Booting From New Samsung EVO SSD Drive

[Pillage]

Need your help...

So just installed my brand new Samsung 850 500gb evo on my desktop pc. I used a cloning program (macrium reflect) all went well and my files were cloned (sooo i think).

Now I am trying to use my new drive right.. I go into bios, disconnect my old drive, set boot priority to boot from new ssd and also go to boot options and make sure my new ssd is selected. With all that said, every time I boot from my new drive I get a black screen asking to me to connect a boot drive and then hit any key.

I am very confused as I have checked on my new drive and it looks like windows is present. There is a windows folder with what seems all files accounted for.

Please let me know what I can do.

Thanks

 

[SchizTech]

What version of Windows, and do you see a "system reserved" or "EFI system" partition?

 

[Pillage]

What version of Windows, and do you see a "system reserved" or "EFI system" partition?

I have windows 10. And where would I be looking for this EFI system or system reserved partition?

I believe I installed windows on the same partition as main storage. I looked and all I see is NTFS primary.

 

[SchizTech]

Go to disk management: in Win10 you can quickly get there by right-clicking the Start button and selecting it from the menu that comes up.

 

[Pillage]

Go to disk management: in Win10 you can quickly get there by right-clicking the Start button and selecting it from the menu that comes up.

 

[Pillage]

What version of Windows, and do you see a "system reserved" or "EFI system" partition?

http://s886.photobucket.com/user/lbutkovic07/media/Disk%20Managment.png.html

 

[SchizTech]

Yes, it's as I thought: the cloning utility copied the Windows partition but not the others. On D, see those "unallocated" spaces to either side? They should show the same partitions as the original HDD. That's why it doesn't boot: the bootloader isn't actually on C, it's on one of those smaller partitions in front of C.

You might have to try the clone again, looking carefully at the options. I'm not familiar with the particular utility you used there but you need to use an option that copies all partitions. If that utility can't do it, the latest version of Acronis TrueImage or Norton Ghost should.

 

[Pillage]

Yes, it's as I thought: the cloning utility copied the Windows partition but not the others. On D, see those "unallocated" spaces to either side? They should show the same partitions as the original HDD. That's why it doesn't boot: the bootloader isn't actually on C, it's on one of those smaller partitions in front of C.

You might have to try the clone again, looking carefully at the options. I'm not familiar with the particular utility you used there but you need to use an option that copies all partitions. If that utility can't do it, the latest version of Acronis TrueImage or Norton Ghost should.

That is actually my fault as I thought the additional partitions were simply recovery memory as I made a couple. I didnt realize the boot was kept on a different partition. I am actually going to try and clone the remaining partitions and see what happens.

 

[Pillage]

Yes, it's as I thought: the cloning utility copied the Windows partition but not the others. On D, see those "unallocated" spaces to either side? They should show the same partitions as the original HDD. That's why it doesn't boot: the bootloader isn't actually on C, it's on one of those smaller partitions in front of C.

You might have to try the clone again, looking carefully at the options. I'm not familiar with the particular utility you used there but you need to use an option that copies all partitions. If that utility can't do it, the latest version of Acronis TrueImage or Norton Ghost should.

So, first thing I did was add the efi partition as suggested. This still did not let me boot from ssd. I now deleted my current partitions on new drive and am starting over. The only problem is my new SSD does not support 5 partitions and my former HDD drive has 5 partitions. Can you suggest from my picture which partitions I will need to get this thing running?

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[SchizTech]

The SSD "supports" as many partitions as a HDD can. What may be happening is that the partition scheme of the SSD needs to be GPT (not MBR). If that utility has the option to set partition scheme make sure that's set properly. Then duplicate the entire drive with all partitions.

 

[Pillage]

The SSD "supports" as many partitions as a HDD can. What may be happening is that the partition scheme of the SSD needs to be GPT (not MBR). If that utility has the option to set partition scheme make sure that's set properly. Then duplicate the entire drive with all partitions.

Ok. For some reason I cannot find this option in the disc management. My options are Dynamic or basic. Next I am trying to delete the smaller 100 mb and 400 mb partitions but its not letting me. I apologize for all the questions. Things are going down hill.

 

[SchizTech]

The disk must be blank to convert between GPT and MBR, so delete any remaining partitions. Right-clicking the name to the box on the left hand side containing the disk number should have the option "convert to GPT" (or "convert to MBR" if already GPT)

If it won't let you delete them, there's a more powerful command line tool. Right-clicking Start again has another option: Command Prompt as Admin. In that window, type "diskpart". The command "list disk" shows the disks, the command "select disk X" makes that disk selected (where X is the number of the disk you need to work on). Once selected, typing "clean" should delete every partition. Then you can type "convert GPT" right there

 

[SchizTech]

Make sure you're on the right disk of course... If you're accidentally trying to delete partitions on the active drive that's not going to get anywhere

 

[ArtPog]

A suggestion...
Since your destination drive is a Samsung SSD start over and use the Samsung Data Migration program that presumably was packaged with the SSD to clone the contents of your source drive, the 1 TB disk to the SSD.

