[SOLVED] Can't boot PC after cloning HDD to SSD

[ijskar135]

Hi,

Yesterday I cloned the full contents of my HDD (including a Windows and a Ubuntu partition) to my new SSD (Samsung 860 EVO). I can now successfully boot into Ubuntu from the SSD, but when trying to boot into Windows (when my HDD is not connected anymore), I get a blue screen displaying "your pc/device needs to be repaired". I used Macrium Reflect for the clone.

Here is an image from Macrium reflect of the current situation:

And here is an image of the Disk Management tool:

Any ideas?

Thanks a lot!

 

[SkyNetRising]

First boot into windows from cloned drive has to be with old drive disconnected.
If you didn't disconnect old drive, then redo cloning.

 

[ijskar135]

First boot into windows from cloned drive has to be with old drive disconnected.
If you didn't disconnect old drive, then redo cloning.

Aha, I was not aware of this. Why might this be a problem?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Drive letter conflict.
Drive letter C: remains assigned on old drive. New drive can't get C: assigned to windows partition (because it is not available).
Registry gets updated to new drive letter and windows gets broken (on new drive) because of this.

 

[ijskar135]

Drive letter conflict.
Drive letter C: remains assigned on old drive. New drive can't get C: assigned to windows partition (because it is not available).
Registry gets updated to new drive letter and windows gets broken (on new drive) because of this.

Aha, OK, thanks! Any chance I can manually change this via Disk Manager, Macrium Reflect or registry? My HDD is faulty and works extremely slowly, causing the cloning to take a very long time. I'd like to avoid cloning again, if possible.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Any chance I can manually change this via Disk Manager, Macrium Reflect or registry?

You may try booting with old drive disconnected. If registry update process hasn't been started previously, then it might be still possible to boot into cloned windows. But unlikely.

I think you'll have to reclone.

 

[ijskar135]

You may try booting with old drive disconnected. If registry update process haven't been started previously, then it might be still possible to boot into cloned windows. But unlikely.

I think you'll have to reclone.

I have tried that previously, but to no success. Thanks a lot for your help, I'll try recloning and will keep update the thread with the result.

 

[USAFRet]

-----------------------------
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)
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.
-----------------------------

 

[ijskar135]

First boot into windows from cloned drive has to be with old drive disconnected.
If you didn't disconnect old drive, then redo cloning.

Thank you, this did the trick!