Cloning system HDD to SSD

[010]

Update 2:
Help not needed at the moment!
I'm trying things to get my system working (and come cry after)

Update 1:
Seems that drive cloning software changed something in the win 10 boot files.
Therefore, I have 2 drives that should be able to boot, but won't.
I need to figure out how to get the OS working.
So, replies about retrieving unbootable system still appreciated!
maybe I should change the title

Original post:
Trying to upgrade laptop from 1tb HDD to 256gb SSD

> Plugged both drives to PC
> Booted, and to my surprise, motherboard chose to boot from laptop HDD, and did some configuration for the new setup, and worked fine. (hope it didn't affect the HDD)
> Rebooted, then used EaseUS Partition Master for following:
1. Resized HDD to smaller than SSD for cloning (it had only 180gb used)
2. Converted SSD from MBR to GPT (HDD is GPT)
3. Cloned all partitions from HDD to SSD (contents in picture)
4. Resized HDD to original 1tb size
its possible this fine software has betrayed me

Results booting either computer:
SSD:
[img=711x400]http://i.imgur.com/c4Sv9OU.jpg[/img]
After pressing F8 for startup settings, get this:
[img=711x400]http://i.imgur.com/2EvUBMe.jpg[/img]

HDD:
Same error
except there is another option which allows me to get into Start-up repair tools, but with not much luck, they all basically fail.

The only difference I can find between the drives is in Disk Management, as HDD Recovery partion has status OEM partition:

Booting from USB or CD could work but I only have a 14gb USB, and windows doesn't want to make it a System recovery drive for whatever reason, and anyways, I am confused that even the HDD doesn't boot smoothly, but SSD doesn't at all so...
any advise?

OS: Windows 10

 

[Herc08]

I don't see the resize for the 180 you were referring to. Why not not just shrink down to 200gb then clone it that way? Some EaseUS products aren't the best. Using Disk Management should allow you to do this with no problems.

 

[010]

I don't see the resize for the 180 you were referring to. Why not not just shrink down to 200gb then clone it that way? Some EaseUS products aren't the best. Using Disk Management should allow you to do this with no problems.

Thank you for your reply, Herc!
That is, because I said I resized it back in EaseUS (step 4) for reuse purposes, the copying was done properly and this is not the issue here!

 

[USAFRet]

The issue here seems to stem from this:
-------------------
Booted, and to my surprise, motherboard chose to boot from laptop HDD, and did some configuration for the new setup, and worked fine. (hope it didn't affect the HDD)
-------------------

You should have isolated the laptop drive(s) from actually booting.
It would seem that during the booting from the laptop drives, it made some config changes.
Now, it fails to boot in the laptop.

 

[010]

It would seem that during the booting from the laptop drives, it made some config changes.

Great reply, big thanks!
Not sure how to proceed, guess I need to somehow config my drive to a specific mother board, but I'll try googling.
Anyone with knowledge please share thoughts!

Edit: I can try and repair the HDD with laptop, boot PC with both drives not messing up, clone again, and try then booting laptop with SSD, profit? Sounds like a plan.
Edit2: After all, its the same with the HDD. Start-up repair couldn't repair your pc

 

[nukemaster]

EDIT- this was posted without seeing the last post, Are you fully unable to start with either drive and startup repair is failing?
I would get the old drive into the system and ensure you can still boot it. You may need to perform some repairs to get it working.

Now if you want to shrink the partition you can use the same software again.

Now to clone, have the SSD external and try something like Reflect by Macrium. You want to clone everything and test the ssd before doing anything else to the hard drive.

https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

Yes it is a pain to swap the drive back and forth, but it generally works well this way.

One thing that may also cause some issues is that when cloning a drive, not all software will fix the boot loader to point to the new drives Windows partition. Reflect(as well Acronis True Image) does all this for you. If your SSD came with Acronis True Image I works great as well.

