Windows 10: How can I create an image of a HD that has no drive letter or partition?

I CANNOT AND WILL NOT initialize and/or assign a drive letter to this drive, because it will make it exponentially harder, if not impossible for me, to pull data from it (Stupid WD encryption nonsense), but for whatever reason that means most of the cloning/imaging programs I've tried don't work, and i'm not sure what to do.

I'd be willing to try linux, but the resulting image file needs to have the ability to be accessed in windows.

submitted by /u/ChicagoPaul2010
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:)

 

W7 Hard drive partition issue

to get rid of that 100 meg windows partition that setup creates for you on a new install on a blank hdd:

- press shift+f10 when on the partition management screen in setup <-- this opens a command prompt
- diskpart <-- start the windows command line partition management tool
- list disk <--- list the installed hdds in this computer for the next step
- select disk 0 <- might have to replace 0 with the number of the correct disk
- clean <-- this will erase all data on the disk you selected one step up- dont use the wrong disk!
- create partition primary <- creates a primary partition taking up all space on the drive, adjust the command if necessary
- exit, exit to exit diskpart and the command prompt
- click refresh in partition manager and select your newly created partition and install to that

 

Why does the Disk Management Console fail to assign a Drive Letter to a perfectly healthy HD or FD drive/partition?

Highly Probable Solution to Windows Drive Letter Not Being Assigned

A Problem Experienced with Win10 / Many Others Reported this Problem for Win8, Win7, Vista

by Paul Collins – Chicago, IL – 15 October, 2017

I believe that I have discovered a procedure for resolving the problem of Hard Drive (HD) drives/partitions not being mounted (assigned a drive letter) in Windows.

I had looked through hundreds of web posts for a solution but found no procedure that worked consistently for HDs.
I eventually found this solution for FDs that also worked for HDs because I changed the way I thought about the problem.
I will explain with more details later.

I will get to the point and outline the solution here, but I encourage you to read through the entire post to understand how I came to these conclusions before you try this on your system.

There should be no problem for you go ahead and try this procedure first, as nothing in this procedure will harm your system. But understanding why it works might help you solve other problems in the future.

A SHORT VERSION OF THE DISCOVERY:

After investing in many, many hours over 2.5 months on this problem, I surmised that this behavior was the result of a driver and/or registry issue.
While the system behavioral evidence pointed to a possible driver issue, it turns out that the problem was
not the result of missing, corrupted or outdated drivers.
There appears to have been a problem with the loading sequence of drivers for HDs connected via USB controllers.
Most “solution” procedures I found on the web involved uninstalling (and reinstalling) the HD devices, but this did not work for my situation. What did work was
uninstalling (and reinstalling)
all USB controllers as well as the HD devices.
When Windows restarts after the uninstall procedures are completed, Windows will detect all controllers and devices and will reinstall and load all drivers in the correct sequence.

While looking through a Device Manager Snap Dump of what the system was doing when attempting to mount a USB HD or FD, I came across the message
“Outranked Drivers” at the very point when the system seemed to be trying to mount a Partition.

To my thinking, this message indicated that a USB device or controller was trying to load a driver that was superseded by a driver that was already loaded. My assumption at this point was that
both a USB device and USB controller uninstall/reinstall might be all that would be needed! - As opposed to Microsoft’s suggested solution which was a complete Windows OS reinstall, followed by
the reloading of all Applications & Data.

A google search on “Outranked Drivers” led me to a USB Controller uninstall/reinstall solution that had worked to resolve Device Manager Error Code 43 for FDs. I surmised that this procedure might also work for HDs with
a Device Manager Error Code 29. Using knowledge I had gained in my search for solutions,
I added the uninstall/reinstall of all HD hidden devices to this procedure (except for “Storage volume shadow copies).
Fortunately after the Windows restart, and the automatic reinstallation of the USB HD and USB Controller drivers by Windows, the drive letter assignment problem for both HDs and FDs was permanently resolved.



THE SOLUTION:

This solution is written in detail for not-so-technical people, so if you are a hi-tech person you will know where you can take short-cuts.

NOTE: At several points in this solution you will be asked whether or not you want to Restart Windows.
Click “No” each time until you have completed all steps in this procedure.

