[SOLVED] Cloning HDD to M.2 problem

Orannabis

Prominent
Mar 25, 2019
5
0
510
I recently decided to upgrade an old gaming machine to m.2 ssd. I thought it was going to be easy as download cloning software and following the instructions, but I can't figure it out. When I put it together I had the Windows 8 disc, and I upgraded digitally for free, so I don't really have the media it keeps asking me for. I downloaded cloning software and cloned the drive to the m.2, but it won't load Windows 10 if I choose the m.2 in the bios loading screen. So I'm hoping it's a pretty simple fix, any help would be appreciated. thanks
 
Solution
OK, redo the clone.

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)
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...

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
I recently decided to upgrade an old gaming machine to m.2 ssd. I thought it was going to be easy as download cloning software and following the instructions, but I can't figure it out. When I put it together I had the Windows 8 disc, and I upgraded digitally for free, so I don't really have the media it keeps asking me for. I downloaded cloning software and cloned the drive to the m.2, but it won't load Windows 10 if I choose the m.2 in the bios loading screen. So I'm hoping it's a pretty simple fix, any help would be appreciated. thanks
Need a LOT more detail.

How much space is consumed on the original drive?
What size/make/model is the new SSD?
What motherboard?
What software did you use for this?

Details, please.
 

Orannabis

Prominent
Mar 25, 2019
5
0
510
I have a Firecuda 2TB with 649GB free. The SSD is a PNY CS2130 2 TB Solid State Drive - M.2 2280 Internal. The Motherboard is Gigabyte GA-990FX-Gaming (rev. 1.0). I used AOMEI Backupper Pro. It clones the disk to the ssd but when I unplugged the HDD and ran the SSD in Bios it keeps asking me to insert the Boot Media in the disk drive, I don't know what the boot media would be, other than the Windows 8 disc I installed Windows with when I built the machine, and I updated to Windows 10 when Microsoft was letting people update for free. So I don't know what to do about it.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
I have a Firecuda 2TB with 649GB free. The SSD is a PNY CS2130 2 TB Solid State Drive - M.2 2280 Internal. The Motherboard is Gigabyte GA-990FX-Gaming (rev. 1.0). I used AOMEI Backupper Pro. It clones the disk to the ssd but when I unplugged the HDD and ran the SSD in Bios it keeps asking me to insert the Boot Media in the disk drive, I don't know what the boot media would be, other than the Windows 8 disc I installed Windows with when I built the machine, and I updated to Windows 10 when Microsoft was letting people update for free. So I don't know what to do about it.
Put the system back together in original config so it runs.
Give us a screencap of the Disk Management window.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
OK, redo the clone.

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)
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.
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Solution