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Cloning to an SSD drive

Started by Artemis, August 17, 2014, 08:02:17 PM

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Artemis

Right, so something that was advertised as being very easy has turned into an absolute ball ache for me.

I have a new Samsung 840 EVO SSD drive, and all I want to do is clone the contents of my existing hybrid HDD onto it and swap it over. The first problem was Samsung Data Migration, a piece of software bundled with the drive. It didn't work. I loaded everything up, and it just stopped responding within seconds of starting the process.

After several failed attempts with that, I abandoned it and managed to clone the OS partition (also the only active partition) of the HDD to the SSD. The next problem is, Windows won't boot from it. If I go into the BIOS, the SSD is there and recognised, but if I start Windows normally, I get a "No boot drive" error come up. I can't see it to boot from in BIOS so I'm a bit stumped really!

Any suggestions?

Benevolent Despot

Hey Artemis. You are in luck as I had some of the same problems with that exact same SSD, and it consumed my time last weekend. I did solve it though, after a while going through Google (on my 2nd laptop).

First of all: Don't use the Samsung data migration software at all. I didn't have the issue of it freezing - it successfully copied everything over, taking 2 hours. But then after inserting the SSD into the laptop, it didn't boot.

The trick is to just not use this software because it simply does not work. It doesn't create an exact copy of the HDD. I don't know how they can get away with selling it. It creates a different folder layout on the SSD, which your laptop won't recognise. It puts all  existing OS partitions into one folder called "Whatever-your-laptop's-name-is". I used "Macrium Reflect" instead - it's some free software recommended by another forum-goer having problems with the 840 EVO.

This worked fine and made an exact copy of my HDD on the SSD. It booted first time and now my old laptop is super snappy, with all my data and programs intact.

Also, the transfer software should do this, but you should check anyway that in the BIOS, the SSD is in ACHI mode. Not sure why. Something technical.

mcbpete

This is the tool I've used a couple of times now when cloning my laptop drive to a bigger driver. Worked a charm and is completely free. Here's the page that shows the cloning process - http://www.partitionwizard.com/help/copy-disk.html

Artemis

Quote from: Benevolent Despot on August 17, 2014, 10:32:48 PM
I used "Macrium Reflect" instead - it's some free software recommended by another forum-goer having problems with the 840 EVO

Thanks for that. I looked into that software but ended up using AOMEI Backupper. The cloning process seemed to go brilliantly. I didn't clone hard drive to hard drive, but did a 'partition clone', essentially copying my C: drive onto the SSD. The SSD now has all the files and folders on C:, but Windows still isn't booting with it. As I say, it is recognised, and the files are all there, but it isn't booting.

I was fairly sure it must have been a BIOS issue, but I can't see any BIOS options I can change. Boot option number one appears to be 'Windows Boot Manager' whereas I was expecting to see '1. HDD, 2. Optical Drive, 3. USB' etc.

Also, I'm thinking maybe the partition on the SSD isn't 'active', but then why would Windows recognise it? I don't know how I'd 'activate' it anyway. The cloning software doesn't seem to provide that option.

Artemis

Ah, I think I may know what's happened. The makers of my laptop, Dell, appear to have created several partitions and on each are various crucial things (ESP, WINRETOOLS, PBR IMAGE). I previously just copied the C: drive across, but I think the boot loaders are on these other partitions, so I need to transfer the lot.

The problem now is that the cloning software is telling me that there is insufficient space on the SSD The HDD is 1TB and the SSD is 500GB, but I only want to clone used space, which is less than 100GB.

Sheesh.

mcbpete

You can also use the utility I suggested above to reduce the size of the partition of your current HD down to ~500GB (you probably want to put it slightly less to be safe)

Artemis

Thanks, mcbpete. I followed your suggestions and could now feasibly star in a franchise reboot. 'Honey, I Shrunk The OS Partition!'. That little tool was brilliant. I now have a working SSD, although about half of it is an unallocated partition which is apparently unusable. I think I just need to make it active, it doesn't feel like an insurmountable problem.

Thanks for the help, guys! :)

mcbpete

You can now just stretch the partition again to use up all the unallocated space (probably will need a reboot as it's your active drive)

Artemis

I opted to create a new partition actually, so the SSD is now more or less equally split. Thanks again.