Is it safe to wipe my HDD after cloning and booting from a new SSD?

heisenfgt

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I booted from my SSD after cloning at it's working fine. The HDD however still has the windows symbol behind it in My Computer suggesting Windows is still on it? Is it safe to wipe it, if not how do I make it safe to wipe? Anything other than changing the boot order?
 

Spinachy

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Feb 17, 2016
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if you are worried that something may be missing, I suggest that you switch off the PC, then unplug the hard drive. When you power it up again, see if anything is missing, or if all is working well. That way, if there is a problem, you still have your hard drive, if you need to restore anything.
 

heisenfgt

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I tried it and it works just fine, but now that both are plugged in again I'm seeing that both the C: drive and E: drive have the names of both the HDD and SSD in properties. What's the problem there?

It also says that the SSD was not migrated due to partial or ambiguous match.
 

USAFRet

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For a proper clone operation, you must disconnect the HDD right after the clone is finished, and allow the system to try to boot up the first with with only the SSD.

Redo the clone operation, exactly like this:
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
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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
-----------------------------
 

heisenfgt

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Why do I have to redo the whole thing, boot order isn't a problem. I've tried using it with only the SSD installed and it works as it should.
 

USAFRet

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It also says that the SSD was not migrated due to partial or ambiguous match.
I'd redo it, just to be sure.

but now that both are plugged in again I'm seeing that both the C: drive and E: drive have the names of both the HDD and SSD in properties.
Not sure what you mean by this.
Each drive individually shows what used to be on the HDD? That is normal.
Each drive shows something of both? That is not normal.


Done correctly, a clone operation can work just fine.
Do it wrong, and things can get weird.
Those steps above, especially the part about disconnecting the old drive, were hashed out after much trial and error, and seeing issues just like yours.
 

heisenfgt

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Well when I try to format the SSD after booting with the HDD, it says that a program is using files on it. That doesn't sound right.
 

USAFRet

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For a redo of the clone operation, you don't need to "format" it first. The cloning operation can wipe it all out.
And that type of problem is specifically why that step is in there.
 

heisenfgt

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Alright, I have redone the clone, followed the steps and just booted up with the SSD only. It's working but it still gives me the migration error. I don't know what it even means. Will it be an issue?
 

USAFRet

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I don't know what it means either.
You physically disconnect the HDD at the end of the process. and booted from the SSD only?
 

heisenfgt

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I did, and everything seems to be working fine except that Device Manager is telling me this:

"Device SCSI\Disk&Ven_Samsung&Prod_SSD_860_EVO_1TB\4&bfdefcd&0&010000 was not migrated due to partial or ambiguous match."
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


No idea.