# Computer can't detect boot drive... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 29, 2014, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-cant-detect-boot-drive/684822 "2014-03-29T07:51:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-cant-detect-boot-drive/684822/21 "2014-04-02T08:35:48Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I’m a little confused about why the firmware incompatibility message is coming up. Is this backup from some other computer? Did you change the BIOS/UEFI settings between the time you made the backup and now? Why would get that message trying to restore your own original system image back to the same computer? I’m completely unclear on how you’re trying to restore this backup and where it came from. Yeah, that’s why _I’m_ confused! I made this backup on the same system literally week before it died, and since then, the only thing that’s changed is that I’ve got a fresh windows install on a fresh drive (which is identical to the previous drive I had - same company, same specs). Maybe I should try reformatting the new SSD and starting off by recovering the image rather than installing windows? I’m fairly sure I didn’t change any significant settings… > [@](#): > > That aside, I just wanted to throw in another thought about the old disk. If you’ve decided that it’s fried and not salvageable, it just might be worth taking a long shot to see if you can reflash the firmware. It probably won’t work, but there’s a small chance that it’s the firmware that confused itself and not the drive storage itself, and if you’re bored it’s at least worth a shot. Just be really careful that you don’t accidentally flash the new drive by accident. The F/W flash is done with a bootable CD or USB stick created with the Sandisk toolkit (I posted a link upthread). Once that is created, I would completely unplug the new drive to make sure it’s safe, connect the old one, and give it a try, boot the flash CD or USB and give it a shot. Should only take a few minutes. It’s worth a shot. Thanks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-cant-detect-boot-drive/684822/22 "2014-04-02T08:57:19Z")
_Wow_. This is just weird. So I reset the disk, removed the partitions, reformatted everything, so now it’s back to how it was when I unpacked it. Then I try restoring a system image. "Error restoring system image. No disk found to restore the" …And then it just stops. Like, it literally just stops mid-sentence. You can see a few pixels of the tops of a few letters of the next sentence… What even the… I don’t even… what the fuck?! ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-cant-detect-boot-drive/684822/23 "2014-04-02T09:57:04Z")
And now I’ve reinstalled windows and am getting the same error. Yay! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-cant-detect-boot-drive/684822/24 "2014-04-02T10:48:53Z")
FUUUUUUUCK! Well, now I’ve accidentally formatted my data drive. The data drive that had my backup. And all my games, movies, music, and assorted other things. And to top it all off, now it’s not letting me install windows on the new SSD. Because it only supports BIOS or some shit like that. FUCK! ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-cant-detect-boot-drive/684822/25 "2014-04-02T11:04:22Z")
That is horrible. And yes, it’s easily done. However, it is possible in some cases to undo this or at least recover data from a format. Here’s a few links: > **[How to Recover Lost Data From Formatted Drive](https://www.pluralsight.com/blog/tutorials/data-recovery)** > > Today, we'll look at the steps involved in using a specific data recovery software product. Then, we'll discuss what to do to keep yourself out of these predicaments to begin with. Check out this blog now to learn more! [http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/276591-45-recover-formatted-drive-data](http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/276591-45-recover-formatted-drive-data) All is not lost. Photorec is very good, although not user-friendly; kinda like a command line where you have to check _every_ command. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-cant-detect-boot-drive/684822/26 "2014-04-02T11:08:07Z")
I didn’t just accidentally reformat it; I deleted all of the partitions, then formatted it. I think I might have done that twice. But I’ll give that tool a try once my fresh windows install works. Finally got the damn thing to recognize that my SSD exists. 😕 And I found out why the restore wasn’t working… This drive is smaller (by less than a gigabyte) than the old drive. At least I know why that didn’t work. It’s been one hell of a morning. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-cant-detect-boot-drive/684822/27 "2014-04-17T19:46:34Z")
Just to give this a little update: I finally found the right driver for my wifi card (fun fact: finding drivers for a wifi card with no internet access and no idea what the card is or how to check is a pain in the ass - it was more or less a fluke that I figured out how to learn what the card is), installed it, and now, on a fresh windows install, I am running Recuva deep scan on my HDD which got nuked. So far, 3%, 6 hours left, over 100,000 files found. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-cant-detect-boot-drive/684822/28 "2014-04-18T02:56:39Z")
The thing is, formating and deleting partitions still usually do not delete the actual data. That said, the data you get back may be just the files, without any real structure. It’s more like sifting through a garbage can to find what you need. The stuff you probably want are your documents and save files for your games. You might also be able to get your downloaded installers. The rest may be useless. BTW, my guess is that your system was originally installed using BIOS emulation, but, when you reinstalled Windows, you used UEFI instead. This can be better, as UEFI has a lot more features, but BIOS and UEFI have two different types of partitions that are incompatible with one another. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2014, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-cant-detect-boot-drive/684822/29 "2014-04-18T08:10:43Z")
I waited all night and not a single recovered file actually worked. The videos were all corrupted, the save files were corrupted, the music was corrupted… I’m not sure what “excellent” is supposed to mean, but oh well. So that was a total loss. But at least my computer is back up and running. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-cant-detect-boot-drive/684822.md?page=1)