How can I copy information from the SSD of my ACER Z24-890-UA91?

Aiutami

I have an Acer Z24-890-UA91 which we bought about 3 years ago with Windows 10 installed. A month ago after receiving all these admonishments from Microsoft I downloaded and installed Windows 11. Then came the KB5023706 update and the trouble started. Long story short, it went downhill from there and after looping repeatedly back to the 0xc00000021a error codes while none of the internal repair possibilities worked. It was basically dead, and what with my limited knowledge the only option left was a clean install of Windows 11. Seeing that I had photos and other stuff of value to me on there I did not just want to do that. The internet is a wonderful place and suggested that yes you could get the information off your HDD even if the OS is not functional. I found a very nice video from someone in Dubai showing how to open up an Acer Z24-890 so after watching it a few times I managed to get the plastic back off the machine. Unfortunately the Dubai Acer -I guess- had a HDD and the video showed how to take it out. My Acer, unfortunately, has something else in there: a Kingston RBU-SNS-8154 P3512 SSD. Now I am stuck- (1) how do I get it out of the metal casing? There are a bunch of screws and at least one is hard to get to without removing something else. (2) is the Kingston the only thing under the metal casing? If not what is the other thing? (3) the videos I saw with an HDD takes it out and uses a connector which plugs into the HDD on one end and a USB on which plugs into your computer at the other end to transfer data off the HDD. In pictures of a Kingston SSD there are also connectors but when I peek under the metal casing I can see the B+M key edge connectors but they do not seem to be plugged into the motherboard. If I remove the Kingston can one buy cables similar to those used to transfer information from a HDD to another computer? and can I actually transfer data from the SSD in this way: is the SSD readable if you plug it in this way? Any help would be very much appreciated – there is only so much you can learn from searching online.

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/683506/how-can-i-copy-information-from-the-ssd-of-my-acer-z24-890-ua91

The Error 0xC000021A means STATUS_SYSTEM_PROCESS_TERMINATED if it cant be fixed you need to do a clean install and you will lose your data.

This error occurs when a critical process, such as WinLogon (winlogon.exe) or the Client Server Run-Time Subsystem (csrss.exe) fails. Once the kernel detects that either of those services have stopped, it raises the STOP 0xC000021A error. This error may have several causes, including:

• Mismatched system files have been installed.
• A Service Pack or KB update installation has failed.
• A backup program that is used to restore a hard disk did not correctly restore files that may have been in use.
• An incompatible third-party program has been installed.

Just as a warning to you with your photos and valuable data, as this has happened to me as and I’m sure its happened to many PC users, the best and safest solution if you have valuable photos and data on this M.2 SATA SSD boot drive and on your Acer Z24-890-UA91 AIO, is to take the 512GB Kingston RBU-SNS-8154 P3512 SSD out and take it to an experienced and established Data Recovery Technician in your area that knows what they are doing and how to recover data from an M.2 SSDS drive, don’t attempt this yourself with software’s on the web, as you will destroy the data and the drive beyond recovery, as in SSD drives its an electronic component that is damaged andthat needs microscopic tools to fix and replace!

I’ve had a damaged HDDs and SSDs with very valuable 20 year old photos and data that these data recovery techs have recovered 99% of the data on these drives, so be safe as and otherwise you will lose all the data. Plus, you will need to provide these recovery techs with a recovery drive (or they can provide it for you) so ask them to put the recovered data onto an external 2.5" SDD drive to recover your data to and use that as a slave and NEVER put your photos and valuable data on a boot drive again, as its not safe as its very prone to corruption complete loss of data and what has happened to you.

As after you have taken your damaged drive to a Data Recovery buy another M.2 SATA B&M end key SSD boot drive and do a Clean Install of Win-10 onto that to get you going. In any AIO type PCs its best to have an external drive to store your valuable data as its a much safer environment than being enclosed and under heat in a permanent enclosure like an AIO PC case, as that is why your M.2 SSD probably failed. Good luck and hope this helps you out, as I know its very frustrating especially if you have very valuable photos and data on a drive.

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1195212#Comment_1195212

Thank you and I'm very glad to help you out! Just to let you know and give you more detailed information and advise for a proper upgrade to make this AIO PC work 100% and have much more potential for high end software and much speedier operation, your AIOs M.2 SSD drive is secured by 1x screw to the motherboard (see my PDF attachment below) as the M.2 SSD is on the right side and not underneath the 2.5” SATA drive plug and attachment bracket, see the position of the M.2 SSD drive in he Z24-890 in that PDF from the Acer SG for your AIO Z24-890. As the caption above that you have shown is the Z24s SATA motherboard plug and the M.2 SSD drive is not under there, its to the right like in the caption below..

