Win 7 Pro 64 Bit BOOT problem

Seems that if I didn't have "Bad Luck" I would have no luck at all.

Using Win 7 Pro 64 bit.

I did a Macrium Backup 09-02-2014 of the Primary Win 7 64 Bit (Boot) Drive with both Partitions C and D and have not installed any new or changed software since then -- so I will not lose any information by using this Backup to Restore to a different Hard Drive -- which I just completed and using to make this post.

The issue I need help with is that the Hard Drive normally used will not Boot and will not perform with any of the methods relating to using original Win 7 DVD Disk to Repair that system. Although I had made a System Backup (using Backup/Restore function in Win 7) -- this was not recognized (or used) in the attempt to Repair.

The Error code is: 0xc000000e with Description Device Inaccessible.

I had used a separate Hard Drive and did a Macrium Restore (for Backup 07-28) and available to just change out the Win7 Boot Drive -- should there be a need for this. I was getting prepared to use this same Drive to Restore the above 09-02 Macrium Backup. I am using two SATA Removable Hard Drive Racks. After power down and inserting the 07-28 drive in the open Rack -- I re-booted and checked BIOS to select the original Win 7 Boot Drive. However, instead of booting using that Drive, it booted using the 07-28 Drive -- even though I had selected the original Boot Drive.

I know that the Drive indicators (3M, 3S, 4M, 4S, etc) may change based on different drives being used (at any given time). I checked the actual drive identifications to be certain of selecting the original drive to use.

Then, I shut down and disconnected the 07-28 drive and (again) selected the original Win 7 Boot Drive in BIOS and tried to Boot using this original Boot Drive -- however, it would not boot and displayed the screen indicating to Boot from the original DVD Media for Win 7. I tried the various indicated methods to Repair the original Boot Drive with NO success.

I have NOT disturbed the original Win 7 Boot Drive -- I just disconnected it and would like to find a "working" method to repair this drive since it evidently has a corrupted Master Boot Record. I am especially interested to find a method to Repair since the above is my normal method of keeping a (Macrium Restored Drive) Backup and it could be at times when I have not just completed a current Macrium backup of the normally used Boot Drive.

Anyone that may help with this will be greatly appreciated.

--
Vernon...

Is it possible that Windows update has overfilled your drive, so that there's no room for the temp files required for booting? You could try putting the page file on another drive.

Skipper494 said:

Is it possible that Windows update has overfilled your drive, so that there's no room for the temp files required for booting? You could try putting the page file on another drive.

Click to expand...

I have the page file set to 8050 MB and it is not on Drive C (Boot Drive). It is on a different drive, Drive G. Considering the size and different Drive it probably should have proper resources.

Also, both Drive C and G have large unused areas. I normally have 5 Hard Drive (Boxes), each with more than one Partition on this computer. Maximum Drives at any one time is 7 Drive (Boxes) having 14 Drive letters for Partitions.

Vernon D Rainwater said:

Then, I shut down and disconnected the 07-28 drive and (again) selected the original Win 7 Boot Drive in BIOS and tried to Boot using this original Boot Drive -- however, it would not boot and displayed the screen indicating to Boot from the original DVD Media for Win 7. I tried the various indicated methods to Repair the original Boot Drive with NO success.

Click to expand...

What methods did you try?

Did you try to use bootrec.exe with both the /FixMbr and /FixBoot options?

IOW, boot into a Windows DVD, get to a command prompt via the repair options, and run both of these commands:

bootrec.exe /FixMBR

bootrec.exe /FixBoot

Make sure all other drives are disconnected when using those types of recovery procedures to make sure you're working with the correct drive.

Here's an article on the subject.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/win7-windows-7-mbr,10036.html

Note that I'd make sure that any other drives are disconnected when using those types of utilities, as having more than one drive connected may have led to some of your issues.

Unfortunately, Windows can be very "finicky" about hardware changes, and you may have an issue with the UUID of a different drive being stored now.

Personally, I use a true "bit by bit" copy of a drive when cloning. I use a linux utility called ddrescue for that purpose (but another utility called dd can do the same thing).

That way, I have an exact bit by bit copy including the MBR, partition table and all partitions on the drive, including unused space (not the same thing as most disk imaging utilities give you) that is written to a destination drive (either directly to another device for a clone, or to a disk image file on a mounted partition that can be restored later), without any interpretation of the data going on that could potentially cause issues

I also keep a separate copy of the first 512 bytes on a drive (where the MBR and Partition table is located) stored separately that can be restored in the event of MBR issues.

Are you saying that you're now seeing that 0xc000000e with your original boot drive? If so, that's not a good thing, as you may need to use more specialized fixes like SysPrep to fix the issues (which would require reactivation of your Windows installation). Here's a thread on that error code that may be useful.

http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/309871-windows-boot-manager-error-0xc000000e.html

You've got one drive booting OK now, right? I surely wouldn't try to do anything with it for now, as if worse comes to worse, you may be able to use it as a source drive to overwrite your problem drives via a cloning process. I can talk you through booting in a Linux distro (either from CD or USB Flash Drive) for that purpose if it comes to that (using ddrescue, which only requires a one line command to copy everything from the source drive to a destination drive to make an exact bit by bit copy for cloning purposes).

That's a utility I use when cloning drives to make sure I end up with an *exact* copy of the source drive (including the mbr, partition table, all partitions hidden or otherwise, and even unused space). That way, there is *no* difference between what is on the source and destination drives that you can end up with using other disk cloning and imaging utilities (that don't copy everything on the source media). The way I do it takes longer (especially since it also copies unused space). But, I prefer to have an exact bit by bit copy of the source media, without any interpretation of the data, file systems, etc. (something you don't get with commercial cloning tools unless you use the "forensic" copy option that some of them have available).

Hopefully, your issue is something simple like the MBR boot code or partition table. For example, the partition you're booting into with Windows on it not being flagged as bootable; or a problem with the boot loader that bootrec.exe /FixMbr and/or bootrec.exe /FixBoot can fix.

