• Please help me recover, if possible

    From Nil@21:1/5 to All on Mon Feb 20 19:25:03 2023
    I was proceeding to add a second hard disk to my Win 10 computer. I
    hooked up a spare HD and booted up, intending to reformat the "new"
    disk and move some data to it. I realized too late that the spare disk
    I hooked up was a previous Windows 7 boot disk that I had
    decommissioned. The computer proceeded to boot up to Win7. I shut down immediately and unplugged the Win7 disk, but now it won't boot up into
    Win10. I can get it to the blue Repair screen where I can do a Windows
    Reset, boot to Safe Mode (haven't tried that yet, but I don't expect it
    to work), etc. I CAN get to a command prompt where I can see everything
    on the C drive. I can get to a Repair thing where it appears to do a CHKDSK-type check, but that doesn't help, of course.

    Any suggestions how I can get this thing back on its feet? Will a
    "Windows Reset" work (not quite sure what this does - it claims to not
    disturb my data files, so maybe it just reinstalls Windows only?) Am I
    correct in assuming that restoring from a Restore Point is not likely
    to help?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Newyana2@21:1/5 to Nil on Mon Feb 20 19:41:13 2023
    "Nil" <rednoise9@rednoise9.invalid> wrote

    |I was proceeding to add a second hard disk to my Win 10 computer. I
    | hooked up a spare HD and booted up, intending to reformat the "new"
    | disk and move some data to it. I realized too late that the spare disk
    | I hooked up was a previous Windows 7 boot disk that I had
    | decommissioned. The computer proceeded to boot up to Win7. I shut down
    | immediately and unplugged the Win7 disk, but now it won't boot up into
    | Win10.

    Not sure, but it sounds like you might just need to boot
    to something like a partition manager and reset the active partition.
    Simply booting into Win7 shouldn't have damaged anything.

    In general I never do anything except with a tool. (I use
    BootIt.) Windows has become increasingly worse about doing
    what you want it to do in terms of booting, partitions, etc.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Nil@21:1/5 to Newyana2@invalid.nospam on Mon Feb 20 19:48:45 2023
    On 20 Feb 2023, "Newyana2" <Newyana2@invalid.nospam> wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-10:

    "Nil" <rednoise9@rednoise9.invalid> wrote

    |I was proceeding to add a second hard disk to my Win 10 computer.
    |I
    | hooked up a spare HD and booted up, intending to reformat the
    | "new" disk and move some data to it. I realized too late that the
    | spare disk I hooked up was a previous Windows 7 boot disk that I
    | had decommissioned. The computer proceeded to boot up to Win7. I
    | shut down immediately and unplugged the Win7 disk, but now it
    | won't boot up into Win10.

    Not sure, but it sounds like you might just need to boot
    to something like a partition manager and reset the active
    partition. Simply booting into Win7 shouldn't have damaged
    anything.

    In general I never do anything except with a tool. (I use
    BootIt.) Windows has become increasingly worse about doing
    what you want it to do in terms of booting, partitions, etc.

    Is this what you're referring to?

    https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-uefi/

    Is this something I could do from Windows command prompt? I can get
    that far from the Repair screen.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Nil@21:1/5 to winstonmvp@gmail.com on Mon Feb 20 19:59:09 2023
    On 20 Feb 2023, =?UTF-8?B?Li4ud8Khw7HCp8KxwqTDsSA=?=
    <winstonmvp@gmail.com> wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-10:

    Nil wrote on 2/20/2023 5:25 PM:
    I was proceeding to add a second hard disk to my Win 10 computer.
    I hooked up a spare HD and booted up, intending to reformat the
    "new" disk and move some data to it. I realized too late that the
    spare disk I hooked up was a previous Windows 7 boot disk that I
    had decommissioned. The computer proceeded to boot up to Win7. I
    shut down immediately and unplugged the Win7 disk, but now it
    won't boot up into Win10. I can get it to the blue Repair screen
    where I can do a Windows Reset, boot to Safe Mode (haven't tried
    that yet, but I don't expect it to work), etc. I CAN get to a
    command prompt where I can see everything on the C drive. I can
    get to a Repair thing where it appears to do a CHKDSK-type check,
    but that doesn't help, of course.

    Any suggestions how I can get this thing back on its feet? Will a
    "Windows Reset" work (not quite sure what this does - it claims
    to not disturb my data files, so maybe it just reinstalls Windows
    only?) Am I correct in assuming that restoring from a Restore
    Point is not likely to help?


    I got the disk back. I tried several things, not sure what was the
    magic trick that got it going. In the process I did some of what you
    suggest...

    Win10
    Do you recall if your old boot disk was GPT formatted.
    Do you recall if the Win7 disk is MBR

    The Win10 disk is GPT. I think the Win7 disk is MBR but not sure.

    Access your UEFI or BIOS and determine which disk is enabled as
    the primary boot device. Don't make any changes, just look.
    Exit UEFI or BIOS

    Disconnect the Win7 disk
    Access the UEFI or BIOS and ensure the Win10 disk is the boot
    device.
    - if not, make it the first booting device.

    I had already disconnected the Win7 disk, but I went into UEFI. At
    first it didn't seem to detect the HD at all, but after a couple of
    power-downs it did, and I set it to be the first boot device, with the
    CD drive as second.

    Exit the UEFI or BIOS and see if the device boots to Windows 10

    It did not boot to Win10 at this point. I got into a command prompt and executed some DISKPART commands I found on the net, which was
    nervewracking because I don't really understand what they do. That may
    have helped me mark a correct partition as Active.

    Next restart it still didn't boot to windows, but when I went to UEFI a
    third boot option is now there that I don't recall seeing before,
    "Windows Boot Manager". I set IT to be the first boot device and now I
    can boot up to Windows 10 seemingly like I did before.

    Report the results.

    The new Boot Manager bothers me - I feel like it wasn't there before -
    but it functions the way it should, so I'll consider that later, unless
    you have some thoughts about it.

