[SOLVED] <HELP > Unable to reformat old HDD after cloning to m.2 SSD

[ntamas92]

so i recently got a brand new samsung m.2 970 evo plus SSD to replace my old 7200 rpm Hdd. i sucessfully installed it into my motherboard and used Samsungs data migration to clone my hdd onto the new ssd. now here comes the problem, if i boot up the system, the bios automatically reverts to old HDD since it still has my os installed on it, and when i try to the view the ssd it shows up blank. if i disconnect the old hardrive so that only my ssd is plugged in, however, it loads up fine and shows all of the partitions were transferred over. I thought it might just be a problem with the boot priority but even if i place the ssd first, windows boot manager still loads the OS from the old HDD. it only sees the ssd as the main drive if i disconnect the old drive. ive tried rearranging which sata ports the old HDD is plugged into but i think the main problem has to do with the SSD being connected to an M.2 port on the motherboard and not one of my SATA ports. id like to wipe my old hardrive to use it as an extra storage drive but to do so i need to load my OS off of the SSD which the bios wont let me unless the old hardrive is disconnected so right now im running off of the new SSD with the old drive disconnected . help?
im using an asus z370-h motherboard
my old hardrive with the os is a seagate 1tb drive (st1000 in the photos)
i also have a WD storage drive 3tb for my work files (wdc wd30 in the photos)

photos of my bios and of samsung magician
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KdIXKoR7Ul1I5R4OZ7a96O8FhFVL269e/view?usp=sharing

IMG_20200828_114545.jpg

drive.google.com

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_xBa8jqA9hJYLHrGOWWPp-GVP1OwRBAr/view?usp=sharing

 

[k1114]

When changing from a hdd to ssd, it's recommended to do a clean install. But if you don't want to, there's an easy solution to your problem. Sata is hotswappable. This means you can unplug/plug sata devices when the pc is on. Although I'd suggest having the sata power still plugged in when you turn your pc on and just plug in the sata data after it's booted.

Boot issues are common for cloned drives on windows 10. It makes it a pain for backup clones.

 

[ntamas92]

When changing from a hdd to ssd, it's recommended to do a clean install. But if you don't want to, there's an easy solution to your problem. Sata is hotswappable. This means you can unplug/plug sata devices when the pc is on. Although I'd suggest having the sata power still plugged in when you turn your pc on and just plug in the sata data after it's booted.

Boot issues are common for cloned drives on windows 10. It makes it a pain for backup clones.

so presumably when the computer is off i just disconnect its SATA cable but leave its power cable in and once im to my desktop with OS loading from the SSD i just plug back in the old hardrive and reformat it from there?

 

[k1114]

Yes.

 

[ntamas92]

Yes.

thank you for your help, ill give it a try then post back if successful

 

[ntamas92]

thank you for your help, ill give it a try then post back if successful

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Rayu2X-AHL-ny7Pm5Hm1XUZtnnT7Az7E/view?usp=sharing
unfortunately no luck there, i tried plugging it different ways and at different times in the boot sequence and i cant get the old hardrive to show up as something separate

 

[k1114]

You do not plug it in during boot. You plug it in after windows has loaded. Do not have anything open. It's not even showing it's plugged in so possibly software is preventing hotswapping.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Sata is hotswappable. This means you can unplug/plug sata devices when the pc is on.

For this to work, hot plug option has to be enabled in bios for specific sata port.
Usually hot plug is disabled.

 

[SkyNetRising]

BTW - in this image BIOS is identifying boot devices wrong.
One Windows Boot Manager entry is for Samsung drive and
the other one is for seagate drive. But they're named the same.
Try both Windows Boot Manager options.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1piThnldMobt8EFD8l8w_h6TvwNznbHdd/view

Boot entries without Windows boot manager - those are legacy boot entries. They will not work, because your system is installed in UEFI mode. Remove those from boot order. They're just confusing you.

 

[popatim]

I don't think the Samsung Migration tool can do an sata>nmve clone. It involves more then just the clone to get boot to work. Macrium Reflect Redeploy can but you need to see if your current drive is MBR or GPT. If it's MBR then you'll need to convert to ahci/gpt boot first (Reflect might even do that step for you now, it's been a while since I last did this) and also setup the bios for nvme boot. Bios in uefi mode, Secure boot on, sata in ahci mode, csm off... are somewhat typical settings.

 

[ntamas92]

BTW - in this image BIOS is identifying boot devices wrong.
One Windows Boot Manager entry is for Samsung drive and
the other one is for seagate drive. But they're named the same.
Try both Windows Boot Manager options.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1piThnldMobt8EFD8l8w_h6TvwNznbHdd/view

Boot entries without Windows boot manager - those are legacy boot entries. They will not work, because your system is installed in UEFI mode. Remove those from boot order. They're just confusing you.

i tried rearranging things with windows boot manager but with the old drive installed it simply shows the new one as blank. i hoped it would give me the option of choosing which drive to boot from, but since i cloned my drive i think its getting confused. when i did this last time it was with a sata drive and i just put it in the p1 sata position that my os drive was in the bios automatically detected it, but now that the new drive is connected to the m.2 and not sata its getting confused.

 

[ntamas92]

I don't think the Samsung Migration tool can do an sata>nmve clone. It involves more then just the clone to get boot to work. Macrium Reflect Redeploy can but you need to see if your current drive is MBR or GPT. If it's MBR then you'll need to convert to ahci/gpt boot first (Reflect might even do that step for you now, it's been a while since I last did this) and also setup the bios for nvme boot. Bios in uefi mode, Secure boot on, sata in ahci mode, csm off... are somewhat typical settings.

so was i supposed to format the drive in a certain way then do a clean install rather than migrate it? it seems to be running blazing fast in the m.2 port.

 

[popatim]

The MBR to GPT change is simple and MS even has a command to take care of it so it would be simple for a program to take care of it in the process. The hard part is the Sata to NVME drive conversion and getting the motherbd to copy the nvme driver so that it can boot. And that is usually done when the efi boot partition is create on the NVME drive.

 

[ntamas92]

The MBR to GPT change is simple and MS even has a command to take care of it so it would be simple for a program to take care of it in the process. The hard part is the Sata to NVME drive conversion and getting the motherbd to copy the nvme driver so that it can boot. And that is usually done when the efi boot partition is create on the NVME drive.

so what can i do, wipe the drive and try to do a brand new install on the ssd? should i format it differently before doing so?

 

[SkyNetRising]

so what can i do, wipe the drive and try to do a brand new install on the ssd? should i format it differently before doing so?

Boot from windows installation media instead.
And clean HDD using diskpart.

diskpart​

list disk​

select disk x​

(select appropriate number for HDD)​

detail disk​

(with this command you can find model name of selected disk, to make sure it's HDD)​

clean​

 

[ntamas92]

Boot from windows installation media instead.
And clean HDD using diskpart.

diskpart​

list disk​

select disk x​

(select appropriate number for HDD)​

detail disk​

(with this command you can find model name of selected disk, to make sure it's HDD)​

clean​

thank you ill give this a shot