[SOLVED] Booting from Samsung Evo 970

[molarmite]

I just did a data migration using Samsungs software that came with the Evo. After it was done, it rebooted and when it started, my C drive was still there with everything and the Evo was in the G drive. I went into BIOS to try and get it to boot from the Evo. I set priority one to "Hard Disk:Samsung SSD 970 EVO 1TB". When I do that, I get a windows logo and a spinning circle but then it's just blank and never boots up. What did I do wrong? I can't even figure out how to switch it back so it boots up the old way either.

 

[Palorim12]

Its something that's usually possible to happen with a clone. Take the 970 out and the system should boot to your old drive. Then grab a flash drive and create a Windows Recovery Drive and then put the 970 back into the system and boot to the recovery drive and navigate to the troubleshooting section and run an automatic repair 2 or 3 times and then reboot and see if it boots. If not, you might have to do a clean install onto the 970.

 

[USAFRet]

I just did a data migration using Samsungs software that came with the Evo. After it was done, it rebooted and when it started, my C drive was still there with everything and the Evo was in the G drive. I went into BIOS to try and get it to boot from the Evo. I set priority one to "Hard Disk:Samsung SSD 970 EVO 1TB". When I do that, I get a windows logo and a spinning circle but then it's just blank and never boots up. What did I do wrong? I can't even figure out how to switch it back so it boots up the old way either.

"After it was done...."
You needed to physically disconnect the old drive, and allow the system to boot from only the new drive.

Redo it.

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Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
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Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, install the relevant driver for this new NVMe/PCIe drive.
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive

If you are going from a smaller drive to a larger, by default, the target partition size will be the same as the Source. You probably don't want that
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specifiy the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------

 

[molarmite]

Do I have to redo the whole process or can I just disconnect the old drive and try again since everything is already cloned to the new one?

You talk about swapping the SATA cables, but this is an m.2, I just inserted it into the slot on my motherboard. Is there still something I have to do with the cables that I missed as well?

 

[USAFRet]

Do I have to redo the whole process or can I just disconnect the old drive and try again since everything is already cloned to the new one?

You talk about swapping the SATA cables, but this is an m.2, I just inserted it into the slot on my motherboard. Is there still something I have to do with the cables that I missed as well?

With an M.2, you don't swap cables.
You DO need to physically disconnect the old before powering up.

 

[molarmite]

I disconnected and removed the old hard drive from case and still nothing. I tried booting with the default boot order which is:

UEFI CD/DVD
UEFI hard disk
UEFI USB hard disk
UEFI USB cd/dvd
UEFI USB key
UEFI network
Hard disk: Samsung ssd 970 Evo 1tb
Cd/dvd: Asus
USB hard disk
USB cd/dvd
USB key
USB floppy
Network

Ive also tried moving UEFI hard disk and hard disk: Samsung ssd to the front of the boot order with no results. Am still getting the windows logo with a loading circle then just a black screen.

Any other setting I might be missing?

Edit: I was able to take out the ssd and put back in the hdd and it boots just fine so that's a relief. Do I have to redo the migration since I tried booting it with both in there at first?

 

[USAFRet]

Edit: I was able to take out the ssd and put back in the hdd and it boots just fine so that's a relief. Do I have to redo the migration since I tried booting it with both in there at first?

If it does not work with ONLY the SSD connected, you missed something in the clone process.

 

[molarmite]

I realized some motherboard drivers were out of date so I'm just updating those first to see if that helps. Should I have the BIOS fully updated as well? I have never done that before.

 

[USAFRet]

I realized some motherboard drivers were out of date so I'm just updating those first to see if that helps. Should I have the BIOS fully updated as well? I have never done that before.

Possibly.
Yes, update the BIOS, then redo that clone operation with the Samsung Data Migration tool.