Clone from SATA HDD to NVMe SSD?
Brand new computers (OptiPlex 5060), that have only been brought to the initial desktop with OEM Win10 (fully updated). Is there a RELIABLE way to take the image from the SATA HDD and put it on an NVMe SSD? I want to make the NVMe drive the OS/Primary partition and boot drive. The HDD I can then later add back wiped clean as a LT storage drive, scratch pad, et al...


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Steve.... Thank you so much for the thoughtful reply. I THINK that my setup fits the criteria that you set forth for your solution.
1) Vanilla" Windows 10 OS install - The OS was installed and fully updated with Windows Update. BOTH system's Windows User Logins have rights to use Office 365, so the Win 10 install asked if I wanted it installed, and I accepted. I have installed no other apps other than the ones apparently slip-streamed into the OE install image by Dell.
Does this "break" THIS solution?
2) It is a GPT/UEFI setup. I have already enabled the BIOS to boot from any UEFI path without Admin Password, so all that remain to be done is swap boot order when the time comes.
3) WILCO the NVMe drive install and FULL backup first.
4) The HDD is using the "RAID" type controller setting in BIOS. I was under the impression that the NVMe drive won't even touch the SATA/RAID controller at all... and that cloning from one controller type to another might not be the best idea.
DISCUSSION: I probably should not have used "CLONE" the drives.... I do not wish to risk the OEM HDD setup unless and until I know the transition to the NVMe boot device is complete and fully functional.
I am perfectly willing to do it as a FULL Backup (to external drive) and Restore (to NVMe from external drive).
The Active Clone (from within Windows) runs counter to ALL of my previous experience in managing disk images and partitions.... NOT saying I can't or won't try it.... It's just weird.
I've never successfully created a Win-PE Acronis Boot Media.... but surely would like to be able to. Perhaps I will try it again. (Only ever been successful getting a CD and/or flash drive version using the ("standard") Linux approach.
SHOULD I continue with the method you outlined above, or try something different?
In either case, I am reading ALL of the references you linked in detail while awaiting your answer to the immediately previous question above.
Again, thank you very much!!
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Clay,
Does the OptiPlex 5060 have a dedicated M.2 slot on the motherboard for the NVMe drive? If not one caveat you could run into is that the board may not be bootable from a drive attached to an adapter card.
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Clay, having some Office type apps in Windows shouldn't be an issue - this would be a fairly normal scenario for most users anyway!
If your current HDD is already using SATA RAID controller mode, that should actually make things easier as I would expect the NVMe SSD to use the same, so the only change would be to ensure the correct BIOS Boot priority entry is selected (for Windows Boot Manager from the SSD) - which should be the only option if the HDD is removed.
Cloning versus using Backup & Restore is one of those discussion points often raised in the forums with advocates on both sides. Backup & Restore is inherently safer because the source drive can be completely removed and thus out of any danger of being wrongly selected etc.
Active Cloning uses the same Microsoft VSS processes to capture active OS data etc as used by the Windows Backup process, so should give the same outcome without the need to boot from the rescue media for a restore.
Acronis have moved away from using the Linux rescue media from the ATI 2018 version onwards - this mainly because the Linux media does not have support for RAID and may not support NVMe variations.
The new Simple method of creating Windows PE rescue media doesn't need the Windows ADK to be installed to provide the PE components as these are taken from the Windows Recovery Environment instead, along with device drivers for installed hardware as needed.
I would recommend using a small USB stick for the rescue media (2GB min / 32GB max size).
Note: You could use the MVP Custom ATI PE builder script (link below) which can use the same WinRE method of creating a bootable USB stick, but which also combines many more useful features too, i.e. a desktop environment, file explorer, web browser, image capture, PDF reader etc.
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OK.... KB 61665 says for Active Cloning, source and target must be same physical sector size. I used Win PowerShell to check:
1) Western Digital HDD (current boot drive) is 4096kb
2) Samsung 970 EVO 1TB is 512kb
So, I guess that knocks out Active Cloning?
@Enchantech - Yes, the NVMe has a slot on the motherboard
@Steve Smith:
- DRAM updated successfully to 32GB
- NVMe Drive is installed on MB and IS recognized in BIOS as SSD0, and in Windows (not yet initialized... leaving that for ATI 2020 process.
- I've already installed the latest Win 10 ADK and PE (they are separate now). So, regardless, the data needed for a full Win 10 PE should be available. The PE will be made on another desktop running the EXACT Win 10 1903 version as the new machine.
- I'm going to go ahead and do a full Backup AND then try to successfully create a WinPE Rescue Media on a new 16GB USB stick. If that all goes well, I think I will do a Restore to NVMe with the WinPE Media.... just seems safer.
That way I can remove the Boot HDD, or simply disable the SATA 0 port that it is connected to.
Am I missing anything?
I'll play with the MVP Advanced tool later when I have some free time and/or NEED it.
