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Why did Acronis create a Disk 0 and a Disk 1 after cloning

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Hi

Currently have a 256G SSD which is the C drive and I want to install a larger SSD.

  • I have a 1Tb HDD (D: drive) and being new to cloning, I thought I'd experiment by cloning the 256G SSD to the HDD. The process went OK until a Secure Zone was created. I had no idea what this was but had no choice but to allow this.
  • When I went to the Disk Management, I could see two new disks: 
  1. Disk 0 has D: 553Gb NFTS with two partitions (EFI and Healthy)
  2. Disk 1 has C:237Gb NFTS with two partitions (EFI and Healthy)
  • This has mystified me.

Then, this morning, I couldn't access the wifi, despite it working on other devices. After trying several solutions, I have uninstalled the Acronis Cyber Protect and now can access the wifi.

But the two Disks 0 and 1 still remain. 

Now, I want to install the new 2Tb SSD and clone the 256Gb SSD to it, and am concerned about what will happen.

I thought I might be able to just format the D: drive, but when I right click, it only shows 553GB. 

How can I get rid of those partitions? Or do I just leave them? Can I remove the HDD?

Thanks for any advice.

 

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Tess, welcome to these public User Forums.

Some comments:

An Acronis Secure Zone will only be created if the user opts to use this feature, so this must have been present on the source SSD when you performed the clone operation.

The Secure Zone is a modified FAT32 partition created on that SSD for the purpose of storing backup image files and is normally hidden from users in Explorer.  You can control the Secure Zone from the Tools & Utilities section for Acronis in the Programs menu.

Disk Management will show the installed disks in your computer, so will show Disk 0 as the first disk drive, and Disk 1 as the second.  This is correct and normal. 

I suspect that you may be working with a laptop where the HDD shows as Disk 0 and the SSD as Disk 1 because it uses a different technology, i.e. is a NVMe M.2 PCIe card type SSD.  I see the same thing on my own HP laptop.

If you want the HDD to be used as a Data type drive instead of being an ageing clone of the SSD (as of the date the clone was performed), then you would need to use Disk Management or a Partition manager application to remove the cloned partitions on that drive and reformat it as you want to use it.

Note: please be very careful if deleting partitions that you choose the correct drive, i.e. the HDD and not the SSD.  It is always strongly recommended that you have a Full disk backup before making such changes, along with having created Acronis rescue media (that you have tested to ensure can see your internal drives correctly).

Thanks for replying Steve. 

Apologies for my non-technical language. I'm using a 3-year old desktop but it is as you describe above, in that Disk 0 contains Windows D (HDD) and Disk 1 has Windows C (SSD).

DISK 0
Healthy (EFI SystemPartition) - 260Mb
Windows (D:) Healthy - 553.61 GB --- why is this twice the size of Windows C?
Unallocated - 601Mb
Healthy (Primary Partition) - 376.93GB --- what is this?

DISK1
Healthy (EFI SystemPartition) - 260Mb
Windows (C:) Healthy - 237.62 GB
Healthy (Recovery Partition) - 595MB

How do I clean up the D: drive?

  1. Can I just delete the 3 partitions in Disk 0 via Disk Management?
  2. I tried a simple format of D and got a message saying it was using other processes or programs. In Task Manager Performance, I can see that it's processing something. 
  3. I found instructions to use diskpart. Can I safely use this?

I tried to reinstall Acronis because I want to install a larger SSD. There's no slot in the desktop so I used an adapter. Acronis installation failed and then I got a BSOD. Fortunately, I've managed to restore Windows but I'm still left with two versions of Windows.

I hugely appreciate any help you can give me. I looked for solutions on MS and other places but without success.

Tess

 

Tess, the first question that needs to be answered here is whether Windows is using any of the partitions on Disk 0 when booting or not?

The easiest method of answering this question is to disconnect Disk 0 and test whether Windows will boot successfully from Disk 1 SSD - if it does, then you should be able to reformat the original HDD by either connecting it via a USB Dock or else by booting the computer from rescue media if you cannot do this from within Windows.

Thanks Steve. 

Sorry to be dumb, but how do I disconnect Disk 0? Do I just disconnect the HDD? 

I didn't fully understand this sentence from your last paragraph '...or else by booting the computer from rescue media if you cannot do this from within Windows'.

I did make a Win 11 rescue disk on a USB when I installed Acronis. Do you mean that if Windows doesn't boot from the SSD, I should use this rescue disk?

Tess

Tess, yes, with a desktop computer, assuming that you are confident in opening the case as you will need to be to upgrade the SSD, disconnecting the cables to the HDD would remove Disk 0 temporarily while testing if the SSD will boot correctly into Windows.

The Acronis bootable rescue media is an essential tool to have and to understand how it can be used, as this is your means of recovering a backup image of your drive(s) in the event of one failing and the computer refusing to boot from it.

KB 59877: Acronis True Image: how to distinguish between UEFI and Legacy BIOS boot modes of Acronis Bootable Media

KB 69472: Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office: how to create bootable media

Hi Steve, I am fine opening the case. I will disconnect the HDD and see what happens.

I have the Acronis Rescue Drive, created when I installed Acronis. However, I have today created  Recovery Disk.

Will let you know what happens!

Tess, that's good, just make sure you power the PC down before pulling cables and keep them separate from any other free cables within the case.

Hi Steve, I thought I had replied yesterday but I can't see the post now.

I did disconnect the HDD and the PC booted up fine from the SDD. No more noisy HDD! 

I had a further question, if you are willing to help!

I can't add another NVMe in the case and read I could clone the internal SSD to an external SDD via USB. However, I read in another forum that that wasn't possible. Do you know which is correct?

If I can clone the SSD to the external one, I will reinstall Acronis.

Tess, glad all was OK with the HDD removed / disconnected.

Rather than trying to clone from your NVMe SSD to an external case etc, I would recommend using the method that I have been using myself successfully for some years.

See forum topic: Steve migrate NVMe SSD where I have documented (with images) the process that I have used multiple times for my own laptops using Backup & Recovery. 

In my case, this was a laptop upgrade where I have upgraded from the original 128GB SSD to a 500GB then to 1TB and currently a 2TB NVMe SSD, all using this approach.

The advantage of using Backup & Recovery is that you remove the working SSD from the computer and have it as an immediate recovery option if ever needed (albeit set at the date / time of last use).

I did invest in an external USB NVMe enclosure but have only used it a handful of times over the past 3 - 4 years.