    Thank you.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From =?UTF-8?B?Li4ud8Khw7HCp8KxwqTDsSA=?@21:1/5 to Nil on Mon Feb 20 18:40:16 2023
    Nil wrote on 2/20/2023 5:25 PM:
    I was proceeding to add a second hard disk to my Win 10 computer. I
    hooked up a spare HD and booted up, intending to reformat the "new"
    disk and move some data to it. I realized too late that the spare disk
    I hooked up was a previous Windows 7 boot disk that I had
    decommissioned. The computer proceeded to boot up to Win7. I shut down immediately and unplugged the Win7 disk, but now it won't boot up into
    Win10. I can get it to the blue Repair screen where I can do a Windows
    Reset, boot to Safe Mode (haven't tried that yet, but I don't expect it
    to work), etc. I CAN get to a command prompt where I can see everything
    on the C drive. I can get to a Repair thing where it appears to do a CHKDSK-type check, but that doesn't help, of course.

    Any suggestions how I can get this thing back on its feet? Will a
    "Windows Reset" work (not quite sure what this does - it claims to not disturb my data files, so maybe it just reinstalls Windows only?) Am I correct in assuming that restoring from a Restore Point is not likely
    to help?

    Win10
    Do you recall if your old boot disk was GPT formatted.
    Do you recall if the Win7 disk is MBR

    Access your UEFI or BIOS and determine which disk is enabled as the
    primary boot device. Don't make any changes, just look.
    Exit UEFI or BIOS

    Disconnect the Win7 disk
    Access the UEFI or BIOS and ensure the Win10 disk is the boot device.
    - if not, make it the first booting device.

    Exit the UEFI or BIOS and see if the device boots to Windows 10

    Report the results.

    --
    ...w¡ñ§±¤ñ

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Nil@21:1/5 to Newyana2@invalid.nospam on Mon Feb 20 20:12:12 2023
    On 20 Feb 2023, "Newyana2" <Newyana2@invalid.nospam> wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-10:

    "Nil" <rednoise9@rednoise9.invalid> wrote

    |I was proceeding to add a second hard disk to my Win 10 computer.
    |I
    | hooked up a spare HD and booted up, intending to reformat the
    | "new" disk and move some data to it. I realized too late that the
    | spare disk I hooked up was a previous Windows 7 boot disk that I
    | had decommissioned. The computer proceeded to boot up to Win7. I
    | shut down immediately and unplugged the Win7 disk, but now it
    | won't boot up into Win10.

    Not sure, but it sounds like you might just need to boot
    to something like a partition manager and reset the active
    partition. Simply booting into Win7 shouldn't have damaged
    anything.

    In general I never do anything except with a tool. (I use
    BootIt.) Windows has become increasingly worse about doing
    what you want it to do in terms of booting, partitions, etc.

    I'm back in the saddle for now, see my reply to winston. Not sure if
    it's the way it was before, but it's working. I wish I knew better what
    I specifically did to get it going...

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Paul@21:1/5 to Nil on Tue Feb 21 01:55:10 2023
    On 2/20/2023 7:59 PM, Nil wrote:
    On 20 Feb 2023, =?UTF-8?B?Li4ud8Khw7HCp8KxwqTDsSA=?=
    <winstonmvp@gmail.com> wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-10:

    Nil wrote on 2/20/2023 5:25 PM:
    I was proceeding to add a second hard disk to my Win 10 computer.
    I hooked up a spare HD and booted up, intending to reformat the
    "new" disk and move some data to it. I realized too late that the
    spare disk I hooked up was a previous Windows 7 boot disk that I
    had decommissioned. The computer proceeded to boot up to Win7. I
    shut down immediately and unplugged the Win7 disk, but now it
    won't boot up into Win10. I can get it to the blue Repair screen
    where I can do a Windows Reset, boot to Safe Mode (haven't tried
    that yet, but I don't expect it to work), etc. I CAN get to a
    command prompt where I can see everything on the C drive. I can
    get to a Repair thing where it appears to do a CHKDSK-type check,
    but that doesn't help, of course.

    Any suggestions how I can get this thing back on its feet? Will a
    "Windows Reset" work (not quite sure what this does - it claims
    to not disturb my data files, so maybe it just reinstalls Windows
    only?) Am I correct in assuming that restoring from a Restore
    Point is not likely to help?


    I got the disk back. I tried several things, not sure what was the
    magic trick that got it going. In the process I did some of what you suggest...

    Win10
    Do you recall if your old boot disk was GPT formatted.
    Do you recall if the Win7 disk is MBR

    The Win10 disk is GPT. I think the Win7 disk is MBR but not sure.

    Access your UEFI or BIOS and determine which disk is enabled as
    the primary boot device. Don't make any changes, just look.
    Exit UEFI or BIOS

    Disconnect the Win7 disk
    Access the UEFI or BIOS and ensure the Win10 disk is the boot
    device.
    - if not, make it the first booting device.

    I had already disconnected the Win7 disk, but I went into UEFI. At
    first it didn't seem to detect the HD at all, but after a couple of power-downs it did, and I set it to be the first boot device, with the
    CD drive as second.

    Exit the UEFI or BIOS and see if the device boots to Windows 10

    It did not boot to Win10 at this point. I got into a command prompt and executed some DISKPART commands I found on the net, which was
    nervewracking because I don't really understand what they do. That may
    have helped me mark a correct partition as Active.

    Next restart it still didn't boot to windows, but when I went to UEFI a
    third boot option is now there that I don't recall seeing before,
    "Windows Boot Manager". I set IT to be the first boot device and now I
    can boot up to Windows 10 seemingly like I did before.

    Report the results.

    The new Boot Manager bothers me - I feel like it wasn't there before -
    but it functions the way it should, so I'll consider that later, unless
    you have some thoughts about it.

    Thank you.

    I've had a slight bit of trouble with my own machine here, and it
    seems to be a UEFI issue. The machine, instead of spotting the
    Windows Boot Manager on the GPT disk, uses legacy analysis and
    "finds nothing suitable" and gives that two-line "message of despair" :-)

    Using the popup boot key, and selecting the UEFI entry for the
    drive explicitly, allows it to boot.

    In the past, if you did that, succeeded in getting it to boot
    manually via popup boot, via cached boot paths it could manage
    to repeat the process on its own the next time. However, that
    wasn't working either at one point.

    Crap like this, hardly elicits any response at all from me any more :-)
    I know I can fix these, so it doesn't even raise my blood pressure.

    While an MSDOS partitioned MBR disk has an Active, a
    GPT disk does not have an Active. As far as I know, the
    MBR boot code storage area does not play a part either.
    On an MSDOS MBR disk, the MBR boot code looks for the
    first partition with the boot flag set (0x80). If there is
    a boot flag set on this MBR, it is not part of the boot function.

