[SOLVED] M.2 SSD won't boot.

[droidling]

I've been trying to upgrade my Plextor 256 GB M.2 NVMe with a Samsung 970 EVO 1TB on an MSI X99A SLI Plus. I'm trying to avoid all the installation and set up by cloning my old Windows 7 installation. I've tried the Samsung Migration utility and Macrium Reflect with the same result. Windows says it can't boot because the drive (boot media?) is unavailable. This happens after the windows animated logo, so it has to be reading the drive. I have updated to the latest BIOS, and tried to repair using the install CD.

 

[USAFRet]

How are you connecting these drives? That motherboard only has 1x M.2 port.

 

[droidling]

I did the clone with the 970 in a USB adapter, then exchanged them.

 

[USAFRet]

I did the clone with the 970 in a USB adapter, then exchanged them.

Did you install the NVMe driver for the Samsung?

Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.

www.samsung.com

 

[droidling]

The web page I was following didn't mention that. I thought the Data migration tool would do it.

Are there instructions on how to do it in your link? I'm not sure how to install them if I can't boot.

 

[USAFRet]

The web page I was following didn't mention that. I thought the Data migration tool would do it.

Are there instructions on how to do it in your link? I'm not sure how to install them if I can't boot.

From that link:
"NVMe Driver Installation Guide "

 

[droidling]

Thank you! I'm off to give it a try.

 

[droidling]

Maybe I'm being obtuse, but the instructions don't seem to cover my situation. My OS does not boot so I am not able to run the driver installation. If I made a bootable flash drive I think the driver would install to the OS on the flash drive.

I had one idea.

1. Put the original M.2 drive back in the computer.
2. Boot from that.
3. Install the driver.
4. Clone the OS with the driver to the 970.

Unfortunately the driver does not detect the 970 when it is in my USB adapter, so it won't install.

 

[USAFRet]

🙁...frustrating.

Can't boot without the drive and driver, can't install the driver without the drive in the system and booting.
Circular fail on Samsung.

....continuing research...

 

[droidling]

I'm going to try cloning my original to another SSD on a regular Sata port, installing the 970, then the driver, then cloning the new SSD back to the 970. At least it's worth a shot.

 

[USAFRet]

I'm going to try cloning my original to another SSD on a regular Sata port, installing the 970, then the driver, then cloning the new SSD back to the 970. At least it's worth a shot.

That might work.

 

[droidling]

It worked!

Thank you for the help.

 

[USAFRet]

It worked!

Thank you for the help.

🤸‍♀️

 

[Palorim12]

🙁...frustrating.

Can't boot without the drive and driver, can't install the driver without the drive in the system and booting.
Circular fail on Samsung.

....continuing research...

Whew, been a long 4 years. Decided to dust off the old account and dive into these forums again.

I wouldn't say it's Samsung's fault, except maybe putting the driver in an .exe that needs to detect the device to install the driver, but Windows has its own driver for NVME. I haven't checked, but is that .ini file available to just download/install? The issue here is that Windows 7 does not natively support NVME, so the nvme device has to be installed secondarily so that Windows 7 will detect it and then install the driver. From that point, he can clone, and i'm glad that @droidling took the initiative to do so. Though i don't know why he'd continue using an OS that Microsoft no longer provides updates for (especially security updates), as amazing as Win 7 is.