Its a simple job once you have remove and opened the DVD cover and removed the DVD Beze and pushed this back in, as then you have to undo 3x screws securing the main cover assembly to the main frame assembly and then disengage the latches securing the main cover assembly to the main frame assembly, like this:

The below caption is where the Z24-890 M.2 SSD drive position is and the 2x ram slots for your AIO on its motherboard, the Z24-890 M.2 interface is for a PCIe3x4 type drive and the best and quickest drives are the WD SN750 Black or the Samsung 970 Plus NVMe drive which will improve your AIO drive speed considerably.

Also upgrading the ram to a KIT of the 32GBat2x 16GBDDR4-3200 • CL=22 • NON-ECC • SODIMM • 260-pin • 1.2V • 2Rx8/1Rx8 • PC4-25600, as the standard ram fitted by Acer to the Z24-890 is a 1x 8GB DDR4-2666Mhz type ram and its in running in Single Channel which is inferior, slower than Dual Channel ram. Upgrading to at least 2x 8GB DDR4-3200MHz (or adding another the same spec 8GB DDR4 as your oem ram) memory modules will give your AIO Dual Channel and it will run at 16GB total memory, install CPUz to find out your oem ram, as that ram will a 1x 8GB DDR4-2666Mhz type ram, so match that.

In my opinion and if you have the back open, I would also upgrade the RAM including to a faster M.2 drive like above, and I would upgrade the RAM to 32GB at 2x 16GB DDR4-3200MHz CL22 type ram like the above specs of DDR4-3200Mhz, its best to do theCrucial System Scanlike this for yourAIO Z24-890 as it will give you all the correct spec for upgrades for the Z24s RAM & SSDs. Good luck and hope this helps you out some more, if you have any other questions don’t heisted to ask.

Z24-890 AIO - Removing the SSD Module from the Motherboard.pdf

billsey

You can easily recover your data without using an expensive recovery service. Steven shows you where the M.2 SSD is installed, simply get a generic external case for the SSD, put the drive in the case and connect it to another computer, then copy off whatever you wish. You do need to know if your drive is an NVMe model or SATA model, in order to choose the correct case. I believe most of the Z24-890 models shipped with NVMe drives, but you can tell for sure via the model numbers on the drive.

billsey

Yes, it sounds like you are well on the way to a full solution. Typically heat dissipation for a SSD isn't an issue, but in tightly designed spaces where there's not a lot of air movement it can be. My guess is you don't really have a hardware issue with your system, it sounds more like software. Do make sure all the data has been copies successfully then go ahead with a clean install (though it's a good idea to have a few drivers downloaded first, just in case they don't show up during the install). Specifically I'd have the IRST driver downloaded and internal zip extracted to your install flash drive so the installer can see your drive and the WLAN driver ready to install in case the network doesn't come up. I'd also go back to W10 since Acer hasn't released a W11 driver set for your Z24-890 yet. That means there is still likely an issue with some piece of hardware and W11. Ignore what Microsoft is trying to get you to do until after the W11 drivers are all available.

billsey

Let us know how it works out…

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/683506/how-can-i-copy-information-from-the-ssd-of-my-acer-z24-890-ua91

The Error 0xC000021A means STATUS_SYSTEM_PROCESS_TERMINATED if it cant be fixed you need to do a clean install and you will lose your data.

This error occurs when a critical process, such as WinLogon (winlogon.exe) or the Client Server Run-Time Subsystem (csrss.exe) fails. Once the kernel detects that either of those services have stopped, it raises the STOP 0xC000021A error. This error may have several causes, including:

• Mismatched system files have been installed.
• A Service Pack or KB update installation has failed.
• A backup program that is used to restore a hard disk did not correctly restore files that may have been in use.
• An incompatible third-party program has been installed.