• Disconnect all USB HDs and FDs from your computer
• Launch Device Manager
  
• Left Click “Disk Drives” to open the list of disk drives
  • This section lists Disk Drives (not Disk Partitions) in Alphabetical Order by Manufacturer Name and Disk Drive Model and Serial Number
    • You will see the HD Manufacturer Name and the HD Model # and
      
      HD Serial # on this list
    • If there is only one HD on this list, that is your System HD
    • If there are any USB devices (HD or FD) on this list, disconnect them
    • If there are still multiple HDs listed and you are not which is the System HD:
      • Right Click the HD name
      • Left or Right Click “Properties”
      • If the HD “Location” is “0” or “Bus Number 0”, that is the System HD
      • If the current “Location” is not “0”, Click “cancel” to close the current “Properties” window
      • Then look through the next HD(s) until you find Location “0”
      • Make note of this HD name as you will need to recognize it later
      • Click “cancel” to close the current “Properties” window
        
• Left Click “View” on the top row list of options
• Left or Right Click “Show Hidden Devices”
  • This may add devices to the list of “Disk Drives”. We’ll deal with this list at the end.
    
• Find the list of “Universal Serial Bus controllers” and Left Click to open the list
• Repeat the following “UNINSTALL PROCEDURE” for each item on this list of USB controllers
  • Starting at the bottom of this list and working your way to the top, Right Click the last item
  • Left or Right Click “Uninstall device”
  • Left Click “Uninstall device”
  • If/When you are get an option to Restart Windows, Click “No”
  • Repeat this same “UNINSTALL PROCEDURE” for each item on the list until the list of USB controllers disappears (is empty)
    
• Find the list of “Storage volumes” and Left Click to open the list
• Repeat the following “UNINSTALL PROCEDURE” for each item on this list of “Storage volumes”
  
  (This list is the history of every USB device that was ever mounted on your computer.
  It may be a very long list. I would recommend removing all entries in this list).
  • Starting at the bottom of this list and working your way to the top, Right Click the last item
  • Left or Right Click “Uninstall device”
  • Left Click “Uninstall device”
  • If/When you are get an option to Restart Windows, Click “No”
  • Repeat this same “UNINSTALL PROCEDURE” for each item on the list until the list of “Storage volumes” disappears (is empty)
    

10. Find the list of “Find the list of “Portable devices” and Left Click to open the list

11. Repeat the following “UNINSTALL PROCEDURE” for each item on this list of “Portable devices”

• Starting at the bottom of this list and working your way to the top, Right Click the last item
• Left or Right Click “Uninstall device”
• Left Click “Uninstall device”
• If/When you are get an option to Restart Windows, Click “No”
• Repeat this same “UNINSTALL PROCEDURE” for each item on the list until the list of “Portable devices” disappears (is empty)
  

12. Go back to the list of “Disk Drives” opened at the beginning of this procedure

13. If there are Disk Drives on this list OTHER THAN the System Disk, Repeat the following “UNINSTALL PROCEDURE” for each item on this list of “Disk Drives”

• Starting at the bottom of this list and working your way to the top, Right Click the last item –
  REMEMBER TO SKIP THE SYSTEM DISK
• Left or Right Click “Uninstall device”
• Left Click “Uninstall device”
• If/When you are get an option to Restart Windows, Click “No”
• Repeat this same “UNINSTALL PROCEDURE” for each item on the list until the list of “Disk Drives” has only your System Disk on it
  

14. Restart Windows

• All USB Controller Drivers and Device Drivers should now be reinstalled in the
  CORRECT LOADING SEQUENCE
• This reinstall should eliminate the problem of an “Outranked Driver” and allow for HD and FD Devices to be mounted and for Partitions to be assigned a Drive Letter
• You may now attach the USB HDs and FDs to your computer
  • NOTE: If you are using Avira (or other anti virus software) to allow/disallow USB devices,
    you will have to click YES for each partition that is mounted (assigned a drive letter)
• NOTE: Some “Special” Partitions will not be assigned a Drive Letter
  

15. Good Luck!

• I hope this procedure clears up the drive letter assignment problem for you.
• I read many web posts made by lots of people who were upset and frustrated because they thought that the data on their HDs was lost forever.
  A number of these posts were from people who were working under strict deadlines and I understand their anger and frustration with Microsoft.
• Luckily, I was able to mount my USB HDs on other Windows computers and I was able to verify that the various HDs structures and the data were intact – in spite of what “experts” told me – about deficiencies of the NTFS file system or about
  the HD possibly being corrupted or damaged. So I knew that drive letter assignment problem was unique to a single computer.
• While I feel that the probability is very high that this procedure is a “universal solution” for the drive letter assignment problem, there is a small possibility that this procedure may not solve all such problems.
  
