Clone HDD to SDD of W10 Screen blinking after start-up of W10
Hi,
I have cloned my HDD to SDD by doing a save / Restore of the C partition and Boot record of the HDD.
This operation worked fine with Windows 7 in January.
The same operation didn't work with W10 yesterday, although W10 works fine on HDD.
I can start W10 and logon, but the screen of the desktop is blinking permanently and it is impossible to START a program or a Command.
The Task Manager shows an intensive activity of many process and a normal disk activity.
Same problem, if I start the computer in Safe Mode with or without Network. It seems that Explorer can't find files.
Thanks to all.
MdParis
In addition to Enchantec's posts, what happens if, instead of a clone, you take a full disk image (stored to another drive). Then restore the full disk image to the SSD. Still blinking as with the clone or not?
Hi,
I repeat here, everything worked fine 3 months ago, doing the same opérations (except for the MBR that I had to modify with BCDedit)
I cannot use the clone option, because my Partition C: on HDD is only 100 Go on a volume of total 1 To with 3 others partitions.
My SDD is only 230 Go. I am not sure I can clone only the C: partition and the MBR.
I have done all the fixes (Norton and others) mentioned by Enchantec on my HDD and I am ready to do a new Save/Restore to update the SDD.
I can change the Boot device during BIOS settings and choose either the HDD or the SDD.
I have 3 questions :
- Does Acronis True Image format the SSD each time I do a Restore, or should I do it myself before Restore ? (Fast or Complete Format ?) What about the life of the SSD ?
- It seems like the MBR is not copied correctly by Acronis on the first partition of the SSD (I created a System Reserved partition). I have not been able to create an entry with EasyBCD, where the SSD is bootable as partition C: in a multiboot system. The entry mentions only letter J: or so. If I change it to C: with BCDedit, the HDD starts correctly, instead of the SDD.
- It can see also that my HDD is heavy loaded at start up, when the screen is blinking, with the SDD Windows 10 system. The 3 HDD partitions contain only data, photos, videos. If the HDD is unplugged, the SDD won't boot completely.
Should I make others changes before Save/Restore ?
Thanks for your help.
MdParis
1. If you do a full disk recovery - format is accomplished. I would still format first though - often times, you can do a diskpart /clean and then initialize in Windows with a quick format and that is good to go. Some of Enchantec's other posts state he does the diskplart clean and then goes on from there wihtout initializing in Windows first. SSD life will be fine. Windows does disk health automatically now. I'm sure you'll upgrade/replace your SSD well before it degrades or fails (but you never know with hardware). It's kind of like when Plasma tv's came out though. I have my original one 15 years later and it still works fine.
2) cloning does the entire disk - you can't pick and choose. Instead, you'd need to do a full disk backup and then you can select which paritions to restore (C, MBR disk 0, recovery, etc). Just make sure you push the paritions back to to the correct locations. Why did you create an MSR? Acronis does this automatially, although it does move it to the 1st parition and then updates the MBR to reflect the change. The MSR has no data on it - it is only a place holder in most cases. If you use the C: drive with other dynamic disks, it may borrow from that free space for the dynamic disk database, but other than that, the MSR has no functionality.
3) The OS is loading, creating pagefile, hiberfile.sys, being scanned by AV, launching services, background apps, etc. during boot - there could be a number of reasons for high disk usage - Windows indexing, etc. Not really sure.
My question to you would be, do you have a full disk backup from prior to "cloning" you can use? If not, then the rest won't help/matter. However, if so, what happens if you push the entire disk and all partitions to the SSD as a restore instead of a clone? Same thing or not? If blinking still exists, what happens if you push everythign but do not select to restore the MBR disk 0 parition and let Acronis recreate it on it's own?
Thanks very much for your quick answer.
I don't currently have a full disk backup, but I will try this solution and Format the entire SSD.
When I choose the partitions during Restore, should I select MBR also ? or Acronis does create the MBR anyway ?
Can Acronis create a Multi-boot MBR, if I Save/Restore both Windows 10 and W7.
I have to re-organize my 2 USB drives, in order to find 512 Go of free space, to save the 2 OS and the data.
If you think, this solution works better, I will try. I have checked, with the tools given by Microsoft Community, the integrity of my version of Windows 10, and everything is OK on the HDD.
I have also installed a Fix from Norton, and I will disable Norton protection before saving the disk.
