[SOLVED] New m.2 SSD will not boot

[Interested12]

I just purchased a new Samsung 1TB model 970 to replace my almost full 500MB 970 m.2 .

I activated the new HDD and selected Simple Volume on Disk 1 and MBR. I
did a quick format.

See two attached files.
I WAS going to attached a bunch of screenshots here but all I get is a box to put a URL into, when I click the icon for Insert Image! 😕

The latest Firmware was already installed according to Samsung Magician.

I attempted a clone 4 times (having done it many times with the same
software for the last 1 1/2 years). I know that I had to expand it to
fit, without any dead space.

I did so as shown in this video

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHudhZnW1DE&t=968s

at the 16 minute mark

I used the Chkdsk Utility to be sure that the source drive and had no
issues.

The clone was a success, with no errors according to Macrium Reflect
Software.

I fully expected it to boot the first time, as it always has in the
past, when I cloned a hard drive and used the cloned drive to boot.

I did four clones, carefully checking what I was doing - but the
computer still refused to boot.

I had another new Samsung 1TB SSD and so I cloned that, to make sure I
was doing it right and if it it would boot correctly. It did boot.
The cloned 1TB 870 is running now, as I am typing - no issues with it or the clone or booting with it.

Since both hard drives were now the same size (1 TB), I thought it would be a
simple clone with no changes needed and I would be done. That did not
happen.

I called Tom at Samsung Support because their chat window is for the birds. I
can /never /talk/chat with a live person and the BOT doesn't understand
or help much. He told me to do 2 tests with Samsung Magician, which I
had already downloaded and used.

I did a full scan and it completed successfully.

I then did an Extended SMART self-test on the 1TB EVO 970 and it
completed successfully.

The completed test is shown below:

Since my installed Samsung 870 hard drive is booting and running
perfectly, I don't understand why the cloned 970 won't even boot.

I pasted a screenshot of the 870 HDD and the 970 HDD as shown in my
cloning software, after it was completed.

I reinstalled the 500MB m.2 for another check that nothing else went
wrong, and it worked!


What did I do wrong? I WANTED the software from Samsung to find the problem (like a defective drive) so that I would
have my answer! I have spent well over a day on this and Samsung support cannot receive images/screenshots in chat so they said to email them, which I did last Friday.

NO REPLY YET.

Please help with any and all advice!

THANK YOU in advance!

 

[WrongRookie]

No one here can help you unless you mention your motherboard model number as well as the images.

Please use Imgur instead as that is a fine alternative.

https://imgur.io

As for cloning, I don't know how the video did it without going to the bios but how I did for mine was as soon as cloning was done, i shut it down and unplugged all the drives but the one drive that it is cloned to. When I booted up, I made sure that the bios booted the cloned drive only and nothing else.

And that worked.

 

[SkyNetRising]

What did I do wrong?

First boot from cloned drive has to be with old drive disconnected (physically disconnected). This is essential.
If you don't do this, drive letter assignments get messed up in cloned OS and you have to redo cloning.

 

[Interested12]

Thank you. I tried that - but after I tried booting.
The m.2 drive would not boot so it always went to the Samsung 870 and it booted. So do you think that ruined things?

The boot manager in the bios showed the 1 TB SSD is being the first to try.,

I have ALWAYS been able to boot from a cloned hard drive without doing that before - many times.

 

[Interested12]

I did not know about the motherboard model number requirement.

Do you mean to use imgur to host the photos and then give links to them?

Thanks,

Ben

 

[Lafong]

As I understand it, your clone attempt was with Macrium Reflect.

Have you considered trying either of the following:

Cloning using the Samsung tool. I think it is called "Migration"?

Imaging with Macrium Reflect rather than cloning. It has been known to succeed when cloning fails.

Neither cloning nor imaging is foolproof, so I hope you are prepared to do a clean install if push comes to shove.

 

[Interested12]

As I understand it, your clone attempt was with Macrium Reflect.

Have you considered trying either of the following:

Cloning using the Samsung tool. I think it is called "Migration"?

Imaging with Macrium Reflect rather than cloning. It has been known to succeed when cloning fails.

Neither cloning nor imaging is foolproof, so I hope you are prepared to do a clean install if push comes to shove.

Yes, I watched a video today that recommended Samsung Data Migration. Right after that, a Samsung tech finally wrote and suggested the same thing.

It was an amazing success and super fast!! It cloned a 1 TB SSD in an amazingly short 28 minutes versus the 1 hour and 2 minutes for Macrium Reflect.

The only minor fault with it, it was showing my 1 TB m.2 drive as 500 GB. However, when I clicked on it to select that drive as a target, it correctly showed that it was 1 TB.

Thank you all, for all your your help!!