New SSD Clone Won't Boot
I updated to the latest 2016 version.
When I perform a image backup via a USB 3.0 to SATA adapter everything goes as normal just as when I perform the same task with a standard SATA HDD. I have set the copying of the SSD original to copy sector by sector and perform a full backup. The cloning process is performed as usual. But for some reason, once the process is completed and when I insert the new, fully copied SSD into the computer it says there was a failure to boot. "No Bootable Device, insert boot disk"
This is a little confusing since as I said, this is the same process I use when I'm cloning my 320gb HDD's and I never had any boot issues before. Is there something unique about cloning SSD's?
I really appreciate any assistance on this.
Thanks
Tony


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Im confused if you are taking an image backup and restoring or cloning as well? Which is it - they are two different scenarios. If you are doing a full disk image and restore (instead of a clone), when restoring the image, make sure you are booting your recoveyr media to match how the OS was installed. If you boot recovery media in UEFI mode, but the OS was originally legacy/MBR, the restore process will attempt to create a UEFI/GPT formatted disk - this can work in some instances, but not always. You really want to keep the boot mode the same as the OS install in most instances to limit issues. You can never go from UEFI to MBR - it will never boot, you can go from MBR to UEFI (usually, but not always). Best to stick to the same method and make sure that works before attempting to convert from MBR to UEFI after that. Thes thread post with pictures may help explain this better:
https://forum.acronis.com/forum/121829#comment-378318
Why are using sector-by-sector? If need be, Acronis will convert to sector-by-sector during a clone, but you should not do this for a backup and restore. A spinning drive and SSD most likely have different sector sizes. As a result, a 250GB spinning drive and a 250GB SSD may not have the same amount of free/blank space so you could be running out of room. I would not do sector-by-sector unless absolutely required. Let Acronis worry about the actual used data.
How much actual data is on your source drive and how big is the destination SSD? If you have a 320Gb spinner as the source with 220gb of data on it, anda 250GB SSD, you may not have enough space. Don't forget that different sector sizes (4K) on the SSD will eat up more space during the transfer. Also, hidden paritions such as OEM recovery, can be 10-20GB in some instances.
If you are cloning, then this could be a limitation of the clone process and different sector sizes between spinning drives and SSD's. Steve's link in his post above explains this limitation. If everything else is fine, then you can try to do a full disk image and restore instead of a clone and may have better results.
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Thank you both for your prompt reply and suggestions. I will review and make some other attempts.
In answer to some of your questions:
I am going from an 128gb SSD (original image) to a 120gb SSD (new drive)
My attempt at a sector by sector image was because my usual method of imaging failed. Referring to my method used for imaging a standard (spinning disk) SATA HD to another SATA HD.
Originally I was setup my new disk for MBR and then I realized the original 128gb master was a GUI. I then Cleaned the new disk and reset it up as GUI. Any attempts to image or clone have failed including the sector by sector attempt.
My master 128gb SSD has two partitions E:166mb free of 199gb F:93.3GB free of 119GB.
I'll review the links and see what I can do differently to get success.
Thanks, I'll reply here with my progress or any further questions.
Thanks,
Tony
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Tony, thank you for the further information.
If you are attempting to clone from a larger (128GB) SSD to a smaller (120GB) SSD drive, then you should not be using Sector-by-sector as this will not fit on the target drive by virtue of the larger number of sectors on the larger drive.
I assume that when you say your original 128GB master was GUI you really mean it was GPT partitioned.
The key point here is that if you have a GPT drive then you must be booted with the Acronis bootable Rescue media in UEFI mode, then you should have the new 120GB drive in place of your original 128GB drive, with that 128GB drive connected either via USB or in a second drive position. When the clone is complete, then the 128GB drive should be disconnected / removed before you attempt to boot into Windows on the 120GB cloned drive.
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This is what I do.
I receive new terminals in box 10 -20 at a time. All windows 7 , all licensed.
Windows 7 updates take 24-36 hours to complete , aside from my other software I install and use.
So, I update one "Master" terminal HD , remove it, and connect to my SATA to USB 3.0 adapter and connect to my laptop. Next, then I create a Backup with Acronis 2016. Once my backup is created I then I am able to Restore that image to a new, formatted HD and install it in another New Terminal and everything works beautifully! That process of restoring the new HD with the Master image takes about 5 minutes.
I have always done that with mechanical, SATA hard drives with no issues.
However, SSD's do not seem to like this.
Whether I use the Backup or the clone process and it ended with the same result. Boot failure
There are many times I am in the field and I need to retrieve the Backup image to a HD and I cannot always carry a spare, Master.
