Migrate system to SSD
I'm using ATI HD 2015 as provided by Crucial with purchase of BX200 240GB SSD.
What I need help with is Migrating system to an SSD.
Looking at the .pdf manual, on page 116, 10.2.2 Migrating to SSD using the Backup and Recovery method, at the bottom of the page, mentions that steps will differ if there are hidden recovery or diagnostic partitions and will need to resize the partitions manually during recovery to the SSD.
It says "For instructions see Recovering a disk with a hidden partition (p. 73)"
This heading does not exist!! Page 73 has "5.1.1.4 Recovering your system to a new disk under bootable media".
My drive C contains 3 partitions; Partition 1 is 39MB (OEM), Partition 2 is 11.73GB Recovery and Partition 3 is 1851.24GB Primary OS(C:).
My assumption is that I have to use the instructions on page 73 to successfully migrate to the SSD.
I can follow and understand evrything from page 73 to page 76, until I read what is under step 12.
"If your original disk contains a hidden partition created by the PC manufacturer, please proceed to MBR Recovery."
Partition 1 on my disk has an (OEM) partition.
I can find no heading "MBR Recovery". There is a heading on page 77 "Selecting target disk for MBR recovery". Should I proceed from there?
Or, is the heading "MBR Recovery missing and should I just continue reading to steps 1 and 2?
I would appreciate any help in understanding how to migrate to an SSD.
Thanks


- Log in to post comments

Bobbo_3COX1;
Thanks for the reply.
If it is really that easy, why all the extra instructions that seem to apply to my situation?
Of the 1851.24GB on Drive C, there is 1752.58GB free, or 98.66GB used.
I tried the pure Clone procedure without the bootable media and that didn't work, so I thought I'd try the Backup/Recovery with bootable media and still the SSD refused to boot to completion. It reached the 4 pane Windows 10 logo with the white dots going round in circles and just stayed there for over 5 minutes.
That's when I thought I needed to follow the extra instructions and to post my problem here. I have since realized that perhaps the SSD is defective and have requested a replacement from Amazon, which should be here next week.
Based on your comment of "leave the original out for now", I'm assuming that it is not a good idea to have 2 bootable drives attached at the same time?
If I get the SSD to boot, do I then have to use the ATI bootalbe media to format the old drive?
Thanks again
- Log in to post comments

The clone method will work if you start with the bootable media. Don't start in Windows, it is just going to try to reboot and load Acronis from your C: drive which I don't recommend - this changes your main drive bootloader and if it goes south, can leave you with an unbootable system (although fixable, this is a headache easily avoided by using your rescue media which is your best friend, easy to create and use and will not change your bootloader in any way).
I recommend backup and recovery over clone for 2 reasons. 1) you get a full backup of your system - something you can always use to restore your existing drive or restore to a new drive anytime you want. Backups have no risk of complication for your original drive as you cannot overrwrite the existing drive with a backup.
2) some people have cloned from the wrong disk in the wrong direction - ending up with 2 blank discs instead of 2 clones of their OS. Had they at least done a backup first, they could still recover from that backup. If you are taking a backup first for safety, then just restore it instead of cloning. Ultimately, the results would be the same either way though so it's really a personal choice to make.
Correct, if you clone or restore a backup to a new drive you should always remove one and only have one in the original slot - at least for the next first boot. Having 2 "exact" drives installed at the same time can and most likely will confuse your bios and may result in an unbootable system. This is because after a clone, or after a restore where you keep the same mbr track 0, both drives will appear to the hardware as the EXACT SAME drive. By removing one, you avoid that confusion. Test each one separately, once you're happy with the results, shelf one for later in case you need to quickly swap drives at some point in time.
No, you don't have to format with Acronis. You can boot to one drive first and get in Windows. Then mount your other drive in an external USB case or hard drive dock and format in Windows or any application you want. By booting with one drive first, then attaching as a USB disk afterwards, there is no confusion duing the boot process adn then you can mount the other drive via USB without any issue.
- Log in to post comments

Bobbo_3COX1;
Thanks for the detailed reply.
I'm waiting for the new SSD to arrive and will post what the outcome was using your instructions.
Thanks for the feedback.
Bill Algie
- Log in to post comments