Unable to lock the disk.
Hi,
I purchased a Crucial NVMe M.2 SSD. I need to clone the HDD to the SSD. Win 10 Pro 21H2 system.
The instructions on the Crucial web site say to download Acronis True Image, which I did. I have no idea what version it is.
I created bootable WinPE media, thinking that an offline clone would be way faster than trying to do this while logged in on a slow system.
Ran into the "Unable to lock the disk. Boot your computer from a Linux-based bootable media, and then try again." error.
A few questions:
- Does the Linux-based bootable media have a NVMe M.2 driver? I thought it didn't.
- Which drive is being locked, the HDD or the SDD?
- I tried the Shift - shutdown "fix", it didn't work.
- Y'know, I see the first mention of this problem in the beginning of February 2019. You'd think that after THREE YEARS there would be a fix for this by now. You want to sell the full version of Acronis, right? Well this isn't a very good first impression, is it? Really gives me a great sense of confidence in your backup software. Not. How about a fix for this already? Just a word to the wise.
So now what do I do?
Thanks
-----------------------------------
Edit:
I logged out of Windows, then held the Shift key and clicked on the Power button icon on the Windows splash screen.
I'm still getting the disk locked error.
I need a solution, please.
Thank you.
Does the Linux based bootable media have a NVMe driver???

- Log in to post comments

Dan, welcome to these public User Forums.
See KB 2201: Support for OEM Versions of Acronis Products which applies to all OEM versions of ATI supplied with hardware purchases.
My personal preference and recommendation is to not using cloning to perform this type of migration from HDD to SSD.
You should make a full disk backup of the working HDD before even thinking about cloning - this is your safety net in case of mistakes, errors etc Then having created the disk backup, it can be used to recover the backup image to the new SSD.
Note: when dealing with NVMe SSD's you should have installed this while the PC is still going to boot from the HDD into Windows - this will ensure that any additional device drivers are identified by Windows and installed before creating the disk backup image!
To do the recovery, you should first shutdown the PC and remove the HDD leaving only the NVMe SSD installed, then boot the PC from the Acronis WinPE rescue media in UEFI boot mode (required for NVMe SSD for OS boot), then recover the backup to the SSD which may need to be prepared using the Tools > Add new disk option as GPT (required for UEFI mode).
The advantage of using the above method is that the HDD is safely stored away from the PC and therefore cannot give any locked disk messages, nor be corrupted, wiped etc!
If you see any locked disk message for the SSD then again use the Add new disk option to initialise it as GPT but leave it as unallocated disk space.
See my YouTube video showing a disk recovery.
- Log in to post comments

My personal preference is to clone it. I've been doing this for over 20 years and have yet to make a mistake.
NVMe and its drivers were installed first, before booting from the Acronis media.
I used the Add disk option.
Re: If you see any locked disk message for the SSD [emphasis mine] - - - well there's the rub. The error message does not say which drive is locked. Is the HDD locked or is the SSD locked????
Kindly answer my question, Does the Linux based bootable media have a NVMe driver???
Thanks.
- Log in to post comments

Does the Linux based bootable media have a NVMe driver???
KB 46250: Acronis Linux-based Bootable Media: Troubleshooting USB HID Devices Detection Issues
KB 45330: Acronis Bootable Media Does Not Detect HDD, RAID or NIC
KB 45331: Acronis Bootable Media(Linux-based): Troubleshooting NIC Detection
- Log in to post comments

Fantastic.
Pray tell which drive is being locked, the HDD or SSD?
- Log in to post comments

Normally the drive that needs to be locked is the target / destination drive for the operation being performed, i.e. the clone target or restore target.
If your SSD is new and never prepared, then it shouldn't be seen as locked but if there have been any partial writes of the OS to it, then it could look as if is flagged as locked by the OS?
The best suggestion I can make is to boot from the HDD into the OS and use the ATI Tools > Add new disk option there to prepare the SSD as GPT and leave it as unallocated space (don't create any partitions on the SSD - they would be deleted by any clone or restore anyway!).
- Log in to post comments

Well Macrium Reflect 8 doesn't have a problem with it.
When I see a bug festering for 3 years, that doesn't give me a great sense of confidence in your software. Just lost a customer, and recommendations for my clients. Great job.
- Log in to post comments

Dan, this is not 'my software' and I don't work for Acronis or get paid by them! Please take a look at the description of what the MVP's are for a fuller understanding.
- Log in to post comments

Dan, may I suggest you send feedback on this problem. Feedback is under help in the ATI 2020 GUI.
Ian
- Log in to post comments

Hi Everyone,
I received the same error. I hit okay and started searching for a solution. I came across this thread, and gave up on the idea of cloning. When I went back to shutdown, the target disk was showing up and it cloned okay. I think you may just need for windows PE to find the drive and load the drivers. A little patience goes a long way.
Hope this helps,
-Nathan
- Log in to post comments

Dear Nathan,
According to the information in our internal system, there is a known issue when the status of the disk is not automatically refreshed in WinPE media after operations such as adding new drives and this might be causing the issue. Our engineers are working on the fix.
- Log in to post comments