--
JimC
------

Jim Cockfield said:

Vernon D Rainwater said:

Then, I shut down and disconnected the 07-28 drive and (again) selected the original Win 7 Boot Drive in BIOS and tried to Boot using this original Boot Drive -- however, it would not boot and displayed the screen indicating to Boot from the original DVD Media for Win 7. I tried the various indicated methods to Repair the original Boot Drive with NO success.

Click to expand...

What methods did you try?

Did you try to use bootrec.exe with both the /FixMbr and /FixBoot options?

Click to expand...

NOTE: I restored a Macrium image Backup for 09-02-2014 to a different Hard Drive and I only lost a few Emails (sent and received) since the email software uses the C Boot Drive with no choice to use a different drive -- and now using this drive as the current Win 7 Boot Drive.

I may be able to copy the *.PST file that contains all Emails Sent, Received, Deleted, etc -- from the Non Bootable drive -- but I am not concerned regarding the few lost Emails.

I Disconnected ALL other hard Drives -- when attempting to Repair the BAD Boot Drive. I learned (the hard way) a few years ago to do this.

I have only used the method for Booting from Win 7 DVD and trying to use the normal System Restore that I made 09-02-2014 but that method required selecting the Boot Drive which does not show up since Win 7 (DVD) does not find it as a Boot Drive now. Also, I tried the other option for Repairing but no luck either.

I have not used the Command Prompt and run the mentioned programs -- for which I will do next.

Member said:

IOW, boot into a Windows DVD, get to a command prompt via the repair options, and run both of these commands:

bootrec.exe /FixMBR

bootrec.exe /FixBoot

Make sure all other drives are disconnected when using those types of recovery procedures to make sure you're working with the correct drive.

Click to expand...

See above: I will refer to the following linked article before running the two above programs.

Here's an article on the subject.

Member said:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/win7-windows-7-mbr,10036.html

Note that I'd make sure that any other drives are disconnected when using those types of utilities, as having more than one drive connected may have led to some of your issues.

Unfortunately, Windows can be very "finicky" about hardware changes, and you may have an issue with the UUID of a different drive being stored now.

Personally, I use a true "bit by bit" copy of a drive when cloning. I use a linux utility called ddrescue for that purpose (but another utility called dd can do the same thing).

That way, I have an exact bit by bit copy including the MBR, partition table and all partitions on the drive, including unused space (not the same thing as most disk imaging utilities give you) that is written to a destination drive (either directly to another device for a clone, or to a disk image file on a mounted partition that can be restored later), without any interpretation of the data going on that could potentially cause issues

I also keep a separate copy of the first 512 bytes on a drive (where the MBR and Partition table is located) stored separately that can be restored in the event of MBR issues.

Click to expand...

This is interesting: I would like to know how to do this and also how to use it for similar situations such as the current BAD Boot Drive.

Member said:

Are you saying that you're now seeing that 0xc000000e with your original boot drive? If so, that's not a good thing, as you may need to use more specialized fixes like SysPrep to fix the issues (which would require reactivation of your Windows installation). Here's a thread on that error code that may be useful.

http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/309871-windows-boot-manager-error-0xc000000e.html

Click to expand...

Yes -- this is correct. I will view the referenced link since I have not done that yet.

The following Paragraph should be RED:

You've got one drive booting OK now, right? I surely wouldn't try to do anything with it for now, as if worse comes to worse, you may be able to use it as a source drive to overwrite your problem drives via a cloning process. I can talk you through booting in a Linux distro (either from CD or USB Flash Drive) for that purpose if it comes to that (using ddrescue, which only requires a one line command to copy everything from the source drive to a destination drive to make an exact bit by bit copy for cloning purposes).

Member said:

That's a utility I use when cloning drives to make sure I end up with an *exact* copy of the source drive (including the mbr, partition table, all partitions hidden or otherwise, and even unused space). That way, there is *no* difference between what is on the source and destination drives that you can end up with using other disk cloning and imaging utilities (that don't copy everything on the source media). The way I do it takes longer (especially since it also copies unused space). But, I prefer to have an exact bit by bit copy of the source media, without any interpretation of the data, file systems, etc. (something you don't get with commercial cloning tools unless you use the "forensic" copy option that some of them have available).

Hopefully, your issue is something simple like the MBR boot code or partition table. For example, the partition you're booting into with Windows on it not being flagged as bootable; or a problem with the boot loader that bootrec.exe /FixMbr and/or bootrec.exe /FixBoot can fix.

Click to expand...

Hopefully, the two above programs will fix this. The main thing I am trying to learn is HOW to fix something like this present BAD Boot Drive -- and using the present BAD drive to work on for this -- especially -- since a next occurrence may not be so close to a recent Macrium Backup and could have MANY lost items of various types.

Many thanks Jim, I will be back after doing the above.

Member said:

--
JimC
------

Click to expand...

--
Vernon...

Vernon D Rainwater said:

Jim Cockfield said:

Vernon D Rainwater said:

Then, I shut down and disconnected the 07-28 drive and (again) selected the original Win 7 Boot Drive in BIOS and tried to Boot using this original Boot Drive -- however, it would not boot and displayed the screen indicating to Boot from the original DVD Media for Win 7. I tried the various indicated methods to Repair the original Boot Drive with NO success.

Click to expand...

What methods did you try?

Did you try to use bootrec.exe with both the /FixMbr and /FixBoot options?

Click to expand...

NOTE: I restored a Macrium image Backup for 09-02-2014 to a different Hard Drive and I only lost a few Emails (sent and received) since the email software uses the C Boot Drive with no choice to use a different drive -- and now using this drive as the current Win 7 Boot Drive.

I may be able to copy the *.PST file that contains all Emails Sent, Received, Deleted, etc -- from the Non Bootable drive -- but I am not concerned regarding the few lost Emails.

I Disconnected ALL other hard Drives -- when attempting to Repair the BAD Boot Drive. I learned (the hard way) a few years ago to do this.

