[SOLVED] m2 ssd won't boot after cloning ("os not found")

[sarmad_a12]

Hey guys,

I've tried everything I can find on reddit, this forum and Google so I'm hoping someone here can help.

I have an Asus Z87-A board for which I have flashed the modified bios in order to boot off of m2 ssds. I used macrium reflect to clone my current boot ssd (128gb Samsung 860) to a 1 tb wd sn750. The cloning works as I can see my windows files on the new ssd.

But I cannot get it to boot for the life of me. If I leave my other storage drives in (except my old boot ssd which I remove) when I try to boot I get "os not found". If I remove all storage drives after cloning, I get a couple of "_" and back to bios.

I know that after cloning the new system reserved partition is active. And I've even tried the windows media USB diskpart solutions. The furthest I've gone with those lead me to bcd errors.
I've wasted an entire day trying to figure this out.

Please help!

Edit: Someone online mentioned that it is likely because my boot partition isn't being cloned onto the nvme SSD. So it's likely an MBR/ GPT issue. What would be the procedure to go from MBR to GPT on my cloned SSD and get it to boot? Is it as simple as using the MBR2GPT tool for conversation after cloning?

 

[clutchc]

If the boot sector wasn't cloned, there's nothing you can do but start over. And this time check for including the boot sector. You might try EaseUS Clone. I've had good luck with that one.

 

[sarmad_a12]

If the boot sector wasn't cloned, there's nothing you can do but start over. And this time check for including the boot sector. You might try EaseUS Clone. I've had good luck with that one.

Sure I can give that a shot, but given that my old sad is an MBR drive, would that not mean the cloned nvme drive won't boot since it will also be an MBR drive? I was told that nvme drives only boot if they are GPT.

 

[clutchc]

I would think the cloning program would have made an exact copy of the disk, including the partitioning structure. But I have no way of verifying that. But if that ends up being the issue, I have used Partition Wizard to do the conversion. Works well.

 

[sarmad_a12]

I would think the cloning program would have made an exact copy of the disk, including the partitioning structure. But I have no way of verifying that. But if that ends up being the issue, I have used Partition Wizard to do the conversion. Works well.

Ya I'm saying that because it's an exact copy of the disk, the new nvme ends up becoming and MBR drive. I'm saying that I was told, it's not possible to boot from an MBR nvme, is that right?

And are you telling me that I should clone, then using partition wizard to convert the nvme to a GPT drive? Because I tried that, and the conversion to GPT fails using MBR2GPT on windows.

 

[clutchc]

I've never heard that an NVMe SSD can't use MBR and boot. I'll plead ignorance to that one.

Unless you've changed BIOS settings since the clone?

 

[sarmad_a12]

I've never heard that an NVMe SSD can't use MBR and boot. I'll plead ignorance to that one.

Unless you've changed BIOS settings since the clone?

Nope, left everything the same. Windows just say no OS, which we've narrowed down to the boot sector not showing up on the clone. Disk 0 is my old ssd, Disk 4 is the new one. You can see that Disk 4 doesn't show boot.

https://imgur.com/a/NdvRGX5

View: https://imgur.com/a/NdvRGX5

 

[fzabkar]

Could part of the problem be that the original SSD is a SATA model, in which case Windows would have installed a SATA driver, whereas the clone is an NVMe SSD which now needs an NVMe driver??

Can you show us the Partitions window in DMDE (freeware disc editor)?

 

[sarmad_a12]

So this forum has is showing that I need to have the nvme drive be GPT in order to boot from it. I think the key here is we're doing this on a modified BIOS cause my mobo won't natively support booting from an nvme. Refer to step 4 on the forum: https://www.win-raid.com/t871f50-Gu...rt-for-all-Systems-with-an-AMI-UEFI-BIOS.html

Is it safe for me to use MBR2GPT to convert my current SATA ssd to GPT and then clone it? Or will this cause problems?

 

[sarmad_a12]

Could part of the problem be that the original SSD is a SATA model, in which case Windows would have installed a SATA driver, whereas the clone is an NVMe SSD which now needs an NVMe driver??

Can you show us the Partitions window in DMDE (freeware disc editor)?

Yes, my old drive is a SATA ssd, so maybe you're right? How would I get nvme drivers onto the clone? and is my above process for mbr2gpt a possible solution?

Here's what you asked for:

https://imgur.com/a/zIgFtIO

View: https://imgur.com/a/zIgFtIO

 

[sarmad_a12]

I gave up and followed the instructions in the win-raid forum to do a clean install. Thanks for trying to help guys.

 

[SkyNetRising]

1. System reserved partition on cloned drive had to be made active, for it to become bootable.
2. First boot from cloned drive has to be with old drive disconnected.

This is why your previous cloning attempts didn't work.

Comments about converting to GPT - are invalid. Source and target drives have to have same partitioning scheme. You can see, that source drive is MBR partitioned.

 

[clutchc]

I gave up and followed the instructions in the win-raid forum to do a clean install. Thanks for trying to help guys.

Did you try EaseUS Clone that I suggested? Making sure that the boot sector was included?

 

[sarmad_a12]

Did you try EaseUS Clone that I suggested? Making sure that the boot sector was included?

Nah, I just a did a clean install on the nvme.

Now I'm having new issues. My windows on my old ssd is corrupt (I think). I can't use the windows button, search windows defender. I've lost admin privileges for certain things.

Does this have anything to do with the fact that I'm not using a UEFI bios for the new nvme ssd Windows and the old windows was using a legacy bios? Has this messed up the old windows installation?

 

[Mario Italia]

There are lot of reasons would cause the SSD won’t boot after clone. And here we concluded part of reasons:

1. If the source disk you cloned has bad sectors, it may cause cloned SSD won’t boot.

2. The system may be corrupted during cloning process.

3. Missed cloning the “system reserved” partition.

4. Set the wrong drive to boot from.

5. The drive letter may have changed while you change HDD to SSD. And this progress may cause boot files missing, which cause the cloned SSD won’t boot in Windows 10/8/7.

6. GPT/MBR conflict.

 

[Mario Italia]

Like the reasons I listed above, and cloning OS isn't a good idea due to hit and miss success chances.

 

[USAFRet]

Like the reasons I listed above, and cloning OS isn't a good idea due to hit and miss success chances.

Cloning from one drive to another is a good idea, when it works.
It is never 100% guaranteed to work flawlessly.

But, given the right conditions and procedures, it is usually worth a try.

 

[Mario Italia]

Cloning from one drive to another is a good idea, when it works.
It is never 100% guaranteed to work flawlessly.

But, given the right conditions and procedures, it is usually worth a try.

I tend to resist, and recommend others do the same, for one primary reason (which is true to HDD to HDD as it is to HDD to SSD; You clone the good, the bad and the ugly.

While yes, you've got Windows and applications over... You've also got all the potential bloat, registry errors, old driver remnants etc.

 

[USAFRet]

I tend to resist, and recommend others do the same, for one primary reason (which is true to HDD to HDD as it is to HDD to SSD; You clone the good, the bad and the ugly.

While yes, you've got Windows and applications over... You've also got all the potential bloat, registry errors, old driver remnants etc.

And all that falls under "given the right conditions...".
Obviously, if you have an old borked up installation, you start over fresh on a new drive.

In fact, that is one of the first things I generally ask when someone is considering doing this.
"What is the state of your current install? How old is it? Does it currently run well?"