Cloning HDD to new SSD
Hi there. I'm not certain this is the most appropriate forum, so please re-direct me if necessary!
I'm about to replace the HDD in a laptop with a Crucial SSD. Crucial's instructions tell me to install "True Image for Crucial" and then clone the laptop's HDD to the new SSD, connected by a SATA-to-USB cable, prior to swapping the drives - which is what I have always done in the past.
However, the documentation for "True image for Crucial" says that if one does that, the SSD may not boot, and that one should instead clone to the SSD installed 'where it is going to be used' (i.e. in the laptop). That's a new one on me, and I'm very inclined to take it with a pinch of salt (i.e. ignore it!). For a start, kit seems very odd, given that 'cloning' surely ought to be cloning! More important, the approach suggested by Acronis relies on one successfully booting the computer from an external drive and also relies on nothing 'happening' to the HDD during its removal and when one tries to boot from it externally, prior to it being cloned.
Any thoughts/comments?
Kind Regards, John
Steve Smith wrote:
John, welcome to these public User Forums.
Thanks Steve, and thanks for your interest.
See KB 2201: Support for OEM Versions of Acronis Products which applies to all OEM versions of ATI supplied with hardware purchases.
Please see KB 56634: Acronis True Image: how to clone a disk - and review the step by step guide given there.
Note: the first section of the above KB document directs laptop users to KB 2931: How to clone a laptop hard drive - and has the following paragraph:
Yes, those are the two documents I was talking about, and they are seemingly contradictory.
The Crucial version of KB 2201 says that one should connect the target drive via USB (with no specific comments about laptops) and, indeed, shows a photo of that being done with a laptop.
However, as you say, KB 2931 includes the paragraph you quote, suggesting that it is important that the target drive be installed in the laptop, in contradiction to KB 2201.
It is recommended to put the new drive in the laptop first, and connect the old drive via USB. Otherwise you will may not be able to boot from the new cloned drive, as Acronis True Image will apply a bootability fix to the new disk and adjust the boot settings of the target drive to boot from USB. If the new disk is inside the laptop, the boot settings will be automatically adjusted to boot from internal disk. As such, hard disk bays cannot be used for target disks. For example, if you have a target hard disk (i.e. the new disk to which you clone, and from which you intend to boot the machine) in a bay, and not physically inside the laptop, the target hard disk will be unbootable after the cloning.
As I implied, this is where I get further confused. This paragraph seems to imply that, at the time of creation, a drive is given 'boot settings' which will dictate that it will only boot when connected in one way (e.g. 'internal' or via USB). However, to do as KB2931 describes, the drive which is normally 'internal' (from which one can boot when it is internal) has to be able to also boot when connected via USB. What am I missing?
I have to say that I have, in the past, done exactly what i am now wanting to do (clone the HDD in a Lenovo laptop to a Cruial SSD, and have successfully achieved that by leaving the HDD in the laptop and connecting the new SSD via USB.
Can you help to un-confuse me?
Kind Regards, John
However, to do as KB2931 describes, the drive which is normally 'internal' (from which one can boot when it is internal) has to be able to also boot when connected via USB. What am I missing?
The original OS boot drive when connected via USB is not used for booting the PC - Microsoft prevent this from happening by default. The laptop has to be booted using Acronis rescue media which can be on a USB stick or DVD disc etc.
See KB 63226: Acronis True Image 2020: how to create bootable media and KB 59877: Acronis True Image: how to distinguish between UEFI and Legacy BIOS boot modes of Acronis Bootable Media
Steve Smith wrote:The original OS boot drive when connected via USB is not used for booting the PC - Microsoft prevent this from happening by default. The laptop has to be booted using Acronis rescue media which can be on a USB stick or DVD
Thanks again but I remain rather confused!
For a start, if what you say is correct, then it seems a bit naughty (confusing) that KB2931 does explain all that - it seems to imply that one can install the new drive internally in the laptop, connect the original drive by USB and then (I presumed) boot from that external drive, and then do the cloning!
However, to be clear, are you suggesting that what one should do (per KB2931s install the new ('target') drive internally, boot from rescue media (e.g. a USB stick) and then connect externally the 'source drive' (the 'original' boot drive) for the cloning (assuming, that is, that one has another USB socket available!) ?
However, the above has become a little moot/academic, since I have just undertaken the exercise, per the KB2201 instructions - leaving the 'original' drive in the machine and cloning it to the new drive connected by USB. When I did that then, despite KB2931, the cloned drive booted and worked fine when shifted to 'internal'.
More generally, if the potential issue (of non-bootability) mentioned in KB2931 does sometimes arise if one clones TO a USB-connected drive, should Acronis not offer a 'clone means clone' option? If one literally just clones the internal drive onto the external one (without interfering with boot settings), then than cloned drive would surely work (and boot) when installed internally, since it would merely be a 'totally exact copy' of the previous internal drive?
Kind Regards, John
John, first I am glad to read of your success in cloning your drives and all working afterwards.
In terms of KB2931 guidance, the issue here is how different USB adapters work and whether they introduce additional hardware controller components which then leads to bootability issues.
You are not alone in asking why Acronis doesn't offer a 'clone means clone' option, i.e. making an identical 1:1 copy of source to target disk? Unfortunately this has been an area where Acronis have tried to be a little too clever by adapting the target drive to match the hardware detected on the system where the operation is being performed. This was done initially to automatically migrate Legacy BIOS boot systems to be UEFI BIOS boot on newer systems but such action then breaks drives that are intended to be used in the older Legacy systems!!
All versions of True Image are no longer in development or supported by Acronis, so there will be no resolution to these issues with this family of products. Acronis are now only selling and supporting Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office which is a subscription product only. Free versions of older products are supported by the disk vendors that supply them with their products, who in turn need to engage with Acronis in the business relationship.
As a fellow user / customer, my advice would be to find the program / tools that work best for you for the tasks you want to perform. I use a mix of different programs of which Acronis is one, MiniTool Partition Wizard and Macrium Reflect are other tools I use where each brings its own options and solutions.
Steve Smith wrote:
John, first I am glad to read of your success in cloning your drives and all working afterwards.
Thanks.
In terms of KB2931 guidance, the issue here is how different USB adapters work and whether they introduce additional hardware controller components which then leads to bootability issues.
Fair enough, but I have to say that i wouldn't expect a USB adapter (which is really only a means of 'connection') to actually do anything to the contents of whatever was connected to it!
You are not alone in asking why Acronis doesn't offer a 'clone means clone' option, i.e. making an identical 1:1 copy of source to target disk? Unfortunately this has been an area where Acronis have tried to be a little too clever by adapting the target drive to match the hardware detected on the system where the operation is being performed. This was done initially to automatically migrate Legacy BIOS boot systems to be UEFI BIOS boot on newer systems but such action then breaks drives that are intended to be used in the older Legacy systems!!
Thanks for explaining, but it still sounds pretty odd to me! I struggle to think of situations in which the great majority of 'ordinary users' (like myself0 would ever want anything other than "clone means clone" - in particular, I can't think of any common situation in which one would want to clone an internal drive to an external USB-connected drive in such a way that the cloned drive would only boot when connected via USB!
As a fellow user / customer, my advice would be to find the program / tools that work best for you for the tasks you want to perform. I use a mix of different programs of which Acronis is one, MiniTool Partition Wizard and Macrium Reflect are other tools I use where each brings its own options and solutions.
Indeed. I personally generally use Macrium Reflect (albeit the 'free' version thereof has very recently been 'retired') and am very happy with it - but since my Crucial Drive came with a 'recommendation' to use True Image, I thought I would give it a try :-)
Kind Regards, John