I have only used the method for Booting from Win 7 DVD and trying to use the normal System Restore that I made 09-02-2014 but that method required selecting the Boot Drive which does not show up since Win 7 (DVD) does not find it as a Boot Drive now. Also, I tried the other option for Repairing but no luck either.

I have not used the Command Prompt and run the mentioned programs -- for which I will do next.

Click to expand...

Vernon D Rainwater said:

Vernon D Rainwater said:

IOW, boot into a Windows DVD, get to a command prompt via the repair options, and run both of these commands:

bootrec.exe /FixMBR

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I run this and the display indicated it -- Completed Successfully.

Vernon D Rainwater said:

Vernon D Rainwater said:

bootrec.exe /FixBoot

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I run and message was -- Element not found.

Vernon D Rainwater said:

Vernon D Rainwater said:

Make sure all other drives are disconnected when using those types of recovery procedures to make sure you're working with the correct drive.

Click to expand...

See above: I will refer to the following linked article before running the two above programs.

Here's an article on the subject.

Vernon D Rainwater said:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/win7-windows-7-mbr,10036.html

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I reviewed this completely. It has some good details. It is unfortunate that I didn't find anything that cured the Boot Problem.

I also used these additional parts in the document:

bootrec.exe /FixBoot -- and displayed Element not found

bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd -- and it displayed:

Total identified Windows Installations: 1 -- D:\Windows -- Add installation to Boot List : -- Y N A (for Yes, No, All) and I entered Y -- It displayed Element Not Found.

I believe the D:\Windows was using D since the system was in the Booted status using the Win 7 original OS DVD.

It appears I have "Struck Out" on all counts with no changes to be able to Boot.

Hopefully we can find some way to get it to Boot.

Vernon D Rainwater said:

Vernon D Rainwater said:

Note that I'd make sure that any other drives are disconnected when using those types of utilities, as having more than one drive connected may have led to some of your issues.

Unfortunately, Windows can be very "finicky" about hardware changes, and you may have an issue with the UUID of a different drive being stored now.

Personally, I use a true "bit by bit" copy of a drive when cloning. I use a linux utility called ddrescue for that purpose (but another utility called dd can do the same thing).

That way, I have an exact bit by bit copy including the MBR, partition table and all partitions on the drive, including unused space (not the same thing as most disk imaging utilities give you) that is written to a destination drive (either directly to another device for a clone, or to a disk image file on a mounted partition that can be restored later), without any interpretation of the data going on that could potentially cause issues

I also keep a separate copy of the first 512 bytes on a drive (where the MBR and Partition table is located) stored separately that can be restored in the event of MBR issues.

Click to expand...

This is interesting: I would like to know how to do this and also how to use it for similar situations such as the current BAD Boot Drive.

Vernon D Rainwater said:

Are you saying that you're now seeing that 0xc000000e with your original boot drive? If so, that's not a good thing, as you may need to use more specialized fixes like SysPrep to fix the issues (which would require reactivation of your Windows installation). Here's a thread on that error code that may be useful.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Vernon D Rainwater said:

Vernon D Rainwater said:

http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/309871-windows-boot-manager-error-0xc000000e.html

Click to expand...

Yes -- this is correct. I will view the referenced link since I have not done that yet.

Click to expand...

I reviewed and not sure if I can relate the discussion to my present Boot Problem, however; I will re-check again.

Vernon D Rainwater said:

The following Paragraph should be RED:

You've got one drive booting OK now, right? I surely wouldn't try to do anything with it for now, as if worse comes to worse, you may be able to use it as a source drive to overwrite your problem drives via a cloning process. I can talk you through booting in a Linux distro (either from CD or USB Flash Drive) for that purpose if it comes to that (using ddrescue, which only requires a one line command to copy everything from the source drive to a destination drive to make an exact bit by bit copy for cloning purposes).

Vernon D Rainwater said:

That's a utility I use when cloning drives to make sure I end up with an *exact* copy of the source drive (including the mbr, partition table, all partitions hidden or otherwise, and even unused space). That way, there is *no* difference between what is on the source and destination drives that you can end up with using other disk cloning and imaging utilities (that don't copy everything on the source media). The way I do it takes longer (especially since it also copies unused space). But, I prefer to have an exact bit by bit copy of the source media, without any interpretation of the data, file systems, etc. (something you don't get with commercial cloning tools unless you use the "forensic" copy option that some of them have available).

Hopefully, your issue is something simple like the MBR boot code or partition table. For example, the partition you're booting into with Windows on it not being flagged as bootable; or a problem with the boot loader that bootrec.exe /FixMbr and/or bootrec.exe /FixBoot can fix.

Click to expand...

Hopefully, the two above programs will fix this. The main thing I am trying to learn is HOW to fix something like this present BAD Boot Drive -- and using the present BAD drive to work on for this -- especially -- since a next occurrence may not be so close to a recent Macrium Backup and could have MANY lost items of various types.

Many thanks Jim, I will be back after doing the above.

Click to expand...

Vernon D Rainwater said:

NOTE: I restored a Macrium image Backup for 09-02-2014 to a different Hard Drive and I only lost a few Emails (sent and received) since the email software uses the C Boot Drive with no choice to use a different drive -- and now using this drive as the current Win 7 Boot Drive.

Click to expand...

Just curious. For the drive that won't boot into windows, is it a new HDD or an older used one that was formatted and then Windows installed on it?

Vernon D Rainwater said:

The following Paragraph should be RED:

You've got one drive booting OK now, right? I surely wouldn't try to do anything with it for now, as if worse comes to worse, you may be able to use it as a source drive to overwrite your problem drives via a cloning process. I can talk you through booting in a Linux distro (either from CD or USB Flash Drive) for that purpose if it comes to that (using ddrescue, which only requires a one line command to copy everything from the source drive to a destination drive to make an exact bit by bit copy for cloning purposes).

Click to expand...

