Question Can't boot from nvme m2

[James Blonde]

I've seen the previous thread that comes up when you Google search "can't boot from nvme m2" but it appears to be locked now so can't ask there - hence new thread.

I had a very similar set up - originally booting from an Samsung evo 860 1tb Sara SSD, and then installed a Samsung 970 1tb nvme m2 drive and installed windows 10 and all associated software on it, with the intention of it becoming my primary boot drive. Up till now I've been dual booting until I was ready to format the old drive.

Now I've swapped over, I can't boot from the nvme drive.

I've looked at the previous post, but the advice doesn't seem to quite tally with my bios (gigabyte z390 aorus elite). But also the suggestion from those posts is to install windows - that's fine, but won't it overwrite my current install?? The instructions at that point weren't clear given I would want to repair rather than install from scratch? Anyone able to carify?? Or give more bios specific instructions?

Having a crappy couple of days computer wise - 3 hard drives failed over 2 systems (one was failing, the second was old and started to fail when I started moving it around, and the third was a brand new 4tb barracuda Pro that was going to be my new primary photography drive - fortunately I still had the old primary). Urgh.

 

[rgd1101]

full system spec?

 

[James Blonde]

Everything running as stock - i7-9700k, gigabyte aorus z390 elite motherboard, 32gb ddr3, nvidia 1070, and now only the Samsung 970 nvme drive connected, but otherwise 5 other drives.

I can still boot using the old 860 ssd and choose the nvme drive as the OS to run, and in disk manager the nvme drive suggests it's a system and boot drive.

 

[James Blonde]

The more I'm looking, the more I'm thinking that I can't reconfigure an nvme m2 drive as a boot device without doing a fresh install. Would that be correct?

If so, I guess my only option to preserve my OS config and software installs is to boot using the 860, clone the 970 to another disk, do a fresh install in the 970, and then clone back. Assuming that'll work?

Or am I overcomplicating it?

 

[USAFRet]

You needed to do a clean install on the 970, with only that drive connected.

And cloning from a SATA drive to an NVMe often has its own issues.

The safest way by far is simply a clean install on the 970 by itself.

 

[James Blonde]

Swear word.

Wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't been using it as my primary OS for the last few months.

On top of the 3 failures, having a great evening!

I'll try a clone, but if that fails to work then do a fresh install - suppose I haven't got much to lose if I want to use that drive for what it was bought for!

 

[USAFRet]

The more I'm looking, the more I'm thinking that I can't reconfigure an nvme m2 drive as a boot device without doing a fresh install. Would that be correct?

If so, I guess my only option to preserve my OS config and software installs is to boot using the 860, clone the 970 to another disk, do a fresh install in the 970, and then clone back. Assuming that'll work?

Or am I overcomplicating it?

That does NOT work.
The last step there...the clone to the 970, wipes out everything you did previously with the 970.
You can't clone to it and keep what was on it before.

 

[USAFRet]

Try the clone operation, once.
If it works, great.
If it fails...wipe and clean install on the 970.

(modify due to the target being an NVMe)
-----------------------------
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
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)
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
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.
-----------------------------

 

[James Blonde]

Thanks - will give it a shot.

At least if it doesn't work I'll have access to the old configuration on the clone, and can rebuild from scratch with that as a reference.

 

[James Blonde]

Oh very rude swear word. Repeated. Lots. And loudly.

Nope, didn't work. Guessing it's cloning something more fundamental than just the OS. Looks like it'll have to be a fresh install.

Thanks for your help anyway!

 

[USAFRet]

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[James Blonde]

Clean install worked perfectly both this time, and the previous time when I tried to clone back.

The clone back didn't work, so will use the cloned drive as my reference to remind me what I installed.

I'll use the current clean install as my base build to reconfigure.

Hey ho - was worth a try!

 

[USAFRet]

Cloning is a good tool, when it works.

I'm a big advocate of clones and images. But when it fails...time for a known clean install.