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Clone Noteook HDD to SSD with Recovery USB Created on Another Notebook

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I have True Image 2018 licensed for 3 computers on a Lenovo T450 notebook. I just bought a Lenovo E560 and replaced the HDD with a new 1TB SSD.  Can I use an Acronis bootable recovery USB created on the T450 to clone the HDD to SSD on the E560 or do I have to re-install the HDD and create the recovery media on the E560?

I initially tried to clone the HDD to the SDD with an Acronis bootable USB created on the T450 with True Image 2013. When I booted to USB recovery media, it went to a black screen. I upgraded True Image 2013 to 2018 and created a new USB.  I don’t want to re-install the HDD in the new E560 just to create another recovery USB unless absolutely necessary.

Thanks,

Roger

 

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Roger, welcome to these User Forums.

Please read topic: [IMPORTANT] CLONING - How NOT to do this which was written for users on earlier versions of ATI but the key message is: Make a full disk backup of your source disk drive before embarking on cloning as a safety precaution against anything going wrong!

With ATIH 2018 the rules have changed a little with the ability to clone using MS VSS snapshots but this is mainly for the active OS drive being cloned from within Windows.

In your case, if you can connect both drives to your other computer (T450), then you could try doing the clone from the active Windows Acronis product without needing to use the Rescue Media but if this then wants you to reboot the computer to actually perform the clone, then I would recommend cancelling at that point and using the Rescue Media to do the clone instead.

You should be fine to use the T450 rescue media to boot the E560 computer to do the cloning there but ensure you boot the media in the same way that Windows that that computer uses, i.e. using the UEFI option for the media if this is what Windows uses.

 

The advise from Steve is good.  If your E560 is UEFI booted and you are running Windows 10 you can avoid incorrect boot method by doing the following:

From the E560 booted to Windows and the Acronis TI2018 USB Media attached left mouse click the Windows start button.

Now click the Power icon.

Now, hold down the Shift key and click Restart.

Be patient and wait, you will be presented with a screen that gives a number of boot options from which you can choose to boot from Device, then finally your USB media.

 

In reply to by truwrikodrorow…

Thanks Steve,

Great info. I can connect both the SSD an HDD to the T450, but I thought the preferred method was to clone the SSD while installed in the new notebook. Anyway, it is already installed and those screws are so small and my eyes so bad, I would rater use the recovery media and clone the SSD while in the new notebook if I can.

I was able to boot the new machine into Actonis from the recovery usb, but when I connect the E560 HDD (usb) and go to the clone process, Acronis sees the new SSD (Disk 1) and the recovery usb (Disk 2).  It does not see the E560 HDD on the other USB port.  I have to boot without the E560 HDD attached. If I try to boot with both the recovery usb and E560 HDD attached, the notebook tries to boot to Windows, and fails.

On previous HDD to SSD upgrades, I cloned with the HDD in the machine and SSD attached via usb, but I understand it is better to have the SSD in the machine and HDD on usb? Is there something I need to do to get Acronis to see the HDD?

Thanks,

Roger

 

Actually,

I think one of your articles was where I found the preferred method was to install the SSD in the new machhine and clone using the recovery media.

https://forum.acronis.com/forum/acronis-true-image-2015-forum/cloning-l…

In reply to by truwrikodrorow…

Thanks Enchantech,

I’m still on Windows 7.  Not ready to go to 10 yet.  As I replied to Steve, I think I will leave the SSD in the new machine, attach the HDD via usb and clone with the bootable recovery media.  If it doesn’t boot to blackscreen, I should be good.

Roger

I think it sounds like you are attempting this in exactly the opposite way from which you should.  Your HDD contains the Windows OS that you wish to clone to the SSD correct?  If yes the HDD should be installed in the PC and the SSD should be attached via USB to the PC.  You then boot to the rescue media and run the clone tool.  Select the Source disk which would be your HDD and the Destination disk which should be your SSD and run the clone tool.  Be sure to check the Shutdown computer upon completion box so that your machine will shutdown after the clone process runs.

The next step is to replace the HDD with the SSD and boot to the new SSD drive.  Sorry that you would need to swap drives again to accomplish this.

Enchantech

I will post a summary of my trials at the end of this thread, but to reply to you, I have read a number of articles in this forum that say install the new SSD (target disk) in the notebook) and attach the source HDD to a usb port.  See Steve Smith's post on the below page.

https://forum.acronis.com/forum/acronis-true-image-2015-forum/cloning-laptop-hard-disk-ssd

In the end, I ended up doing just what you recommended, source HDD in computer, target SSD on us. as I did on previous upgrades.   See my post at the end of the posts.

Thanks

Roger

 

https://forum.acronis.com/forum/acronis-true-image-2015-forum/cloning-l…-

Steve/Enchantech, 

Thanks for your responses.  I was ultimately unable to clone the new SSD installed in the new computer, which I thought was the recommended configuration, and attached the new SSD to a usb port for cloning.  I am posting this update in case it might help someone else with similar questions.

  • To recap, I created a recover usb with Acroiss 2018 on a Lenovo T450 notebook. I installed a new SSD in new Lenovo E560, attached the HDD that can with the E560 to a usb port, booted with the restoral usb and attempted to clone the new SSD. Acronis would not recognize the HHD attached to the usb port.
  • Since I just purchased the 2018 upgrade, I contacted Acronis customer support.
  • Acronis advised me to try a recovery DVD instead of USB.
  • I created a recovery DVD.  My new E560 booted to Acronis, but Acronis still could not see the HDD attached to the usb port.
  • Acronis next advised me to change SATA mode from IDE to AHCI.  This option is not available in either of my notebooks (T450 or E560).  Per the Lenovo forum, the SATA mode is automatic and the option to select has been deleted from BIOS.
  • Acronis then recommended that I put the HDD back in the new notebook, install Acronis and clone the SSD attached to the usb.  Not the recommended solution, but it worked.

I had upgraded the HDD in the T450 to SSD in the same manner.  The machine works, but I see quite a few strange Windows problems.  Among other problems, the F11 factory restore function does not work. May be a cloning issue, an SSD issue or a Lenovo issue. Whatever, I will probably never know and just live with it. The good thing is that I still have the factory installed HDD’s that came with both machines. Glad I do not do this very often.

Thanks for your advice. I hope someone gets some good from my experience.

Roger

 

Roger, thanks for providing feedback on how you got on with this issue.  I have not used cloning for some long time as find it a whole lot more reliable & safer to use Backup and Recovery to achieve the same end result.  

I did this recently and documented the process I used in topic: Workflow: Larger SATA to SSD 

Hey Steve,

Thanks.  I have been reading and think using backup and restore does sound like the way to go. I guess I will have to see if Acronis recognizes the HHD in the notebook and the SSD and whatever I use for backup attached by usb.  I think there may be a Lenovo issue with SATA mode.  I don't understand and don't have time to figure it out.

Roger