In your post, the above was in black text. To change the color of text, scroll down to the bottom of the text window and click on "Switch to plain text editor". When in the plain text editor, the leading greater than signs determine the color of the text. So just insert "one" greater than sign in front of the text that should be red.

For example:

Vernon D Rainwater said:

This is red with 1 leading greater than sign.

Vernon D Rainwater said:

This is green with 2 leading greater than signs.

Vernon D Rainwater said:

This is gold with 3 leading greater than signs.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Sky

skyglider said:

Vernon D Rainwater said:

NOTE: I restored a Macrium image Backup for 09-02-2014 to a different Hard Drive and I only lost a few Emails (sent and received) since the email software uses the C Boot Drive with no choice to use a different drive -- and now using this drive as the current Win 7 Boot Drive.

Click to expand...

Just curious. For the drive that won't boot into windows, is it a new HDD or an older used one that was formatted and then Windows installed on it?

Click to expand...

The Drive is around 1 year in usage. It is one of the WD Better (or best) 5 Year drive that I have been using for this time. In March this year, I Formatted it and installed a NEW Win 7 Pro 64 bit OS on it and have been using it for that purpose since install of Win 7.

Evidently, something happened when I had both this current Boot Drive plus another Backup of 07-28-2014 in the computer at the same time. As previously mentioned, I selected the current Drive (in setup) to use to boot from. When booted, it had booted from the 07-28 drive. Ever since, the normal Boot Drive will not Boot. I was getting ready to do a Macrium Image Restore to the 07-28 drive using the latest image backup of 09-02 -- is why there were both in the computer.

skyglider said:

skyglider said:

The following Paragraph should be RED:

You've got one drive booting OK now, right? I surely wouldn't try to do anything with it for now, as if worse comes to worse, you may be able to use it as a source drive to overwrite your problem drives via a cloning process. I can talk you through booting in a Linux distro (either from CD or USB Flash Drive) for that purpose if it comes to that (using ddrescue, which only requires a one line command to copy everything from the source drive to a destination drive to make an exact bit by bit copy for cloning purposes).

Click to expand...

In your post, the above was in black text. To change the color of text, scroll down to the bottom of the text window and click on "Switch to plain text editor". When in the plain text editor, the leading greater than signs determine the color of the text. So just insert "one" greater than sign in front of the text that should be red.

For example:

skyglider said:

This is red with 1 leading greater than sign.

skyglider said:

This is green with 2 leading greater than signs.

skyglider said:

This is gold with 3 leading greater than signs.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Thanks for this details -- I looked at the top but didn't find a way to change color. Also, I was using the normal Dpreview Editor -- whatever it is.

skyglider said:

Sky

Click to expand...

Just becasue the /fixboot option doesn't work doesn't mean the /fixmbr otion didn't do it's job.

fixboot is normally for fixing setup files related to a dual boot config. But, I normally run it anyway when fixing boot issues in case the files are setup that way.

The bootrec.exe /FixMBR choice would have rewritten the boot code in the master boot record for you.

So, if it was corrupted for any reason, that should have fixed it.

IOW, see if you can boot from the drive now.

But, other things could still be wrong, too (for example, if the windows partition is no longer flagged as bootable on your original drive for some reason).

As for c: versus d:, etc. the windows recovery software will look for valid windows installs for fixing things like the mbr when using the bootrec utility.

But, because of the crazy way Windows identifies partitions (c:, d:, etc.) the labels can have little or no meaning. That's because Windows using a dynamic naming convention when drive letters are assigned (they can change, depending on where you're booting from). For example, I use an SSD for my boot drive that has Windows installed in it's second partition.

When I boot into that SSD, that partition is labeled as c: (the way Windows normally labels the partition you're booting into with Windows on it). Yet, the original drive that shipped with the PC is being used as a second drive, and the original windows partition is labeled as e: when I boot into the SSD. Yet, if I remove the SSD and boot into the original drive, the partition Windows is installed on is labeled c: versus e: again.

Again, the labels that windows assigns to partitions are dynamic and will change depending on the partition you're booting into. Fun.

Now, you could try to boot into a Live LInux distro and do something like copy the mbr and partition table from the drive that's working now to the drive with a problem. With Linux, you can use utilities like fidisk to see how your partitions are structured, and use commands that reference the specific drives you want as the source and destination, without regards to the labels Windows dynamically assigns.

But, the question in my mind is if something else is wrong that Windows caused when you had two drives connected at the same time when the problem started.

IOW, it might be something as simple as a partition that's not flagged as bootable on your original drive (and copying the partition table from the working drive to the original boot drive would make sure they're identical in that area).

Or, it might be something else stored in files within the Windows installation. Unfortunately, Windows is a bad operating system for consistency when moving it between drives due to the way features like Windows Genuine Advantage work to prevent piracy when hardware changes are detected by Windows. I've been bitten by those types of issues in the past myself (as sometimes innocent users with legit copies can have problems with the anti-piracy mechanisms Microsoft puts into Windows). fun.

Anyway, your best bet is to probably just copy any files you want from under the users folder on the your original drive (or use a backup utility for that purpose), so that you have the most up to date files from you main folders under \users\yourname (desktop, photos, etc.) on your original boot drive, making sure to include your hidden mozilla profiles for firefox, any folders related to e-mail, etc. if you have anything important stored that isn't included on the drive you have working now.

Then, just create a new full disk image backup of your current (working drive) installation and restore it to your original drive and make sure it boots OK; then restore the files you backed up from the original drive to it (everything under \users from the original drive).

But, if you want to try and do things like copy the mbr and partition table from the working drive to the original drive, let me know, and we can try to get together via a chat session in google talk or similar so I can talk you through booting into a linux distro from cd or flash drive; then give you the commands so we can see how your partition structures appear (with you pasting the output of those commands within the chat session so I can understand the structures); then give you the commands needed to do things like copy the mbr and partition tables.

It's easier than it sounds if you understand how partition structures work and how drives and partitions are labeled in linux. But, if you're not familiar with linux naming conventions for drives and partitions, it's best to have someone helping you that is familiar with how that kind of thing works to make sure you don't accidentally damage your working drive when performing those types of low level sector copies.