• Most of the definite “Solutions” that I found via Web searches did not solve my particular problem, though many people reported that these solutions worked for them.

This solution may also apply to all versions of Windows (WIn10, Win8, Win7, Vista and XP) because I have seen the same problem described in multiple posts for these Operating Systems.

A Partition not being mounted means that for some reason, no drive letter is assigned to the HD Partition.
As a result, no folders or files on that partition are accessible by a Windows Operating System.

Here are some of the symptoms and/or error messages associated with drive letters not being assigned and partitions not being mounted:

• Disk Management Console: Cannot assign drive letter because Disk Management Console is not up to date (You can change the Partition Label but cannot assign/change the drive letter)
• Device Manager Error Code 29 (for Hds): Device disabled because firmware did not give it the required resources
• Device Manager Error Code 43 (for FDs): Windows has stopped this device because it reported problems
• You may observe that a drive letter is assigned briefly in the Disk Management Console and then it disappears
• When an HD is formatted with Disk Management Console, the format will not complete and you get a Disk Management Console error (cannot remember the exact message)
• Using 3rd party software such as Partition Master or Partition Wizard to assign a drive letter, you will observe that a drive letter is assigned but that assignment is revoked and you get a message like “Mounting Volume Failed” or “Operation
  Not Completed”
• Using 3rd party software such as Partition Master or Partition Wizard to format an HD, you will observe that the format completes, but you get a message like “Mounting Volume Failed”.
  If the formatting is done outside of windows, when Windows restarts after formatting, the partition has no drive letter assigned.
• Using 3rd party software such as DriveLetterView, when attaching the HD on a USB port, you may see the drive letter appear briefly then disappear.

I have found variations of this problem in MANY, MANY places around the web.

Promising Solutions that worked sometimes but mostly not

• One suggested solution was to delete the Registry Keys for "Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices", but while this seemed to allow for the mounting of FDs, it did nothing for HDs. The problem for FDs usually returned and I had to
  repeat the key deletion from time to time.
• Another suggested solution was to run DISKPART and then to execute the “AUTOMOUNT SCRUB” command.
  Like the above solution, the fix was only temporary. This proposed solution deleted the very same registry keys as the above proposed solution.
  Sometimes FDs would mount for a while. On a couple of occasions, HDs would mount for a few times and then not.
• Many other proposed solutions suggested uninstalling/reinstalling
  various combinations of HD device entries from hidden device lists in Device Manager, but none of these procedures suggested deleting the USB controller drivers in addition to these HD devices.

I found the ultimate solution as a result of speaking with a friend who is very technically adept, but who is a very linear thinker. This person downplayed my theory that it was a driver or registry issue, saying that I had no concrete evidence that
this behavior was the result of some kind of driver issue. Speaking with him helped me realize that I was also thinking linearly about this issue.

I was just as certain that there was some kind of driver-related issue going on, so I decided to re-frame the problem.
Perhaps there was a driver problem that was not associated with an outdated, corrupt or incorrect driver.
I started to look for different evidence to support my theory.
I recalled that I had seen the “Outranked Driver” message in a Device Manager Snap Dump of the system that occurred just as the OS attempted to mount an HD.
But I had not pursued what that message might signify.

THE INNOVATION:

When I considered what the term "outranked driver" might mean, the real problem stuck out like a sore thumb.


I had been looking all over the place for more recent or updated HD drivers.
There were no such new drivers that I could find. There were no such drives to be found.
Device Manager’s “Update Drivers” option always said that I had the most current versions of the drivers. I then inferred from that “Outranked Driver” phrase that the OS was trying to mount an HD but was unsuccessful because some other device driver
was overriding an attempt by another driver to perform whatever operation(s) it was supposed to do.

That inference turned out to be correct. When I googled on "Outranked Driver", I found references to a problem that was
not exactly the same as my problem for HDs. This post dealt with system behavior that was similar to my problem with HDs, but it related to FDs instead.
The solution for this problem had resolved the drive letter assignment problem for FDs, so it might work for HDs.

PROBABLE ROOT CAUSE

The bigger question is what caused the problem in the first place. This was a new Win10 system that worked fine for 2-3 weeks and then, suddenly one day I could no longer mount HDs or FDs.


