Cloning HD to SSD, increasing partion of cloned drive and putting into a new laptop
Hello, Not too sure if this is the right place for this but here goes.
I have an old laptop with an 750 GB HDD with an activated licensed copy of Windows 10, Office, etc, (I'll call this (laptop A) . I want to clone that drive onto a new unformatted, 1TB SSD and put that new clone drive into a newer laptop (laptop B) that has better hardware, etc and an un-activated copy of Windows 10 and on Offfice.
Here's were the instructions are a bit unclear. Several questions about the step by step of this.
1) First step is creating a bootable media. Should this bootable media be created in laptop A or B or does it matter?
2) Should I install the new SSD into the SATA port on the newer laptop (B), take the HDD from laptop A and plug it into a USB port (via SATA to USB cable) and clone it that way? Acronis suggests cloning with destination drive in the laptop.
OR
Clone with the same set up (SSD to SATA, HDD to USB) on the old laptop and THEN physically move the new SSD to the newer laptop (B) and use univesal recovery tool to mount the new SSD into the newer laptop (B)
3) Will Acronis reformat the new larger SSD with its full 1TB partion (minus the recovery partion sizing) or will it reduce the size to the 750 GB?
Sorry if this has been covered before. Thanks for any help
I have a similar but simpler situation.
Will the Clone Disk tool allow me to clone my 2TB SYS drive to either a 2TB or 4TB PCIe SSD as a replacement SYS drive for the same workstation? (Basic replacement of HD with SSD).
Can this be done without having to go through re-install / re-activations on all the apps that have online activations or will I have to first deactivate them all, then reactivate them once the SSD is up and running?
If I choose to go to a 4 TB SSD, will I be able to expand the SYS partition in disk management during / after the cloning process?
Right now the 2TB HD shows a 360 MB EFI system Partition, a 1.8 TB NTFS "Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Basic Data Partition" (C:), 960 MB of unformatted space then a 12.69 GB NTFS "Recovery Image" basic data partition (F:). This was the original set-up from the factory.
Yes, this PCIe NVMe drive thing is a mystery to me...
wmc, my first comment would be to not use cloning for your scenario - use backup & recovery instead as it is safer by allowing your current 2TB drive to be removed and set aside safe from any changes etc.
Next, have you checked that your PC will boot from a 4TB SSD and that your motherboard supports doing so?
What type of SSD is this and is it the same type as the 2TB drive being replaced or a different type?
As always, please make a full disk backup of the original, working drive before starting on any change such as cloning or migration etc.
Note: if the new SSD is NVMe and the current drive is SATA, then install the NVMe drive in the PC but leave it as uninitialised to allow Windows to discover the new hardware and install the necessary device drivers, then make the full disk backup knowing that the drivers are included!
When doing the Recovery, use the Acronis Rescue Media (again created after the OS has the drivers needed for the new SSD), booted using UEFI mode, to recover to the new SSD installed in the PC with the original drive removed (along with any other drives not involved in the recovery - disconnect cables if a desktop / tower).
Steve,
Thanks for the good points.
- I currently boot UEFI (set in BIOS of HP z840 dual Xeon CPU workstation) using Windows 10 Pro 64-bit OS. I also have two RAID volumes, one of which is 10.2 TB RAID 5, so the 2 TB limit I believe is not an issue.
- On further research it appears "common wisdom" is to not create multiple partitions on a single SSD as there will be performance issues. So the idea that my recovery volume and boot volume could exist on the same SSD is probably one I should give up.
- The existing boot HD is a Seagate 2 TB "Hybrid" SATA drive (large NOVRAM cache supposedly to store frequently accessed files and apps for faster loading than direct from the spinning disk itself.)
- An HP white paper talks about its branded PCIe card and NVMe SSD products down to the slots in my workstation that would be most amenable to such drives. Their products are, however, limited to 2TB so I may decide to stay with that size for the boot drive.
- I've never had any luck with Acronis Recovery Media since I first installed Acronis ages ago (2006?). The media creation to optical media or USB completes but if I test it trying to boot from it (by setting its media to first in the boot order or disconnecting cablling to boot HD before power-up) I end up at a black screen without the system booting. This has been consistent across multiple versions of Acronis and multiple IBM and HP workstations. I even tried following instructions to manually build WinPE recovery media for Acronis and it also did not work. Now that I have UEFI boot on the current system, it appears the option to set "legacy boot order" no longer exists (although I have all media - USB, optical, HD..enabled), so I'm not sure if Acronis Recovery Media would work on UEFI systems. (I've not tried it yet since I gave up on Acronis recovery media several years ago and now rely on Acronis backup / recover and Windows (created) Recovery media.
