[SOLVED] Disk Cloning and Spanning

[DragonGunner]

Hi all!
I'm planning a complicated bit of computer surgery. I have (among other things) two 2TB SSDs, one as my boot drive and one one for games. The gaming SSD is nearly full, so the idea is to clone the relatively small Windows installation and accessories (all data on that drive, in all partitions, amount to ~180GB) to a new 250GB M.2 SSD, wipe that old SSD and then extend the "games" with it.

My main concerns are losing my Windows registration in the transfer, but more importantly preserving the data on that SSD, so I can keep that drive letter and not confuse everything that links to it.
I have an EaseUS ToDo Backup bootable thumb drive, and am fairly confident in its use, but last time I cloned my boot drive I had to get a new license. Microsoft support, shockingly, was not.
I do have a 4TB HDD with enough space to create a partition and clone the "games" drive to it, but given that that would take at least ten hours each way, I'm disinclined to do that if there's any alternative.

Any help, advice, or warnings are enormously appreciated ❤ Stay safe and healthy!

 

[USAFRet]

Migrating between drives in the same system should NOT incur any licensing issues.

If at all possible, stay away from the spanning thing. Just causes issues.

But give us a clearer picture of exactly what is on what drive currently, and what you want the end state to be.

 

[DragonGunner]

Migrating between drives in the same system should NOT incur any licensing issues.

If at all possible, stay away from the spanning thing. Just causes issues.

But give us a clearer picture of exactly what is on what drive currently, and what you want the end state to be.

The boot drive has my Windows installation with all its doodads, all drivers, and a handful of programs - mostly tools and diagnostic programs. It all comes out to around 187 GB, and I want to transplant that onto the new 250 GB M.2 drive.
The other drive is exclusively game and client installations. Steam, Epic, Riot, and Program Files.

I'll admit that I want to keep everything in one place mostly compulsively, but I've also had issues in the past with multiple steamapps folders. Ideal final product: boot drive is the M.2, and I have a 4TB space for games.

 

[USAFRet]

Whatever location the "Program Files" ends up on, that drive or partition must retain the same drive letter as it currently has.
Otherwise, all those programs are broken.

 

[SkyNetRising]

The boot drive has my Windows installation with all its doodads, all drivers, and a handful of programs - mostly tools and diagnostic programs. It all comes out to around 187 GB, and I want to transplant that onto the new 250 GB M.2 drive.

I'd just shrink windows partition and create a new partition in freed up space for future game installs.
Quick,easy, painless.

If you absolutely want to proceed with cloning to 250GB drive, then that's ok too. No windows license is lost because of this. Just a bit more work.

Can we see screenshot from Disk Management?
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

But yes - stay away from volume spanning across drives. If one drive fails, data on both drives is in trouble.

 

[DragonGunner]

I'd just shrink windows partition and create a new partition in freed up space for future game installs.
Quick,easy, painless.

If you absolutely want to proceed with cloning to 250GB drive, then that's ok too. No windows license is lost because of this. Just a bit more work.

But yes - stay away from volume spanning across drives. If one drive fails, data on both drives is in trouble.

Sure, but with all my data on one drive as it is now, if that drive fails the data is gone anyways. I understand that that may be more dangerous down the line, and it's not necessary I guess. I do still want to move my Windows install to its own drive, though. I like having things nicely separated.

Here's my disk management. The M.2 hasn't been installed yet.

https://imgur.com/a/1cci955

View: https://imgur.com/a/1cci955

 

[USAFRet]

OK, the OS lives on Drive 0. looks to be about 100GB consumed space.
You can clone that to some other drive no problem.

What do you wish to do with the rest of it?


One copy of ANY data is also a bad idea. No matter how many drives are involved. Spanning, RAID 1, whatever.
This is why we stress backups so much.

 

[DragonGunner]

I was planning to use EaseUS to shrink the C: partition enough to allow it and everything else on that drive to be cloned to the new, smaller SSD, then clear that 2TB drive and append it to F:. Unless only the C: volume needs to be cloned, and not the whole drive?

I'm getting the impression that this is a bad idea in general, but assuming that there is a system image or backup on an external drive (which I should and will invest in regardless), is there any inherent risk or complication to creating a spanned, striped, or RAID 0 volume?

 

[USAFRet]

The current migration tools, Macrium Reflect in particular, only consider the actual data, not the size of the entire partition.

100GB consumed in a 2TB drive, migrating to a 250GB drive is no problem.



-----------------------------
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 all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------

 

[DragonGunner]

One question: the M.2 won't be using the SATA port that the current boot drive is. Is it enough to have all drives other than the M.2 disconnected?

 

[USAFRet]

One question: the M.2 won't be using the SATA port that the current boot drive is. Is it enough to have all drives other than the M.2 disconnected?

You're cloning TO this M.2?

 

[USAFRet]

I'm getting the impression that this is a bad idea in general, but assuming that there is a system image or backup on an external drive (which I should and will invest in regardless), is there any inherent risk or complication to creating a spanned, striped, or RAID 0 volume?

And for this, the only benefit is a single drive letter across multiple physical drives.

From where I sit, the OS and applications have gotten really really good with managing multiple drives. Steam included.
I have my Steam stuff on 2 different drives, the vast majority on the 'not C'.

 

[DragonGunner]

You're cloning TO this M.2?

Yes, that's the idea. Put the Windows installation on the M.2 and use drive it was on for games/general storage. Is that likely to cause an issue?

 

[USAFRet]

Yes, that's the idea. Put the Windows installation on the M.2 and use drive it was on for games/general storage. Is that likely to cause an issue?

So yes, as per the instructions above.

Obviously you need the M.2 drive in if you are cloning to it.
At the end of the process, power OFF, disconnect the original boot drive, and see how it boots up with only the new.

 

[DragonGunner]

Okay, slight hangup;
The clone went fine, and the computer booted to the M.2 just fine when it was the only drive in. When I tried to boot with both the M.2 and the other SSD plugged in, it boots from the old SSD, and while BIOS reads the M.2, it doesn't present as a boot option. Booting from the old drive shows the M.2, with all its data and partitions, offline in Disk Management.

 

[USAFRet]

What options does the boot order give?
Possibly Windows Boot Manager?

 

[DragonGunner]

What options does the boot order give?
Possibly Windows Boot Manager?

When only the M.2 is plugged in, that's the only boot option, and it presents as itself, without mention of boot manager. When either the other SSD or both drives are plugged in, only the (old) SSD shows as an option, and it actually appears twice - both as "Windows Boot Manager (P1: SSDMODELNAME)".

I swapped that drive from port 0 to port 1 to see if anything would change. Nothing.

Update: booting into the windows installer and using diskpart, I can view both drives. The M.2 is showing up fine, but under disk detail the boot disk bool is "no", and the startup repair straight up doesn't even see the installation - it just says "couldn't do it sorry" and doesn't even leave a log.

Update 2: I have absolutely no idea what I did, but it works now. Might have had something to do with CSM support?

Anyways, thank you so much USAFRet. You are the absolute best.

 

[USAFRet]

It works!
Excellent!