Windows – I restored onto a new SSD using Acronis True Image Home, but it won’t boot; how to make the system boot from the new SSD

acronis-trueimagebackupboothard drivewindows 7

My SSD died yesterday. I have made regular backups using Acronis True Image Home. I've restored the image onto a new SSD which I have purchased and installed. I have verified it is there. It also contains that small hidden partition at the front of the disk.

However, for some reason, the system will not boot that disk.

I have used a Win 7 System Repair Disk, which I previously made, to try and "repair" the problem – to no avail.

How can I get my system (tower, not laptop) to boot this new SSD that contains my restored Win 7 installation?

Best Answer

If Windows isn't attempting to boot at all, I would first try repairing the system partition manually. This can be done in much the same procedure you would use after restoring a WIM. See using imagex

  1. Boot into Windows PE from either PE media you have prepared earlier, or from a windows installer disc. If using the installation media method, you want to open the command prompt. I think there is a way to access this through the wizard following the 'repair' steps, but you should be able to just press shift+F10 on the 'select disk' page of the windows new installation wizard to open the command prompt.
  2. Run DISKPART by typing DISKPART.
  3. From the disks listed, identify the disk which is the new SSD.
  4. Type 'Select Disk 0' where '0' is the desired disk id.
  5. Now type 'List Volume' to list the partitions.
  6. Identify the windows partition and the system partition.
  7. Type 'Select Volume 0' where '0' is the windows partition.
  8. Type 'Assign Letter='W'' to give it drive letter W (don't worry, this won't change it from C drive in Windows when booted successfully).
  9. Type 'Select Volume 1' where '1' is the system partition.
  10. Type 'Assign Letter='S'' to give it drive letter S
  11. Type 'active'
  12. Exit Diskpart by typing 'exit'
  13. Now run 'W:\Windows\System32\bcdboot W:\Windows /l en-US /s S:', note that you may need to modify this command in accordance with the BCDboot options.
  14. Reboot.

This can be a temperamental process as there is a lot of variables, but if you search for how to restore a WIM file to a hard drive, and study the post-restore process to create the system partition, you will probably have success.

If this procedure fails, make sure that your backed up image does actually include a system partition. If you don't have 2 partitions, or the alleged system partition isn't formatted, you may need to create it with the remaining space. You should be able to isolate the steps needed from the procedure detailed here. It will be an additional two commands in disk part before you assign the drive letter 's'. Something like 'create partition primary size=100' and format FS=NTFS LABEL="System Volume" QUICK'. Don't forget to make the system partition active.

Good luck :).

Related Question