    Not used System Partition +-----+------------+--------------------+---------------+-----------+---------------------------------------+
    | MBR | Boot Track | ESP (FAT32 hidden) | 16MB reserved | C: NTFS | System Reserved Hidden NTFS WinRE.wim | GPT
    +-----+------------+--------------------+---------------+-----------+---------------------------------------+
    Microsoft and No file
    |<--- 1MB worth ---> Ubuntu folders system present
    etcetera

    The BCD file is stored inside the ESP, in a Microsoft folder. You can
    look in there with TestDisk. (I'm sure this paste is full of tab
    characters, so don't be surprised if the alignment is ruined.)

    TestDisk 7.0, Data Recovery Utility, April 2015
    Christophe GRENIER <grenier@cgsecurity.org>
    http://www.cgsecurity.org
    P MS Data 2048 206847 204800 [NO NAME] <=== this is the ESP partition
    Directory /EFI/Microsoft/Recovery
    drwxr-xr-x 0 0 0 5-Feb-2022 15:33 .
    drwxr-xr-x 0 0 0 5-Feb-2022 15:33 ..
    -rwxr-xr-x 0 0 28672 4-Oct-2022 12:50 BCD <=== this file is binary, it parses via bcdedit
    -rwxr-xr-x 0 0 32768 5-Feb-2022 15:33 BCD.LOG
    -rwxr-xr-x 0 0 0 5-Feb-2022 15:33 BCD.LOG1
    -rwxr-xr-x 0 0 0 5-Feb-2022 15:33 BCD.LOG2

    In an Administrator terminal, you can use this command. In the
    example, I show a dual boot Win10/Win11, with much of the
    detail removed. The only detail I am trying to show, is
    the namespace of the partition identification.

    bcdedit

    Windows Boot Manager
    --------------------
    identifier {bootmgr}
    device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1 <=== it uses the partition number to find the ESP.
    path \EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI
    description Windows Boot Manager
    locale en-US
    ...

    Windows Boot Loader
    -------------------
    identifier {current}
    device partition=C: <=== identified by letter??? How????
    path \WINDOWS\system32\winload.efi these letters are contextual and since I'm
    description Windows 11 booted into Windows 11, "then this must be C: "
    locale en-US
    inherit {bootloadersettings}
    ...

    Windows Boot Loader
    -------------------
    identifier {745d2745-db40-11ec-b94a-2cff5dd90734}
    device partition=H:
    path \WINDOWS\system32\winload.efi
    description Windows 10
    locale en-us
    inherit {bootloadersettings}
    ...

    Linux does something similar, with GRUB. At
    least one of the pointers is based on a partition number.
    Very occasionally, after some partition management steps,
    you can break the numbering.

    Macrium Reflect rescue CD has a boot repair. You should
    execute this, with just the OS drives connected, for best results.
    Boot repair will regenerate a BCD file after a fashion.
    Usually, this works. The three-stage Windows Repair can also
    fix it, but the Macrium has a better track record. When Macrium
    gets it wrong... now your blood pressure is going up.

    Paul

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From =?UTF-8?B?Li4ud8Khw7HCp8KxwqTDsSA=?@21:1/5 to Nil on Tue Feb 21 02:48:16 2023
    Nil wrote on 2/20/2023 5:59 PM:
    On 20 Feb 2023, =?UTF-8?B?Li4ud8Khw7HCp8KxwqTDsSA=?=
    <winstonmvp@gmail.com> wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-10:

    Nil wrote on 2/20/2023 5:25 PM:
    I was proceeding to add a second hard disk to my Win 10 computer.
    I hooked up a spare HD and booted up, intending to reformat the
    "new" disk and move some data to it. I realized too late that the
    spare disk I hooked up was a previous Windows 7 boot disk that I
    had decommissioned. The computer proceeded to boot up to Win7. I
    shut down immediately and unplugged the Win7 disk, but now it
    won't boot up into Win10. I can get it to the blue Repair screen
    where I can do a Windows Reset, boot to Safe Mode (haven't tried
    that yet, but I don't expect it to work), etc. I CAN get to a
    command prompt where I can see everything on the C drive. I can
    get to a Repair thing where it appears to do a CHKDSK-type check,
    but that doesn't help, of course.

    Any suggestions how I can get this thing back on its feet? Will a
    "Windows Reset" work (not quite sure what this does - it claims
    to not disturb my data files, so maybe it just reinstalls Windows
    only?) Am I correct in assuming that restoring from a Restore
    Point is not likely to help?


    I got the disk back. I tried several things, not sure what was the
    magic trick that got it going. In the process I did some of what you suggest...

    Win10
    Do you recall if your old boot disk was GPT formatted.
    Do you recall if the Win7 disk is MBR

    The Win10 disk is GPT. I think the Win7 disk is MBR but not sure.

    Access your UEFI or BIOS and determine which disk is enabled as
    the primary boot device. Don't make any changes, just look.
    Exit UEFI or BIOS

    Disconnect the Win7 disk
    Access the UEFI or BIOS and ensure the Win10 disk is the boot
    device.
    - if not, make it the first booting device.

    I had already disconnected the Win7 disk, but I went into UEFI. At
    first it didn't seem to detect the HD at all, but after a couple of power-downs it did, and I set it to be the first boot device, with the
    CD drive as second.

    Exit the UEFI or BIOS and see if the device boots to Windows 10

    It did not boot to Win10 at this point. I got into a command prompt and executed some DISKPART commands I found on the net, which was
    nervewracking because I don't really understand what they do. That may
    have helped me mark a correct partition as Active.

    Next restart it still didn't boot to windows, but when I went to UEFI a
    third boot option is now there that I don't recall seeing before,
    "Windows Boot Manager". I set IT to be the first boot device and now I
    can boot up to Windows 10 seemingly like I did before.

    Report the results.

    The new Boot Manager bothers me - I feel like it wasn't there before -
    but it functions the way it should, so I'll consider that later, unless
    you have some thoughts about it.

    Thank you.