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You plan sounds solid. When the recovery of the BU to the new NVMe drive completes I advise that you exit out of the WinPE session by following these steps:
Close out the Acronis True Image app session by clicking on familiar X in the top right hand corner of the window. This will leave a command prompt window open. It might take a slight delay for the cursor in command prompt to become usable. When it does it will read X:\windows\system32>. At that prompt type the following command:
wpeutil shutdown
That will properly shutdown your PC so that you can safely remove the flash drive and disconnect the original HDD prior to attempting to boot to the new NVMe drive.
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Enchantech wrote:...I advise that you exit out of the WinPE session by following these steps:
...
wpeutil shutdown
That will properly shutdown your PC so that you can safely remove the flash drive and disconnect the original HDD prior to attempting to boot to the new NVMe drive.
LOL!!! Too late.... X'd out, typed exit at the command prompt.
Made sure to catch the BIOS on the reboot and actually went in and reset to boot to original HDD, etc to make sure everything looked alright.
Then, went BACK in and Set the SATA0 port (OFF), double checked everything else and cold rebooted.
6 seconds.... BANG.... desktop... All seems to be working fine except:
The restore put it back exactly the way it should have.... leaving 465+ GB of unallocated space at the end of the NVMe drive. Now I need to find a partition program that will allow me to enlarge the C:\/Primary/Boot partition. Except the WinRE hidden partition comes BETWEEN the Boot /Primary partition and the unallocated space.
I need to move that WinRE+ partition to the end of the disk while also enlarging the Boot partition (C drive).
I used to have a Disk Partition manager package that did this very thing, but that was years ago...
Can ATIH2020 do it? I'll go look, while the second machine is restoring.
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"Found" the options to change free space before/after, et al.... Trying it on second machine. IF it works, I will re-do the first machine and negate the need for the Partition Manager.
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Glad to hear of your well, partial success, lol :) Let us know how it all turns out.
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UPDATE: Moving the WinRE+ partition to the end of the disk, and then enlarging the Boot (C) partition did not work.... could be a Dell thing.
The Restore went along like it was going to work.
Then it said it needed a reboot to finish the tasks (the other machine had no such requirement. I'm guessing it was due to the need to relocate a partition, et al...
I let it reboot, and the a system repair procedure cranked up and ran forEVER!. And then failed to "repair", and NEVER made it back into the ATIH2020 WinPE environment to finish the job.
Just asking for too much at one time I guess....
I'll find the modern equivalent of Partition Magic, et al.
It is POSSIBLE that it's a Dell BIOS issue.... What happened is that the BIOS reverted to Win Boot Manager on reboot INSTEAD of remaining as I set it.... to boot from the USB stick. POSSIBLY, had I intercepted the reboot and RE-set the Boot Order so that it would re-enter ATIH2020, it might have finished the C:/Boot drive and enlarged it properly....
It DID move the WinRE partition to the end of the disk properly.... And created the EFI partition at the beginning properly.... The Boot part just didn't finish...
Unless there is a consensus favorite around here....
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How did you attempt to move the partitions? The Windows Disk Management App will not do it. I found that MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition allowed me to move such hidden partitions and then resize the other partitions. You can download it from here.
Ian
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Complete Success!!
Here is basically how I did it:
- Installed NVMe drive and cold booted to make sure the drive was recognized.
- Create WinPE Rescue Media (I chose to do so from another machine with precisely the same Win 10 Pro 64-bit version)
- Set BIOS to Boot to to the ATIH 2020 WinPE Rescue Media and booted to it.
- Created a FULL Backup of ALL partitions to an external HDD connected via USB.
- (Optional) For safety's sake, I set it back to Windows Boot Manager and verified that the backup was created properly.
- Set machine to Boot to the ATIH 2020 Rescue Media, AND disabled the SATA0 port where the OEM HDD is connected, and booted to WinPE.
- Recovered the Full Backup to the NVMe SSD drive.
- Rebooted into BIOS and verified that the Boot Order was set to the NVMe drive.
- Saved and exited BIOS, and booted to desktop in about 6-8 seconds. NOTE: This resulted in all of the additional unallocated space being located AFTER the WinRE partition.
- I used EaseUS Partition Master to create a WinPE USB stick to use in moving and resizing partitions. It worked flawlessly.
- On reboot Win 10 assigned "E:" to the WinRE partition... I simply used Storage Manager to remove the drive letter.
- Task Complete.
On the SECOND machine, I TRIED to move the WinRE part to the end of the disk AND expand the Boot Partition to fill the unallocated space. ATIH notified of a required reboot. The reboot triggered a Dell/Win 10 "Fix your System" process that FAILED. It failed because Windows Boot Manager assumed the primary Boot Order position AFTER the recovery. Thus, I had to repeat the recovery without Move/Re-Size and repeat the use of EaseUS Partition Master.
Had I UNCHECKED (DISABLED) Windows Boot Manager in BIOS instead of merely changing the order, I think the reboot would have gone back to ATIH 2020 and finished resizing the Boot partition correctly. I'll try this next time.
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