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SCSI cloning

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I have a windows 10 PC.

Can I clone an internal SCSI drive to an external SSD, then remove the SCSI, install the SSD into the pc and boot from there?

i suspect there could be a load of issues with the boot sector information?  If so, is there any manual configuration of the boot sector  eg (boot files)I can do to the SSD to allow it to boot?

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Jonathan, welcome to these public User Forums.

Are you sure that you have an internal SCSI drive here?  I haven't come across any SCSI drives in a very long time in domestic PC's as these would normally be found in server systems or larger midrange to mainframe systems.

What type of computer do you have here?

Cloning from an internal HDD to SSD is part of the core function for ATI and should not be an issue provided some basic rules are followed.

Make a backup of the working HDD before embarking on any clone operation - this is your safety net in case of problems.

If this is a laptop / notebook type computer, make the Acronis Rescue Media on a USB stick (or DVD) and then install the SSD in place of the HDD, connect the HDD externally, then clone from the HDD to the SSD after booting from the rescue media.

If a desktop / town type computer, then with ATI 2018 & later, you can use Active Cloning which can clone the working HDD from Windows (using the Microsoft VSS snapshot service) to the external SSD.  Always shutdown after the clone is complete then swap out the HDD and replace by the SSD.  Do not attempt to boot into Windows with both the HDD and SSD connected after doing the clone.  Once the SSD has booted into Windows successfully, then you can connect the HDD externally via a USB adapter and then reformat it etc or keep it in a cupboard as a clone backup drive.

See KB 59877: Acronis True Image: how to distinguish between UEFI and Legacy BIOS boot modes of Acronis Bootable Media as this is very important for how the rescue media is used where it must match how your Windows 10 OS boots.

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.

Hi Steve,

The PC is a Server station for mostly graphics applications and is a Dell T5500.

If it is an SCSI disk, I don't have an external connector to attach it as a source to clone a new internal SSD, so the  HDD may not be seen by ATI.

I assume that I could clone the existing HDD to another external SATA HDD, create rescue media and proceed as per your recommendations above?

Thanks

Jonathan

 

Jonathan, I would guess that the first check point would be to shutdown the server and remove the drive to see if it really is a SCSI disk or whether it is actually a normal SATA drive?

If you do have a SCSI drive, then forget about using cloning and use Backup to create a full disk image of the source drive stored on an external backup drive, then swap out the source drive and replace by a new drive, then boot from the Acronis rescue media to Recover the backup to the new drive.

Note: please check what BIOS boot mode is used by your Server OS and ensure that you boot from the Acronis rescue media using the same mode.

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