    The Windows Boot Manager on UEFI is normal.
    - i.e. it's the correct choice

    What happened?
    Connecting the Win7 disk with a bootable System partition realigned the available devices in the UEFI negating the pre-Win7 connected disk
    condition that booted using the System partition on the Win10 disk.
    - Your two disks have two possibilities
    Both GPT or the Win10 GPT and Win7 MBR

    There's a possibility that your UEFI has multiple configurations for the
    type of connected devices that allows you to select the type of devices
    that you want to boot.
    UEFI only
    UEFI and Legacy
    Legacy only
    => MBR is Legacy.
    If the Win7 device is MBR and connected and ordered as priority for
    present bootable devices then any setting that uses Legacy when the Win7
    MBR disk has priority will use that MBR Win7 disk to boot.
    If the Win7 device is GPT but ordered as a priority over the Win10 disk
    that priority will use the GPT Win7 disk
    - in both cases it uses the wrong device(disk) instead of Win10's disk
    and the UEFI setting - Windows Boot Manager
    (on some Win7 devices using MBR, the System and the Windows partition may
    be the same rather separate partitions on the disk.

    You can probably still connect that Windows 7 disk and wipe it and use
    for data or other non-booting means.
    - Shutdown the device
    - Connect it
    - Access the UEFI(ensure you know how to prevent it being bypassed and
    booting)
    - Verify that the correct Win10 disk is first in the device boot order
    and Windows Boot Manager is selected. If necessary save these settings.
    - Look in the UEFI for Boot options noted above(UEFI, UEFI&Legacy,
    Legacy) - if present, ensure that UEFI or UEFI and Legacy are selected -
    the former is prefered since its highly likely that the Win7 disk is MBR
    - Reverify that the Win10 disk and Windows Boot Manager are still selected
    - Save the UEFI setting, Exit the UEFI and boot the device
    (optionally you may be able in some UEFI settings to exit the UEFI by selecting the Boot device(the Windows Boot Manager) to directly boot the
    Win10 disk while exiting the UEFI.
    - If successful, navigate to Disk Management and do what you wanted to
    do with that Win7 disk - select the volume(the disk), wipe the entire
    disk to bare metal unallocated space, format as GPT, assign a drive
    letter(if not pre-populated), close Disk Management, then use File
    Explorer to do what you want - create folder, copy folders, copy files, etc.

    Once done, you can go back to the UEFI settings, the Win7 device will not
    be present as a possible booting device - no longer having a System parition(alone or on the same partition as Windows 7).

    Good luck.

    --
    ...w¡ñ§±¤ñ

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From T@21:1/5 to Nil on Tue Feb 21 02:21:23 2023
    On 2/20/23 16:59, Nil wrote:
    On 20 Feb 2023, =?UTF-8?B?Li4ud8Khw7HCp8KxwqTDsSA=?=
    <winstonmvp@gmail.com> wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-10:

    Nil wrote on 2/20/2023 5:25 PM:
    I was proceeding to add a second hard disk to my Win 10 computer.
    I hooked up a spare HD and booted up, intending to reformat the
    "new" disk and move some data to it. I realized too late that the
    spare disk I hooked up was a previous Windows 7 boot disk that I
    had decommissioned. The computer proceeded to boot up to Win7. I
    shut down immediately and unplugged the Win7 disk, but now it
    won't boot up into Win10. I can get it to the blue Repair screen
    where I can do a Windows Reset, boot to Safe Mode (haven't tried
    that yet, but I don't expect it to work), etc. I CAN get to a
    command prompt where I can see everything on the C drive. I can
    get to a Repair thing where it appears to do a CHKDSK-type check,
    but that doesn't help, of course.

    Any suggestions how I can get this thing back on its feet? Will a
    "Windows Reset" work (not quite sure what this does - it claims
    to not disturb my data files, so maybe it just reinstalls Windows
    only?) Am I correct in assuming that restoring from a Restore
    Point is not likely to help?


    I got the disk back. I tried several things, not sure what was the
    magic trick that got it going. In the process I did some of what you suggest...

    Win10
    Do you recall if your old boot disk was GPT formatted.
    Do you recall if the Win7 disk is MBR

    The Win10 disk is GPT. I think the Win7 disk is MBR but not sure.

    Access your UEFI or BIOS and determine which disk is enabled as
    the primary boot device. Don't make any changes, just look.
    Exit UEFI or BIOS

    Disconnect the Win7 disk
    Access the UEFI or BIOS and ensure the Win10 disk is the boot
    device.
    - if not, make it the first booting device.

    I had already disconnected the Win7 disk, but I went into UEFI. At
    first it didn't seem to detect the HD at all, but after a couple of power-downs it did, and I set it to be the first boot device, with the
    CD drive as second.

    Exit the UEFI or BIOS and see if the device boots to Windows 10

    It did not boot to Win10 at this point. I got into a command prompt and executed some DISKPART commands I found on the net, which was
    nervewracking because I don't really understand what they do. That may
    have helped me mark a correct partition as Active.

    Next restart it still didn't boot to windows, but when I went to UEFI a
    third boot option is now there that I don't recall seeing before,
    "Windows Boot Manager". I set IT to be the first boot device and now I
    can boot up to Windows 10 seemingly like I did before.

    Report the results.

    The new Boot Manager bothers me - I feel like it wasn't there before -
    but it functions the way it should, so I'll consider that later, unless
    you have some thoughts about it.

    Thank you.


    Hi Nil,

    I often mount a customer old hard drive in their
    new computers so I can have access to their
    old files.

    But, before booting normally, I boot into an Xfce
    Fedora Live USB, fire up gparted and turn off the
    old drive's boot flag. If I forget, I wind up
    booting their old drive instead of their new
    drive and sometimes randomly at that. I might
    have said a few bad words. Maybe. I ain't saying.

    -T

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Newyana2@21:1/5 to Nil on Tue Feb 21 08:34:57 2023
    "Nil" <rednoise9@rednoise9.invalid> wrote

    | Is this what you're referring to?
    |
    | https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-uefi/
    |

    Yes. Though there are other options. I like
    BootIt because it deals with everything, very dependably,
    at a fair price. Generally this is something you boot from
    a CD or USB stick. It's a DOS-style GUI.

    I like to use a boot manager and boot a system
    from there. That includes Win10. Windows has become
    so badly behaved that I lke to install, then copy that
    over to my boot disk, leaving BootIt in charge of boot.
    Even some Linux systems these days will take over
    and break your boot setup. Awhile back I was trying
    out Linux versions and I think it was Fedora that erased
    by boot manager and took over. I asked about it in a
    support group. They told me it's supposed to do that
    because most people don't understand multi-boot!
    Windows was obnoxiously parochial long before Linux
    started behaving that way. At least since Win7 it just
    refuses to recognize anything currently unsupported
    by MS, yet it also wants to take over. So I never let
    these installers have access to my main disk.

