Cloned HDD to M2 SSD, boots with a blinking cursor on a black screen.

[thomas_koji]

Hello guys i bought m2 without much knowladge and i need help.

When i boot from the cloned SSD, after the windows 10 logo splash page a blinking cursor comes up and thats it.

So far i tried, updating my BIOS, changing my power options (turning off fast start up).

Mother board is ASUS z170 pro gaming.

Thank you

 

[ArtPog]

No one can provide a sensible response to your query based upon the lack of information you provided. We have no idea as to how you went about the disk-cloning operation - what other drive was involved? how was it installed? what was the volume of data on the "source" disk, what is the disk-space capacity of the M.2 SSD? was the source drive completely functional, i.e., it booted & functioned without problems, what's the OS?, how did you go about the disk-cloning operation - BE SPECIFIC what disk-cloning program did you use? Are you certain all drives involved were properly installed/connected.

And any other details you think might help someone understand your situation & problem. Capiche?

 

[thomas_koji]

No one can provide a sensible response to your query based upon the lack of information you provided. We have no idea as to how you went about the disk-cloning operation - what other drive was involved? how was it installed? what was the volume of data on the "source" disk, what is the disk-space capacity of the M.2 SSD? was the source drive completely functional, i.e., it booted & functioned without problems, what's the OS?, how did you go about the disk-cloning operation - BE SPECIFIC what disk-cloning program did you use? Are you certain all drives involved were properly installed/connected.

And any other details you think might help someone understand your situation & problem. Capiche?

Thanx for the reply,

I cloned with WD edition Acronis, only the 2 drive source HDD and the m2 ssd was involved .

Source HDD was about 180GB and M2 SSD capacity was 250GB

The source HDD is windows 10 and its perfectly functioning, i still use it everyday.

I am certain that the HDD is properly connected, SSD I'm not sure but I can play the video that's stored in it so i guess it is properly installed and connected.

Thank you again

 

[ArtPog]

Based on your latest post, I'll assume the following...

1. You seem to indicate there are two HDDs installed in your desktop PC beside the recently installed M.2 SSD. I suppose one of those HDDs is your boot drive containing the Win 10 OS. You refer to this HDD as a 180 GB HDD. Those 180 GB drives have practically disappeared from the market so I assume it's a very old HDD. Is that correct?

2. I suppose the other HDD has been performing as a secondary drive for storage purposes. Is that correct?

3. You mention then new M.2 SSD contains a video program that plays without problems. So that indicates after you installed the M.2 SSD you began to utilize it as a secondary drive in your system. Apparently at that point you never cloned the contents of the 180 GB boot HDD to the SSD, right? Why did you do that? Just to see if the SSD was non-defective before undertaking a disk-cloning operation?

4. What was the reason you didn't IMMEDIATLY undertake the disk-cloning program?

5. In any event since the boot HDD functions without problems and it appears the SSD has been properly installed, so there would seem to be no reason why a successful d-c operation can't be undertaken.

6. Perhaps you didn't properly use the Acronis program. I'm not particularly fond of that program and it's not the d-c program we generally use. We use the Casper program; the program is a commercial one costing $49.99, however a 30-day trial edition is available from https://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/trial/ so you may want to give it a try. If you want to do so here are some step-by step instructions for using the program...

7. Before undertaking the disk-cloning operation close all open programs. (Generally you need not disable your anti-virus program). ENSURE THAT ONLY THE TWO DRIVES THAT WILL BE INVOLVED IN THE DISK-CLONING OPERATION ARE CONNECTED IN THE SYSTEM - NO OTHER DRIVES.

8. The opening screen of the program will highlight "Create a Bootable Backup". Click on "Add drive" and a listing of the appropriate destination drive(s) will appear, e.g., your M.2 SSD.

9. Click on the destination drive's listing and then the "Back up now" button.

10. Casper will run in the background and alert you when the disk-cloning operation is completed. (You can view the actual progress chart by clicking on the Casper icon in the Notification Area on the Taskbar.)

11. Following the successful disk-cloning operation DISCONNECT the 180 GB source HDD from the system and boot SOLELY to the connected SSD destination drive.

12. Casper will utilize the entire disk-space of the destination drive to contain the total data contents from the source drive.

13. Assuming the d-c operation is successful, work with the SSD for a reasonable period of time to ensure it's completely functional. Only then should you reconnect all your other secondary drives and only then can you feel free to make any changes involving the former boot drive.

 

[RolandJS]

ArtPog, is it possible that the target HD, now being the OS drive, did not have its boot partition flagged as Active and Primary? I ask because I thought I read elsewhere that this happens now and then -- although I'm not sure this applies to OP's situation.

 

[ArtPog]

ArtPog, is it possible that the target HD, now being the OS drive, did not have its boot partition flagged as Active and Primary? I ask because I thought I read elsewhere that this happens now and then -- although I'm not sure this applies to OP's situation.

I would think not, Roland. Recall that the OP has indicated there is no problem with booting to the HDD so that's an indication that the current boot drive has been properly flagged as "Active" (of course that "flag" is relevant ONLY when the drive is MBR-partitioned; GPT-partitioned drives do not carry that flag.)

No, I think something else is amiss here. If I had to guess it's that something went amiss with the disk-cloning operation.

 

[RolandJS]

ArtPog, you are right as rain! I completely missed that point! Thanks for the heads-up.