--
JimC
------

Jim Cockfield said:

Just becasue the /fixboot option doesn't work doesn't mean the /fixmbr otion didn't do it's job.

fixboot is normally for fixing setup files related to a dual boot config. But, I normally run it anyway when fixing boot issues in case the files are setup that way.

The bootrec.exe /FixMBR choice would have rewritten the boot code in the master boot record for you.

So, if it was corrupted for any reason, that should have fixed it.

IOW, see if you can boot from the drive now.

Click to expand...

I actually went through the various steps two times just to be certain I did not initiate "Operator Error" the first time. After each session, I again checked to see if the Original Drive would Boot and each time I got the same error message as well as the same error code as original.

Yes, it is truly amazing how the various Hard Drive Partition identifications (C, D, E. F, etc) change -- so (for each of my Partitions for every Hard Drive) I have MY original assigned Drive letter first (in the name) plus drive ID & Usage and this at least helps some but the Windows Drive Letter on the right changes almost like the weather -- especially since I have 3 external Hard Drive Racks in this computer making it very versatile for switching Physical Drives in and out. I also keep a current list of the many drives I have that indicates the Manufacturer identification and this helps (some) for functions that do not indicate the assigned Hard Drive Name. Most of these only show a portion of the Mfgr drive Name so it is a continuous effort of being very Cautious.

Member said:

But, other things could still be wrong, too (for example, if the windows partition is no longer flagged as bootable on your original drive for some reason).

As for c: versus d:, etc. the windows recovery software will look for valid windows installs for fixing things like the mbr when using the bootrec utility.

But, because of the crazy way Windows identifies partitions (c:, d:, etc.) the labels can have little or no meaning. That's because Windows using a dynamic naming convention when drive letters are assigned (they can change, depending on where you're booting from). For example, I use an SSD for my boot drive that has Windows installed in it's second partition.

When I boot into that SSD, that partition is labeled as c: (the way Windows normally labels the partition you're booting into with Windows on it). Yet, the original drive that shipped with the PC is being used as a second drive, and the original windows partition is labeled as e: when I boot into the SSD. Yet, if I remove the SSD and boot into the original drive, the partition Windows is installed on is labeled c: versus e: again.

Again, the labels that windows assigns to partitions are dynamic and will change depending on the partition you're booting into. Fun.

Now, you could try to boot into a Live LInux distro and do something like copy the mbr and partition table from the drive that's working now to the drive with a problem. With Linux, you can use utilities like fidisk to see how your partitions are structured, and use commands that reference the specific drives you want as the source and destination, without regards to the labels Windows dynamically assigns.

But, the question in my mind is if something else is wrong that Windows caused when you had two drives connected at the same time when the problem started.

Click to expand...

As previously mentioned -- because of the very recent Macrium backup (09-02-2014) and no new or updated software installs, as far as I can determine I only lost a couple Emails of which I was helping a Gentleman in another Country with a Printer problem so there is no problem with these.

I actually had files of a couple I prepared in WordPad format on my working drive G then copy/paste to the email send area for sending.

My primary objective was to try to find a "workable" method for correcting such unusual issues (problems) that seem to crop up and always unplanned -- but I guess it is not meant to be.

I can easily use the 09-02-2014 Macrium Image Backup to restore to this non Bootable drive. I will also copy the Email area "applicable folders and files from this drive I am currently using since I have had mostly Email activity (but as planned, basically nothing else) and replace the same in the Drive after Restoring.

Since I have basically lost "nothing" it is probably best to not continue further with this project. I have absolutely NO idea why the drive became non Bootable if not because of some "fluke" regarding having two Win 7 Boot Drives in the computer at the same time. Just for precaution, I definitely not repeat the explained "two drive" status again.

However, thanks for the offer regarding the Linux details. If I had lost important Folders & Files it would be a different consideration.

Jim, Many thanks for (Your Usual) extended efforts and consumed time to help.

I Googled for about an Hour before the original post but did not find any items I considered as being Helpful. Most were download this or that and run and I don't prefer that unless there is some "track Record" by those for which I trust their judgment.

My Regards, and thanks again -- Vernon...

Member said:

IOW, it might be something as simple as a partition that's not flagged as bootable on your original drive (and copying the partition table from the working drive to the original boot drive would make sure they're identical in that area).

Or, it might be something else stored in files within the Windows installation. Unfortunately, Windows is a bad operating system for consistency when moving it between drives due to the way features like Windows Genuine Advantage work to prevent piracy when hardware changes are detected by Windows. I've been bitten by those types of issues in the past myself (as sometimes innocent users with legit copies can have problems with the anti-piracy mechanisms Microsoft puts into Windows). fun.

Anyway, your best bet is to probably just copy any files you want from under the users folder on the your original drive (or use a backup utility for that purpose), so that you have the most up to date files from you main folders under \users\yourname (desktop, photos, etc.) on your original boot drive, making sure to include your hidden mozilla profiles for firefox, any folders related to e-mail, etc. if you have anything important stored that isn't included on the drive you have working now.

Then, just create a new full disk image backup of your current (working drive) installation and restore it to your original drive and make sure it boots OK; then restore the files you backed up from the original drive to it (everything under \users from the original drive).

But, if you want to try and do things like copy the mbr and partition table from the working drive to the original drive, let me know, and we can try to get together via a chat session in google talk or similar so I can talk you through booting into a linux distro from cd or flash drive; then give you the commands so we can see how your partition structures appear (with you pasting the output of those commands within the chat session so I can understand the structures); then give you the commands needed to do things like copy the mbr and partition tables.

It's easier than it sounds if you understand how partition structures work and how drives and partitions are labeled in linux. But, if you're not familiar with linux naming conventions for drives and partitions, it's best to have someone helping you that is familiar with how that kind of thing works to make sure you don't accidentally damage your working drive when performing those types of low level sector copies.

--
JimC
------

Click to expand...

