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- Notebook Operating System and Recovery
- Cannot boot from a cloned hard disk.

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09-25-2020 08:32 PM - edited 09-25-2020 08:50 PM
I have a HP ENVY 15-j111tx Notebook whose hard disk got bad sectors few days ago. I cloned the hard disk using Macrium Reflect Partition Manager to a new hard disk of same capacity as I wanted to preserve the original state of my OS. But I am unable to boot from the new hard disk
I can see that all the cloned partitions are in tact. Tried many recovery options available online from Microsoft.
An installation media created using Windows Media Creation Tool 2004 also failed to repair my OS. Looks like there is something specific to HP laptop partitions that has gone wrong and machine is not able to identify correct partition as a boot partition.
Appreciate any help in this regard.
09-26-2020 09:32 AM
The Macrium Refect (MR) process does not read files and folders, instead, it simply copies the sectors. So, if there is filesystem corruption, it will not detect that and furthermore, it will simply replicate that corruption in the cloned partitions.
If the OS partition is intact, you can copy that to the new drive and then use MR to repair the OS to add the boot loader files -- as they do not have to be in their own partition.
Use the MR option to create a boot USB stick or CD
That will create MR bootable media. Then, you can boot your PC into WinPE using that media.
Have patience, as that can take a while to start and bring up the screen.
Once the screen is there, select the option to Fix Windows boot problems. It will then search for the OSs installed and list them, Select the one you want to repair and click Next.
It will now do the repairs, listing the things it has done.
When finished, select the option to Restart the PC.
If this worked, the boot repair succeeded and you will have your PC back.
I am a volunteer and I do not work for, nor represent, HP
09-29-2020 11:16 AM
Thanks a lot for your response. Sorry for the late reply as the notification mail ended up in my spam folder and noticed it only today.
I had tried the Repair Windows Boot problems from MR USB Media earlier (did it once again) but still I am not able to get it working. I keep on getting BSOD with error 0xc0000135. And after trying to recover I get error A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed (0xc0000225)
Meanwhile I am trying to fix it manually using the Microsoft tools diskpart, bcdedit, bootrec etc. as even the MS PE Boot media could not repair the issue.
Fortunately, I have backup of the Windows partition (I have an Ubuntu partition as well using which I can still boot from the defective HDD as well as from the cloned HDD.)
One thing I noticed that the MR Fix for the boot issues changes the drive letters - originally the Windows partition was mounted on C drive whereas after the MR Fix it started getting mounted on D (I checked by launching Command Prompt at the Troubleshooting menu during boot)