So, if I use Acronis Backup / Restore (since Acronis Rescue Media is unlikely to work for me based on years of past experience with it) to create a final full system backup, do I need to perhaps start build up of the SSD with Windows Recovery or WIM backup from the current HD, then run Acronis Restore to restore the full content of the the old HD's SYS partition to the SSD?
I've never had any luck with Acronis Recovery Media since I first installed Acronis ages ago (2006?). The media creation to optical media or USB completes but if I test it trying to boot from it (by setting its media to first in the boot order or disconnecting cablling to boot HD before power-up) I end up at a black screen without the system booting. This has been consistent across multiple versions of Acronis and multiple IBM and HP workstations. I even tried following instructions to manually build WinPE recovery media for Acronis and it also did not work. Now that I have UEFI boot on the current system, it appears the option to set "legacy boot order" no longer exists (although I have all media - USB, optical, HD..enabled), so I'm not sure if Acronis Recovery Media would work on UEFI systems. (I've not tried it yet since I gave up on Acronis recovery media several years ago and now rely on Acronis backup / recover and Windows (created) Recovery media.
wmc, I would recommend creating the Acronis Recovery Media on small USB memory stick media, minimum size 2GB to max 32GB size rather than using optical media unless you are dealing with very old computer hardware.
All recent Acronis Rescue Media is capable of booting in both Legacy and UEFI boot modes, and the mode used should always be the same as is used by the Windows OS on the same PC.
Next, when creating the rescue media, there are 3 different choices that have been available since ATI 2018, but the recommendation will always be to use the 'Simple' method to create Windows PE media based on the Windows Recovery Environment of the PC where it is being used - this is because this media will include device support for the hardware present.
When booting from rescue media, then optical media is typically the slowest as everything has to be loaded into memory across the internal SATA bus from the drive, so time needs to be allowed for this process to happen. USB memory stick media should be faster than optical, especially is using USB 3.x media in a USB 3.x port directly connected to the PC motherboard.
Note: with ATI 2019 & later versions, there is the further option of creating an Acronis Survival Kit on an external USB disk drive, which also uses the 'Simple' method of creating WinPE media based on the WinRE files.
One word of caution when considering making the Survival Kit, it is best to use an empty drive as there are certain scenarios where the drive will be reformatted during the process, so would lose any existing data!
The option to create a Survival Kit is only offered when you are creating a new Disks & Partitions (or Entire PC) type backup task and are setting the Destination for the task to a suitable external USB drive that can be used for this purpose.
See KB 61639: Acronis True Image: how to create Acronis Survival Kit - for more information on the process.
Also KB 61738: Acronis True Image: Survival Kit disk partition for backups is limited to 2TB on BIOS-booted systems
And Acronis Article: The Acronis Survival Kit
Steve,
Thanks for the pointers and patience. I'll need to "digest" all that info and run a test to see if I can boot from Rescue / Survival Kit media.
I miss the old days when I could replace a SYS disk by clone / copy, then plug-in and go. :^{
Thanks for all your input Steve!
Just to clarify my situation:
Laptop A - older hardware
- circa 2012ish, Windows 7 install originally, took advantage of the free Windows 10 Home upgrade back when MS offered it. Activated and product key on hand. Office 2007 or 2012 also activated and functioning
- MSinfo32 command says BIOS mode is Legacy
- Partition on C:/ is MBR
Laptop B - newer hardware
- Circa 2017ish, Windows 10 Pro installed but not activated. No MS office software.
- MSinfo32 command says BIOS mode is UEFI
- Partition on C:/ is GUID
Now, I have a new unformatted WD SSD as mentioned. I'm looking to clone the HDD from Laptop A onto the new SSD and replace the HDD in the Laptop B (and if successful, just wipe Laptop B HDD and use as a non-bootable backup drive after all said and done). I want to keep the OS and Office software from Laptop A but use it in Laptop Bs hardware through this new WD SSD. The old HDD from Laptop A will be wiped as well. Im not interested in testing MS patience for mucking around with copies of windows, lol
Im going to leave it there for now since I have to read if i can convert the BIOS mode and Partion type on one system or the other without problems before or after doing so. Unless you have some input on that off hand?
