after cloning, booting to the old disk instead of new
Hi,
I just used Acronis to clone my SSD 1 (1TB) on M.2 slot, to SSD 0 (2TB) on SATA 2.5 slot both installed inside my laptop. After it finished it gave me a message that I need to restart the computer.
I restarted, and it booted into the old SSD 1. And I couldn't see the new SSD 0 on file manager. I could see it though on windows Disk Management.
I restarted into BIOS and set the boot priority for DISK 0 at the top (which is the new SSD 0 ).
Started the computer and same thing, it boots to SSD 1 and doesn't show SSD 0, except in Disk Management.
I'm using an Acer laptop, Windows 10 installation.
Old SSD 1 is 1TB installed on the M.2 slot
New SSD 0 is 2TB installed on SATA 2.5" slot
And using the Acronis True Image for Crucial version
What exactly went wrong and how do I fix it?
Appreciating your support.


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Thanks a lot Steve.
1- The boot priority was set to "Windows Boot Manager" as you said. I changed it DISK 0 but still it booted from DISK 1
2- "Acronis will try to set the correct BIOS boot device but also expects that the original source drive used for the clone is going to be removed before any attempt is made to boot"
Ah, I wish the message that a restart is needed mentioned also to remove the source disk before booting up again.
"This is because cloning duplicates the drive signature and you now have two drives both reporting the same drive signature!"
Hmmm. So if both have the same drive signature, shouldn't it boot from the first boot priority in BIOS? which I set now to DISK 0, the new 2TB disk
Also, would such signature prevent the drive from being accessed when booting from the other?
as I mentioned, I could only see the current active disk. But in Disk Management I can see both disks and partitions.
3- I will go ahead and remove the source disk and see what happens.
I was hoping I could have them both installed at the same time as I am experimenting different SSDs and will try some windows tune ups to decide whether I need a fresh windows install or not. So having a fully functioning disk available in case I missed up without having to take disks in and out would have been nicer :D
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Ok I have made several experiments and I have interesting results that I don't understand.
1- Removing the M.2 Disk 1 and installing the 2.5" Disk 0. It booted and worked nicely.
2- Reinserting the M.2 Disk 1, it still booted from Disk 0, but Disk 1 was accessible from File Manager. Which is nice.
Changing the BIOS priorities didn't seem to make a difference, I tried different up and downs and still it is booting from Disk 0.
3- I removed out the 2.5" Disk 0, kept the M.2 Disk 1, it booted normally.
I reinserted the 2.5" Disk 0, it still booted from Disk 1. And Disk 0 is not accessible from File Manager. Which I found weird, as if the computer is behaving differently between the 2.5" slot and the M.2 slot.
Also this time I noticed in Disk Management, it showed the M.2 SSD as Disk 0 , and the 2.5" as Disk 1, while physically it is the other way around.
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Overall I'm happy with the halfway it worked, I can still conduct some further experiments while having a fully functioning backup till I reach a final result.
But it would be great if you can explain why the different behaviors between booting from Disk 0 and booting from Disk 1.
It seems like a complex interconnected behavior between BIOS/Windows/the cloned disk
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Thanks for the update / feedback. I don't have any explanation for why you see the results you are reporting - as you say this is something that is down to the BIOS, OS and which disk is registered to each in what order, and is likely to be different for different makes of PC and BIOS.
With regards to Disk 0, it is recommended to have the OS boot disk as disk 0 and if you only have one disk installed, that would normally be recognised as being 0. This too gets complicated depending on the type of PC involved and how many SATA or PCIe controller ports are available.
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Steve is correct about the order in which disks are shown is determined by the BIOS/UEFI. For my aging Aorus GA-AX370-Ganing 5 devices on the the onboard SATA ports are listed before the on-board NVMe port, but on my more recent B370 Aorus Gaming 3 and B360 Aorus Gaming 3 devices on the the two on-board NVMe ports are listed first then those on-board SATA ports.
Ian
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IanL-S wrote:Steve is correct about the order in which disks are shown is determined by the BIOS/UEFI. For my aging Aorus GA-AX370-Ganing 5 devices on the the onboard SATA ports are listed before the on-board NVMe port, but on my more recent B370 Aorus Gaming 3 and B360 Aorus Gaming 3 devices on the the two on-board NVMe ports are listed first then those on-board SATA ports.
Ian
Hi Ian,
To add to the mystery, after several restarts the Disk Management sometimes shows the disk numbering correctly as their physical installation, and sometimes not.
However now i installed a fresh windows on the new Disk 0 and so far seems to behave more reasonably. Both windows bootups show the the correct disk numbering, and both can see the other disks.
Also when I restart now, it asks me to which windows I want to boot to, partition 1 or partition 5.
Now I have the other part of the puzzle to work on, which is moving my programs from old to new, hopefully without manually installing everything from scratch XD
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On a side note, surprisingly my M.2 SSD is a SATA not an NVMe one. I was very confused between the different terms and technologies and later I learned that there is the Form factor, and there is the Protocol/technology, and the size. Good exercise overall. Still a lot to learn.
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Now I have the other part of the puzzle to work on, which is moving my programs from old to new, hopefully without manually installing everything from scratch XD
Please see KB 19296: Acronis products cannot be used to transfer applications to different system or upgrade OS
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