I need to be able to work off a Backup image that will allow my SSD HD to be Bootable.
Thanks again.
Tony
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Tony, thanks for clarifying the process you are following here, however it does raise some further questions.
Do you have any of these terminals that are using SSD's without any issues?
If yes, were these clones that you created using the process you described via your laptop, and with the same ATIH 2016?
Can you still use the same process to produce clones by using HDD drives instead of SSDs?
Do your terminals support SSD drives?
Have you compared the original HDD partition layout with the SSD clone partition layout to confirm that they are the same, and that no conversion is taking place here, i.e. from MBR to GPT?
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One by one.
Yes, these are all new terminals with Windows 7 loaded and working fine.
Yes, I used the same laptop and ATI2016 program for both.
I haven't tried to go from Master-SSD to Clone-HDD. Don't really want to do that. Trying to get with the times and away from conventional mechanical drives.
Yes, the terminals came with SSD's
No, I'm not trying to go from HDD to SSD or vice versa. I have always gone from HDD to HDD ( that always works) or SDD to SDD (thats the one I cannot get to work)
Thanks again Steve,
Tony
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Tony, thanks again for clarifying further - so your terminals are provided with SSD's running Windows 7 and working fine, and you are trying to clone from one of these SSD's to another of similar size but doing so by connecting the source SSD to your laptop, creating a backup image, then restoring that image to the new SSD connected to the same laptop using the same SATA to USB 3.0 connector.
Please compare the original SSD partition layout against the cloned SSD partition layout and confirm that they are the same?
My concern here is that your terminals may be running Windows 7 in a Legacy / MBR BIOS boot environment and that your laptop may be running Windows in an UEFI boot environment. If so, then according to the ATIH 2016 User Guide: How to migrate an original system to a larger hard drive?
How to migrate an original system to a larger hard drive?
Acronis True Image now allows migrating or restoring systems from a previously created archive, to hard drives larger than 2^32 bytes (2 TB for disks with standard 512-bytes sized logical sector or 16 TB for disks with 4 KB (4096-bytes) sized logical sector).
You can do it using Acronis media or booting to UEFI-based operating systems with Acronis True Image installed:
To migrate a system using Acronis Media:
- Boot your system from an Acronis media.
- Select Acronis True Image (Full version) in the boot menu to continue booting from the media.
- Navigate to the required wizard (Restore or Clone) and follow instructions.
To migrate a system in UEFI-based operating system:
- Boot to an UEFI-capable Windows operating system.
- Run Acronis True Image, go to the Backup and recovery tab, click Recover on the toolbar and follow instructions.
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Okay Steve, here is what I ended up doing.
Like I said, I have another 9 terminals that I wanted to put my updated "Master" image on. Previously, I was using a SSD I had purchased and was trying to put my Master image on, always unsuccessfully. What I decided to try was to get one of the other 9 terminal SSD's with the Windows7 image, though not updated, and see if my Master image would burn to that and if it would boot and function normally, but now updated.
I used the same method I have always used with my Backup image, not Cloning, which took about 12 minutes.
Upon inserting the imaged drive (from the Master) into the terminal everything worked okay and I confirmed it was updated.
The only thing I can think of was that for some reason the Windows boot files didn't copy over from the Master SSD, maybe they were on a hidden partion that didn't copy over. Since they didn't copy over to the original new slave SSD, the other 9 terminals SSD's already had the boot files and were unaffected when I imaged them.
Anyway, I got it working now.
Thanks again for all your effort.
It is greatly appreciated.
Tony
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Tony, thanks for the feedback on your workaround for this issue.
One point to note: when making your backup image of the source machine SSD drive, please ensure that you are looking at the Full partition list on the source selection panel, and not at the Short partition list as the difference between these two is whether hidden partitions are shown or not! Clicking on the Full / Short partition list works as a toggle to switch between the two views, so you will see immediately if there are any differences.
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I had the issue that when I cloned my old SSD onto my new SSD, the process completed successfully, but the new SSD would not successfully boot into Windows 10 - it would start showing the graphics for Windows 10, but would get stuck forever on the swirly graphic.
To make a long story short, https://kb.acronis.com/content/56634 held the missing step: after the PC shuts down on completion of the clone process, DISCONNECT THE OLD DRIVE! After I did this, the PC booted into Windows without a problem.
Now I have to find a way to connect and format my old SSD drive so I can use it for a scratch drive for Adobe programs.
Hope this helps somebody.
#willnotboot
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