--
Vernon...

Looks like you've done all the right things. You could try checking your drives in an external dock unit with another computer and running good antivirus and malware programs. Avoid Norton, as it can produce all kinds of weird problems. http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3516746&Sku=T925-1219

Vernon D Rainwater said:

skyglider said:

Just curious. For the drive that won't boot into windows, is it a new HDD or an older used one that was formatted and then Windows installed on it?

Click to expand...

The Drive is around 1 year in usage. It is one of the WD Better (or best) 5 Year drive that I have been using for this time. In March this year, I Formatted it and installed a NEW Win 7 Pro 64 bit OS on it and have been using it for that purpose since install of Win 7.

Evidently, something happened when I had both this current Boot Drive plus another Backup of 07-28-2014 in the computer at the same time. As previously mentioned, I selected the current Drive (in setup) to use to boot from. When booted, it had booted from the 07-28 drive. Ever since, the normal Boot Drive will not Boot. I was getting ready to do a Macrium Image Restore to the 07-28 drive using the latest image backup of 09-02 -- is why there were both in the computer.

Click to expand...

Was wondering whether a used drive decided to fail. But from what you just said, it does not sound like a hardware failure.

I'm trying to learn from your experience. When both drives were connected via SATA cables to your motherboard, was the 07-28 drive connected to a lower numbered SATA port? IOW, was the 07-28 drive connected to SATA-0 port while your normal boot drive was connected to a SATA-1 port? If so, that might explain why it booted from the 07-28 drive first.

Vernon D Rainwater said:

Vernon D Rainwater said:

Vernon D Rainwater said:

The following Paragraph should be RED:

You've got one drive booting OK now, right? I surely wouldn't try to do anything with it for now, as if worse comes to worse, you may be able to use it as a source drive to overwrite your problem drives via a cloning process. I can talk you through booting in a Linux distro (either from CD or USB Flash Drive) for that purpose if it comes to that (using ddrescue, which only requires a one line command to copy everything from the source drive to a destination drive to make an exact bit by bit copy for cloning purposes).

Click to expand...

In your post, the above was in black text. To change the color of text, scroll down to the bottom of the text window and click on "Switch to plain text editor". When in the plain text editor, the leading greater than signs determine the color of the text. So just insert "one" greater than sign in front of the text that should be red.

For example:

Vernon D Rainwater said:

This is red with 1 leading greater than sign.

Vernon D Rainwater said:

This is green with 2 leading greater than signs.

Vernon D Rainwater said:

This is gold with 3 leading greater than signs.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Thanks for this details -- I looked at the top but didn't find a way to change color. Also, I was using the normal Dpreview Editor -- whatever it is.

Click to expand...

My instructions on how to change the color of text pertains to using the normal dpreview editor.

Sky

Hello Vernon

I read some of the posts. you have done a restore to another disk.

What i would do is I would make sure you have backups to all your disk combinations so you can always get back to where you were.

Make sure you can boot to one of your installations which you stated you could do. Then have your problem boot on a different disk. Use easyBCD to try and look for all the os you can boot and see if it will allow in your multiboot line you to boot to your problem boot install. Install eazybcd on an installation that boots. Make sure you do a backup of the boot. Then have it try to find or fix installation using the quick and dirty button labeled BCD Backup/repair. If that does not work, try and point to the disk where the problem installation exists. If that fails.. read the website, it will have information how to fix booting problems.

It is free and is an easy way to fix these sort of problems. Good luck.

http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

Vernon D Rainwater said:

Seems that if I didn't have "Bad Luck" I would have no luck at all.

Using Win 7 Pro 64 bit.

I did a Macrium Backup 09-02-2014 of the Primary Win 7 64 Bit (Boot) Drive with both Partitions C and D and have not installed any new or changed software since then -- so I will not lose any information by using this Backup to Restore to a different Hard Drive -- which I just completed and using to make this post.

The issue I need help with is that the Hard Drive normally used will not Boot and will not perform with any of the methods relating to using original Win 7 DVD Disk to Repair that system. Although I had made a System Backup (using Backup/Restore function in Win 7) -- this was not recognized (or used) in the attempt to Repair.

The Error code is: 0xc000000e with Description Device Inaccessible.

I had used a separate Hard Drive and did a Macrium Restore (for Backup 07-28) and available to just change out the Win7 Boot Drive -- should there be a need for this. I was getting prepared to use this same Drive to Restore the above 09-02 Macrium Backup. I am using two SATA Removable Hard Drive Racks. After power down and inserting the 07-28 drive in the open Rack -- I re-booted and checked BIOS to select the original Win 7 Boot Drive. However, instead of booting using that Drive, it booted using the 07-28 Drive -- even though I had selected the original Boot Drive.

I know that the Drive indicators (3M, 3S, 4M, 4S, etc) may change based on different drives being used (at any given time). I checked the actual drive identifications to be certain of selecting the original drive to use.

Then, I shut down and disconnected the 07-28 drive and (again) selected the original Win 7 Boot Drive in BIOS and tried to Boot using this original Boot Drive -- however, it would not boot and displayed the screen indicating to Boot from the original DVD Media for Win 7. I tried the various indicated methods to Repair the original Boot Drive with NO success.

I have NOT disturbed the original Win 7 Boot Drive -- I just disconnected it and would like to find a "working" method to repair this drive since it evidently has a corrupted Master Boot Record. I am especially interested to find a method to Repair since the above is my normal method of keeping a (Macrium Restored Drive) Backup and it could be at times when I have not just completed a current Macrium backup of the normally used Boot Drive.

Anyone that may help with this will be greatly appreciated.

--
Vernon...

Click to expand...

I'd also try using this command:

bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd

You'll see it mentioned in the same article I referenced earlier (along with some further steps to rename a file named boot and run the same command again if it doesn't work the first time around).


That should scan your system for bootable windows installation and add them to a file Windows looks for when booting.