Thing you did, but did not have to do.
You most likely did not have to convert the drive to GTP, cloning software generally does this for you.
You may as well leave the windows partition small until everything is done.

Take extreme care with trying to move the start location of the Windows partition with any partitioning software as this can leave a system unable to boot because the boot loader is looking at the wrong place now.

Another edit.
Do you have another system to try to see the boot loader on? Your SSD clone has a HUGE first partition.

 

[010]

Are you fully unable to start with either drive and startup repair is failing?

Hello nukemaster, welcome to the my mess!
Yes, It seems I am unable to boot any device from either drive.
For your request, I came up with another working PC system with a little effort to find neither drive working.
Now, I'm thankful for your post, but I found the HDD not being able to repair in the laptop... yeah.

I need to confirm that the HDD doesnt boot in my main PC, 1 sec
USAFRet:s thoughts might not be the case, if they really don't work even with the "motherboard that stole the control over my HDD"
Edit: Both drives are unbootable! This would mean EaseUS has messed up with my HDD somehow... Need something to revive the OS.. swapping drives is hard man

 

[nukemaster]

Whenever you add a drive to a system. It is always best to go into the bios and make sure it has not become the default boot device.

If you connect it to another system and make sure it is not the default boot device, you may be able to see the drive partitions. If you can it may be possible to check the boot loader with something called EasyBCD. They have a free community edition with no real support or anything, but it can load BCD stores from other drives and edit them. If your issue is simply a inability to load windows because the boot loader is pointing at the wrong place, you may be able to get things going again.

Care must be taken when editing the BCD entry to make sure you are NOT editing the system you are running. You only want to load the BCD from the other drive(normally it will be in the System Reserved or uEFI partition).


Your partitions look strange anyway. It looks like your Windows is on 2 drives. Do both drives have working copies of Windows? Or is that in another system?

At the very least you may be able to backup data in case you get stuck reinstalling Windows on your system.

 

[010]

Your partitions look strange anyway. It looks like your Windows is on 2 drives.

Thank you for the effort again, nukemaster!
Well you see, in the picture is 3 Windows':
1. PC windows HDD
2. Laptop windows HDD
3. Upgrade for laptop, above cloned SSD

I tried repairing the boot device with EasyBCD. Unfortunately it didn't change much.

Status: I tried all the windows Start-up repair options with the Laptop & HDD and factory reset option actually worked (wouldn't be surprised at this point), and then will try to clone the system into the SSD granting your wish; using Acronis True Image. Currently the factory reset is in process. Thanks for going through this with me.

 

[USAFRet]

My tested 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
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 original boot partitions, 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
-----------------------------

NOTE....for a laptop, you do NOT have to take the drives out and do this in a desktop. A USB dock or cable will work, and do it straight in the laptop.

 

[nukemaster]

If you have not erased the SSD, you will want to recover any files you have not backed up before restoring.

Ideally having an extra drive to make an image of all drives before working on stuff like this can be very helpful, but not everyone has extra drives laying around.

When you tried to use easyBCD did you load BCD store then go select it from the other drive's uefi partition?

 

[010]

Solved! System running smoothly in the new SSD ~

My situation was:
I couldn't boot the drive I wanted to clone with the new SSD plugged because ...
1. I don't have usb - sata connector for laptop
2. Only one drive spot in the laptop
3. Laptop drive doesn't boot in other systems
Solution:
Plugging both drives into pc and running Acronis True Image to clone the drive to SSD
What went wrong:
Plugging both drives into pc and running EaseUS partition manager to clone the drive to SSD what a mess, 10+ hours
Extra notes:
Even though Acronis True Image told me:
"warning! after operation completion operating systems will not boot from the destination disk in bios"
don't worry, it might still work like charm!
Thanks
Solution mark for nukemaster, who truly understood my situation.
Special thanks to nukemaster and USAFRet who were there for me during the dark times.

 

[nukemaster]

Glad you got it up and running.

Computers can be a pain at times.