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SSD Clone

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Hello,

I am trying to clone an SSD drive to a larger one for my desktop computer.  I hooked up the new Samsung 970 EVO 2TB to a USB adapter.  I went through the clone and it was successful.  I removed the old SSD from the computer and installed the new one.  I comes up with the error no bootable media.  I thought the clone process installs the operating system on the drive?  Not sure what to do now.  Thanks for any help!

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Frank, what type of SSD drive is your source drive here?

The Samsung 970 EVO is a NVMe M.2 drive and requires UEFI along with Windows 10 or 8.1.

If you are cloning from a SATA SSD to the new NVMe M.2 SSD then it is recommended to install the new SSD internally rather than via an external adapter.

Please ensure you have made a full backup of your source SSD for safety reasons when cloning.

Hi Steve,

The existing SSD is 512GB M.2 NVMe drive.  I am running Windows 10 also.  So I have an adapter from USB to NVMe for the Samsung 970.  I did read something about UEFI but not sure if I need to follow that route.  I actually tried to install the Samsung drive internal and boot up from a bootable media disk but the adapter I have is not compatible with the old SSD, it is made for the Samsung  

 

Thanks for your feedback.

Frank  

Frank, I would suggest using Backup & Recovery instead of using cloning to migrate from your old 512GB M.2 NVMe drive to the new NVMe Samsung 970 drive as this avoids the need to use any adapter for one of the drives.

The process is as follows:

  1. Create and test the Acronis bootable Rescue Media - that you can see your NVMe drive.  Note: the Rescue Media needs to be booted in UEFI mode as required for NVMe.
  2. Create a full Disk & Partitions backup of the old NVMe drive on an external backup drive.
  3. Shutdown the computer and swap over the NVMe drives so that you now have the Samsung 970 drive installed.
  4. Boot the Acronis Rescue Media in UEFI mode with your backup drive connected, then restore the backup from step 2.  to the new NVMe drive.
  5. Shutdown, remove the rescue media and external drive.  Check your BIOS boot settings are correctly showing the Windows Boot Manager as the boot device for your NVMe drive.
  6. Boot normally into Windows to confirm all is as expected.

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

Hi Steve,

I have a similar question.

My goal was: upgrade my start volume from 300 GB SSD (SCSI) to a 500 GB SSD (eSata) (Delivered by Dell as a compatible replacement.)

My Method: clone with Acronis (2018) and replace original

The Problem: The Dell Precision T7600 boots in Legacy-mode and the original SSD was hosted by the PERC H310 Raid Controler as a Raid0. The new SSD does not automatically enlist as a replacement Raid0. So the Computer does not recognize any start volume when the clone is present.

It doesn't seem possible to "Import" the new SSD like a "foreign" to the Raid Controler either.

Would you know a way to achieve my original Goal?

Thank you for any suggestion.

Best wishes

Heiko

Heiko, welcome to these public User Forums.

Although your original SSD is described as SCSI and the new SSD as eSATA - you say that the new SSD was 'Delivered by Dell as a compatible replacement' - so is this an actual direct drive for drive replacement, i.e. do you have to remove the old drive in order to connect the new one?

How is the old SSD configured for RAID0 - is this in the Legacy BIOS settings?

Hi Steve,

thank you for the answer. In the meantime I managed to solve my problem.

About your SCSI / SATA question: On the PD Management page of the PERC H310 they all show up as SATA. So I don't know where I have read SCSI. It was somewhere.

About the Dell replacement: I asked Dell which larger SSD would be compatible to replace my smaller one. So it is an empty drive that they have sold me.

And yes the old SSD was configured Raid0 and was booted with the Legacy setting.

So this was my path to the solution today:

- left old SSD in the computer (VD, Raid 0)
- left old HDD data disk in the computer (VD, Raid 0)
- plugged new SSD into the computer
- hit "Ctrl R" at startup for Raid Controler
- configured new SSD as VD Raid 0
- restart; loaded Acronis 2018
- backup of the old SSD to external disk
- restart; loaded Acronis 2018
- attempt of recovery with Acronis on new SSD
- attempt failed because OEFI boot option was not active, but Legacy
- restart, opened BIOS, changed from legacy to UEFI
- restart; loaded Acronis 2018
- recovery with Acronis on new SSD succeeded
- shutdown, removal of old SSD
- restart, opened BIOS, changed back from UEFI to Legacy
- restart, machine finds no start volume
- disconnected all USB connections
- removed all hard disks from computer
- waited a few seconds
- Experiment 01 (failed):
- mounted new SSD and old HDD data disk
- restart, machine finds no start volume
- Experiment 02 (successful):
- removed all hard disks from computer
- started computer without hard disks
- computer or Raid Controler indicated missing disks
- switched off
- only installed new SSD in computer
- computer successfully booted windows
- switched off; Mount HDD data disk (VD)
- restart, hit "Ctrl R" at startup for Raid Controler
- HDD data disk is listed as "foreign", imported foreign
- restart, machine successfully boots with new SSD and old HDD
- goal achieved

It was helpful to read in the conversation above that UEFI played a role. And in some other forum post I had read that unplugging everything from the machine might reset the boot records.

