Salta al contenuto principale

trying to clone SSD - first use of Acronis TI 2021

Thread solved

Can anyone share if you can clone a SSD for laptop without installing first.  I watched some videos. Thought it was more of a challenge when I get to replacing the existing HDD which is buried in laptop.

I made a Rescue Media USB and was able to boot from it into Acronis.  Checked with support and they said I should install SDD first and use a Linux Rescue media boot USB?  Not what i saw in videos.  I'm not a techie so maybe software isn't as easy as some let on.  Scared to proceed.

Older laptop that is Legacy bios.  The media builder I made seemed to be working then a screen asking for Clone Method appears and I don't know whether to proceed.  Screen never on any videos I watched when looking into purchase.  I'd like SDD to clone properly and not be limited to this laptop or change setting I'm not familiar with if that is what other rescue media usb does to clone?

If any suggestions I would appreciate.  Maybe I'm over my head but it didn't seem so difficult watching others clone their SSD?  If this isn't the right place to ask this I apologize but at moment I'm not sure i can use software as intended.  Live Chat support was only more confusing.

Thanks,

Chris

1 Users found this helpful

Christopher, welcome to these public User Forums.

With laptops, the recommendation is to clone to the new SSD after it has been installed inside the laptop, with the original disk drive connected externally via a USB adapter, which can be a little daunting if you have never done this type of migration before!

Please see KB 56634: Acronis True Image: how to clone a disk - and review the step by step guide given there.

Note: the first section of the above KB document directs laptop users to KB 2931: How to clone a laptop hard drive - and has the following paragraph:

It is recommended to put the new drive in the laptop first, and connect the old drive via USB. Otherwise you will may not be able to boot from the new cloned drive, as Acronis True Image will apply a bootability fix to the new disk and adjust the boot settings of the target drive to boot from USB. If the new disk is inside the laptop, the boot settings will be automatically adjusted to boot from internal disk. As such, hard disk bays cannot be used for target disks. For example, if you have a target hard disk (i.e. the new disk to which you clone, and from which you intend to boot the machine) in a bay, and not physically inside the laptop, the target hard disk will be unbootable after the cloning.

The better and safer option to use is by making a full disk backup of the current working disk drive, storing this on an external USB backup drive.  This then will allow you to remove the working disk drive and set this aside in a cupboard well away from any harm.

The full disk backup can be created without installing ATI 2021 but you will still need to create the Acronis Rescue Media on either a DVD or a small USB memory stick (2GB to 32GB max size).  This media will be used to boot the laptop after installing the new SSD to allow you to then recover the disk backup to the new SSD.  You can also boot from the same media to make the full disk backup if ATI 2021 is not installed.

Note: if ATI 2021 is not installed, then you would need to download an ISO file image of the Linux based Rescue Media from your Acronis Account (where ATI 2021 has been registered), then either burn the ISO image to the DVD optical media, or else use a utility program such as Rufus to convert the ISO image to the format used on USB media.
If ATI 2021 is installed, you can use the Acronis Bootable Rescue Media tool to create either type of media that is available using the 'Simple' or 'Advanced' options provided.

See KB 65508: Acronis True Image 2021: how to create bootable media and KB 59877: Acronis True Image: how to distinguish between UEFI and Legacy BIOS boot modes of Acronis Bootable Media

KB 65520: Acronis True Image 2021: how to back up files or disks

KB 65539: Acronis True Image 2021: How to restore your computer with WinPE-based or WinRE-based media

See forum topic: Steve migrate NVMe SSD where I documented the process that I used when upgrading my laptop NVMe SSD drive using Backup & Restore.

Steve,

Thanks for your reply and recommendations.  I will do a full backup prior to any changes.  I won't get back to reading the KB articles for at least a week.  But will before I proceed.

This old laptop is a Legacy BIOS, no secure boot supported, and in MBR.

I had made a simple USB boot media from my Acronis 2021 acct page.  I did boot using it and it did open.  I've been able to change back to original boot order for now.

I will have to read up to make the Linux boot media before I try upgrading.  I got confused from the info I received from Acronis support and had I not looked for support or this Forum wouldn't of known a different boot media was available or even look in Advanced options as videos I had viewed suggested the Simple boot media. I will definitely have to get comfortable before I try to clone as Support said I could clone hooking the HDD externally with SATA cable as source and SDD would be the target (internal in laptop).

I will advise if I get hung up or unsure after reading some more.

Thanks again,

Chris

I made the full mirrored image backup using ATI 2021.  I then installed new SSD in laptop. I decided to try the simple ATI bootable media USB and it did finally open (previously I don't think I waited long enough for laptop to boot from USB).  The bootable media did the Clone from original HDD to new installed SSD with no issues.  I was concerned when it completed because verification only showed 57 gb and HDD had listed 80.  Appears that it is functioning properly and I did locate in the options where it listed the files it doesn't clone.  So appreciate the help to someone who was hesitant to upgrade with limited knowledge but the software did work as articles had stated and my laptop now starts up with desktop screen in 35 seconds compared to over 120 seconds previously.  Opening to access internet is almost instant vs. previous frustrating wait. Thanks.