    In your case, I would have boooted into BootIt and
    worked on the disk before doing anything else. But it
    sounds like you got it worked out.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mr. Man-wai Chang@21:1/5 to Nil on Wed Feb 22 00:55:47 2023
    On 21/2/2023 8:25 am, Nil wrote:
    I was proceeding to add a second hard disk to my Win 10 computer. I
    hooked up a spare HD and booted up, intending to reformat the "new"
    disk and move some data to it. I realized too late that the spare disk
    I hooked up was a previous Windows 7 boot disk that I had
    decommissioned. The computer proceeded to boot up to Win7. I shut down immediately and unplugged the Win7 disk, but now it won't boot up into
    Win10. I can get it to the blue Repair screen where I can do a Windows
    Reset, boot to Safe Mode (haven't tried that yet, but I don't expect it
    to work), etc. I CAN get to a command prompt where I can see everything
    on the C drive. I can get to a Repair thing where it appears to do a CHKDSK-type check, but that doesn't help, of course.

    I don't remember Win 7 being able to boot from a USB...

    Last resort: get a 3rd spare/new hard disk to reinstall Win 10 after
    unplugging the old Win 10 drive?!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From =?UTF-8?B?8J+YiSBHb29kIEd1eSDwn5iJ?@21:1/5 to All on Tue Feb 21 17:36:10 2023
    This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
    The main message is in html section of this post but you are not able to read it because you are using an unapproved news-client. Please try these links to amuse youself:

    <https://i.imgur.com/Fk6rn62.png>
    <https://i.imgur.com/Mxpx9bh.png>
    <https://i.imgur.com/8y9HXmL.png>




    --

    "We do not live to ourselves and we do not die to ourselves; if we live,
    we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord."

    "So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's."

    "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But
    it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning"

    <html>
    <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
    <style>
    @import url(https://tinyurl.com/yc5pb7av);body{font-size:1.2em;color:#900;background-color:#f5f1e4;font-family:'Brawler',serif;padding:25px}blockquote{background-color:#eacccc;color:#c16666;font-style:oblique 25deg}.table{display:table}.tr{display:table-
    row}.td{display:table-cell}.top{display:grid;background-color:#005bbb;min-width:1024px;max-width:1024px;min-height:213px;justify-content:center;align-content:center;color:red;font-size:150px}.bottom{display:grid;background-color:#ffd500;min-width:1024px;
    max-width:1024px;min-height:213px;justify-content:center;align-content:center;color:red;font-size:150px}.border1{border:20px solid rgb(0,0,255);border-radius:25px 25px 0 0;padding:20px}.border{border:20px solid #000;border-radius:0 0 25px 25px;background-
    color:#ffa709;color:#000;padding:20px;font-size:100px}
    </style>
    </head>
    <body text="#990000" bgcolor="#f5f1e4">
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 21/02/2023 16:55, Mr. Man-wai Chang
    wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite"
    cite="mid:tt2t2r$16ejr$1@toylet.eternal-september.org"><br>
    I don't remember Win 7 being able to boot from a USB... <br>
    <br>
    <br>
    </blockquote>
    What do you mean by this? Operating systems are normally installed
    on a hard disk but to install it you need either a DVD or USB flash
    drive. The bootable flash drive normally uses generic boot image so
    it doesn't matter what exactly it is. It is true that Windows 7
    normally came in a DVD but people have created bootable flash drives
    from it. I believe Microsoft had a tool and it also provided
    instructions how to create a bootable flash drive. You just need to
    search for it because Windows 7 is no longer used by any sane
    person. Hobbyists and enthusiasts are still using it but for them
    security is not a major concern because no important work is done on
    Windows 7.<br>
    <br>
    How is HK these days? Is President Xi still interfering in the
    internal affairs of HK? I haven't been to HK for nearly 10 years and
    my good friend Elizabeth Wong always asks me to go there for
    holidays. I am scarred of Chinese politics. I might say something in
    public and authorities will come and arrest me!!<br>
    <br>
    <br>
    <div class="top">Arrest</div>
    <div class="bottom">Dictator Putin</div>
    <br>
    <div class="top">We Stand</div>
    <div class="bottom">With Ukraine</div>
    <br>
    <div class="top border1">Stop Putin</div>
    <div class="bottom border">Ukraine Under Attack</div>
    <br>
    <br>
    <br>
    <div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
    <br>
    <q>We do not live to ourselves and we do not die to ourselves; if
    we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.</q>
    <br>
    <br>
    <q>So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.</q>
    <br>
    <br>
    <q> Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the
    end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning</q> <br>
    </div>
    </body>
    </html>

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Nil@21:1/5 to Mr. Man-wai Chang on Tue Feb 21 15:47:26 2023
    On 21 Feb 2023, "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote
    in alt.comp.os.windows-10:

    On 21/2/2023 8:25 am, Nil wrote:
    I was proceeding to add a second hard disk to my Win 10 computer.
    I hooked up a spare HD and booted up, intending to reformat the
    "new" disk and move some data to it. I realized too late that the
    spare disk I hooked up was a previous Windows 7 boot disk that I
    had decommissioned. The computer proceeded to boot up to Win7. I
    shut down immediately and unplugged the Win7 disk, but now it
    won't boot up into Win10. I can get it to the blue Repair screen
    where I can do a Windows Reset, boot to Safe Mode (haven't tried
    that yet, but I don't expect it to work), etc. I CAN get to a
    command prompt where I can see everything on the C drive. I can
    get to a Repair thing where it appears to do a CHKDSK-type check,
    but that doesn't help, of course.

    I don't remember Win 7 being able to boot from a USB...

    This was all done cabled to the motherboard SATA ports, not USB. I
    would have been better off using my USB hard disk docking station
    because Windows would have already been fully booted up. I was lazy -
    the old Win7 disk is in a caddy that just slips into a rack inside the
    case I was trying to avoid unscrewing 4 screws to remove it. Doh!

    Last resort: get a 3rd spare/new hard disk to reinstall Win 10
    after unplugging the old Win 10 drive?!

