Setting booting device sequence - Win 7


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I have Acronis True Image as backup for my Win 7 OS and HD.

I made the rescue media with a USB flash drive for the hard drive files and the bootup data on another flash drive, but have not run tests yet.

The instructions are that the booting sequence should be configured for the USB flash drive to be the first boot device.

How do I arrange the booting device order? I tried but have not been able to find this.

This change needs to be made in the BIOS. When you first turn the computer on, the splash screen should tell you to hit either DEL, F2, ESC or some key to enter BIOS or BIOS Setup. Once you are in the BIOS, look for a tab or page that says Boot. You should be able to change the boot order from there.

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I went to BIOS setup and saw:

 

BOOT MODE: Legacy

USB boot support enabled.

 

1st device:  Internal HDD device.

2nd device: USB storage device.

 

Am I correct to assume that if the first (internal device) is not working, the USB would be then be used to boot?

 

  On 15/10/2016 at 17:33, Howard Davis said:

I went to BIOS setup and saw:

 

BOOT MODE: Legacy

USB boot support enabled.

 

1st device:  Internal HDD device.

2nd device: USB storage device.

 

Am I correct to assume that if the first (internal device) is not working, the USB would be then be used to boot?

 

Expand  

That is correct, if a boot device is unavailable the sequence will move on to the next device. You could also switch them and make USB the 1st device.

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Hello,

 

You may also want to check with your computer/motherboard manufacturer to see if there is a key you can press to temporarily change the boot order of the storage devices attached to your computer.  For example, on my laptop, if I press the F12 key as the system is starting, I am presented with an option to attempt to boot off of any of the attached storage devices (USB flash drive, USB external drive, CD/DVD drive and so forth).  That might be a little more convenient if you do not want to have to keep going into the BIOS/UEFI firmware to change things.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

  On 19/10/2016 at 23:03, Howard Davis said:

Thanks Aryeh. I'll try that - I can access the boot order list by hitting F12 before Windows starts, but have not found how to change the sequence.

Expand  

If it's like most firmware you should be able to move the drives around in the BIOS boot list with +/-.

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  On 19/10/2016 at 23:06, Circaflex said:

Generally, using the boot menu via F12 only provides you with an option to override the current boot order, not make a permanent change. Is this a custom computer or one built by an OEM like HP, Dell, etc?

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It's a Dell - not custom built.

I went to the boot order list, selected the second boot device choice "USB storage device: Sandisk," and hit ENTER - with no results.

I am using a USB flash drive with the Acronis rescue boot on it. This "Sandisk" was the only USB device choice.

I did not try to move the second device choice to first.

  On 21/10/2016 at 00:46, Howard Davis said:

I went to the boot order list, selected the second boot device choice "USB storage device: Sandisk," and hit ENTER - with no results.

I am using a USB flash drive with the Acronis rescue boot on it. This "Sandisk" was the only USB device choice.

I did not try to move the second device choice to first.

Expand  

That is unfortunate. If you plug the USB into a working computer, is it recognized? What shows up when you view the drive? I believe it should just be one folder, labeled 'Recovery.' Is the USB formatted FAT32 or NTFS?

 

Using the boot menu is fine, it *should* work. How was the rescue drive created?

Circaflex - thank you for your response.

The computer recognizes the Acronis backup flash drive. It shows 14 items - SanDisk secure access, SanDisk secure access V3 win.exe, and 12 tib files which I assume are the data backup of my HD.

The boot flash drive shows many files, including one called bootmenu.exe.

Not sure of the formatting - my system is 64 bit.

Both of these were created using Acronis True Image 2017

  On 23/10/2016 at 15:13, Howard Davis said:

Am I correct to assume that a tech that replaces a bad hard drive would be able to restore everything from my Acronis backup files on the flash drive, even if my Acronis boot does not work?

Expand  

If it were my data, I would not assume that and would want to ensure I have a proper backup. Do you have extra storage space that is free on the external? I would do a manual copy of your Users folder, obviously a manual backup will not have your applications, but those can be reinstalled. That way, if the tech cannot perform a restore using the Acronis method, you at least have your files and can restore those from the manual backup.

 

If you have the free space, copy the entire folder 'C:\Users\' to your external, if you have space constraints you can manually copy your user folder from that directory and leave out Onedrive and any cloud software you might be using.

  On 24/10/2016 at 17:17, Howard Davis said:

Thank you!

I am putting C:\Users\ on the same flash drive that has the Acronis backup data.

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That sounds like a great plan. The users folder will contain:

Appdata

Desktop

Downloads

Documents

Favorites

Pictures

Videos

Music

OneDrive(You can always skip this one if you do not have a ton of free space, this is stored in the cloud)

 

Double check you did not save anything to C:\ or another location that might not fall under C:\Users. I would hate for something not to be backed up. Best of luck.

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