Major Booting Problems

I tried to install W10 on a second hard drive while my main HD was connected. Major problems now.



I could not reboot my main HD, and I could not boot my second drive. I wiped my second HD and tried to install W10 again, but no luck. Tried to repair my main HD with a USB drive with W10. No luck. Got an error.



Somehow I finally got my main HD to reboot. I'm afraid to reboot now.



Not sure if I should unplug my second HD I tried to install W10 on while computer's running. Trying to go to previous build didn't help. Think I may have a system image on an external drive. If I boot from my USB and plug in an external drive with that backup image, will that re-write my main drive completely and take me back to that system image state? System Reserve and all?

Any other ideas?



Thanks.

dalchina said:

Hi, taking a wild guess, but a safe one, if you haven't done anything dramatic to your first disk, then I would suggest with only that in your PC that you consider using Macrium Reflect's handy Fix Boot utility if you still have difficulty with it.

Try shutting down then disconnecting your other drive, then see if you can reboot.

E.g.
Fix Boot Problems

More up to date:
Fixing Windows boot problems - KnowledgeBase v7 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase - KnowledgeBase v7 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

is that Macrium Reflect different than a USB drive with W10 installation files?
i

spunk said:

Macrium reflect is a Drive Imaging software, it allows you to make a mirror copy of your current computers configuration, with your personal files, programs and settings the way you have it now. Making an image will save this configuration, if you can't boot from your HDD for any reason, you can restore this image and be back in business with the same configuration as the day you created the image.
The Windows 10 Installer, is just that, Windows with none of your files or programs.
If you want to install Windows to a different HDD then Unplug the old HDD. When you install Windows, to a single drive, Windows creates a Hidden System Reserved partition in the front of the C: Drive which holds all of the Boot information. If you have a drive installed with Windows on it already, and try to install to a second drive, Windows will use the old drives Hidden System Reserved Partition while it installs to the second drive. So, after install, if you remove the old HDD, Windows will not boot because it doesn't have access to the System Reserved partition.
If you unplug the old HDD and then install Windows to the new HDD, Windows will create a new Hidden System Reserved Partition. After install, you can plug in the old drive. Boot into Setup (Bios) go to the Boot tab, make sure the New HDD is the First Boot Device and the old HDD is second or lower in the boot order. Save and Exit. This should boot the new HDD.

ok...I already have a mirror image of the drive. It is 142GB in size. Is there a way to make a back-up without all my reams data? I have that backed up separately as well. I really don't want to lose my installed programs, as I may not have all the installation DVDs and would be a pain.

Also, that system image is on my password-protected WD Passport external HD. Does Windows give an opportunity to give the password to access the drive?

Thanks.

spunk said:

If you want to fix the boot, you can use Macrium's or Minitool Partition Wizard and click on the left panel Partition Recovery or Rebuild MBR.

This is the current state, if that is of any value.
.

Back in business! Lesson learned. :) It didn't boot, but then the Macrium boot tool seemed to be the fix. (I forgot to type in those 2 commands as suggested. But I think the tool did that automatically)

So what is the best way to back up my system that preserves my installed programs? Is a back-up image of my entire HD the only way?

Thanks much.