But putting that aside, If i understand correctly, besides backing up systems, I would have to:
1. Install Acronis on Laptop B, create the boot rescue media and ensure i can boot from it.
2. Take out HHD from Laptop B, physically install new SSD internally. Have Laptop A HDD on hand (external) and plug in USB port.
3. Boot Laptop B to recovery media, run through cloning from source HDD (with activated OS attached vie USB) to the new internal SSD as the destination.
4. Reboot and hope for the best.
Thanks Steve, I cant imagine reply on forums is a tonne of fun with the good weather. I really appreciate it!
Aime, is there a reason why you have Windows 10 Pro on laptop B that is not activated?
The migration from Legacy/MBR to UEFI/GPT can be done by simply booting Laptop B from the Acronis Rescue Media in UEFI boot mode. When you do either a clone or recovery from the rescue media it will initialise the target disk according to the boot mode used.
Personally I always prefer to use Backup & Recovery for this type of migration as it does not require the original source disk to be connected or involved (as clone does). Restoring / cloning to a new disk also ensures the working OS disk is not connected / involved too! This means that you have options to get back to the starting point for both laptops by simply reinstalling their original disk drives.
You Office 2007 or 2012 will need to be reactivated for the laptop B new hardware unless you have a license that allows you to move the activation from A to B.
Thanks for the reply again Steve.
The newer laptop was purchased second hand from someone. At the point of sale, there was no issue that i had seen. After a while, it had come up and i just didnt not get it activated on my own since i dont use it too often.
With the new SSD, I'm hoping to replace the HHD with in the non-activated OS. Scrapping the older laptop and associate HDD after porting its activated OS and files, etc onto the new SSD. Both HDD will be wiped after. Hopes this clears up any questions as to why Im looking to do this the "long and hard way". Good to note on MS office as well!
When you're refering to "Backup & Recovery", Im assuming you mean that option in Acronis just backs up files, setting etc? Not the OS or installled programs, correct?
Theoritcally, just physically removing the HHD from either/both laptops should not cause any issues, unless i make changes to them.
Here's where i think I need to go:
- Install Acronis on newer laptop, create rescue media on that laptop.
- Physically remove both HDDs. Physically install SSD in new laptop and old HDD from older laptop in Sata to USB port
- Boot new laptop to Rescue media, select respective source and destination drives to clone
- Follow on screen to reboot when done cloning etc.
- Remove USB HDD and rescue media and verify that Windows had cloned properly.
- Run the MBR to GUID command line code to convert the new SSD if it did not clone that way.
- Sit back and enjoy a job well done
Does this sound correct?
Aime, just to clarify about Backup & Recovery - there are two different types of Backup that can be created:
Disks & Partitions (or Entire PC) is needed to avoid having to reinstall Windows and all applications, so includes all content from the source disk drive.
Files & Folders is used when wanting to backup user data such as document, pictures / photos, music etc. Note: it should not be used to backup Windows OS files & folders as these are locked by the OS.
Even though your plan above is to use Cloning, I would still strongly recommend making a full disk backup of your source laptop disk drive. Mistakes can be made, a disk drive can be dropped on the floor etc - having a backup can give peace of mind to know that such mistakes can be reversed by recovering the backup!
Before step 3 in your list, confirm the BIOS mode used by the installed Windows on the new laptop by running the command: msinfo32 within Windows. Look at the right panel of the report this produces at the BIOS mode value: If it says UEFI then that is the mode needed when booting from the Acronis Rescue Media, else if it is Legacy or the disk drive make, use Legacy / CSM boot mode. Matching the correct BIOS mode will cause a Legacy source drive to be migrated automatically to UEFI if that mode is used. Step 6 should not be needed.
Step 5 should be done before rebooting into Windows from the new SSD, and time should be allowed for Windows to detect new hardware and find appropriate device drivers, which may require more than one boot.
Oh okay, I think I have a solid idea of what to do here from your input Steve. I'll give it a good on the weekend and hopefully it all goes smoothly!
Thanks Again
Well, So far, okay...nothing to cause too much grey hairs lol. Drive swap, cloning, etc went okay. A few hickups with the destination drive not being iniatialized when cloning. Added drive and proceeded. Acronis coulnt lock the source drive, but it sorted out after a couple of resets.
Clone proceeded but now it wont boot to the new SSD. error code 0xc00000e
I've swaped the drives around again on the new laptop, booted to Windows in hopes of creating a Universal recovery media with no luck. There's no option for it! Is this because its a WD version of ATI? I cant seem to find a stand alone plug-in or download so it looks like its just not an option with the WD free version of ATI.
Thank you. Any thoughts?