    Fortunately I didn't have to resort to that. Reinstalling Windows 10
    would be a very last resort, though I was considering it. My computer
    is so highly tuned for my use that it would be a major PITA to have
    reinstall everything.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Nil@21:1/5 to winstonmvp@gmail.com on Tue Feb 21 15:41:53 2023
    On 21 Feb 2023, =?UTF-8?B?Li4ud8Khw7HCp8KxwqTDsSA=?=
    <winstonmvp@gmail.com> wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-10:

    Nil wrote on 2/20/2023 5:59 PM:
    On 20 Feb 2023, =?UTF-8?B?Li4ud8Khw7HCp8KxwqTDsSA=?=
    <winstonmvp@gmail.com> wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-10:

    Nil wrote on 2/20/2023 5:25 PM:
    I was proceeding to add a second hard disk to my Win 10
    computer. I hooked up a spare HD and booted up, intending to
    reformat the "new" disk and move some data to it. I realized
    too late that the spare disk I hooked up was a previous Windows
    7 boot disk that I had decommissioned. The computer proceeded
    to boot up to Win7. I shut down immediately and unplugged the
    Win7 disk, but now it won't boot up into Win10. I can get it to
    the blue Repair screen where I can do a Windows Reset, boot to
    Safe Mode (haven't tried that yet, but I don't expect it to
    work), etc. I CAN get to a command prompt where I can see
    everything on the C drive. I can get to a Repair thing where it
    appears to do a CHKDSK-type check, but that doesn't help, of
    course.

    Any suggestions how I can get this thing back on its feet? Will
    a "Windows Reset" work (not quite sure what this does - it
    claims to not disturb my data files, so maybe it just
    reinstalls Windows only?) Am I correct in assuming that
    restoring from a Restore Point is not likely to help?


    I got the disk back. I tried several things, not sure what was
    the magic trick that got it going. In the process I did some of
    what you suggest...

    Win10
    Do you recall if your old boot disk was GPT formatted.
    Do you recall if the Win7 disk is MBR

    The Win10 disk is GPT. I think the Win7 disk is MBR but not sure.

    Access your UEFI or BIOS and determine which disk is enabled as
    the primary boot device. Don't make any changes, just look.
    Exit UEFI or BIOS

    Disconnect the Win7 disk
    Access the UEFI or BIOS and ensure the Win10 disk is the boot
    device.
    - if not, make it the first booting device.

    I had already disconnected the Win7 disk, but I went into UEFI.
    At first it didn't seem to detect the HD at all, but after a
    couple of power-downs it did, and I set it to be the first boot
    device, with the CD drive as second.

    Exit the UEFI or BIOS and see if the device boots to Windows 10

    It did not boot to Win10 at this point. I got into a command
    prompt and executed some DISKPART commands I found on the net,
    which was nervewracking because I don't really understand what
    they do. That may have helped me mark a correct partition as
    Active.

    Next restart it still didn't boot to windows, but when I went to
    UEFI a third boot option is now there that I don't recall seeing
    before, "Windows Boot Manager". I set IT to be the first boot
    device and now I can boot up to Windows 10 seemingly like I did
    before.

    Report the results.

    The new Boot Manager bothers me - I feel like it wasn't there
    before - but it functions the way it should, so I'll consider
    that later, unless you have some thoughts about it.

    Thank you.

    The Windows Boot Manager on UEFI is normal.
    - i.e. it's the correct choice

    What happened?
    Connecting the Win7 disk with a bootable System partition
    realigned the
    available devices in the UEFI negating the pre-Win7 connected disk
    condition that booted using the System partition on the Win10
    disk.
    - Your two disks have two possibilities
    Both GPT or the Win10 GPT and Win7 MBR

    There's a possibility that your UEFI has multiple configurations
    for the type of connected devices that allows you to select the
    type of devices that you want to boot.
    UEFI only
    UEFI and Legacy
    Legacy only
    MBR is Legacy.
    If the Win7 device is MBR and connected and ordered as priority
    for
    present bootable devices then any setting that uses Legacy when
    the Win7 MBR disk has priority will use that MBR Win7 disk to
    boot.
    If the Win7 device is GPT but ordered as a priority over the
    Win10 disk
    that priority will use the GPT Win7 disk
    - in both cases it uses the wrong device(disk) instead of Win10's
    disk and the UEFI setting - Windows Boot Manager
    (on some Win7 devices using MBR, the System and the Windows
    partition may be the same rather separate partitions on the disk.

    You can probably still connect that Windows 7 disk and wipe it and
    use for data or other non-booting means.
    - Shutdown the device
    - Connect it
    - Access the UEFI(ensure you know how to prevent it being bypassed
    and booting)
    - Verify that the correct Win10 disk is first in the device boot
    order and Windows Boot Manager is selected. If necessary save
    these settings. - Look in the UEFI for Boot options noted
    above(UEFI, UEFI&Legacy, Legacy) - if present, ensure that UEFI or
    UEFI and Legacy are selected - the former is prefered since its
    highly likely that the Win7 disk is MBR - Reverify that the Win10
    disk and Windows Boot Manager are still selected - Save the UEFI
    setting, Exit the UEFI and boot the device
    (optionally you may be able in some UEFI settings to exit the
    UEFI by
    selecting the Boot device(the Windows Boot Manager) to directly
    boot the Win10 disk while exiting the UEFI.
    - If successful, navigate to Disk Management and do what you
    wanted to
    do with that Win7 disk - select the volume(the disk), wipe the
    entire disk to bare metal unallocated space, format as GPT, assign
    a drive letter(if not pre-populated), close Disk Management, then
    use File Explorer to do what you want - create folder, copy
    folders, copy files, etc.

    Once done, you can go back to the UEFI settings, the Win7 device
    will not be present as a possible booting device - no longer
    having a System parition(alone or on the same partition as Windows
    7).

    Good luck.

    Thank you! So, I guess I panicked, and by removing the Win7 disk I left
    the system without a viable boot disk. I should have left it in there, interrupted the boot to Windows, gone to UEFT to chosen the Win10 disk
    as the first boot device. I still could, I guess, but I don't need to
    any more.

    My original goal was to blow away the old Win7 disk to be used as a 2nd
    storage disk. I was trying to save some effort by doing it all with the
    SATA connectors on the motherboard while I have the case open. I also
    have a USB hard disk dock that I can use, which will be safer, or at
    least not as prone to carelessness on my part.

