Question Failed disk cloning left SSD showing 1MB as available storage - what to do?

[rizzeh]

Hello everyone,

I recently purchased a 1TB Kingston SSD as an upgrade to my boot drive coming from a 240GB Kington SSD. At purchase, everything was doing OK and reading properly via disk management. I installed Macrium Reflect, and at 50% of the cloning process it failed. Afterwards, the drive now only reads 1 MB available storage via disk management and disk part. Does anyone have suggestions or workarounds aside from returning the product -- currently way past the refund date so I'm still hoping there's still something I can do aside from purchasing a new one.

I've attached an image here of how it looks like on disk management as well as disk part right after cleaning the drive.

https://imgur.com/a/tAZWUCr

Any help is appreciated,
Thank you.

 

[USAFRet]

Please give us a list of ALL the parts in this system.
Make/model of everything.

Removing the new drive, does the system still work as usual?

 

[lvt]

Install Minitool Partition Wizard, try to split your new SSD to 512GB x 2 and use the first partition to restore the OS.

 

[USAFRet]

Install Minitool Partition Wizard, try to split your new SSD to 512GB x 2 and use the first partition to restore the OS.

Why would one split a 1TB drive in half?

Let us discover the actual problem, before going into weird solutions.

 

[rizzeh]

Please give us a list of ALL the parts in this system.
Make/model of everything.

Removing the new drive, does the system still work as usual?

Hi USAFRet,

Thank you for replying to my post and sure, I'd be glad to! Here is my build:

Motherboard: GA-AX370-Gaming 3
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
Memory: 4 x 8GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz running at XMP Profile (2600 if I'm not mistaken?)
Storage/s:
- C: Kingston 240GB SSD (Boot Drive)
- D: WD 1TB HDD
- Z: Kingston 480GB SSD
- NEW: Kingston A400 960GB SSD (Connected via SATA to USB)

To answer your 2nd question, yes, the system still works as usual if I remove the new drive. Currently, the "new" drive is connected via a SATA to USB cable, and I haven't plugged it into an actual SATA cable to my motherboard as of the moment. Let me know if there is anything else I can provide to help.

 

[USAFRet]

If at all possible, connect the new Kingston to a motherboard SATA port.
I suspect the USB thing is the issue)


Then.....
-----------------------------
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
Both drives must be the same partitioning scheme, either MBR or GPT
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung target SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, you may need to 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

Verify the system boots with ONLY the current "C drive" connected.
If not, we have to fix that first.

Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive

[Ignore this section if using the SDM. It does this automatically]
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 specify the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing
[/end ignore]

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD. This is not optional.
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD

(swapping cables is irrelevant with NVMe drives, but DO disconnect the old drive for this next part)
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.
-----------------------------

 

[lvt]

Why would one split a 1TB drive in half?

Let us discover the actual problem, before going into weird solutions.

Unless the OP has the intention to use all 1TB for Windows (what a waste), he'd better divide it to 2 partitions at the start.

512GB should be fine as his original OS disk is 240GB.

 

[USAFRet]

Unless the OP has the intention to use all 1TB for Windows (what a waste), he'd better divide it to 2 partitions at the start.

512GB should be fine as his original OS disk is 240GB.

Maybe so, but that is not the "solution" to what the problem is/was.

 

[rizzeh]

If at all possible, connect the new Kingston to a motherboard SATA port.
I suspect the USB thing is the issue)


Then.....
-----------------------------
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
Both drives must be the same partitioning scheme, either MBR or GPT
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung target SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, you may need to 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

Verify the system boots with ONLY the current "C drive" connected.
If not, we have to fix that first.

Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive

[Ignore this section if using the SDM. It does this automatically]
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 specify the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing
[/end ignore]

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD. This is not optional.
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD

(swapping cables is irrelevant with NVMe drives, but DO disconnect the old drive for this next part)
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.
-----------------------------

Thanks so much for this USAFRet,

I'll get back to you in a few days on this one. Will just have to order a set of new SATA cables to plug it directly into my motherboard. But I know you mentioned in the cloning instructions that the optimal way to clone is by only having the "C/boot drive" and the new drive available or plugged in. Just double checking, is it safe to just unplug existing drives that aren't boot drives once the system is turned off, in this case my D & Z drives? Asking because I could instead do this now and unplug everything and seat my new drive to see if it's the USB causing this rather than waiting on a new set of SATA cables.

Thank you so much for the help!

 

[rizzeh]

Unless the OP has the intention to use all 1TB for Windows (what a waste), he'd better divide it to 2 partitions at the start.

512GB should be fine as his original OS disk is 240GB.

Hi Ivt,

Yes, I've only ever used my 1TB drives as one whole partition. Why would it be better to split them into two?

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks so much for this USAFRet,

I'll get back to you in a few days on this one. Will just have to order a set of new SATA cables to plug it directly into my motherboard. But I know you mentioned in the cloning instructions that the optimal way to clone is by only having the "C/boot drive" and the new drive available or plugged in. Just double checking, is it safe to just unplug existing drives that aren't boot drives once the system is turned off, in this case my D & Z drives? Asking because I could instead do this now and unplug everything and seat my new drive to see if it's the USB causing this rather than waiting on a new set of SATA cables.

Thank you so much for the help!

Yes.

Having only the OS drive and the new drive connected prevents an accidental oops, and verifies the system boots from only the old drive.

 

[rizzeh]

Yes.

Having only the OS drive and the new drive connected prevents an accidental oops, and verifies the system boots from only the old drive.

Thanks USAFRet! Doing this now, get back to you in a moment -- let you know if it shows the real value of the storage if plugged via SATA cable.

 

[fzabkar]

What does CrystalDiskInfo report?

Does the drive identify itself as "SATAFIRM S11"? If so, then the firmware has "panicked".

 

[rizzeh]

Yes.

Having only the OS drive and the new drive connected prevents an accidental oops, and verifies the system boots from only the old drive.

Hi USAFRet,

You are amazing! It is now working plugged in via SATA directly to the motherboard reflecting 900GB of unallocated space. I am about to follow your steps for a clean cloning procedure. But I just realized (I had this computer pre-built with Windows) that my boot drive is in MBR. Is it safe to set this new 1TB Kingston SSD to MBR, too? Since you mentioned both of them should be the same partition style. Thank you.

 

[rizzeh]

What does CrystalDiskInfo report?

Does the drive identify itself as "SATAFIRM S11"? If so, then the firmware has "panicked".

Hi fzabkar,

I'm not sure where to look for this "SATAFIRM S11" but here is what CrystalDiskInfo shows:

https://imgur.com/a/gVV0QNd

View: https://imgur.com/a/gVV0QNd

 

[USAFRet]

Hi USAFRet,

You are amazing! It is now working plugged in via SATA directly to the motherboard reflecting 900GB of unallocated space. I am about to follow your steps for a clean cloning procedure. But I just realized (I had this computer pre-built with Windows) that my boot drive is in MBR. Is it safe to set this new 1TB Kingston SSD to MBR, too? Since you mentioned both of them should be the same partition style. Thank you.

Yes, it is 'safe'.

 

[rizzeh]

Yes, it is 'safe'.

Thank you for all the help USAFRet, especially Ivt & fzabkar. Things are doing OK again.

Cheers.

 

[fzabkar]

CDI is reporting the correct model number.

SSDs based on Phison S11 controllers will identify themselves as SATAFIRM S11 when they fail with bad NAND. They will also report a reduced capacity when this happens.