Any other precaution ?
Thanks
MdParis
The recommended method by Acronis is, if the backup will be restored to the same disk/same system, select the MBR track 0. If going to a different system, don't select it and Acronis will recreate it. Personally, I always select it and have had no issues. When you import MBR track 0 - it brings along the disk signature which is good for licensinng of some applications that are tied to the hardware it was installed on. If taking an image of a system and upgrading the drive that is going into the same system, select everything and restore everythind and you should be good to go.
The MBR is stored on the disk - so it "should" work with multiboot systems. Imaging from one disk to another and restoring everythign should bring the new disk up just like the old one. I personally don't have a dual boot system to test on though.
A lot of people like the "clone" feature - it can certainly be useful. However, seems like it is not as robust as taking an image and restoring it so people have different experience with cloning and since you have a multiboot system, I'd opt for the backup and restore. Ideally, if you had a spare drive to restore to first, that would be best so that you'd be able to preserve your existing OS and data (just in case). It doesn't have to be another SSD though - maybe an old disk lying around somewhere or cheap purchase from Amazon that you can put to good use for your backup plan and/or for other data down the road? It's always a little scary backing up and restoring when using the original disk because you just don't have the original data to fall back on in case something bad does happen in the process.
One last thought/note. I would take your full disk image "offline" using the bootable recovery media. That will help ensure the best chances for recovery as ti rules out third party application and/or Windows issues during the backup. If you have not done so, you should definitely learn how. Here is an older, but relevant youtube video of an offline backup:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv6D1BHjAt8
Hi,
I did all you mentioned above : Diskpart /clean, Quick Format of the entire SSD.
I did a Save of partition C: , MBR and MSR and a Restore on the SSD, of C: and MBR only. I kept all default values proposed in the Menu for the partition C:
Both options were described correctly in the summary, before starting the Restore.
But W10 does not boot on the SSD, there is no Boot record, BCDedit can't find any, and the Microsoft Repair tools can't do anything to solve the problem.
If I boot from the HDD and choose the SSD in the MultiBoot Menu that I build myself, W10 boot, but the Explorer hangs up and the screen is blinking, as described in my first post.
What should I do ? Do a new Restore of partition C: only and let Acronis take care of the MBR ? (1 entry will satisfy me to start with !!)
I remember, when I did all this with W7, I was able to fix the MBR with the Microsoft Repair Tools automatically, but I had copied also the MSR, that gives some space to write the MBR. This time I have no MBR and no space before partition C: on the SSD.
HELP HELP, I have been struggling one full week on this problem, and no solution.
MdParis
Try taking a full backup of all parititions of the original drive (not a clone though, but a full "disks\paritions" backup). Restore everyting back to the drive - to include the original MSR and MBR paritions (MSR will automatically get created during the process and will be put at the front of the drive by Acronis as 128MB). Does it still blink/flash like it does when cloning?
If so, you can then try to rebuild the BCD by copying the source files from the installed OS directly. This is for Windows 8, but applies to 8.1 and 10 as well.
http://woshub.com/how-to-repair-uefi-bootloader-in-windows-8/
Hi,
Same result with a new Save / Restore operation : No MBR created by Acronis, and no MSR. Impossible to correct it with Microsoft tool.
Diskpart (running from the ISO W10 DVD) does not show any Fat 32 partition for Boot, No BOOTSTRAP neither MSR, as shown in your WosHub tutorial. See attached screen images : SSD is Disk 1, vol J, on the images, because I am running C: partition of the HDD to take the pictures.
To do this last operation, I re-used the same back-up of partition C: , (including MBR and MSR) and did a Restore on the SSD, of C: only, and let Acronis create the MBR. I kept all default values proposed in the Menu for the partition C: Before that I had formated the SSD in a standard way, and Microsoft proposes to reserve the tracks for MBR.
I cannot do a full back-up of my HDD, because, it is a 1To drive with more than 500 Go of data (including systems). I will have to buy a new USB drive to do it. I cannot Restore on the SSD, because it is a 223 Go drive.
I don't understand anything about EFI boot record in W10, but it seems to be different from W7.
Once again, everything worked perfectly doing SAVE / RESTORE of partition C: with W7.
Thanks again to spend time on my problem.