I don't understand exactly what happened with the steps I took, but I'm glad it worked.

Best wishes

Heiko

Heiko, good to read that you have achieved what you wanted to do, thanks for the feedback.

Ok, I have tried everything and cannot get drive to become bootable. 

1 - I made a full backup of my C: drive on an attached external drive.  Install Samsung 970 EVO in the PC, change Bios to boot from USB, install Acronis bootable media on thumbdrive.  Acronis boots up correctly.  Recover the C: drive backup from external to the Samsung 970 EVO and it does show up named correctly.  Recover completes successfully.  Change Bios back to boot from NMVe, remove Acronis thumbdrive and it boots up no bootable media found.  

2 - Installed the new Samsung 970 EVO drive in the PC, Installed the current C: drive in the USB to NMVe adapter.  Boot up computer to USB with Acronis bootable media on thumbdrive.  Acronis boots up correctly.  Plug the USB to NMVe adapter with the existing C: drive.  Acronis Clone from adapter to internal Samsung 970 EVO drive.  Clone successful.  Change bios back, remove thumbdrive and boot up.  No bootable media found.  

I have tried both of these with firewall turned off.  Do not understand why Acronis completes successfully in both procedures and neither one works.

 

Frank, have you confirmed that your BIOS boot settings are correctly showing the Windows Boot Manager as the boot device for your NVMe drive?   Also that you only have the one internal NVMe drive connected when booting?

Yes the BIOS shows it,  

USB KEY:

M.2 Drive 1:

Windows Boot Manager

When I try to boot to Samsung drive and it doesn't work, I shutdown put the old SSD back and it boots back into Windows fine. As a matter of fact I left the Samsung in the USB adapter and it shows up in the BIOS after the SATA drives as

USB HDD

USB HDD 1: Windows Boot Manager

So it looks like it is being recognized as a Windows Boot Manager

This is most perplexing. I did something similar a few days ago without problems. Replaced an 250gig Samsung 960 EVO with 500gig 970 EVO. I took a slightly different approach. I moved the existing 960 EVO to a PCIe add-in card, and placed the 970 in the M.2 slot on the mother board. Had multiple backups so decided to go the clone rout booting from the MPV Recovery Media (created on Intel system; the system in question has Ryzen 1700x CPU and AX-370 chipset.

The only issue I had was that two programs needed to be reregistered, which was easily fixed. The current BIOS is stuffed and will not allow the select boot device on start up to work, so had to do it via Windows setting (had issues with USB port - did not see the recovery media in the one on the front of the case). Also the system booted from the PCIe add-in card, something I was not sure would happen.

Unfortunately this does not solve the present problem. And I am out of ideas on how to do so.

Edit: I was using ATI 2019 rather than ATI 2018 but I doubt this would make any difference. 

Ian

 

I ran into similar issues on my Gigabyte motherboard (GA-Z170X-Gaming 3).  The bios is (was - been awhile since I tried this to a new PCIE NVME drive now) a real "treat" - NOT!

I had 2 different issues that caused my system not to boot after migrating to a new PCIE NVME

1) Regardless of what the bios said, it was not truly reading my new drive correctly.  Turns out, I had to reset the bios firmware to "default" in order for it to really pick up the new drive as a bootable option.  It drove me nuts, because nothing would suggest this was needed.

2) When I transitioned from a SATA SSD to my first PCIE NVME drive, it would NEVER boot either.  Turns out that the transfer process was "locking" the drive.  Also nothing to suggest or show this was the case.  I let it fail to boot 3 times and then was given the option to boot into safemode (no F8 by default on this system).  When I booted into safemode, it booted right up and "unlocked" the drive.  I logged into the desktop and it worked so then I rebooted back into the OS normally and it was fine ever since.

Last... I'm assuming you'r booting the recovery media in UEFI mode, but please be sure you are.  If you boot it in legacy mode, it will try to restore the OS in legacy (MBR).  This will not be bootable as a PCIE NVME drive requires GPT/UEFI to be bootable.