Just as a warning to you with your photos and valuable data, as this has happened to me as and I’m sure its happened to many PC users, the best and safest solution if you have valuable photos and data on this M.2 SATA SSD boot drive and on your Acer Z24-890-UA91 AIO, is to take the 512GB Kingston RBU-SNS-8154 P3512 SSD out and take it to an experienced and established Data Recovery Technician in your area that knows what they are doing and how to recover data from an M.2 SSDS drive, don’t attempt this yourself with software’s on the web, as you will destroy the data and the drive beyond recovery, as in SSD drives its an electronic component that is damaged andthat needs microscopic tools to fix and replace!

I’ve had a damaged HDDs and SSDs with very valuable 20 year old photos and data that these data recovery techs have recovered 99% of the data on these drives, so be safe as and otherwise you will lose all the data. Plus, you will need to provide these recovery techs with a recovery drive (or they can provide it for you) so ask them to put the recovered data onto an external 2.5" SDD drive to recover your data to and use that as a slave and NEVER put your photos and valuable data on a boot drive again, as its not safe as its very prone to corruption complete loss of data and what has happened to you.

As after you have taken your damaged drive to a Data Recovery buy another M.2 SATA B&M end key SSD boot drive and do a Clean Install of Win-10 onto that to get you going. In any AIO type PCs its best to have an external drive to store your valuable data as its a much safer environment than being enclosed and under heat in a permanent enclosure like an AIO PC case, as that is why your M.2 SSD probably failed. Good luck and hope this helps you out, as I know its very frustrating especially if you have very valuable photos and data on a drive.

Aiutami

Dear Steve, Thank you so much for your very detailed answer. Your message is very clear: don't try to recover the data yourself from the M.2 SSD because one needs specialized tools and knowledge to do that. Fair enough. I still do need advice for a relatively basic issue though because I have never opened up the insides of any computer before. How do I remove the M.2 SSD? I see a metal casing that is anchored by at least 5 screws. Do I unscrew those? Are there any hidden so I need to dismantle something else like the speakers? When I see the M.2 SSD what needs to be disconnected? thanks!

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1195212#Comment_1195212

Thank you and I'm very glad to help you out! Just to let you know and give you more detailed information and advise for a proper upgrade to make this AIO PC work 100% and have much more potential for high end software and much speedier operation, your AIOs M.2 SSD drive is secured by 1x screw to the motherboard (see my PDF attachment below) as the M.2 SSD is on the right side and not underneath the 2.5” SATA drive plug and attachment bracket, see the position of the M.2 SSD drive in he Z24-890 in that PDF from the Acer SG for your AIO Z24-890. As the caption above that you have shown is the Z24s SATA motherboard plug and the M.2 SSD drive is not under there, its to the right like in the caption below..

Its a simple job once you have remove and opened the DVD cover and removed the DVD Beze and pushed this back in, as then you have to undo 3x screws securing the main cover assembly to the main frame assembly and then disengage the latches securing the main cover assembly to the main frame assembly, like this:

The below caption is where the Z24-890 M.2 SSD drive position is and the 2x ram slots for your AIO on its motherboard, the Z24-890 M.2 interface is for a PCIe3x4 type drive and the best and quickest drives are the WD SN750 Black or the Samsung 970 Plus NVMe drive which will improve your AIO drive speed considerably.

Also upgrading the ram to a KIT of the 32GBat2x 16GBDDR4-3200 • CL=22 • NON-ECC • SODIMM • 260-pin • 1.2V • 2Rx8/1Rx8 • PC4-25600, as the standard ram fitted by Acer to the Z24-890 is a 1x 8GB DDR4-2666Mhz type ram and its in running in Single Channel which is inferior, slower than Dual Channel ram. Upgrading to at least 2x 8GB DDR4-3200MHz (or adding another the same spec 8GB DDR4 as your oem ram) memory modules will give your AIO Dual Channel and it will run at 16GB total memory, install CPUz to find out your oem ram, as that ram will a 1x 8GB DDR4-2666Mhz type ram, so match that.

In my opinion and if you have the back open, I would also upgrade the RAM including to a faster M.2 drive like above, and I would upgrade the RAM to 32GB at 2x 16GB DDR4-3200MHz CL22 type ram like the above specs of DDR4-3200Mhz, its best to do theCrucial System Scanlike this for yourAIO Z24-890 as it will give you all the correct spec for upgrades for the Z24s RAM & SSDs. Good luck and hope this helps you out some more, if you have any other questions don’t heisted to ask.

