Clone M.2 NVMe 128GB to M.2 NVMe 1TB

[hannoery]

Hi, I have seen a similar question in this forum, but cannot answer there as the thread is closed... user cac2244 wrote a lengthy explanation there, that I tried to follow:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3273756/clone-nvme-256gb-nvme-512gb.html#19308248

(essentially: use Samsung Data migration to clone to Samsung SSD in an external USB to SATA case; swap out NVMe sticks, boot from external SSD in case, clone again from external SSD in case to new 1TB NVMe now in notebook)

However, I get stuck at one point: I have the clone on the external SSD in a Sabrent 2.5-Inch SATA to USB 3.0 case, but I cannot seem to boot from it. My system is a Dell XPS13 9360, Bios version 1.3.2. In the BIOS I can select to boot from what it even calls Sabrent, but Win10 won't boot, but instead I eventually get a blue screen error telling me someting went wrong.

Are my BIOS settings wrong, or does anyone have any other advice? Claude?

Best,
Hanno

 

[USAFRet]

Hi, I have seen a similar question in this forum, but cannot answer there as the thread is closed... user cac2244 wrote a lengthy explanation there, that I tried to follow:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3273756/clone-nvme-256gb-nvme-512gb.html#19308248

(essentially: use Samsung Data migration to clone to Samsung SSD in an external USB to SATA case; swap out NVMe sticks, boot from external SSD in case, clone again from external SSD in case to new 1TB NVMe now in notebook)

However, I get stuck at one point: I have the clone on the external SSD in a Sabrent 2.5-Inch SATA to USB 3.0 case, but I cannot seem to boot from it. My system is a Dell XPS13 9360, Bios version 1.3.2. In the BIOS I can select to boot from what it even calls Sabrent, but Win10 won't boot, but instead I eventually get a blue screen error telling me someting went wrong.

Are my BIOS settings wrong, or does anyone have any other advice? Claude?

Best,
Hanno

Right.
You can't boot from that external drive.

Is the original drive still bootable?
If so, redo it, but differently.
.
Macrium Reflect:
Create a Macrium Rescue CD or USB
Run it, and create an Image on your external drive.
Power off, and swap drives
Boot from the Rescue CD or USB you made above
Tell it where the Image is, and what drive (the 1TB) to put it on.
Go.

 

[hannoery]

Oh, we talked about this, haven't we? Alright, alright, I will try. One question though: Does Macrium also create the "rescue USB" on the external drive?

 

[USAFRet]

Oh, we talked about this, haven't we? Alright, alright, I will try. One question though: Does Macrium also create the "rescue USB" on the external drive?

No.
The Rescue CD or USB is a separate device.
You use this to boot from.

Neither the external drive nor the NVMes have anything to do with that.
That Rescue is also useful if you do regular backups off to another drive or system, and need to do a recovery.

 

[hannoery]

Wait, then I am missing a part here. I make the rescue USB in Macrium onto a USB stick, and I save an image of my HDD on the external SSD in a USB case, correct?

I boot with the rescue USB, then I connect the SSD in USB case once booted, and move the image onto the new NVMe?

 

[USAFRet]

Wait, then I am missing a part here. I make the rescue USB in Macrium onto a USB stick, and I save an image of my HDD on the external SSD in a USB case, correct?

I boot with the rescue USB, then I connect the SSD in USB case once booted, and move the image onto the new NVMe?

Yes.

 

[hannoery]

Well that fails in the first step. When I try to make the rescue drive onto the USB, it gives me an error saying it can't make more than 1 partition on the USB key- I don't know why it would need more than one, but that's the error I get.

 

[USAFRet]

Well that fails in the first step. When I try to make the rescue drive onto the USB, it gives me an error saying it can't make more than 1 partition on the USB key- I don't know why it would need more than one, but that's the error I get.

hmm...I've never seen that in the Macrium functionality.
What size is this USB stick?