Frank Baldassarre... also curious... does your old drive actually boot when it's in the USB adapter?  I would think not, but if it does, that's awesome.

Hey Bobbo

No it does not boot from the USB.  I never tried to have the Samsung 970 EVO on the motherboard and leave the old SSD in the adapter plugged into the USB.  I would think because the USB is down the line on boot sequence it would get to the USB if it does not find a bootable drive before.  Shoud I try this for some reason?

Thanks,

 

How can I ensure I am booting the recovery media in UEFI mode?  I tried to follow the link Steve posted but it does not seem to confirm the mode I am in.  Is it the way the recover media is created or the way it is booted up?

Thanks.

Frank

Frank, it all depends on your bios configuration.  However, first check how your OS is installed in Windows.  Usually you can get it directly from "System information" - especially if using Windows 10.  This website shows how though, very easily.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/85195-check-if-windows-10-using-uefi-legacy-bios.html

As for checking if you are booting rescue media in legacy or UEFI mode... the best way is to use your bios one time boot menu and pick the method.  Some computers are UEFI only, some are Legacy only and some can do both, but are configured one way or the other by the manufacturer.

To go to your one-time boot menu, double check with your manufacturer.  However, Dell's typically are F12 after reboot.  HP is usually "ESC", but sometimes they (along with others like Asus, Toshiba, etc. can even be F1, F2  F11.)

From there, it will usually give you the option to legacy or UEFI boot.  This is an example of a Dell system one time boot menu using F12 to get there.

The rescue media is capable of either.  How it boots though depends on how your bios is configured or works.  Double check the OS install first to be sure how it should be booted, then attempt to use your one time boot menu to ensure it is booted the same way.  

 

Ok, went through some information and hopefully this may help.  

I checked the System Summary in msinfo32 and it is UEFI mode.

I checked in Disk Management:

 

Original SSD - Samsung MZVLW512HMJP-000L7 - NVMe on Motherboard

260MB                                               (C:) 475.69GB NTFS

Healthy(EFI system Partition)        Healthy(Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary partition)

 

New SSD - Samsung 970 EVO - In USB adapter in USB Port

260MB                                             (G:) 475.69GB NTFS                    WinRE_DRV 1000MB NTFS         

Healthy(EFI system Partition)     Healthy(Primary partition)        Healthy(Primary Partition)

1385.97GB

Unallocated

 

I am pretty sure the last time I did a clone I tried the "As is" option under Move Method to see if that made any difference.  It did not help, but may have caused the unalloacted partition.  

Does any of this look out of place?  I do see that there is no Boot under the healthy partion of the new drive that was the clone.  Also it is labeled as G:, is that OK or is the cloning process not working correctly.  That may be coming up now because that drive is attached to USB as an external drive at the moment.

The information looks correct.  

Yes, the new drive is labeled as G: instead of C: because you already have Windows loaded on the old drive which is already C:, or, it's just mislabeled in the recovery media if you're viewing it there (which is not uncommon since it does not reference the same volume letters as the actual Windows operation.  When you use WinPE rescue media, you'll notice that your temp OS is actually X: and it may assign drives other letters as it sees fit.)

If the clone was a success, all you can really do now is power down, disconnect the original hard drive and put the newly cloned drive in its place.  Boot the system into the bios first and check the bios to ensure the new drive is recognized and has the priority boot order.  If it does, then see what happens.  If it boots - good to go.  If not, try letting it fail 3 times and on the 4th time, if you get an option to boot into safe mode, try it and see if that works. 

Once it's working (if it does), then, you either keep that new drive in place or if it is just a clone backup for a rainy day, you power off, swap drives back, check bios boot order again and then boot back with the old drive. 

As for the unallocated space on the new drive after the clone (shown above in your notes) , you should be able to expand that back out to the full amount in Windows Disk Manager or use a third party freeware tool like Minitool Partition Wizard.

Steve & Bobbo - I posted this in another topic but i wanted to complete this thread.  In trying to get my Lenovo M910 desktop to boot from a restored SSD drive.  The key was to fail the boot up until I got the option to restart, then it gave me the option to startup in Safe Mode.  That worked and from there the new drive with the restored system has booted up fine every time.  I did go through the backup in the rescue media mode.

Thanks you both, may not seem like much but it all helps in getting the desired outcome.  I appreciate your time and input.

Thanks Frank. I saw that note in the other thread too.  That was the exact same scenario I ran into a couple years ago when I migrated from a regular SATA SSD to my first PCIE NVME drive too.  Had to fail to boot 3 times, finally got prompted to press F8 for safemode and safemode booted right up.  Once that happened, I could boot normally ever since as well.