Cloned Boot Drive Not A Bootable Option in BIOS

[timdhodges]

My Windows SSD drive is dying so I went and got a new SSD and have cloned it a few times to the new drive, went into the BIOS and tried picking it as a boot option. It's not on the list. I formatted the new 1TB SSD drive as an MBR drive so it would show up in legacy BIOS, but it still can't be seen. I originally thought it was a problem with the cloning software, but I'm now on my third piece of software for cloning the drive and it still doesn't show in the BIOS. Last time I forced it to boot to the new drive it just went to the old drive. When I tried disconnecting the SATA cable the new drive wasn't able to be booted from. Any suggestions? Running Windows 7.

 

[USAFRet]

At the end of the cloning process, you need to power off, disconnect the old drive, and attempt the first boot up with only the new drive connected.

Try it again:

Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
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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 as necessary.
Delete the 450MB Recovery Partition, here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/4f1b84ac-b193-40e3-943a-f45d52e23685/cant-delete-extra-healthy-recovery-partitions-and-healthy-efi-system-partition?forum=w8itproinstall
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