I suspect that this problem started when I installed Acronis Backup on this Win10 system.


Acronis installs some of its own proprietary drivers. I had been using Acronis for years with Win7.
However, I was never able to get Acronis to work on this new Win10 machine. I did not uninstall Acronis immediately.
Now, it’s possible that Acronis did not work because of this very device/controller driver conflict, but as I could no longer mount USB HDs, I put the Acronis issue on the back burner.
Perhaps when Acronis installed its drivers, something in the load order of drivers for controllers and devices was modified which resulted in this drive letter assignment issue.

Several months after having given up on Acronis Backup, I uninstalled Acronis. I now suspected that since this problem started when I installed Acronis, perhaps it might clear up after I uninstalled it.

WARNING: If you want to uninstall Acronis Backup, download and execute the “Acronis Removal Tool” from the Acronis website.
Uninstalling from Windows (as normal) or uninstalling with some other utility software such as CCleaner does not remove all of Acronis.

Immediately after uninstalling Acronis, I was able to mount two HDs (that had not mounted for weeks).

Problem solved?

Nope!

This was not the end of the drive letter assignment problem.
After a few minutes of testing with these 2 HDs, I tried other HDs and the drive letter assignment problem returned.

Thinking about why this happened in retrospect may make sense.
I had deleted the profiles for these two HDs from the hidden device lists in Device Manager.
These two devices continued to mount intermittently after other HDs failed.
In all cases, the two “revived” HDs would mount with drive letters whenever I restarted Windows.
But I still had not considered removing the controller drivers at this point, so the other HDs were still not mounting.

I thought about what that “Outranked Driver” message in that Snap Dump might mean and that led to the solution!

EPILOGUE:

Engineers and Tech Support staff at Microsoft and Hewlett Packard took a look at this behavior and could not figure out reasons for this behavior. We did TeamViewer sessions and sent log files, screen shots, etc.

• They recommended reinstalling the Windows OS from scratch and guaranteed that this would solve the drive letter problem.
  
  • A Windows reinstall would probably have resolved the problem, but what would I do if and when the problem returned?
    
  • My biggest concern about reinstalling Windows was that reloading the OS, Applications and Data would be highly time-consuming and highly risky.
    What if I missed restoring some data stored in an obscure location or forgot to install a critical application?

Engineers and Tech Support staff at EaseUs and Partition Wizard also took a look at this behavior and could not figure out reasons for this behavior.
We also did TeamViewer sessions and sent log files, screen shots, etc.

• They suggested that the HDs that would not mount either had corrupted file systems or were damaged.
  
  • That was not the case as I could load these HDs on other computers and confirm that all data in the NTFS partitions was there.
    
• They also suggested re-formatting the HDs on this new machine and then copying data to the newly formatted drives.
  • That was not possible because the new machine failed to format any of these HDs because the last step of formatting is to assign a new drive letter.
    

I always suspected that there was an easier way, and it turned out that there was, though it took a lot of time and effort to make this discovery.

DISPOSITION:

• Now I have a fully functional system, and
• I may have discovered the root cause, and
• If the problem returns, I have a fix for it.

 

Cloning to SSD then swapping drive letters


@SamHobbs
What you want done is very simple and can be done in short period of time. Here's my suggestion:
There's 2 modes that Windows can be installed: UEFI and the old legacy MBR. Open Disk Management, look at the disk where your C drive is, if there's a

1. EFI System Partition, your Windows was installed using UEFI.
2. System Reserved partition, your Windows was installed using MBR

Next, Connect your SSD to an available Sata port (no need to format or do anything). Download: Macrium Reflect Free . Install and run. Follow the steps below:

1. From Macrium, click on image this disk under your C drive and save it to either an Internal or External Drive. This will create a single backup image of the whole disk containing your C drive.
2. Again, from Macrium, click on Restore tab and select the image created from step 1, Select your SSD as the destination drive, click Next->Finish
3. Exit Macrium. If your Windows was installed using MBR, Open disk management and make sure the SSD is marked "Active" else go to next step.
4. Shutdown your PC. Disconnect the HD containing Windows C drive then connect your SSD to it.
5. Reboot. Your PC should boot and the Windows should have C as the drive letter.

NOTE: The procedure above is to backup your Windows to an image file then copy it back to the SSD. This ensures proper cluster size aligment for the SSD. In addition, Macrium also perform Trimming for the SSD. This is more preferable than cloning.