[SOLVED] Failed cloning of SSD NVMe drive

[shaitan56]

Hi,
Apologies for putting my query in another thread, following moderator’s advice I am starting a new thread.

I was trying the exact steps recommended by USAFRet, while trying to clone my new Samsung M.2 970 NVMe (1tb) SSD from my old M.2 960 NVMe (500gb which was full). The old ssd was in the onboard M.2 slot and the new one was on a PCLe adaptor. My motherboard is an X99-A II with one M.2 slot.
Samsung magician partitioned the drive fine, the drive migration program said it had successfully cloned the new ssd. I then removed the old ssd and inserted the new one in it’s M.2 port. The pc kept giving errors, and I had to give up and go back to the old SSD after tearing what’s left of my hair out! I don’t have the other cloning programs, and I thought the Samsung disk migration tool did the job, but not in my case. Any other issues to be aware of when cloning SSD NVMe drives? When cloning, I wasn’t given option to clone different parts of the partitioned drive, the program just seemed to clone the entire drive.

Any help appreciated

 

[USAFRet]

Possibly try a different tool. Macrium Reflect, maybe.

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

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

 

[shaitan56]

Possibly try a different tool. Macrium Reflect, maybe.

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

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

Thanks, I did all these steps as per the guidance on this forum, which is very useful, and the drives were being accurately mapped by Samsung magician. I shall try the Macrium tool next.
The other problem I have is that my twin 1070 GPUs in SLI form take up too much space on the X99 motherboard, leaving the M.2 slot underneath them. I cannot reach it till I remove them. I had put this query separately, but have yet to get a response. When I installed the new M.2 NVMe card in the PCIe adapter in the only slot left I.e PCIe 3.0x16, slot 6, both graphic cards stopped working. I am unsure if having an M.2 card in the M.2 slot on the motherboard and another one in PCIe, disables some PCIe ports? I was only able to do the cloning with the graphic cards removed. It’s turning out to be quite a (mis) adventure!

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks, I did all these steps as per the guidance on this forum, which is very useful, and the drives were being accurately mapped by Samsung magician. I shall try the Macrium tool next.
The other problem I have is that my twin 1070 GPUs in SLI form take up too much space on the X99 motherboard, leaving the M.2 slot underneath them. I cannot reach it till I remove them. I had put this query separately, but have yet to get a response. When I installed the new M.2 NVMe card in the PCIe adapter in the only slot left I.e PCIe 3.0x16, slot 6, both graphic cards stopped working. I am unsure if having an M.2 card in the M.2 slot on the motherboard and another one in PCIe, disables some PCIe ports? I was only able to do the cloning with the graphic cards removed. It’s turning out to be quite a (mis) adventure!

That is a possibility.
You'll have to look in the user manual to see if there is any sharing or conflict with those ports and PCIe slots.