Z24-890 AIO - Removing the SSD Module from the Motherboard.pdf

billsey

You can easily recover your data without using an expensive recovery service. Steven shows you where the M.2 SSD is installed, simply get a generic external case for the SSD, put the drive in the case and connect it to another computer, then copy off whatever you wish. You do need to know if your drive is an NVMe model or SATA model, in order to choose the correct case. I believe most of the Z24-890 models shipped with NVMe drives, but you can tell for sure via the model numbers on the drive.

Aiutami

Hi Billsey, No kidding? That is what I was hoping to do, but Steven’s response suggested to me that this would not be a smart idea. I think I now understand one of the reasons why: an SSD even if only used as a storage device generates heat which needs to be dissipated? – I guess that is what the thermal pad is for in the PDF? and if it heats up and it has nowhere to go, this will destroy it. And the encasing you refer to such as the ones reviewed online [like Tom's hardware and such] take care of that?

The images of the insides of the Z24-890 provided by Steven also provided me with an “aha” moment. I had already managed to pry off the plastic back of the Z24- the online videos make this look very easy but it was pretty tough with my Acer. Also the online video from Dubai showed an HDD inside the Acer so I was looking for one near that location. What would I know- I have never opened a computer before….Steven put a red X over what I thought was the housing of the Kingston SSD but clearly this is not where the SSD is! So instead it is underneath the big aluminum plate which covers the main board.

I still have one final question, although I might be able to find this by looking at more online videos: to remove the aluminum backing that covers the main board, I will need to unscrew some screws- at least 4 that I saw. Is there, by any chance, an image of which ones [all of them?] and if anything else needs to be removed or dismantled before it can be lifted off? Thank you! https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/best-ssd-and-hard-drive-enclosures

Aiutami

Actually I think this is the answer regarding how to remove the aluminum backing: 5 screws and it lifts right off. It looks pretty easy. Thank you both very much Steven and Billsey!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt_5hKRjZwk

billsey

Yes, it sounds like you are well on the way to a full solution. Typically heat dissipation for a SSD isn't an issue, but in tightly designed spaces where there's not a lot of air movement it can be. My guess is you don't really have a hardware issue with your system, it sounds more like software. Do make sure all the data has been copies successfully then go ahead with a clean install (though it's a good idea to have a few drivers downloaded first, just in case they don't show up during the install). Specifically I'd have the IRST driver downloaded and internal zip extracted to your install flash drive so the installer can see your drive and the WLAN driver ready to install in case the network doesn't come up. I'd also go back to W10 since Acer hasn't released a W11 driver set for your Z24-890 yet. That means there is still likely an issue with some piece of hardware and W11. Ignore what Microsoft is trying to get you to do until after the W11 drivers are all available.

Aiutami

Hi Billsey, After I have ordered and received the casing I will give this all a go. And thank you for the advice about the drivers. I agree, the problems started with the W11 not being able to install KB5023706 and I most certainly will install W10 this time. W0 worked fine with all the programs I had, even a very old Adobe X pro I was very attached to. But you know, folks like me sort of trust Microsoft when they tell you 'hey your computer is compatible with W11' and then send you a message every so many weeks asking you 'do you want to upgrade?' In the end you think 'well, why not?' and you click on that download link. Fateful decision, so far has cost tons of time. On the bright side, after the BSOD appearing two weeks ago I have learned something about the insides of a computer which I would not have attempted to understand before. Grazie mille! :)

billsey

Let us know how it works out…

Aiutami

Well Billsey, you did ask to let you know how it worked out!!

I am back with another question- please just ignore the following and go to the bottom for the question [I will first just describe removing the SSD for other people who like me have never done this]. It took me a while to finally open up the aluminum back encasing the motherboard. There are 5 small screws that need to be removed to do this. It looks so easy but since they have presumably not been moved since the factory put them in they did not go willingly, using a tiny screw driver that does not allow much torque. I even managed to strip the head of one. That brought me to this video from PC Monkey

which I tried and which worked, sort of, in that I managed to drill a hole all the way through the screw [fortunately did not go through the other side of the machine..] but when I reversed the drill the screw did not come out. I used a larger bit, reverse and some downward pressure to finally extract it. I carefully removed all the metal filings and dust with a piece of tape before removing the cover and wore gloves.