    Thanks, again.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From =?UTF-8?B?Li4ud8Khw7HCp8KxwqTDsSA=?@21:1/5 to Nil on Tue Feb 21 17:24:15 2023
    Nil wrote on 2/21/2023 1:41 PM:
    On 21 Feb 2023, =?UTF-8?B?Li4ud8Khw7HCp8KxwqTDsSA=?=
    <winstonmvp@gmail.com> wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-10:

    Nil wrote on 2/20/2023 5:59 PM:
    On 20 Feb 2023, =?UTF-8?B?Li4ud8Khw7HCp8KxwqTDsSA=?=
    <winstonmvp@gmail.com> wrote in alt.comp.os.windows-10:

    Nil wrote on 2/20/2023 5:25 PM:
    I was proceeding to add a second hard disk to my Win 10
    computer. I hooked up a spare HD and booted up, intending to
    reformat the "new" disk and move some data to it. I realized
    too late that the spare disk I hooked up was a previous Windows
    7 boot disk that I had decommissioned. The computer proceeded
    to boot up to Win7. I shut down immediately and unplugged the
    Win7 disk, but now it won't boot up into Win10. I can get it to
    the blue Repair screen where I can do a Windows Reset, boot to
    Safe Mode (haven't tried that yet, but I don't expect it to
    work), etc. I CAN get to a command prompt where I can see
    everything on the C drive. I can get to a Repair thing where it
    appears to do a CHKDSK-type check, but that doesn't help, of
    course.

    Any suggestions how I can get this thing back on its feet? Will
    a "Windows Reset" work (not quite sure what this does - it
    claims to not disturb my data files, so maybe it just
    reinstalls Windows only?) Am I correct in assuming that
    restoring from a Restore Point is not likely to help?


    I got the disk back. I tried several things, not sure what was
    the magic trick that got it going. In the process I did some of
    what you suggest...

    Win10
    Do you recall if your old boot disk was GPT formatted.
    Do you recall if the Win7 disk is MBR

    The Win10 disk is GPT. I think the Win7 disk is MBR but not sure.

    Access your UEFI or BIOS and determine which disk is enabled as
    the primary boot device. Don't make any changes, just look.
    Exit UEFI or BIOS

    Disconnect the Win7 disk
    Access the UEFI or BIOS and ensure the Win10 disk is the boot
    device.
    - if not, make it the first booting device.

    I had already disconnected the Win7 disk, but I went into UEFI.
    At first it didn't seem to detect the HD at all, but after a
    couple of power-downs it did, and I set it to be the first boot
    device, with the CD drive as second.

    Exit the UEFI or BIOS and see if the device boots to Windows 10

    It did not boot to Win10 at this point. I got into a command
    prompt and executed some DISKPART commands I found on the net,
    which was nervewracking because I don't really understand what
    they do. That may have helped me mark a correct partition as
    Active.

    Next restart it still didn't boot to windows, but when I went to
    UEFI a third boot option is now there that I don't recall seeing
    before, "Windows Boot Manager". I set IT to be the first boot
    device and now I can boot up to Windows 10 seemingly like I did
    before.

    Report the results.

    The new Boot Manager bothers me - I feel like it wasn't there
    before - but it functions the way it should, so I'll consider
    that later, unless you have some thoughts about it.

    Thank you.

    The Windows Boot Manager on UEFI is normal.
    - i.e. it's the correct choice

    What happened?
    Connecting the Win7 disk with a bootable System partition
    realigned the
    available devices in the UEFI negating the pre-Win7 connected disk
    condition that booted using the System partition on the Win10
    disk.
    - Your two disks have two possibilities
    Both GPT or the Win10 GPT and Win7 MBR

    There's a possibility that your UEFI has multiple configurations
    for the type of connected devices that allows you to select the
    type of devices that you want to boot.
    UEFI only
    UEFI and Legacy
    Legacy only
    => MBR is Legacy.
    If the Win7 device is MBR and connected and ordered as priority
    for
    present bootable devices then any setting that uses Legacy when
    the Win7 MBR disk has priority will use that MBR Win7 disk to
    boot.
    If the Win7 device is GPT but ordered as a priority over the
    Win10 disk
    that priority will use the GPT Win7 disk
    - in both cases it uses the wrong device(disk) instead of Win10's
    disk and the UEFI setting - Windows Boot Manager
    (on some Win7 devices using MBR, the System and the Windows
    partition may be the same rather separate partitions on the disk.

    You can probably still connect that Windows 7 disk and wipe it and
    use for data or other non-booting means.
    - Shutdown the device
    - Connect it
    - Access the UEFI(ensure you know how to prevent it being bypassed
    and booting)
    - Verify that the correct Win10 disk is first in the device boot
    order and Windows Boot Manager is selected. If necessary save
    these settings. - Look in the UEFI for Boot options noted
    above(UEFI, UEFI&Legacy, Legacy) - if present, ensure that UEFI or
    UEFI and Legacy are selected - the former is prefered since its
    highly likely that the Win7 disk is MBR - Reverify that the Win10
    disk and Windows Boot Manager are still selected - Save the UEFI
    setting, Exit the UEFI and boot the device
    (optionally you may be able in some UEFI settings to exit the
    UEFI by
    selecting the Boot device(the Windows Boot Manager) to directly
    boot the Win10 disk while exiting the UEFI.
    - If successful, navigate to Disk Management and do what you
    wanted to
    do with that Win7 disk - select the volume(the disk), wipe the
    entire disk to bare metal unallocated space, format as GPT, assign
    a drive letter(if not pre-populated), close Disk Management, then
    use File Explorer to do what you want - create folder, copy
    folders, copy files, etc.

    Once done, you can go back to the UEFI settings, the Win7 device
    will not be present as a possible booting device - no longer
    having a System parition(alone or on the same partition as Windows
    7).

    Good luck.

    Thank you! So, I guess I panicked, and by removing the Win7 disk I left
    the system without a viable boot disk. I should have left it in there, interrupted the boot to Windows, gone to UEFT to chosen the Win10 disk
    as the first boot device. I still could, I guess, but I don't need to
    any more.

    My original goal was to blow away the old Win7 disk to be used as a 2nd storage disk. I was trying to save some effort by doing it all with the
    SATA connectors on the motherboard while I have the case open. I also
    have a USB hard disk dock that I can use, which will be safer, or at
    least not as prone to carelessness on my part.

    Thanks, again.

    You're welcome.
    Just insert it in the external carrier(powered on)then access in Disk
    Managment or other 3rd party disk or partitioning software.
    - remove all partitions, format as GPT, assign label(if not done
    automatically) then use as is, or connect to the SATA in the main device.