 

[hannoery]

Looks like the USB key needs to be formatted in Fat32 file system, that's why it wants to create a new partition, but can't. However, I cannot format that USB key to Fat32, only ExFat and NTFS. It's a 64GB one, I guess I'll try a smaller one to see if I have a Fat32 one kicking around...

 

[hannoery]

Alright, that did make it work... and now I m stuck trying with the drive sizes. Since the imaged disc was only 128GB, but the new one id 1TB, I have the that difference non-allocated. The Windows "Computer Management" will not let me add the non-allocated space to the C: drive because of a hidden partition sitting after the C drive. Any advice on a good third party program that will deal with that for me? I tried 2-3, and they did not work and installed a load of crap on the side (Minitool Partition Wizard, AOMEI partition, EaseUS- that one was particularly bad).

 

[USAFRet]

Alright, that did make it work... and now I m stuck trying with the drive sizes. Since the imaged disc was only 128GB, but the new one id 1TB, I have the that difference non-allocated. The Windows "Computer Management" will not let me add the non-allocated space to the C: drive because of a hidden partition sitting after the C drive. Any advice on a good third party program that will deal with that for me? I tried 2-3, and they did not work and installed a load of crap on the side (Minitool Partition Wizard, AOMEI partition, EaseUS- that one was particularly bad).

OK....so now we have the system up and running on the new 1TB drive?

Can you post a screencap of your Disk Management window? If the unallocated space is to the right of the current C, it should be able to extend into that space.

 

[hannoery]

Correct. But: The hidden recovery partition was between C: and the unallocated space, hence the Win Disk Manager did not want to let me extend them. I then redid the whole process, except I did not include that particular partition in the cloning (I guess I should call this "making an image"). That worked well after a while (boy, formatting that 1TB NVMe was not that easy), and I then had C: next to the non-allocated space... everything the way I wanted it. Only problem now: the recovery partition is missing, and I cannot use that nice new Win10 feature where you can wipe all installed programs (including pre-installed ones) from Win10- nor can I create a rescue medium, again because of the missing partition.

 

[USAFRet]

Correct. But: The hidden recovery partition was between C: and the unallocated space, hence the Win Disk Manager did not want to let me extend them. I then redid the whole process, except I did not include that particular partition in the cloning (I guess I should call this "making an image"). That worked well after a while (boy, formatting that 1TB NVMe was not that easy), and I then had C: next to the non-allocated space... everything the way I wanted it. Only problem now: the recovery partition is missing, and I cannot use that nice new Win10 feature where you can wipe all installed programs (including pre-installed ones) from Win10- nor can I create a rescue medium, again because of the missing partition.

You can do that fancy stuff with a Win 10 boot DVD or USB.
Boot from that, and it will give you the same options.

To create your own DVD or USB? Here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

 

[hannoery]

Oh that would save me a lot of trouble. I assume I will need my Win10 key for that?

 

[USAFRet]

Oh that would save me a lot of trouble. I assume I will need my Win10 key for that?

No Win 10 key needed!
The ISO, or to create the DVD or USB, is freely downloadable.

 

[ArtPog]

1. First of all we start with the premise that it is vital for virtually every PC user to create & maintain comprehensive backups of their systems so that in the event the user's boot drive becomes defective or the OS becomes hopelessly corrupt, the user has the means at hand to restore his/her system to the functional one that existed prior to the "disaster".

2. We've found that disk-cloning is an ideal way to achieve this desired result, especially when these disk-cloning operations are carried out on a frequent basis so as to provide a user with reasonably up-to-date comprehensive backups of his/her system.

3. We speak of disk-cloning rather than disk-imaging. The chief advantage of disk-cloning is that for all practical purposes the user has what amounts to a bit-for-bit copy of his/her "source" drive. A clone is a clone is a clone. The resulting cloned data on the "destination" drive, i.e., the recipient of the source drive's cloned data, is immediately accessible and no special "recovery" process is necessary to return its data to some usable form.

