Question In over my head moving my OS from one m.2 to another

[cburdick1]

Okay, I know just enough about PC's to be dangerous.

I built my current PC about 6 months ago. I used a 250GB m.2 nvme SSD as my Windows drive. However, it has gotten very full with applications and I wanted to upgrade to a larger M.2 drive.

A week ago I found a good deal on a 1TB m.2 (also NVME) and used AOMEI backupper to clone my 250GB m.2 to my 1TB M.2. I then swapped out the 250gb drive out of my MOBO m.2 slot and put the 1TB drive in it's place.

I figured if it didn't work, I could just put my 250GB drive back in and be back where I started....

The 1TB drive failed to boot. I put the 250GB drive back in the M.2 slot and expected everything to be right back the way it was....

Nope, PC didn't boot.

I figured that it made sense to wave a white flag and ask those that know more than me what the hell I should do next.

So, where's a good place to start?

 

[mdd1963]

If you put back in the original SSD, you'd have to make sure it is again selected first (or higher) in boot device priority...

Try Macrium Reflect for your cloning process..

 

[USAFRet]

What motherboard, and which specific drives are these?

 

[DMAN999]

As stated above you need to enter your BIOS and make sure that the SSD is recognized and that it is set as the first boot device in the Boot Menu of the BIOS.

But to get accurate help you need to list your full PC specifications including the exact model number of every component in your PC.

 

[cburdick1]

Okay, somehow i must have not reset the boot loader order correctly, but now it is back and working fine (currently typing on the up-and-running PC).

So I don't make a mess of this thing again, I'd like to do this correctly. Macrium Reflect was recommended above, would others suggest this as a good utility for cloning my exiting OS onto the new M.2?

Thanks

 

[USAFRet]

Okay, somehow i must have not reset the boot loader order correctly, but now it is back and working fine (currently typing on the up-and-running PC).

So I don't make a mess of this thing again, I'd like to do this correctly. Macrium Reflect was recommended above, would others suggest this as a good utility for cloning my exiting OS onto the new M.2?

Thanks

OK...the system is running properly in its original config.

Again, what parts are associated with this?
Drives, motherboard, etc, etc...
(yes, it makes a difference in how we proceed)
(and yes, Macrium Reflect is my go to for this)

 

[cburdick1]

Thanks for your help everyone.

Okay, here's the list:

OS: Windows 10 Home 64bit
Processor: AMD Ryzen 1700
MOBO: ASRock AB350M PRO4
Memory: 32GB (2 sticks of 16GB) HyperX Fury DDR4 2400mhz RAM
Video Card: Gigabyte GEforce GTX 1050ti
Boot Drive (in MOBO m.2 NVME slot): 250GB Samsung 960 EVO M.2 NVME
Other drives: 2, 500gb Samsung SSD's left over from a laptop and old PC, now serving as photo and video storage

I'd like to move my OS to a 1TB Samsung 970 EVO NVMe (also says "V-NAND SSD" on the box... does that make a difference?). To facilitate the transfer, I have an NVME compatible M.2 housing that I can connect to a USB 3.0 port on my motherboard.

 

[USAFRet]

Instead of the external M.2 enclosure and a direct clone, I'd recommend doing an Image on some other drive.
Reasoning...cloning direct to the M.2 enclosure might introduce some weirdness.

So, an Image of your current drive, and then port this Image onto the new drive.

First, verify that the system boots from the current C drive with all other drives disconnected.
Assuming it does, thusly:
Assuming you have another drive with sufficient free space to hold the entirety of your current m.2 drive:

1. Download and install Macrium Reflect
2. Run that, and create a Rescue CD or USB (you'll use this later). "Other Tasks"
3. In the Macrium client, create an Image to some other drive. External USB HDD, maybe. Select all partitions. This results in a file of xxxx.mrimage
4. When done, power OFF.
5. Swap the 2 drives
6. Boot up from the Rescue USB you created earlier.
7. Recover, and tell it where the Image is that you created in step 3, and which drive to apply it to...the new m.2
8. Go, and wait until it finishes.
9. That's all...this should work.

 

[cburdick1]

Instead of the external M.2 enclosure and a direct clone, I'd recommend doing an Image on some other drive.
Reasoning...cloning direct to the M.2 enclosure might introduce some weirdness.

So, an Image of your current drive, and then port this Image onto the new drive.

First, verify that the system boots from the current C drive with all other drives disconnected.
Assuming it does, thusly:
Assuming you have another drive with sufficient free space to hold the entirety of your current m.2 drive:

1. Download and install Macrium Reflect
2. Run that, and create a Rescue CD or USB (you'll use this later). "Other Tasks"
3. In the Macrium client, create an Image to some other drive. External USB HDD, maybe. Select all partitions. This results in a file of xxxx.mrimage
4. When done, power OFF.
5. Swap the 2 drives
6. Boot up from the Rescue USB you created earlier.
7. Recover, and tell it where the Image is that you created in step 3, and which drive to apply it to...the new m.2
8. Go, and wait until it finishes.
9. That's all...this should work.

Sorry for the delay in updating this thread, children and work got in the way.

When you say "Recover" (*under #7 of your instructions) do you mean ReDeploy to new hardware? I ask because the ReDeploy option is only available with the paid software, so before I drop $60 to buy the software, I wanted to check.

Thanks

 

[USAFRet]

Sorry for the delay in updating this thread, children and work got in the way.

When you say "Recover" (*under #7 of your instructions) do you mean ReDeploy to new hardware? I ask because the ReDeploy option is only available with the paid software, so before I drop $60 to buy the software, I wanted to check.

Thanks

No, not ReDeploy.

You create an Image of the current drive on some external.
Swap the physical M.2 drives
Boot from the Macrium Rescue USB, and tell it where that Image is, and what drive to recover that to (the new M.2).

 

[cburdick1]

Thanks for all of your help. After trying a few times, using the Macrium key that I made to try and repair the drive, trying safe mode, saying nice things to my computer, playing soothing music and promising an animal sacrifice (last one's a joke), lo and behold, I now have an operating PC with windows running off of the larger m.2 drive.

Thanks for all of your help!