    If installing in the device, one up in Windows, look in Disk Management
    you'll be able to see the Disk # assignment
    - Some SATA mobos enumerate the device disk # based on the Sata
    configuration to the mobo(in UEFI the connection is usually SATA 1, SATA
    2, etc), others might if SSD or NVME/M.2 are present assign disk #
    differently.
    Bottom line - good idea to always know which disk #...one never knows
    when they might have to use Diskpart where disk # is important.


    --
    ...w¡ñ§±¤ñ

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Paul@21:1/5 to Nil on Tue Feb 21 20:28:47 2023
    On 2/21/2023 3:41 PM, Nil wrote:


    Thank you! So, I guess I panicked, and by removing the Win7 disk I left
    the system without a viable boot disk. I should have left it in there, interrupted the boot to Windows, gone to UEFT to chosen the Win10 disk
    as the first boot device. I still could, I guess, but I don't need to
    any more.

    My original goal was to blow away the old Win7 disk to be used as a 2nd storage disk. I was trying to save some effort by doing it all with the
    SATA connectors on the motherboard while I have the case open. I also
    have a USB hard disk dock that I can use, which will be safer, or at
    least not as prone to carelessness on my part.

    Thanks, again.

    Probably both disks had boot materials on them, but one of them
    could do nothing but jam up. As long as the boot order was set
    to start from that drive, nothing good would happen.

    Disk drive layouts, consist of component parts. Most of the time,
    the "invisible" data is sane, and you want to keep it. Macrium Reflect
    backup software for example, not only records the partition you ask it
    to save, it also records lots of little stuff near the origin of the disk.

    What then, should you do, if you want to sanitize a disk ?

    *******

    This allows you to keep a partition in a container, without
    regard to anything else.

    https://linux.die.net/man/8/ntfsclone

    Sites like this one, help with the education process.

    https://thestarman.pcministry.com/asm/mbr/index.html

    You could zero out everything from 0x000 to 0x1B2 inclusive in the MBR.
    The data drive is not going to be a boot drive any more. Hopefully
    the drive is not using crypto which is dependent on the MBR.

    Much of the rest of it can be left in place.

    You can edit the MBR, with this.

    https://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/

    When run as Administrator, you can use the Open Disk Drive option and
    edit sector 0 if you want.

    To interpret the partition table, there is PTEDIT32.exe . It is
    a free program included with licensed software. You extract the
    program from the package, for personal usage.

    ********* canned paragraph on PTEDIT32... **********

    http://www.download3k.com/System-Utilities/File-Disk-Management/Download-Partition-Magic.html

    enpm800retaildemo.zip 23,776,770 bytes

    You can use 7ZIP to burrow into the file and extract
    the copy of PTEDIT32.exe.

    L:\enpm800retaildemo.zip\Setup\PMagic.cab\
    PTEDIT32.EXE 503,808 bytes September 16, 2002, 2:24:48 AM

    Once extracted, you run that as Administrator, or otherwise
    it won't be able to access the MBR and present a nice table
    of partitions. An "Error 5" means you didn't elevate it
    as Administrator.

    ********* END: canned paragraph on PTEDIT32... **********

    Using PTEDIT32, you can locate the boot flag, and write 0x00
    over it to turn it off.

    http://mistyprojects.co.uk/documents/ptedit/img/mbr1.jpg

    You don't really need the partition table, and you can zero
    all the fields out, if you don't feel like doing it with HxD
    hex editor.

    If a disk is small enough, you can wipe the drive entirely,
    and put back a single NTFS partition you recorded with ntfsclone.
    As an example of a way of doing it, without Macrium putting
    anything back that you do not want put back.

    You can wipe a drive using diskpart and "clean all" on a drive.
    With only the target hard drive in the computer, you can boot
    a Macrium Reflect rescue CD and do the diskpart sequence from there.
    (Macrium Reflect has a Command Prompt in the tray.)
    Since only the disk drive needing cleaning is connected, it's pretty
    hard to damage anything else in the computer.

    Disks get exactly the same cleaning, if you use dd in an admin Command Prompt.

    dd.exe --list # shows disks and partitions, shows *size*

    dd.exe if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda # Using defined values of block size bs=
    # and count= , you can zero every last byte
    # on the hard drive more efficiently. The command
    # as shown, is slow.

    Put back an MBR with dd.exe

    dd.exe if=C:\users\username\Downloads\mbr.bin of=/dev/sda # deposited at offset 0
    # MBR.bin is 512 bytes in length

    Using your MBR (or even, editing it), you can beat it into shape.

    Then use ntfsclone to put back the files, as before.

    *******

    The task then, is finding sufficient tools for the component parts,
    tools which give the level of precision required for surgery. Then
    practicing, until you get all the procedures right.

    A data drive only absolutely needs GPT, if it is larger than 2.2TB .
    (I'm leaving out a lot of details making that statement.)

    Diskpart "clean" or "clean all" will both remove the duplicate GPT
    partition tables, and this avoids less hygienic tools from leaving
    bits of the GPT behind, and some other tool trip over it.

    This is the essence of disk maintenance. There are certain things
    which cause "tripping" and "stumbling" such as you experienced.
    If you remove sufficient boot-like materials from drives, then
    just maybe, the UEFI will stop analyzing these drives and jumping
    to the wrong conclusions. While it is fun to dodge bullets like
    Neo, using the popup boot table, in the long run, using a "dirty"
    setup is just wrong. Sooner or later, something far more complicated
    will happen, and you'll be sorry.

    For example, if all boot materials are damaged, hmmm. If you have a
    backup of your ESP, you might escape. You never know.

    Paul

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  • From Mr. Man-wai Chang@21:1/5 to Nil on Thu Feb 23 00:08:34 2023
    On 22/2/2023 4:47 am, Nil wrote:

    Fortunately I didn't have to resort to that. Reinstalling Windows 10
    would be a very last resort, though I was considering it. My computer
    is so highly tuned for my use that it would be a major PITA to have
    reinstall everything.

    Glad that you solved the problem!

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  • From Alan Browne@21:1/5 to Nil on Wed Feb 22 12:02:32 2023
    On 2023-02-21 15:47, Nil wrote:

    My computer
    is so highly tuned for my use that it would be a major PITA to have
    reinstall everything.

    Wow! I've never ever said that[1].

    [1] Okay, I can't back that up.

    --
    “Donald Trump and his allies and supporters are a clear and present
    danger to American democracy.”
    - J Michael Luttig - 2022-06-16
    - Former US appellate court judge (R) testifying to the January 6
    committee

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