Cloned Windows Not Seen as an OS

[NiaNia]

I got my New SSD today, installed it, and is running fine. I completely cleaned my pc for a fresh start, and tried to migrate windows to my new SSD (for obvious reasons.)

The cloning was a success and everything on the HDD (Which was just windows) Is now on my SSD. However, despite having all the files cloned over, it's still not recognized as an OS.

I tried to boot from the SSD in bios, and then check the System Configuration when that failed, only to see the HDD Windows as the only recognized OS, despite the HDD and SSD being identical to each other.

I don't know if this is microsoft's anti-piracy or what have you but i'm open to most solutions.

 

[Darkbreeze]

What did you use to "clone" the OS to the SSD from the HDD? How many partitions were cloned to the SSD?

This has nothing to do with Microsoft, of that you can be sure.

Most likely you have failed to clone the EFI and boot partitions without which Windows cannot boot.

There are more than just the C:\ partition that needs to be included in the cloning process, and without them there is no way for the system to recognize the drive as the boot device.

What are your drive models and what version of Windows are you running?

What are the rest of your system specs?

 

[hotaru251]

also iirc some older motherboards need bios updated to work with ssd primary drives.

 

[NiaNia]

The SSD was just a single partition, and the HDD was two partitions, one containing windows.

When I cloned the Partition of the HDD holding Windows, the SSD split into two partitions, one containing empty space and one containing Windows, exactly the way the HDD is laid out. Do I have to clone the entire drive?


I used EaseUS to clone the partition.

 

[USAFRet]

1. You need to select the C partition, as well as any system partitions.

2. At the end of the clone process, you NEED to power off, disconnect the old drive, and allow the system to power up on the new drive by itself. You can't change things around later.


If in any way possible, redo it.
Just like this:

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)
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
-----------------------------

 

[NiaNia]

Well, I ran into a problem trying to clone the HDD. The HDD has a total of 931.51gb of space, as opposed to the SSDs 894.25gb out of the advertised 960gb. Meaning I can't clone the HDD to the SSD. Should I just partition the empty space and un-check it in the clone and ignore it or?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Actually, you probably can.

1. Clean up the drive BEFORE trying to clone it.

Read and do all of the following, to eliminate any garbage on the system.

Run disk cleanup on the C: drive. Check all the boxes and then click ok. Then run it again. This time select the "Cleanup system files" option. Again check all the boxes and click ok.

Next, delete everything in the C:\Windows\Temp folder

Next, delete everything in the Software distribution and downloaded installations folder, as seen here:

https://errorfixer.co/clean-up-softwaredistribution-downloaded-installations/

Next, uninstall any applications that you can easily re-install later. If you have installation media for the application or a valid product key, uninstall it. You can often save an awful lot of space by removing any applications that can be reinstalled after the clone process.

Also, go into the control panel/ system/ advanced applet and turn off system restore. Then, delete any restore points.

Reading this may help find some other ways to clean things up as well.

https://www.windowscentral.com/best-7-ways-free-hard-drive-space-windows-10

And this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2825881/cleanup-windows-upgrade-clean-install.html

 

[NiaNia]

Actually, you probably can.

1. Clean up the drive BEFORE trying to clone it.

Read and do all of the following, to eliminate any garbage on the system.

Run disk cleanup on the C: drive. Check all the boxes and then click ok. Then run it again. This time select the "Cleanup system files" option. Again check all the boxes and click ok.

Next, delete everything in the C:\Windows\Temp folder

Next, delete everything in the Software distribution and downloaded installations folder, as seen here:

https://errorfixer.co/clean-up-softwaredistribution-downloaded-installations/

Next, uninstall any applications that you can easily re-install later. If you have installation media for the application or a valid product key, uninstall it. You can often save an awful lot of space by removing any applications that can be reinstalled after the clone process.

Also, go into the control panel/ system/ advanced applet and turn off system restore. Then, delete any restore points.

Reading this may help find some other ways to clean things up as well.

https://www.windowscentral.com/best-7-ways-free-hard-drive-space-windows-10

And this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2825881/cleanup-windows-upgrade-clean-install.html

I already cleaned my entire system (Windows 10's Reset PC)

I have plenty of room for the 115gb used by windows to fit into my SSD. But for some reason it tries to also push in my HDD partition that has nothing in it but has 762.44gb of space available. I've tried to void it in the clone and also tried to un-format it and It still want's to clone the empty space. The clone will clone the drive sadly and not the partitions.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Forget Easus. Use Macrium Reflect. It's free and does a much better job. Plus, you can eliminate using the system restoration partition, which will free up a lot of space.

 

[NiaNia]

That's what i'm using. I did some looking around and figured out you CAN actually ignore the un-used space in the cloning. took some trial and error on my end or maybe I missed something obvious, either way, catch you in a bit once I test the SSD.

 

[NiaNia]

I'm back! And holy crap did I under estimate how fast this thing boots! I re-booted 3 times to test the sdd and then a 4th to test it with the old HDD plugged in, and it works. No complications!

Thanks again guys!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Nice. Happy trails.