Cloning SDD drive to larger crucial drive using Acronis 2021
Hi guys....I had similar problems to those posted when trying to clone my hard drive. Hope somebody can help. I am trying to clone my current SSD WD) to a larger SSD (Crucial).
purchased Acronis True Image 2021 today to do this. I put the new disk inside my laptop (HP Pavilion) and put the existing disk into a USB caddy as per the instructions from Acronis. I believed that Acronis would boot without me doing anything else on switch on. What I was presented with is 'disk not found'. Realise from the forum that maybe I need to make bootable media using Acronis to a USB stick.
When I do all the above and plug in the USB stick to my computer prior to switch on. Will the machine automatically recognise and boot from it or do I need to somehow point it (via the BIOS) to the stick. If so, any instructions would be appreciated
Thanks
thanks Steve, even worse, I have just gone through the process of creating the boot media via USB and the software is not allowing it ....the progress line gets to the end then gives me a big X saying unable to create bootable media.
Carl, what size of USB media are you using? Min size is 2GB and max should be 32GB.
Hi Steve
managed to make the boot disk finally. In your last reply you stated how I could use advanced start up to start from a boot disk but it then only has the option to restart now if I want to do this. Since I dont yet have the crucial disk in the machine to which I will clone I was wondering how this can be done.......
thanks
Carl
Carl, once you create a boot media, be sure to test it to be sure it boots well. But before booting, see whether you must boot it as UEFI or legacy. You can see that via the MVP Assistant or using Windows msinfo32 (BIOS mode). I believe, as Steve said, that hitting F9 during the power on should bring up a boot menu.
If you can boot OK, that's a good time to create a full disk backup of your old SSD with the rescue media to a USB drive (not the new SSD).
Once you've done that, you could remove the original SSD and stow it safely away, install the new SSD, boot to the rescue media and restore the backup you created.
Steve, have I gotten that right?
Bruno, yes that is another correct option here.
Hi Bruno
sorry to be a pain here but you are dealing with a only semi literate in terms of computing. is there a step by step for how to test boot media. Also not sure I would be able to follow 'via the MVP Assistant or using Windows msinfo32 (BIOS mode). .....how do I access either of these and what am I looking for?
thanks
Carl
HI Steve/Bruno
I have now determined that I should boot as UEFI not legacy. Were you suggesting that I should try to to a backup before cloning. I think the first thing you stated is to test the boot disk. I suppose that I leave the original SSD in the laptop. Shutdown...start up and press F9 and then I should get options of which media to boot from (SSD internal or USB?)...I should then select USB (UEFI). Not sure what will happen after doing this but any thoughts on how I will know it boots okay from the USB source?
Then I guess I should restart the machine and press F9 again and boot to the internal SSD. Once the machine boots ..open up Acronis and from here I should be doing a backup prior to cloning. For the backup, should it be to a different USB stick than the boot USB? To start the backup, which tools icon should I use in Acronis or do I click on a file on the boot USB to start the process? just a little lost at this point
THanks
Carl
HI all
managed to create a backup to separate USB hard drive
Also managed to get into the BIOS at start up by pressing ESC key.
it now gives me 3 options to boot using:
OS Boot Manager (UEFI) - windows boot manager
USB Hard Drive (UEFI) - sandisk - where I made the boot disk#
Boot from EFI file
assuming now that I select the USB and hit enter.? This will then tell me if it boots okay? is this correct?
THanks
Carl
Carl,
Yes, that is correct. Once you see the Acronis app appear you will know the USB media can be booted.
Hi Steve, Bruno and Enchantech
thanks for all your support over the past 24 hours. I have learned a lot and I now have a fully functioning cloned (via backup and boot disk) hard drive in working order. Your support is greatly appreciated.
I just have one final bit to complete (Steve, i know you addressed this to a degree in 2020 thread entitled 'ESP / MSR partition in Acronis True image 2020' where you state the use of some other tools for partitioning.
Windows recognises my new drive as a 1000Gb whereas the original drive was 512Gb. But the new drive is only showing the partition sizes of the original drive and leaves about 450Gb unallocated. There is a 536Mb allocation sandwiched between the 'C' partition and the unallocated. Not sure what this is and if it can be deleted or moved somehow...but I am trying to extend the volume of C to take up the unallocated space making it useable.
your inputs or advice would be very much appreciated and I have attached a screenshot of the allocation
Thanks
Carl
Carl, download a copy of the free MiniTool Partition Wizard software, install this then use it to move the 536MB partition to the end of the drive (drag it to the right end), after which you can resize the C: partition to use the free space on the new drive.
Hi Steve thanks for this.
When I look at the instructions it says to resize 'C' without boot problems it is recommended to create mini tool bootable media first and resize the partitions in the boot mode. However, creating bootable media is only available as an upgrade and not in the free version. Do you normally carry out the partitioning process within windows using the Mini tool software?
Thanks
Carl
Carl, as you found you would need the Pro version of minitool to be able to create their bootable media! I have done this on my own computers multiple times without issues from within Windows. Again, it is always recommended to have a good disk backup before making any significant changes!
Carl, what process did you finally use to copy to the new SSD? Did you "clone" the old drive, or did you backup the old drive and then recover it to the new drive? If the latter, did you backup all partitions on the old drive?
