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Cannot boot a cloned SSD

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I have a Toshiba Satellite p50-c-18k with a 250GB internal SSD. I was running out of space so I bought a Kingston 480GB and enclosure. Using ATI I cloned the internal SSD to the new one, but when I inserted it into the computer I couldn't boot from it.

The Toshiba has a GPT structure but right at the end of the copying process, there is a brief mention of MBR and synchronizing with the operating system (Windows 10). Has this introduced a command which makes the SSD incompatible with the boot process? Using Disk Management I can see the properties list the structure of the enclosure SSD as GPT.

Whenever I've done this sort of operation before, I was using 2.5 inch HDs and I used ATI on a CD in an onboard CD reader. So the copying process took place outside of Windows and both source and destination disks were not active. It always worked without a hitch. But I don't think I can do this with my Toshiba because it doesn't have an onboard disk reader. I have an external DVD writer/reader but will my ATI 2020 allow a copy process by DVD?

I'd be grateful for any help. Thanks.  

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I have a Toshiba Satellite p50-c-18k with a 250GB internal SSD. I was running out of space so I bought a Kingston 480GB and enclosure. Using ATI I cloned the internal SSD to the new one, but when I inserted it into the computer I couldn't boot from it.

Assuming that your Toshiba Satellite is a laptop, then the above process would never give a bootable drive.

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:

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.

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The Toshiba has a GPT structure but right at the end of the copying process, there is a brief mention of MBR and synchronizing with the operating system (Windows 10). Has this introduced a command which makes the SSD incompatible with the boot process? Using Disk Management I can see the properties list the structure of the enclosure SSD as GPT. 

Any disk clone or recovery needs to be performed using the same BIOS boot mode (UEFI or Legacy) as used by the OS, otherwise the partition scheme can be changed and again can result in a non booting system.

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

Whenever I've done this sort of operation before, I was using 2.5 inch HDs and I used ATI on a CD in an onboard CD reader. So the copying process took place outside of Windows and both source and destination disks were not active. It always worked without a hitch. But I don't think I can do this with my Toshiba because it doesn't have an onboard disk reader. I have an external DVD writer/reader but will my ATI 2020 allow a copy process by DVD?

Most laptops, including my own, don't come with an internal CD/DVD drive any more but will support booting from USB media, memory sticks etc.  This is the main type of boot media that I have used for several years now.

See KB 63226: Acronis True Image 2020: how to create bootable media

Steve Smith wrote:
 

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.

@Steve Smith, I realize that the recommendations are as you described above, but I never had a clear understanding why that was necessary and I have never followed those recommendations.  I don't know about ATI 2021 but I haven't had any issues where I created a non-bootable disk created with any other version of True Image or Windows 10 and I have done that lots of times.  For a clone to a 2.5 inch SSD drive I use a SATA to USB cable and for NVMe drives I use an external enclosure or if the machine has 2 m.2 slots I sometimes use the second m.2 slot. Once I have created the cloned disk then I swap out the original drive and install the new cloned drive.

Now I have seen cases where the system bios boot parameters do not point to the new disc and it fails to boot, but a quick change in the bios and I am good to go. 

I am not trying to contradict what you are saying, I am just trying to get a good understanding myself.

Hi Virgil, the rationale is as set out in the linked KB document:

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.

External adapters can introduce new hardware which in turn causes Acronis Universal Restore to be invoked and additional device drivers applied to the target drive because is deemed it will become the boot drive.

I have cloned to external drives for desktop systems in the past and this has worked, but with laptops, it is better to abide by the rules.

I don't have any external adapters for the slew of different types of new PCIe NVMe card drives, so don't use cloning with those, keeping to doing Backup & Recovery instead.  I was under the mistaken impression that these drives were all the same until I went to look for an adapter for a mSATA card drive recently and found too many options!

For most users, the rules if followed means they don't have to delve into BIOS settings and change the boot priority drive etc.