Cloned Hard Drive to a 500g SSD in a CD-Rom Caddy with Macrum , How do I know the SSD is Primary

[PhillM]

I used Macrium Reflect to Clone my Laptop Hard Drive when the samsung data migration tool would constantly fail at 99% with error -00001[ffffffff]. Anyway I did as many here recommend and used Macrium Reflect and it all went across to the SSD with out a hitch. As I am not a full on computer guru I am not sure if the SSD is now the primary. Is there a way to verify this ? Even though I am pretty sure Macrum does the legwork and sets it up I am not 100% sure .

 

[Saga Lout]

Regardless of which cloning software you used, if both disks are still in place, the original will be the one that boots the machine.

Remove the original disk so there is only one C:\ drive in the system.

That said, can you clarify "CD ROM Caddy"? If it's connected by USB, check BIOS to ensure it has the first boot option.

 

[PhillM]

Hey Thanks , The clone of the laptop Hard Drive is inserted in one of those carriers( HD Caddy) that holds the SSD and replaces the CD ROM, so I guess it is directly connected to the motherboard The cloned hard drive is labeled (G: ) . I have opened the Disc Management and it shows both drives as being "on line" but the SSD is Disc1 and the laptop hard drive as "Disc 0". If it was running just on the SSD I would have thought any changes / images added would only show on the primary until the (G: ) is cloned back to (C: ). but it appears that both seem to be working together as the changes are the same on both drives .
I did go into the BIOS which I guess is accessed on start up (F2) but I could not scroll down to set it up as Master and Slave.

 

[Saga Lout]

If you swap the two disks around, the SSD from the caddy will become Disk 0 and therefore C: when it's inside the machine. I suggest waiting until the system has booted up before you introduce the old disk if you need to. It's a good back up disk if stored in a fireproof box somewhere and if you delete all the folders except your personal files, you'll have lots of space to store backups in future. It will last a lot longer if it isn't plugged in and spinning all day and every day.

 

[PhillM]

I have 2 virtually identical Dell XPS laptops and was more thinking of being able to seamlessly swap the SSD from one to the other and be a proficient enough to be able to set which hard drive is the master. Then the which ever laptop is running on the std SATA is still as up to date as it can be and be useable.
So the whole plan revolves around me being able to set this in program rather than physical removal of drives is where I am trying to get to and learning along the way. So I suppose the question is, can the drives be de-selected and put into sleep/ idle whatever it may be called when the SSD is plugged in.

Again appreciate your opinion and help.

 

[USAFRet]

I have 2 virtually identical Dell XPS laptops and was more thinking of being able to seamlessly swap the SSD from one to the other and be a proficient enough to be able to set which hard drive is the master.

That will run into activation errors. Even though they are 'virtually identical', it is a different PC.

And you should have the OS on only one drive in the system. Having it on 2 results in confusion, as you have seen.

 

[PhillM]

If I removed the SSD from say #1 Laptop and then inserted it into #2 and cloned to its hard drive and then ran it from the SSD with its Hard Drive turned of after the clone , would that cause problems or can that not be done, and then vise/versa .
I suppose the question is why, that would be protecting and always haveing a full working up to date portable Hard Drive for both laptops ... Is there an easier way?

 

[USAFRet]

If I removed the SSD from say #1 Laptop and then inserted it into #2 and cloned to its hard drive and then ran it from the SSD with its Hard Drive turned of after the clone , would that cause problems or can that not be done, and then vise/versa .
I suppose the question is why, that would be protecting and always haveing a full working up to date portable Hard Drive for both laptops ... Is there an easier way?

2 laptops, you need 2 OS licenses. You can't just swap back and forth.

Still unclear what you're trying to accomplish with this swapping back and forth.

 

[PhillM]

Yes I can see what you have pointed out, that when the SSD is taken to the #2 then the clone will copy the OS from #1 and the COA will not match so it gets a bit messy. I probably should try and remove the SSD and insert it to #2 Laptop and clone it across and see if that it boots.

 

[USAFRet]

Yes I can see what you have pointed out, that when the SSD is taken to the #2 then the clone will copy the OS from #1 and the COA will not match so it gets a bit messy. I probably should try and remove the SSD and insert it to #2 Laptop and clone it across and see if that it boots.

How many laptops do you ? 2
How many drives?
What type of drives?
How many OS licenses?

 

[PhillM]

How many laptops do you ? 2
How many drives? 1 std Hard drive in each Laptop , 1 x Samsung 500G SSD
What type of drives? They are std one id 500G WD5000BEVT and the other 1Tb if this is what you mean
How many OS licenses? It would be 2

 

[USAFRet]

OK...
Swapping that SSD back and forth is not going to work. Licensing issues abound, plus wear and tear on the actual drive connection.

Just leave the drives in the systems where they are. If desired, get another SSD for Laptop #2.

To keep backups? Get an external USB drive. 2 top level folders, 1 for each system.
Run the Macrium image creation once in a while on each.

Result? 2 stable systems, with regular backups.

 

[Saga Lout]

Well I'm damned - you go out for couple of hours and a simple problem gets complicated.

 

[USAFRet]

Well I'm damned - you go out for couple of hours and a simple problem gets complicated.

:lol:

 

[PhillM]

Hey sorry for stuff around , anyway got up this morning ( Yes I'm an Aussie ... Mate and might explain) anyway the laptop was on super slow and could not catch up to cursor movements so I forced a shutdown and pulled the SSD . Then booted ok and all is back to normal leaving me thinking that cloning is not a 100% mirror image. If I had to install the copy on a new hard drive on the same laptop ( if I replaced the SATA with a SSD ) would leave up $h!^ Creek.. ah heck should have bought 2 x 250Gb SSDs instead of the 500.
So like a mongrel dog and not wanting to bury the bone just yet, i suppose i'm leaving it open to how can the result be achieved. taking into account that USAFRet has given me a stable solution.
Why - There are CAD drawing programs Profiler, CAM BAM , Dreamweaver CS3..etc that I want working copies on both Laptops .

* Is it possible if both laptops run are upgraded to Win7 Pro with the same COA ?
* Is it better to use the SSD like described and use Macrium Imaging rather than Clone ?

 

[USAFRet]

From your questions:

1. No. Each system needs its own license
2. Image or clone...literally no difference.
In my shuffling around of disks the other eve, I cloned to the other drive, and then...just to test, resurrected an image of the original drive.
Zero difference except for the time factor as to when the image was made (6 hours earlier)


Also, your Dreamweaver, CAD, etc....they too need individual licenses for each system.
Some application licensing may allow 2 installs on one purchase, but that is all on what they say.

 

[Saga Lout]

Aside from all the other issues, you might be able to fix the SSD installation by using sfc /scannow in an elevated Command form.

 

[PhillM]

Well I have had some success , a quick youtube watch on remove L502X hard drive and its pretty easy so I put the SSD in and booted . Needed of course graphics driver and net password but over all it is a direct copy. MS office is a corporate version and my Cad programs I have licence keys. I tried to do win update to see if it passes as genuine but was taking forever.
So now I am looking for a form of cable to plug in and just have the SSD mounted externally to # 2 and that being always the slave . All my files and programs are now somewhat portable and I have a fairly low risk to be left with the feeling of horror that all the work and my extra brain is gone, which it was a bit like this morning when nothing was working after waking up the laptop. Whether I can tick it off as a solution is still to be 100% tested .
As a bit of an after thought I could just take the hard drive out and run it from the CD Rom Hard Drive Caddy and that should then be able to always have a full clone be it the SSD or the Std Hrd Drve .