Or, if that fails, you may want to try the EasyBCD utiity mentioned by Richard:

Skipper494 said:

Looks like you've done all the right things. You could try checking your drives in an external dock unit with another computer and running good antivirus and malware programs. Avoid Norton, as it can produce all kinds of weird problems. http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3516746&Sku=T925-1219

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I don't have any type of Dock available. I use basically the same setup as using a Dock for drives on this computer since I have 3 Removable Drive trays. Of course, the main object would be to try on another computer. I have another but not equipped for Win 7 64 bit operations and I don't want to disturb one of our Daughter's computer especially since I don't have a Dock.

NOTE: The normal drive was installed inside the computer and the 07-28 was in one of the Removable racks.

I check for Malware and Adware almost daily and Anti Virus is operational all the time. I believe it has something to do with having the 2 Win 7 64 bit hard drives mounted -- even though I set to boot from the Normal drive and also used (F8 on this machine) to select the proper drive to boot from -- but it booted from the other 07-28 drive -- and of course, I have no idea WHY.

Jim Cockfield said:

I'd also try using this command:

bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd

You'll see it mentioned in the same article I referenced earlier (along with some further steps to rename a file named boot and run the same command again if it doesn't work the first time around).

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/win7-windows-7-mbr,10036.html

That should scan your system for bootable windows installation and add them to a file Windows looks for when booting.

Or, if that fails, you may want to try the EasyBCD utiity mentioned by Richard:

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/54337297

--
JimC
------

Click to expand...

As indicatd in a previous post http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/54334382 I did run this, also twice; and it failed both times -- details in the previous post. This is intermixed in all the many detail lines that would be easy to miss.

However, I have not used EasyBCD at this time. I will do this before continuing with any other options such as Restoring from the 09-02-2014 Backup. This morning, I copied the "current" Email Folder and have it on another drive for use -- either if the EasyBCD works --OR-- doing a Restore from 09-02-2014 file.

--
Vernon...

skyglider said:

Vernon D Rainwater said:

skyglider said:

Just curious. For the drive that won't boot into windows, is it a new HDD or an older used one that was formatted and then Windows installed on it?

Click to expand...

The Drive is around 1 year in usage. It is one of the WD Better (or best) 5 Year drive that I have been using for this time. In March this year, I Formatted it and installed a NEW Win 7 Pro 64 bit OS on it and have been using it for that purpose since install of Win 7.

Evidently, something happened when I had both this current Boot Drive plus another Backup of 07-28-2014 in the computer at the same time. As previously mentioned, I selected the current Drive (in setup) to use to boot from. When booted, it had booted from the 07-28 drive. Ever since, the normal Boot Drive will not Boot. I was getting ready to do a Macrium Image Restore to the 07-28 drive using the latest image backup of 09-02 -- is why there were both in the computer.

Click to expand...

Was wondering whether a used drive decided to fail. But from what you just said, it does not sound like a hardware failure.

I'm trying to learn from your experience. When both drives were connected via SATA cables to your motherboard, was the 07-28 drive connected to a lower numbered SATA port? IOW, was the 07-28 drive connected to SATA-0 port while your normal boot drive was connected to a SATA-1 port? If so, that might explain why it booted from the 07-28 drive first.

Click to expand...

I actually don't know the connection "order" (from memory), however I can check. The BIOS Setup should control which Drive is used to Boot from -- Plus, I also (use added precaution) and also selected the F8 screen and specifically selected the normal drive to Boot. Both areas were selected to use the Normal Drive -- but instead it used the 07-28 Drive to Boot.

NOTE: Both the Internal Hard Drives plus the Removable Racks have the same SATA connections that I have been using since this computer was built (Assembled) in late 2007. This computer also has one CD-RW drive, 1 DVD-RW, plus 2 EIDE Drives (for compatibility with older machines) -- one is internal and one uses a Removable Hard Drive tray.

skyglider said:

skyglider said:

skyglider said:

skyglider said:

The following Paragraph should be RED:

You've got one drive booting OK now, right? I surely wouldn't try to do anything with it for now, as if worse comes to worse, you may be able to use it as a source drive to overwrite your problem drives via a cloning process. I can talk you through booting in a Linux distro (either from CD or USB Flash Drive) for that purpose if it comes to that (using ddrescue, which only requires a one line command to copy everything from the source drive to a destination drive to make an exact bit by bit copy for cloning purposes).

Click to expand...

In your post, the above was in black text. To change the color of text, scroll down to the bottom of the text window and click on "Switch to plain text editor". When in the plain text editor, the leading greater than signs determine the color of the text. So just insert "one" greater than sign in front of the text that should be red.

For example:

skyglider said:

This is red with 1 leading greater than sign.

skyglider said:

This is green with 2 leading greater than signs.

skyglider said:

This is gold with 3 leading greater than signs.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Thanks for this details -- I looked at the top but didn't find a way to change color. Also, I was using the normal Dpreview Editor -- whatever it is.

Click to expand...

My instructions on how to change the color of text pertains to using the normal dpreview editor.

Sky

Click to expand...

Thanks for the above note -- I obviously misread thinking I had to change to different Text Editor to be able to select colors.

Richard said:

Hello Vernon

I read some of the posts. you have done a restore to another disk.

What i would do is I would make sure you have backups to all your disk combinations so you can always get back to where you were.

Click to expand...

Richard, I am what could be classified as a "Backup Fanatic". I have the system Backed-Up as at 09-02-2014 on one internal Drive plus Two disconnected Drives -- plus the few days activity also backed up today so to not lose data for the few days (09--02-07).

One of the Disconnected Drives will be to my Bank Lock Box tomorrow to be switched with the one there.

Make sure you can boot to one of your installations which you stated you could do. Then have your problem boot on a different disk. Use easyBCD to try and look for all the os you can boot and see if it will allow in your multiboot line you to boot to your problem boot install. Install eazybcd on an installation that boots. Make sure you do a backup of the boot. Then have it try to find or fix installation using the quick and dirty button labeled BCD Backup/repair. If that does not work said:

Vernon D Rainwater, post: 54337297, member: 61975"]
Seems that if I didn't have "Bad Luck" I would have no luck at all.

