Question Can't reformat former boot drive.

[zekeandej]

I messed up an OS installation a new m2 nvme drive (1TB WD Black) and just kept using my old Intel 660p 1TB m2. I'm trying again to clear the partitions from the OS, but they're protected and Macrium won't play. I don't have a copy of the Windows 11 handy, so do I have any other options? My goal is just to clone the Intel (current boot) drive to the WD to use its faster speed.
I'd be really grateful if someone could please point me in a better direction.

Thanks, EJII

 

[BFG-9000]

The first thing to try is the drive manufacturer's own WD Drive Utilities to zero-fill/erase the drive.

These sorts of utilities probably did work better back when they were bootable, however.

 

[Lafong]

"Macrium won't play".

Can you go into considerable detail about what happens when you try to get Macrium to "play"? Step by step. At what point does it not play?

In a typical clone operation, you wouldn't try to clear partitions. You'd let Macrium do as it sees fit. But we don't know exactly what you did.

 

[zekeandej]

"Macrium won't play".

Can you go into considerable detail about what happens when you try to get Macrium to "play"? Step by step. At what point does it not play?

In a typical clone operation, you wouldn't try to clear partitions. You'd let Macrium do as it sees fit. But we don't know exactly what you did.

Macrium wont recognize the destination drive as a valid path. I've tried Windows disc manager and CCCleaner to reformat the drive, but cant touch the protected boot partitions.

 

[Lafong]

Can you post a screen shot of the destination drive as it appears in Disk Management?

I assume you cannot boot from it as it now sits?

 

[BFG-9000]

You would generally use the bootable Macrium Reflect rescue media (it's WinPE with Macrium preinstalled) so Windows itself is not actually running and therefore cannot lock any partitions.

But I would first make darned sure the 660p can still boot Windows while the WD Black is disconnected, as there might be a really good reason for those partitions to be locked.

 

[zekeandej]

Can you post a screen shot of the destination drive as it appears in Disk Management?

I assume you cannot boot from it as it now sits?

I haven't been able to boot from the WD drive since I installed it. It's been about a year or so and I think that I may have cloned it rather than imaging. Regardless, it never worked to boot windows so I kept using the Intel drive for that and the WD for storage.
Sorry about the delay. 3 nights of World Series followed by Halloween (w/ 5 g-kids) this week just used me up.

 

[zekeandej]

Can you post a screen shot of the destination drive as it appears in Disk Management?

I assume you cannot boot from it as it now sits?

"C:\Users\JoshnLauras PC\OneDrive\Pictures\Screenshots\Screenshot (1).png"

Disc 2 is to be the destination. Disc 5 is the current boot drive. Then I plan to split storage between the two Intel drives since one is filled with what used to be stored on Disc 2.

 

[USAFRet]

"C:\Users\JoshnLauras PC\OneDrive\Pictures\Screenshots\Screenshot (1).png"

Disc 2 is to be the destination. Disc 5 is the current boot drive. Then I plan to split storage between the two Intel drives since one is filled with what used to be stored on Disc 2.

We cannot see what is on your C drive.
Upload your pic to imgur.com, post the link here. You do not have to create an account there.

 

[zekeandej]

https://imgur.com/a/WTsBlgE

View: https://imgur.com/a/WTsBlgE

 

[USAFRet]

<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="a/WTsBlgE" ><a href="//imgur.com/a/WTsBlgE">Drive Mgr.</a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

imgur has a function for you to COPY the relevant forum 'link'

 

[zekeandej]

The first thing to try is the drive manufacturer's own WD Drive Utilities to zero-fill/erase the drive.

These sorts of utilities probably did work better back when they were bootable, however.

The WD utilities don't recognize the drive. Their codes on the drives must have been erased when I tried to clone the other drive.

 

[dwd999]

You have to think outside the Windows box. Download a copy of Gparted.iso and mount it on a usb stick using Rufus.ie. The use it to create a new GPT partition table header which will remove all of the previous partitions. That's all that necessary for cloning.

https://downloads.sourceforge.net/gparted/gparted-live-1.6.0-10-amd64.iso

 

[zekeandej]

You have to think outside the Windows box. Download a copy of Gparted.iso and mount it on a usb stick using Rufus.ie. The use it to create a new GPT partition table header which will remove all of the previous partitions. That's all that necessary for cloning.

https://downloads.sourceforge.net/gparted/gparted-live-1.6.0-10-amd64.iso

Thanks, but...
I downloaded both, but I don't have the expertise to make them work. I can open or mount the downloaded utility, but each still opens to just a file list. What am I missing, besides adequate training?

 

[dwd999]

Thanks, but...
I downloaded both, but I don't have the expertise to make them work. I can open or mount the downloaded utility, but each still opens to just a file list. What am I missing, besides adequate training?

You would run the Rufus.ie program, load the gparted.iso and mount the iso onto your usb stick. Then you reboot your computer, access the bios menu as soon as it boots and select the usb stick as the boot device. Your computer should then boot into gparted.