[SOLVED] Cloned my HDD to SSD and now SSD won't boot

[Nexeus]

I'm tired of banging my head into the wall here so All I can do is ask for help. I cloned my HDD to my SSD using Macrium.

Now when I power on my PC it automatically tries to load from the SSD but every time I get error code 0xc000025
That error seems to be a problem with the BCD. I've followed several tutorials on how to fix this but nothing will work.

First off booting to USB windows 10 media and using repair always fails and won't run.

So second I followed the tutorial to find the volume via the command prompt , assign it a letter, then run the bootrec fixboot but even though I have assinged a letter it says element not found.

The disk is a GPT so I can't activate the partition even still I did try and it says that can only be done on fixed MBR and this disk is not a fixed MBR (surprise surprise)

But if I can't activate it and even when I assign it a letter it still can't find the element I have no idea what I can even do.

I have cloned it twice now and same exact issue both times. Meanwhile my HDD works just fine.

I know the drive itself works because when I am running the HDD I can accesss it just like my other HDD and access the files.

 

[Bob.B]

I'm tired of banging my head into the wall here so All I can do is ask for help. I cloned my HDD to my SSD using Macrium.

Now when I power on my PC it automatically tries to load from the SSD but every time I get error code 0xc000025
That error seems to be a problem with the BCD. I've followed several tutorials on how to fix this but nothing will work.

First off booting to USB windows 10 media and using repair always fails and won't run.

So second I followed the tutorial to find the volume via the command prompt , assign it a letter, then run the bootrec fixboot but even though I have assinged a letter it says element not found.

The disk is a GPT so I can't activate the partition even still I did try and it says that can only be done on fixed MBR and this disk is not a fixed MBR (surprise surprise)

But if I can't activate it and even when I assign it a letter it still can't find the element I have no idea what I can even do.

I have cloned it twice now and same exact issue both times. Meanwhile my HDD works just fine.

I know the drive itself works because when I am running the HDD I can accesss it just like my other HDD and access the files.

When you ran the clone did you have only the source and destination disk connected?
When the clone finished did you power down and disconnect the source disk and then try to boot from the destination disk?

 

[Nexeus]

No I have 2 HDD's only one with a windows installation the other is purely data/backup. And no I did not disconnect the source when I rebooted.

 

[USAFRet]

And no I did not disconnect the source when I rebooted.

That is the step almost always missed.
That is not optional.

If you return the system back to original condition, without the new drive...does it still boot up?
If so, redo the clone.

Thusly:
-----------------------------
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.
-----------------------------

 

[Nexeus]

That is the step almost always missed.
That is not optional.

If you return the system back to original condition, without the new drive...does it still boot up?
If so, redo the clone.

Thusly:
-----------------------------
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.
-----------------------------

Is this just important on the initial reboot? The system itself still works fine. I get an error because it tries to automatically boot to the SSD then fails and then then I have to tell it to boot to the other volume from the HDD which works fine. And I'm hoping to use that HDD for a data drive after.

So would disconnecting it just be after the initial clone? Then I can reconnect it after?

 

[USAFRet]

So would disconnecting it just be after the initial clone? Then I can reconnect it after?

Yes, once the system is verified working with ONLY the new drive.
Then, reconnect the old, and wipe it clean.

 

[Nexeus]

Yes, once the system is verified working with ONLY the new drive.
Then, reconnect the old, and wipe it clean.

This is one annoying simple issue. I assume this means as well that I will need to clone again. I will try it and bring back the results. I'm sure it will work it's just a dumb enough mistake I made to make sense lol. I'll chat back in when it works.

 

[USAFRet]

This is one annoying simple issue. I assume this means as well that I will need to clone again. I will try it and bring back the results. I'm sure it will work it's just a dumb enough mistake I made to make sense lol. I'll chat back in when it works.

Annoying, and by far the most often missed.
You are not the only one...

 

[Nexeus]

Annoying, and by far the most often missed.
You are not the only one...

Ok so it's half working now . I did as you said cloned the drive then unplugged the source and booted for the first time with nothing but the SSD in. But I still get the error. But it also still lets me press f9 and select another volume under drive to run. And when I select a volume 3 it loads fine.

But I can't change it to automatically boot from there in the bios I only have two options and the other option just tells me to restart the computer and pick a bootable drive/insert boot media.

 

[Nexeus]

Ok so it's half working now . I did as you said cloned the drive then unplugged the source and booted for the first time with nothing but the SSD in. But I still get the error. But it also still lets me press f9 and select another volume under drive to run. And when I select a volume 3 it loads fine.

But I can't change it to automatically boot from there in the bios I only have two options and the other option just tells me to restart the computer and pick a bootable drive/insert boot media.

I figured it out. On the page to tell it which volume to boot from there was a link to change defaults. So I got it to load to the SSD by default now. Now to just test everything before I start unloading the big stuff to the data drives. Thanks for your help!