I'm curious as to what that 536 MB partition is. It isn't listed above in Disk Management so it does not seem to be an expected Recovery partition. Is there anything there for Windows? What would happen if that partition was removed? (Just thinking aloud here and wondering what the greater experts may say.)
Carl,
You can find out some disk information using the Disk Management tool in Windows. On the Disk management screen looking at the graphical part of the screen look for Disk 0. Place you cursor there and left click to select it then, right click on it then left click on Properties in the menu that appears.
When the new window opens click on the Volumes tab and you will see various information about your disk such as partition style, capacity in MB, etc. At the bottom you will see volume information which might show this 536MB partition. If it does I would say that it is a formatted NTFS partition that TI created for Recovery space but did not label.
Next you should see if Recovery is enabled on your disk You can do this using an Admin PowerShell command window. Right click on the Start button and select Windows PowerShell (Admin) from the list. At the prompt type ReagentC /info. This will display output telling you if Windows Recovery is Enabled or Disabled, if Recovery is Enabled it will show you the Location (partition volume), and the BCD identifier.
Post your results
Hi guys
just responding to comments in order but I did manage to move the 564Mb partition to the end using MiniTool and in MiniTool it displays it as 'Windows RE tools'
Steve...tried to use minitool from windows to extend partition but for some reason it does not give me an option to resize some of the partitions including 'C' and the large 'unallocated'. It seems to be showing 5 partitions (the first pic in the attachment. It gives me the option to resize for 2 of the partitions (Windows RE tools and *:system) but for the other 3 it only gives me delete/format/copy options - not sure if this is to do with the version being used
So I downloaded EaseUS and thought that would work but I am stuck since when I click on the 'C' drive, right click and click on 'resize/move', it gives me a dialogue box saying' the bit locker encryption on this drive is in progress. Please operate this drive after encryption is complete'. When I hover over the C drive it shows bit locker encryption being at 91.1% but seems to have been stuck on this for hours. I need to find a way to switch off bit locker???...resize the partition , then switch bit locker back on. From what I have read so far it seems a little complicated, also requiring product keys or other!!!!
Bruno..the process I finally used was to create a backup, using True Image, to an external drive, create a boot disk, using True Image, having the new 'Crucial' SSD installed in the machine, then booting up into the BIOS by hitting the Esc key multiple times at start. Then I changed the boot device to the USB stick containing the boot files and it booted up into True Image with all the options. I then selected back up to the new 'Crucial SSD' and it took 7-8 minutes to complete. New disk works and functions like the old one. Only problem is that it copied the partitions directly and did not give me the option during the backup of extending or resizing partitions. So since I went from a 500Gb disk to a 1000Gb disk, I now have about 450Gb of space unallocated and this is what I am trying to fix using partition tools.
Echantec - I used the Disk Management tool in windows like you advised and it only showed the volume of the C drive in the volume information at the bottom. However, when I used the Admin Powershell Command window, as you suggested, second pic in the attachment, it did show windows RE status as enabled and stated it as recovery, so I think you are correct with your assumption. Thanks. I have since moved this partition to the end and it no longer splits the 'C' and the 'unallocated'.
So now my only issue is to figure out how to pause or turn off bitlocker on the 'C' drive temporarily so as to integrate the C and the unallocated partitions. I get the feeling that if I wait for Bitlocker to reach 100% checked on the C drive, it will start all over again.
thanks again guys for your support...very much appreciated
Carl, I saw the reference to BitLocker in your image and didn't comment but you will need to remove this to be able to do the resize as far as I understand.
Carl,
Well, I missed the BitLocker notation completely so was unaware of it being in the picture here. Are you saying that BitLocker reports it is stuck at progress of 91.1% when you hover your mouse over the C: partition in EaseUS?
I agree with Steve here that you will need to remove encryption prior to attempting resizing. I suggest exiting the EaseUS application and allow BitLocker to complete encryption. When finished, Turn Off BitLocker encryption then, resize the C: partition to the unallocated space. With BitLocker turned off you should be able to resize using Windows Disk Management.
Hi Enchantech / Steve
As the C drive was encrypted, I temporarily disabled encryption to allow me to make the partition change as EaseUs partition manager was telling me I would need to upgrade to the paid version for it to work on encrypted drives. Once I disabled encryption, I tried again with EaseUS and it did not like it. Continued to tell me to upgrade to premium version. So I tried using EMIOS. So I tried using AOMEI partition assistant free version, that also did not like to extend the operating drive partition. Then, Enchantech, something you said in your last posting made me think. I asked myself the question, what am I trying to do here? I am trying to make the current unallocated space useable to save files to. So using Windows Disk Manager I created a useable volume and called it drive D. Now I have what I wanted, without having to extend the C partition. In fact it is even better, because I now have two different drive designators to save to. I can save files to 'C' if I want or to my new D partition. Your previous posting made me stop and think and the mention of Windows Disk Management stopped me in my tracks and prevented me from continuing to overthink the solution. Thanks very much
Thanks to Steve, Enchantech and Bruno for all your help in getting me to a complete resolution. I have learned a lot from you guys over the past few days and I am very grateful