Using Win 7 Pro 64 bit.

I did a Macrium Backup 09-02-2014 of the Primary Win 7 64 Bit (Boot) Drive with both Partitions C and D and have not installed any new or changed software since then -- so I will not lose any information by using this Backup to Restore to a different Hard Drive -- which I just completed and using to make this post.

The issue I need help with is that the Hard Drive normally used will not Boot and will not perform with any of the methods relating to using original Win 7 DVD Disk to Repair that system. Although I had made a System Backup (using Backup/Restore function in Win 7) -- this was not recognized (or used) in the attempt to Repair.

The Error code is: 0xc000000e with Description Device Inaccessible.

I had used a separate Hard Drive and did a Macrium Restore (for Backup 07-28) and available to just change out the Win7 Boot Drive -- should there be a need for this. I was getting prepared to use this same Drive to Restore the above 09-02 Macrium Backup. I am using two SATA Removable Hard Drive Racks. After power down and inserting the 07-28 drive in the open Rack -- I re-booted and checked BIOS to select the original Win 7 Boot Drive. However, instead of booting using that Drive, it booted using the 07-28 Drive -- even though I had selected the original Boot Drive.

I know that the Drive indicators (3M, 3S, 4M, 4S, etc) may change based on different drives being used (at any given time). I checked the actual drive identifications to be certain of selecting the original drive to use.

Then, I shut down and disconnected the 07-28 drive and (again) selected the original Win 7 Boot Drive in BIOS and tried to Boot using this original Boot Drive -- however, it would not boot and displayed the screen indicating to Boot from the original DVD Media for Win 7. I tried the various indicated methods to Repair the original Boot Drive with NO success.

I have NOT disturbed the original Win 7 Boot Drive -- I just disconnected it and would like to find a "working" method to repair this drive since it evidently has a corrupted Master Boot Record. I am especially interested to find a method to Repair since the above is my normal method of keeping a (Macrium Restored Drive) Backup and it could be at times when I have not just completed a current Macrium backup of the normally used Boot Drive.

Anyone that may help with this will be greatly appreciated.

--
Vernon...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

EDIT to Add: Richard or Jim, if you are around and read this -- I went to the link and viewed the various content. There are so MANY things there that most indicate they can do about anything (except possibly make coffee -- [Grin] ) that I am not certain which of the many items I am suppose to DL and use. Your help will be appreciated.

--
Vernon...

[/QUOTE]

Vernon D Rainwater said:

skyglider said:

I'm trying to learn from your experience. When both drives were connected via SATA cables to your motherboard, was the 07-28 drive connected to a lower numbered SATA port? IOW, was the 07-28 drive connected to SATA-0 port while your normal boot drive was connected to a SATA-1 port? If so, that might explain why it booted from the 07-28 drive first.

Click to expand...

I actually don't know the connection "order" (from memory), however I can check. The BIOS Setup should control which Drive is used to Boot from -- Plus, I also (use added precaution) and also selected the F8 screen and specifically selected the normal drive to Boot. Both areas were selected to use the Normal Drive -- but instead it used the 07-28 Drive to Boot.

Click to expand...

I've had problems booting from the drive selected in the BIOS boot order. IOW, in the BIOS I selected booting from a boot CD in the optical drive as boot-1, with booting from the system HDD as boot-2. But the PC would boot from the system HDD regardless.

I had to use the F12 boot order screen and change to legacy boot in order to boot from the optical drive. This is different from your problem but it does show that changing the boot order in the BIOS does not guarantee booting from the selected drive in the BIOS.

Checking the connection order of your SATA drives connected to your motherboard might shed some light on why your PC booted from the wrong HDD.

Vernon D Rainwater said:

NOTE: Both the Internal Hard Drives plus the Removable Racks have the same SATA connections that I have been using since this computer was built (Assembled) in late 2007. This computer also has one CD-RW drive, 1 DVD-RW, plus 2 EIDE Drives (for compatibility with older machines) -- one is internal and one uses a Removable Hard Drive tray.

Click to expand...

skyglider said:

Vernon D Rainwater said:

skyglider said:

I'm trying to learn from your experience. When both drives were connected via SATA cables to your motherboard, was the 07-28 drive connected to a lower numbered SATA port? IOW, was the 07-28 drive connected to SATA-0 port while your normal boot drive was connected to a SATA-1 port? If so, that might explain why it booted from the 07-28 drive first.

Click to expand...

I actually don't know the connection "order" (from memory), however I can check. The BIOS Setup should control which Drive is used to Boot from -- Plus, I also (use added precaution) and also selected the F8 screen and specifically selected the normal drive to Boot. Both areas were selected to use the Normal Drive -- but instead it used the 07-28 Drive to Boot.

Click to expand...

I've had problems booting from the drive selected in the BIOS boot order. IOW, in the BIOS I selected booting from a boot CD in the optical drive as boot-1, with booting from the system HDD as boot-2. But the PC would boot from the system HDD regardless.

I had to use the F12 boot order screen and change to legacy boot in order to boot from the optical drive. This is different from your problem but it does show that changing the boot order in the BIOS does not guarantee booting from the selected drive in the BIOS.

Checking the connection order of your SATA drives connected to your motherboard might shed some light on why your PC booted from the wrong HDD.

skyglider said:

NOTE: Both the Internal Hard Drives plus the Removable Racks have the same SATA connections that I have been using since this computer was built (Assembled) in late 2007. This computer also has one CD-RW drive, 1 DVD-RW, plus 2 EIDE Drives (for compatibility with older machines) -- one is internal and one uses a Removable Hard Drive tray.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Your F12 selection does the same as my F8 to allow selecting the specific device (drive) or Media to boot from. I did that and it booted from the wrong (NOT selected) drive.

Sometimes I think these computers may have inherited something (not good) from Bill gates-[Grin]...

Hopefully I can check the cables and connected devices.