Difficulty Cloning Hard Drive

[Crippleboi12]

I currently own a 256 GB SDD (Toshiba OCZ) and just bought a new 480GB SDD (also Toshiba OCZ). My goal was to clone the smaller SDD with my windows 10 install on it to the larger one to have more space. I have used Macrium Reflect to clone the smaller drive to the larger one and have not been able to boot the cloned drive. When it does boot i get an error code of 0xc000000e "The application or operating system couldnt be loaded because a required file is missing or contains errors". Note: When booting the cloned drive I unplug all other SATA devices except for the newly cloned SDD and i ensure it is selected in the Boot options.

I have tried booting into the Windows PE that macrium reflect provides and attempting to fix the issue, but when it asks to select the OS, there are none available (even after searching) and adding an OS install doesnt work.

 

[drtweak]

I would try cloning again. When you go to clone are you dragging the partitions down or just click next though everything?

 

[Crippleboi12]

I would try cloning again. When you go to clone are you dragging the partitions down or just click next though everything?

I ensure that my current C drive is selected and I also change the size of the clone to utilize all of the larger SSD rather than leave half of it unallocated. I have tried to reclone it 4-5 times now and also tried using easeUS.

I'm starting to think I just be missing some simple step in the cloning process or the startup after I plug in the clone the first time

 

[drtweak]

Ok is it just the C drive that is selected or the whole hard drive?

When you clone a drive is Macrium there is a check box to the far left next to the disk that is selected to clone the disk as a whole and then all the other partitions also have their own check box.

make sure the check box for the whole drive is checked. We need every partition that is on there moved over.

Also if the C drive is at the end you can try leaving it alone and then expand it in windows after it boots.

just make sure it is the WHOLE SSD and not just the C drive

 

[Paperdoc]

Actually, there might be a few other details to check, but basically I agree with drtweak. The important thing is that ALL of the contents of the older SSD need to be cloned.

Usually that means that there are at least two, and very often three, Partitions on the original drive. Usually there are two that do not actually have letter names under Windows and cannot be accessed normally. And then there's a third large Partition that is really your C: drive. You do need all of these cloned.

The trick is this. MANY of the cloning utilities I have seen, when dealing with three Partitions on the original drive, will use what they call "Proportional Partitioning". That is, when they create three new Partitions on the new larger drive, they will make those in sizes in the same proportion as your old ones. For example, if the 256 GB old unit had Partitions of 100 MB, 40 MB, and 238 GB, then on the new 480 GB unit it would make these 185 MB, 75 MB, and 446 GB. BUT those two smaller Partitions contain special backup data that is NOT going to change and will not be expanded any time in the future. So they do not need to be any bigger than they are on the old drive. Well, maybe only slightly bigger for safety.

So, what to do? You already appear to know how to specify the size of the cloned C: drive. What you need is similar. When you set up your re-attempt at cloning, first make sure it will clone the ENTIRE old unit. Then start specifying the sizes of each resulting Partition on the larger unit. Make the sizes of those two smaller system Partitions just slightly larger than they were originally. Then make the new large Partition take up all the rest of the space available. Check all your settings to be sure, then tell it to proceed. This should work, and should give you the maximum space in your new C: drive.

 

[ArtPog]

There's no reason why you should not clone the contents of your 256 GB drive to your 480 GB drive provided the following requirements are met...

1. The current 256 GB SSD boots to the OS and thereafter functions without any problems.
2. The proposed destination disk - your 480 GB drive - is non-defective.

Needless to say it's absolutely essential those two requirements are met before a disk-cloning operation should be undertaken. If they're not, don't both reading any further.

As you have heard it's possible that for one reason or another something went awry with the disk-cloning operation.

The d-c program we use routinely is the Casper program. We've found it the most effective d-c program we've ever used and strongly recommend it. However, it is a commercial program that costs $49.99 so many users balk at purchasing the program. There is, however, a 30-day trial version available so perhaps you might consider using it. Here are some step-by-step instructions for using the program...

1. Download/install the Casper Trial Edition 10 (v10.0.5973) disk-cloning program from https://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/trial/

2. Before undertaking the disk-cloning operation close all open programs. (Generally you need not disable your anti-virus program). Ensure your destination drive - the proposed recipient of the clone - is properly connected in the system.

3. Double-click on the Casper 10 icon to open the program.

4. Click "Copy Drive".

5. On the next window click "Perform a different copy".

6. The next window will list the drives connected in your system. The source (C:\) drive (the drive you will be cloning) will be highlighted. Click Next.

7. The next window will list your proposed destination disk - the recipient of the clone. If you have more than one potential destination disk currently connected in your system they will be listed as well. Ensure the disk you want to serve as the destination disk is highlighted. Click Next.

8. If the destination disk contains data the next window will indicate a warning that this data will be lost as a result of the disk-cloning operation. Click Next.

9. A window may open giving you an option to assign a name to the destination disk for future Casper disk-cloning operations involving that disk. If no name is desired uncheck the box. Click Next.

10. The next window reflects how the cloned data will be distributed on the destination disk. Click Next.

11. A message will appear indicating that this Casper Trial Edition does not support "volume resizing" - basically user manipulation of partitions on the destination disk. This feature is available on the Casper commercial version. Click Continue.
(See NOTE: below for more detailed info re partition resizing with the Casper Trial Ed.)

12. On the final user screen click "Perform the copy now".

13. Exit from the program after receiving message that the disk-cloning operation was successful.

14. If the recipient of the clone is an internally-connected drive or a USB-connected drive that will be installed as an internal drive, it's a good idea (when practicable) to disconnect (or uninstall) the source drive following the disk-cloning operation and initially boot to the newly-cloned drive with no other drives connected at that time. Also, to check the system's BIOS/UEFI to ensure the cloned drive is now first in boot priority order.

NOTE: The Casper Trial Edition is slightly crippled in that it has a partition-resizing restriction. In your case the program will create the same-size partition that exists on your source disk (presumably about 256 GB) on your 480 GB destination disk. The remaining disk-space on the destination drive will be unallocated. You can use Disk Management to simply extend that created 256 GB partition on the destination drive so as to utilize the entire disk-space of the 480 GB drive to contain the contents of your 120 GB source drive.