 

[Pillage]

A suggestion...
Since your destination drive is a Samsung SSD start over and use the Samsung Data Migration program that presumably was packaged with the SSD to clone the contents of your source drive, the 1 TB disk to the SSD.

Thanks, but I've tried this and it would stop after migrating 490mb every time. I was forced to use the macrium software.

 

[ArtPog]

And you were able to achieve a successful cloning with the Macrium program so that your SSD now boots & functions without any problems?

 

[Pillage]

The disk must be blank to convert between GPT and MBR, so delete any remaining partitions. Right-clicking the name to the box on the left hand side containing the disk number should have the option "convert to GPT" (or "convert to MBR" if already GPT)

If it won't let you delete them, there's a more powerful command line tool. Right-clicking Start again has another option: Command Prompt as Admin. In that window, type "diskpart". The command "list disk" shows the disks, the command "select disk X" makes that disk selected (where X is the number of the disk you need to work on). Once selected, typing "clean" should delete every partition. Then you can type "convert GPT" right there

After taking all these steps, I am still unable to copy all partitions. Please see images below:

http://s886.photobucket.com/user/lbutkovic07/media/Macrium%20Clone.png.html

http://s886.photobucket.com/user/lbutkovic07/media/Disk%20Management%201.png.html

 

[Pillage]

And you were able to achieve a successful cloning with the Macrium program so that your SSD now boots & functions without any problems?

I am not. Please see images below (I am trying to clone all 5 of my partitions from my HDD drive to my new SSD but it is telling me I do not have enough room, which clearly i do):



http://s886.photobucket.com/user/lbutkovic07/media/Macrium%20Clone.png.html

http://s886.photobucket.com/user/lbutkovic07/media/Disk%20Management%201.png.html

 

[SchizTech]

Well I've installed a free trial to see what the options are in that utility. Under "advanced options" make sure "intelligent sector copy" is selected rather than "forensic sector copy." I do notice in the picture that the cloned main partition on the SSD extends all the way to the end of the drive as shown in Macrium although the disk management picture shows unallocated space after it. This may mean the disk partitioning isn't right (and the last partition after C is the one it sees no space to move).

Can you detail the steps you went through in performing the clone? We'll probably have to clean that drive again, then make sure in the disk management that it's one big unallocated space before cloning. Then select all five partitions (at once) and hit next to clone.

I don't mean to belittle you but we do need to determine exactly at what step something went wrong.

 

[Pillage]

Well I've installed a free trial to see what the options are in that utility. Under "advanced options" make sure "intelligent sector copy" is selected rather than "forensic sector copy." I do notice in the picture that the cloned main partition on the SSD extends all the way to the end of the drive as shown in Macrium although the disk management picture shows unallocated space after it. This may mean the disk partitioning isn't right (and the last partition after C is the one it sees no space to move).

Can you detail the steps you went through in performing the clone? We'll probably have to clean that drive again, then make sure in the disk management that it's one big unallocated space before cloning. Then select all five partitions (at once) and hit next to clone.

I don't mean to belittle you but we do need to determine exactly at what step something went wrong.

I first started using the macrium product where I only copied the main partition. Then I tried adding the EFI partition as you said that may be my booting problem. Then I completely dumped drive using the administrative command prompt as suggested, as I couldnt get it to boot after adding the EFI partition.

Now I am at that point. A blank drive (i believe). I have converted to GPT as suggested as you could see from image. I have completely wiped it and believe i am ready to start over.

 

[SchizTech]

OK, so before going back to Macrium make sure in Disk Management that the drive is one single unallocated space (with no divisions). If it is, then just select all five partitions with check marks in one go and attempt a clone.

 

[Pillage]

OK, so before going back to Macrium make sure in Disk Management that the drive is one single unallocated space (with no divisions). If it is, then just select all five partitions with check marks in one go and attempt a clone.

So here is what macrium is showing me:

http://s886.photobucket.com/user/lbutkovic07/media/Macrium%20Clone%201.png.html

As you can see there is a primary partition it looks like, but in my disk management actually shows the drive to be all one allocated.

 

[Pillage]

OK, so before going back to Macrium make sure in Disk Management that the drive is one single unallocated space (with no divisions). If it is, then just select all five partitions with check marks in one go and attempt a clone.

I also should add, I can delete the partition in macrium before starting the cloning process, but it still will only let me copy 4 partitions.

 

[SchizTech]

Maybe that's a limitation in the free trial of the program, since there's no basic reason the partition layout shouldn't carry over. I might suggest a different utility. There's a Linux live CD with a clone tool called Kleo Bare Metal. This is something you'd burn to a DVD to boot from, which will load it's own desktop and a cloning tool.

 

[Pillage]

Maybe that's a limitation in the free trial of the program, since there's no basic reason the partition layout shouldn't carry over. I might suggest a different utility. There's a Linux live CD with a clone tool called Kleo Bare Metal. This is something you'd burn to a DVD to boot from, which will load it's own desktop and a cloning tool.

How do you feel about using this product?

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