MdParis
MdParis,
When you do the full backup, please try using the offline bootable media. Select "backup" / "disk and parition backup". Click the main box on "Disk 1" or whatever your main disk is listed as so that it selects (full disk to include all paritions). Then uncheck the data paritions you don't want to bring over. However, at a minimum, to be bootable, you want the main OS parition and the EFI system partition (100MB). If these exist on the main OS drive now, it must be available as an option to backup in Acronis. The only thing you won't see listed is the MSR parition in Acronis because it's blank space, but Acronis will recreate that when you do the full disk recovery to the smaller drive and it will move it to partition #1 and the file size will be 128Mb.
If possible, could you take a picture with your phone of your main drive and all paritions while booted to the Acronis offline bootable recovery media using the "backup" option as mentioned above to confirm that it does or does not show the EFI System Partition on you existing drive. If it is not there, I would say that your current OS install has somehow been modified, but a picture would help.
Hi,
I have always used the bootable media to do all the operations described above. I did also previously what you described in your last post :
Select "backup" / "disk and parition backup". (See image Acronis_1)
All my disks are MBR format, (I found a tool to verify this yesterday), but I have a doubt : Diskpart List Disk mentions GPT in the last column (Image Diskpart_3)
I am sorry, I made a confusion between MSR and a "Partition Réservé au System" in french, that was created when I upgraded W7 to W10, but there is no EFI partition, neither an hiden MSR, since the upgrade was made in MBR mode ‘'(I think, but I am not sure !)
Even though, I am not able today to create or modify the MBR on the SSD created by my last Restore (See 2 posts above). There is no room for it, it was not created by ACRONIS.
I will try again to Restore, C:, MBR and "Partition réservé au System", but I have a doubt about this partition. (Acronis_7, and Eplorer_1: partition D:)
I join two snapshots of the Explorer running now on C: (HDD) that shows EFI folder and Bootx64.efi
Which choice is the best for Restoring to the SSD ?
Thanks again.
MdParis
Hello, MdParis.
You have to backup and restore both partitions, including the "Réservé au Systeme" partition, and the MBR. If the restored system is not bootable you can try the restore without the MBR (True Image will recreate it), but the System Reserved partition must always be restored.
Looks like there has been a confusion in this thread and your PC does not actually have UEFI firmware, is that correct?
Hello,
I gave up a month ago trying to clone W10 from a HDD to SSD.
Maybe my version of W10, that came from a migration of W7, was not very clean, so I re-installed completely W10 , using a DVD of W10 ISO. The result is a very fast W10 OS (35 seconds to start)
Nevertheless, there is not any good explanation on this site to clone W10 running on a BIOS-MBR disk to a UEFI-GPT disk (or I didn’t found it)
I didn't see, in Acronis True Image, any preparation of the GPT partitions, neither any tool to repair the UEFI-GPT boot.
I opened a discussion on Microsoft Community on this subject and got an answer on a concurrent app, that provides all these tools to clone W10 running on a BIOS-MBR disk to a UEFI-GPT disk.
Acronis True Image needs improvement.
MdParis
MdParis, "Cloning" is designed to clone a disk exactly as it was originally. It is not intended to convert an MBR disk to UEFI/GPT disk.
Some have reported that it is possible to take an image of an MBR install and restore to GPT/UEFI by booting the offline recovery Acronis media as UEFI and then restoring an MBR image, but I have never personally done so. You may also have to run Windows repair after this, but no guarantee it will work. Acronis makes no claim that this possible.
This is not a Microsoft supported change from MBR to UEFI.
3rd party tools like Paragon and AOMEI claim they can do this (I have used them to convert MBR to GPT on non-boot disks just fine). I would be sure to have a good backup before trying though. Please keep in mind these are extra tools outside of their specific backup tools as well.
this is a possible work-a-round that may also work: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/14286.conver…
Use a Backup tool Make a backup of your current Win8 system, (i used Acronis, but Ghost and other should work.
Using a bootup tool (acronis boot disk, or other usb/ODD startup tools) Format the disk in GDP.
Then adjust your bios settings for UEIF Start-up.
Install Fresh copy of Windows 8, or Windows 7* on the newly formatted Hard Drive.(Check the BIOs for a UEIF Startup option for your installation media there should be two boot options for your media now).
After Windows has installed, Check Disk Manager to see that you have the 100mb EFI partition.
Then use your backup tool to restore your original Windows installation over the new system. Making sure to uncheck any options for restoring the "MBR" .