HDD to SSD Clone not booting to Windows 7

[VenBaja]

So I just recently installed a PNY Optima 240gb SSD and used EaseUS Todo to clone my HDD to the new SSD. The clone was successful, I shut down my PC, unplugged my old HDD, and booted with just the SSD. The BIOS lists the SSD correctly in the boot order and I'm able to boot from it; but when I get to the part where Windows should begin starting up I receive a "missing operating system" error.

Have I done everything right so far? I thought that would be all I needed to do, but upon further research it looks like I may need to use my Windows 7 installation disk and somehow repair the install to get it to boot properly. I'm just a little confused at this point, as I have no previous experience with cloning drives.

 

[Eximo]

In the BIOS the disk controller/raid controller has to be set to AHCI or RAID mode to properly utilize an SSD, if you previously had the SATA controller on IDE mode, you may need to re-install Windows.

Since you still have the original drive, (I Hope), try the Windows 7 boot repair on your SSD first. If that doesn't go well, launch the recovery console and try running fixboot and fixmbr from the console.

Other tools I have gotten to work successfully in migrating from HDD to SSD are: Acronis True Image, Symantec Ghost, Clonezilla Live CD (bootable Linux based open source tool, free).

 

[spooky2th]

Try to clone it again, this time try Acronis 2014. Works great for cloning and backing up and a lot more. Been using Acronis True Image and Acronis Disk Director for years.

Here's a 30 day free trial. You may even want to purchase it later on.

http://download.cnet.com/Acronis-True-Image-2014/3000-2242_4-10168093.html

 

[VenBaja]

In the BIOS the disk controller/raid controller has to be set to AHCI or RAID mode to properly utilize an SSD, if you previously had the SATA controller on IDE mode, you may need to re-install Windows.

Since you still have the original drive, (I Hope), try the Windows 7 boot repair on your SSD first. If that doesn't go well, launch the recovery console and try running fixboot and fixmbr from the console.

Other tools I have gotten to work successfully in migrating from HDD to SSD are: Acronis True Image, Symantec Ghost, Clonezilla Live CD (bootable Linux based open source tool, free).

I do still have my original drive, and actually went back to it for the time being. My question now is, if I run the Windows installation disk to "repair" Windows on the SSD and hopefully get it to boot, will I still be able to go back to my HDD if that fails?

 

[spooky2th]

Your HDD should be fine with no changes to it. Install the HDD in the original port that it was booting from and clone the ssd. After cloning, install the ssd into the port that the HDD was originally in and see if you can boot.

I would use a good cloning program too. You need to clone the drive, not copy it.

EDIT:
You should be able to clone the ssd and run it in IDE mode. Then you can set it to AHCI mode with a registry tweek.

In the registry, navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci

Then right-click on the word Start on the right-side and click Modify. Change the value to “0” and click OK. Exit Regedit, reboot the system, and change your sata controller to AHCI, save & exit then boot into Windows.

I would not bother with RAID mode because it is very difficult to get the trim function to work, especially with RAID0.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

A fresh clean install of Microsoft Windows is the preferred method of installation. Cloning applications work reasonably well but sometimes there are glitches.