There are videos for those... that didn't work out in my cases.  :)   
   
The rabbit hole is deep on this.   
I spent a couple of weeks with it and I'm not a master yet.  
I've learned a few things but I'm still relatively useless or ineffective at this.     

 

[Turbof1]

On 1/31/2020 at 2:03 AM, MichiganBroadband said:

Does the windows recovery version that you happen to boot have to actually MATCH the OS install you are working on in order to work?
Or can you use 1909 boot media to repair 1803 1809 1903 and other versions?

I didn't pay particular interest to this. However, since I made the usb recovery stick at that moment, I assume it encompassed the latest build. Another assumption would that my mate kept his OS updated (not a far stretch really as microsoft does not allow you to turn them off by normal means). So I think they matched at the time. I honestly don't think this is going to matter if the version on the recovery drive is newer, as that will likely end up with the OS being repaired and updated.

 

On 1/31/2020 at 2:03 AM, MichiganBroadband said:

When a buddy hands you a broken Windows 10 laptop that absolutely won't boot how do you quickly and easily find out what version of windows 10 is installed on it?   

Absoiutely not booting is a bit vaguely described . I had a lot of cases across that spectrum, and that goes from a failing drive, to messed up boot records to a botched windows update:

 

-A failing hard drive is rather simple: I don't even begin on an attempt to repair or salvage data, because I lack both knowledge and instruments for that. Me trying to do anything about that will likely result in permanent loss of data. So I usually give them the option of a 1000 euro repair job by an external firm who have airsealed rooms and spare parts to crack up a hard drive and replace broken components. Of course, I can remove the hard drive myself, build in a new one, set up the OS and their programs. That's basically Lego for adults.

-Missing master boot records we already covered, though note I have only seen this once (and that is what this topic is about).

-A botched windows upgrade that damages the OS beyond ability to boot, is pretty much solvable with the a recovery usb drive. It will even keep programs, registry files, and all your data. Though from experience I do know some settings do get lost. Of upmost importance however, is that your system can still detect the boot drive.

On 1/31/2020 at 2:03 AM, MichiganBroadband said:

What if it crashed/failed right in the middle of an update from 1809 to 1903 or 1909?    

The outcome will wildly vary. I think if it fails, windows will try to roll back to the version before updating. But, if critical OS files are damaged it will not boot to windows. At that point you will need to use the recovery drive. And this is again a case where you can't judge such a thing before it happens: it really depends where in the middle it crashes, which file it was replacing at that time.

On 1/31/2020 at 2:03 AM, MichiganBroadband said:

Where exactly can anyone find this definitive information.  

There's no pinpointing to that. There's no library in the world that will 100% guaranteed give the answer you seek immediately. Usually small mundane questions, you will be able to find the answer immediately by googling it. These kind of questions, it gets tricky, and will end up with just sifting through google search results until you find the answer that matches your question.

  

On 1/31/2020 at 2:13 AM, MichiganBroadband said:

I've learned a few things but I'm still relatively useless or ineffective at this.     

Do you really believe that? Ok, you have not found the solution (yet), but in the whole process you have learned how to tackle similar problems, you have learned how to better diagnose the problem. Your problem-searching and solving skills have improved. You have learned potential solutions. Even though all that you have learned is not applicable in this particular case, it was not useless. It can always be applicable for a future case.

 

Can you send me a picture of the error codes and other relevant things? taken with a smartphone or something like that. I'll not guarantee I will be able to solve it, but it can't hurt to try.

 

 

[MichiganBroadband]

Hey thanks for the help offer!   
I had to give up and re-install the OS after two weeks of poking at it.  
The customer was understanding and I gave them a loaner with all their data from a backup so I could have the two weeks to poke at it.
I come across these occasionally so the next time I have to (or get to) deal with this and it's not a simple fix I will post here or start a new thread and track you down
and invite you to see    
Interested?    

This last one was related to a Windows 10 update and/or EASEUS (paid version) backup software that in my opinion failed miserably.   
This is another topic entirely.   
And a doozy of one at that.   

Thanks again!   

I look forward to learning more.  

 

[Turbof1]

3 minutes ago, MichiganBroadband said:

Interested?    

Sure. Just send me a PM or make a reply here. Can't hurt to try.

[MichiganBroadband]

5 minutes ago, Turbof1 said:

Sure. Just send me a PM or make a reply here. Can't hurt to try.

Thanks!!   OS/Win10 repair is not at all my main thing but I sure enjoy tackling or dabbling with it.
I've done this sort of thing for a long time off & on with other OS's and would like to eventually have a solid handle on Win10 and how it starts up & loads things.  
My normal everyday work is much more focused on small and medium size company network infrastructure "network fabric" or any other cool sound fancy words you would like to throw at it.   

I do networks and servers     
And love it.   
 
I get a lot of variety or requests thrown at me and get to pretty much pick & choose which ones to take on.