Migrate from SSD to SSD - Partitions screwed up

[Hollyleaf]

Hey, so I began this journey by trying to clone my existing SSD (Samsung EVO 120GB) to a new one (Kingston ssdNOW 240GB) so that I can use the new one for this computer, and format the old one and put it in a new build. As far as I know, before I started I was booting Windows 8 from oldSSD (Disk 1).

I tried using AOMEI backupper to create a disk image, then restore it to the new SSD. This gave me a missing BCD error.

Okay, so I tried using AOMEI to clone my system disk to the new disk. This gave me a similar error, when I unplug oldSSD and boot to newSSD, I get the missing information screen that says I have to repair windows. After this, I tried cloning just the System Reserve partition (Which is on my internal hard drive (Disk 0) for some reason) to the System Reserve partition on newSSD, same error.

At this point my plan is to just go buy some blank CDs and just reinstall windows on newSSD, but now I can't format it because it's the system partition, And its main partition is the page file partition.

However, then I'd have to reinstall quite a few applications, and I'd lose access to uninstallers for many others, so I'd prefer to figure out a way to just clone my whole SSD over safely. Is this possible? If not, is there a way for me to clean up my partitions? It looks like my computer is a jumbled mess of system partitions and boot partitions among various drives at this point, and I'd like to clean it up without losing my data.

Here is a snip of my disk management:

Here is a snip of some diskpart commands:

Legend:
Disk 0 - Internal HDD
Disk 1 - oldSSD
Disk 2 - newSSD
Disk 3 - External HDD

Equipment:
Mobo is an MSI Z97 Gaming G45. I've been using MSI's UEFI GUI for my bios changes.

 

[DataMedic]

As far as being able to format the new SSD is concerned there's a few options you have. You could use a free program like Active KillDisk to zero fill the drive (doesn't have to finish just needs to wipe the beginning where the partition table is) and then re-initialize and format the drive. Just make sure you're wiping the actual disk, not the logical volume (E.G. "Disk 2" not "Drive G" "F"etc.)

Or if you have a hex editor, you can just erase the first sector (Sector 0)of the disk and Windows will then see it as RAW.

As for imaging your SSD over, I'd recommend that you use a program such as Paragon SSD Migration tool to handle the cloning. It'll handle all the partitioning and other tweaks needed for a smooth transition.

Just one more note: It looks to me that you imaged your 1Tb volume to the new SSD rather than the other SSD. This is probably why it isn't booting.

 

[DataMedic]

I find the volume labeled "Not Porn" to be a bit humorous. Makes one wonder about the other volumes.

 

[Hollyleaf]

As far as being able to format the new SSD is concerned there's a few options you have. You could use a free program like Active KillDisk to zero fill the drive (doesn't have to finish just needs to wipe the beginning where the partition table is) and then re-initialize and format the drive. Just make sure you're wiping the actual disk, not the logical volume (E.G. "Disk 2" not "Drive G" "F"etc.)

Or if you have a hex editor, you can just erase the first sector (Sector 0)of the disk and Windows will then see it as RAW.

As for imaging your SSD over, I'd recommend that you use a program such as Paragon SSD Migration tool to handle the cloning. It'll handle all the partitioning and other tweaks needed for a smooth transition.

Just one more note: It looks to me that you imaged your 1Tb volume to the new SSD rather than the other SSD. This is probably why it isn't booting.

So, even though it appears the boot info is in the System Reserved partition in newSSD, I'll be able to boot fine with oldSSD/internalHDD after zeroing out and formatting newSSD?

I'm definitely cloning oldSSD to newSSD, I'm not really sure why the system reserved partition is on internalHDD, or where it came from on newSSD.

Well I mean yeah externalHDD is pretty clearly labeled, you'd think if the other drives had that property they'd be similarly labeled. Who knows?

It looks like I'm actually booting to my HDD and then over to oldSSD for windows, which is awkward. Is there a way I can rejigger all of this so I end up with the correct configuration? If I get Paragon, zero out and format newSSD, and migrate oldSSD over, will I be able to boot from newSSD? If so, then can I delete internalHDD's system partition and format oldSSD?