[SOLVED] Changed partition size on my bootable SSD and now windows won't boot.

[TheOfb]

I discovered I had unallocated space on my SSD that I have been using for months as my boot drive that I cloned from my previous dying SSD.

So I used Aomei partition assistant to allocate some of the space but at the same time increase the partition the OS is on as it was very full.

Clearly at this point you may be realising I am a noob when it comes to these things anyway...

Aomei assistant prompted me to restart in order to apply the changes so I did as I was told.

Whilst watching the pc go through its process I see couple of blue error screens flash very briefly and didn't get a chance to see what they said.

Then finally it is over and I try to reboot but am now met with a blue screen telling me that there is no bootable device found.

I have tried checking my boot order in bios and it was correct as it was the same drive I had been using for months in the same slot.

However I then decided to put in the old bootable SSD from months prior which I did manage to boot from. So then I reconnected the newer SSD in the hopes of being able to at least see it in disc manager. After booting up this time I am met with my mobo logo and a message saying it was trying to fix the newer drive. So I let that run its course which took maybe 30mins.

So at this point I can boot with the old dying SSD and see the newer SSD with the partition changes applied but still if I try and swap it all back I am unable to boot to it.

Any ideas? All I want is to be able to use the newer SSD as it was previously and then I can worry about re allocation of the empty space mentioned at the beginning.

 

[rgd1101]

upload a screenshot of disk management with both new and old ssd to imgur.com and post the link here

 

[TheOfb]

https://imgur.com/a/u9dOPUD

View: https://imgur.com/a/u9dOPUD


Thanks for looking

 

[TheOfb]

I am realising now that the newer drive may have lost data in the (f) partition as it is showing only 33 of 360gb of space used and the original has 98 of 118gb used.

Is this now drive recovery territory?

Edit: Also realising now that i'm pretty certain I didn't save anything important to the drive in question and therefore a reformat and fresh clone may be the simplest way out of this and just manually install programs that may be missing?

 

[rgd1101]

yes. do a fresh clone.

 

[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.
-----------------------------

 

[TheOfb]

Thank you very much for that response too, I am currently doing the diskpart clean all on the new SSD to get it back to a fresh state. Then I will follow these steps for the new clone.
Very helpful tip on the increasing the size of the partition before cloning, that wasn't obvious to me.

I have to say what a fantastic forum with such helpful people on it. <3