4. In many cases the recipient of the clone, i.e., the destination drive, is bootable even when it is connected as a USB external drive. In other cases the destination drive can be simply internally-connected in the system in lieu of a defective drive and is immediately functional as a boot drive. If neither the preceding procedures are impractical to undertake, perhaps bcause the user's source drive was defective and the user has purchased a new HDD or SSD, or for any other reason the user cannot or chooses not to utilize the destination drive as his/her day-to-day boot drive, it's a simple matter for the contents of the destination drive to be cloned to the newly-installed drive in the system.

5. In your particular situation involving a laptop/notebook, our general process is to clone the contents of the existing M.2 SSD to a USB external HDD or SSD. Then uninstall the current M.2 SSD and install the new M.2. Finally, clone the contents of the USBEHD (or USBESSD) to the newly-installed M.2 SSD.

6. BTW, in nearly all situations we delete the so-called "Recovery" partition. Understand that is dependent upon the user maintaining comprehensive backups of his/her system via the disk-cloning process as explained above or some other comprehensive backup system.

 

[hannoery]

5. In your particular situation involving a laptop/notebook, our general process is to clone the contents of the existing M.2 SSD to a USB external HDD or SSD. Then uninstall the current M.2 SSD and install the new M.2. Finally, clone the contents of the USBEHD (or USBESSD) to the newly-installed M.2 SSD.

6. BTW, in nearly all situations we delete the so-called "Recovery" partition. Understand that is dependent upon the user maintaining comprehensive backups of his/her system via the disk-cloning process as explained above or some other comprehensive backup system.

Thanks for the input. With regards to your point 5, though: how do you boot the PC after having cloned the old M.2 to the external HDD or SSD, and then replaced it with the new M.2?

 

[ArtPog]

There are actually two ways...
1. Our disk-cloning program - Casper (http://www.fssdev.com) is always installed on our boot drive since we use it routinely to carry out our comprehensive backups as previously explained. So - given your situation where your current boot drive is still bootable - we would employ the program to carry out the disk-cloning operation to the USB external destination drive (either a HDD or SSD, the only criteria being the destination drive has sufficient disk-space capacity to contain the cloned contents of the M.2 current boot ("source") drive).

2. If the source drive was unbootable, either because it was defective or the OS was corrupt & dysfunctional, then we would use the Casper Startup Disk (CD) that the user presumably created when the program was originally installed on one's boot drive. One ALWAYS creates a Startup Disk. The Startup Disk is a bootable CD that contains the Casper disk-cloning program. So in your situation the Startup Disk would have to be employed since you have not installed the disk-cloning program on your boot drive. On the other hand if, in the meantime you did install the program prior to undertaking the d-c operation, the Startup Disk would be unnecessary at that time.

3. Following the apparently successful disk-cloning operation we would generally attempt to boot the cloned USB external drive. Generally we do this just to initially determine that a valid (bootable) clone has been created. (It's really not mandatory but it gives us a comfortable feeling to know initially that a potentially bootable clone has been created!) Actually in your situation it's really unnecessary since you already know your source drive is completely functional and your objective is simply to transfer its contents to a larger drive.

4. Admittedly it's a veritable crapshoot that where an OEM PC, e.g., your laptop, is involved, we're able to boot to a cloned USB external drive. There's simply no telling in our experience. However, we have achieved virtually a success rate of 100% in booting to a cloned USB external drive when the PC is non-OEM, i.e., self- or custom-built with non-proprietary components. (As a matter of fact I'm communicating at this moment on this forum with a cloned bootable USB external drive with one of our self-built desktop PCs -Win 10 OS).

5. In any event, given your situation you would simply install the new M.2 SSD in your system after uninstalling the previous M.2 SSD and use the Startup Disk (or the appropriate one from the Macrium program you've been using) and clone the contents of the USB external drive to the newly-installed M.2 SSD.

6. If you're interested in the Casper program you can download a 30-day trial edition from https://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/trial/
The trial edition is somewhat crippled as compared with the "full" commercial edition that costs $49.99 but I don't believe any of its restrictions (other than the period of its use) would have any significant negative impact re your situation