Aime, from a quick search on Google, the error code is saying 'an important hardware device wasn't detected by Windows' thus giving a BSOD error panel.
One suggestion at this point - try putting the cloned SSD drive in the original laptop and see if it gives the same error there or not?
I haven't ever used any of the OEM versions of ATI such as that from WD, so not fully aware of all the potential limitations that such versions have. AUR is offered as an option in the main Tools panel for the full versions of ATI.
See KB 65413: Acronis True Image 2021: Restoring to dissimilar hardware with Acronis Universal Restore - which has a screen shot showing where the option to create the media is found normally.
One key point that you will see in the AUR KB document above is that it only talks about using Backup & Recovery for this type of migration - it has not mention of using cloning, hence why my own advice previously was to use B&R. I believe that there are extra actions performed during a restore / recovery that are not done when using cloning.
Thanks Steve. So when I tried the SSD drive in the old laptop, it just loads a " no bootable device message" on the screen right off the hop.
I think that the WD OEM version of ATI may in fact be a limited version of ATI. I've re-read through the pdf for the WD version and will try to see if i can create a rescue media USB to see if that helps.
Thanks again!
If i were to go with the Backup and Restore route, would I install and run ATI on the old laptop and with the SSD pluged into USB and create the BU through the old laptop
OR
SSD in newlap top "good OS HDD plugged in via USB, boot to the Boot Media created on that new laptop, create the back up and then try to recover that back up once done and restarted?
I had read that article before posting on here about the error code but it seemed to be using options that were not availible on the WD version, hence, my questions about whether it is included or not with the WD OEM version.
Aime, if you go with trying Backup & Recovery, then you have a choice of options to consider.
First, make a full disk backup of the original laptop to an external USB drive.
Choice 1. remove the original drive from the original laptop and install the new SSD in that same laptop and restore to that system.
Doing this will establish that you can boot successfully from the new SSD in that laptop without any change in hardware (other than the SSD).
This will also ensure that any new device drivers needed for the SSD are found and installed by Windows on that source system.
Choice 2. remove the original drive from the new laptop and install the new SSD in the same then restore the backup from the original laptop to the SSD using the Acronis Rescue Media.
Choice 3. If following choice 1 and the new SSD is working OK in the old laptop, then make a further new full disk backup of the working SSD.
Next move the SSD to the new laptop (in place of the original laptop drive).
At this point it is unlikely that the SSD would be able to boot correctly into Windows unless both laptops use the same BIOS mode to boot into Windows, i.e. both use Legacy boot - if that is the case, then you could try to boot from the SSD.
If the SSD fails to boot as expected, then restore the backup of the working SSD to the same SSD using the rescue media booted in the correct BIOS mode for the new laptop which will cause the drive to be migrated from Legacy / MBR to UEFI / GPT if using the latter BIOS mode for the rescue media.
Choice 4. do as for choice 1 but for the new laptop using a full disk backup of the working new laptop original drive, so that you are migrating the OS from the original drive to the SSD and proving that the new laptop will boot successfully from the SSD without any change in the OS or other hardware.
The reason for this option is in case you have no success with migrating the OS from the old laptop but still want to use the new SSD in the new laptop for performance benefits, to allow you to then install your further applications and user data to recreate the application environment you want for that new laptop.
Hope the above makes sense to you!
Well Steve, soemthing fininally seemed to work out with this. Here's what worked:
1. I left the original HDD in the old laptop and created a bootable media
2. plugged in the SSD into the USB port and ran ATI, through the PE.
3. Clonned the HDD to the SSD in the old laptop. Once done, removed the HDD and put the new clone SSD in the old laptop in MBR format. Restarted...HD Error.
4.Restarted again, it booted to Windows and then it was clear that the SSD OS was "working on something" in the back ground for the first couple of minutes.
5. Once everything seemed to "stablize" I restarted the old laptop a couple of times for good meassure.
6. Removed the new cloned SSD with Windows 10, put it into the newer laptop and configured its UEFI to boot in Legacy mode.
7. It rebooted and it allowed me to sign into Windows! Ran Update on Windows and so far so good. Office seems to need to be repaired. I also can not convert to GUID but at least everything seems to be working now.
Thanks for all your help. I have to say that the process for this scenario was less than clear from Acronis, but luckily there is a tonne of information on the net and forum.
Again, my apprecaited fora all your time and effort to supplying well detailed and written out explanations!!
Enjoy your summer!
Aime
Aime, glad you got to the desired end result with the new laptop!