The thermal strip on top of the SSD feels a bit sticky and heavy and can just be peeled off. I stored it in a plastic bag to avoid it catching dust. The screw holding the SSD in place was easy, and it was also not an issue to pull it out at an angle. I had bought an SSD holder [Sabrent USB type-C tool-free enclosure for M.2 PCle NVMe and SATA SSDs] for the connection to my computer. It required quite a bit of force to insert the pins into the holder but when it snapped in, there did not appear to be any damage. And after connection to a computer everything showed up like regular folders. Of course if you want to copy the entire OS you need special software I guess, but as for me, I just wanted to retrieve personal information. Putting the AIO desktop back together in reverse order [I had kept the screws in labeled Ziplock bags] was very quick and took less than 20 minutes. I am showing some pictures of the -in my opinion- impossible way the plastic back of the computer is attached to the main body. To attach the back you do need to first push the DVD tray out with an opened paper clip. Then snapping the plastic back takes 1 second. But man it was so difficult to get it off in the first place, and I certainly damaged the aluminum encasing doing so. Looking at the construct it is easy to see why- you can’t really see what you are doing when you poke around with a piece of plastic or a metal screwdriver to try and disengage the latches.

The good news, for me, is that I did manage to transfer all my photos and videos off the Acer SSD to an external hard drive. That was half of the mission so I am really happy with that.

I then followed Billsey’s advice. I made a USB Windows 10 installation media, turned on the computer, got the windows installation screen and proceeded to a clean install. Alas, as Billsey had predicted, the computer claimed that ‘no signed device drivers were found’. Next I downloaded the IRST driver version 17.8.0.1065 from the Acer web site after having located the SNID number on the back of the computer to identify the appropriate driver. Repeated turning on the computer, it accepted the driver and then proceeded to “collecting information”. And that is what it did endlessly: collecting, collecting, collecting some more but never proceeding.

I also tried to do a Windows 11 clean install [because that is what is on there right now] but the Acer web site does not provide an IRST driver for my model and Windows 11. A version downloaded from the Intel web site for W11 is not accepted either by the machine. And finally the computer has the same quirk it developed before I got the BSOD: it can’t be permanently turned off either by pushing the off button or by clicking on ‘turn off’. It turns itself on again and the only way to permanently power it off is to literally pull the plug.

Any ideas? It is only 3 years old ☹but seems ready for environmentally appropriate final disposal.. ☹https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=pc+monkey+stripped+screw&qpvt=pc+monkey+stripped+screw&view=detail&mid=020A24A9BB33B1E98517020A24A9BB33B1E98517&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dpc%2Bmonkey%2Bstripped%2Bscrew%26qpvt%3Dpc%2Bmonkey%2Bstripped%2Bscrew%26FORM%3DVDRE

billsey

OK, so the 'collecting information' hang seems to be an issue with recognizing the drive itself. Since we know the drive works, as is evident by you being able to access everything on it from an external case, the issue is either that a portion of the drive (likely in the EFI partition) is bad or the Z24-890 motherboard has issues with that M.2 slot. Now that you have everything important copied off the drive let's try a clean install to see if it fails when trying to create and populate the hidden partitions. Boot to the Windows installer for Windows 10 (Acer hasn't released a driver set for Windows 11 yet, so you are likely to run into issue with W11). When it gets to the page where you have to load the iRST drivers, after loading them, select and delete each of the partitions on the drive, so all that is left is 'unallocated area'. Choose to install to the unallocated area and it should create and populate all needed partitions and continue the install…

Aiutami

I downloaded IRST_Intel_17.8.0.1065_W10x64_A from the Acer web site based on my model Acer, unzipped and put on the USB; started up, when it asked for a driver I directed it to the Intel folder. After a while I got the message: “We couldn’t install the IRST_Intel_17.8.0.1065_W10x64_A device driver. Contact your vendor for an updated driver.” So sadly, I could not follow through with the rest of your advice. Unfortunately, t

his is the only driver option available for this Acer on the web site.

I do see as option Boot (X:) which also seems to contain drivers [see image for example]. Is it possible to locate a useable driver in one of those folders?

billsey

The iRST driver package extracts to a folder called something like IRST_Intel_17.8.0.1065_W10x64_A. When try to install the driver during the Windows installation, are you navigating to that folder? You shouldn't be in the DriverStore folder, but in something like D:\IRST_Intel_17.8.0.1065_W10x64_A.

Aiutami

Yes I did navigate to that folder [please see image]. Difficult to understand but I got the message “We couldn’t install the IRST_Intel_17.8.0.1065_W10x64_A device driver. Contact your vendor for an updated driver.”

Screenshot 2023-05-29 210858.png