[SOLVED] Partition Trouble

[Ethonodon]

Trying to migrate my system drive from my old (2TB) HDD to my new (1TB) SSD. I've reduced the HDD's used storage to 600 something GB, which means I should have room to clone all partitions to my SSD, but for some reason, the SSD already has a small partition. What is this partition, and do I need it? Furthermore, my HDD has an extra 400 something GB partition, despite the other partition having all of the files on my HDD. What 400GB of data is in that partition, and do I need that too? Image here. Basically, what partitions do I NEED to copy to the SSD to make it my system drive? And what is the pre existing partition on the SSD?

 

[Lafong]

Looks to me like that extra 400 is MB, not GB. It is tiny; ignore it.

What cloning application are you using?

A successful clone would eliminate any previously existing partitions on the target drive. All partitions on the old replicated on the new.

If cloning fails, you can use imaging instead.

 

[USAFRet]

Cloning will wipe out ALL partitions on the target drive.

-----------------------------
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Both drives must be the same partitioning scheme, either MBR or GPT
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, you may need to install the relevant driver for this new NVMe/PCIe drive.
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

[Ignore this section if using the SDM. It does this automatically]
If you are going from a smaller drive to a larger, by default, the target partition size will be the same as the Source. You probably don't want that
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specifiy the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing
[/end ignore]

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD. This is not optional.
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD

(swapping cables is irrelevant with NVMe drives, but DO disconnect the old drive for this next part)
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 all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------

 

[Ethonodon]

Cloning will wipe out ALL partitions on the target drive.

-----------------------------
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Both drives must be the same partitioning scheme, either MBR or GPT
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, you may need to install the relevant driver for this new NVMe/PCIe drive.
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

[Ignore this section if using the SDM. It does this automatically]
If you are going from a smaller drive to a larger, by default, the target partition size will be the same as the Source. You probably don't want that
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specifiy the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing
[/end ignore]

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD. This is not optional.
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD

(swapping cables is irrelevant with NVMe drives, but DO disconnect the old drive for this next part)
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 all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------

I have a Samsung SSD, do I NEED Samsung Data Migration, or does Macrium Reflect still work?
Also, my SSD is GPT while the HDD is MBR. How do I reformat the SSD to MBR so I can clone it?

 

[Lafong]

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...management/change-a-gpt-disk-into-an-mbr-disk

Above are Microsoft's instructions on how to change GPT to MBR.

I think there are applications that will allegedly change MBR to GPT without harming data, but I don't know if they are reliable.

You can't clone MBR directly to a GPT disk.

However....you can still end up with GPT on the SSD if you prefer GPT.

I've never done it, but here are instructions from a decent source:

Use Macrium Reflect to make an image file of ALL partitions on the mbr HDD.

Clean install the same version of Windows 10 onto the SSD in UEFI/GPT mode.

This creates the necessary partitions for a UEFI system.

Boot from your Macrium recovery media USB stick.

Restore ONLY the C partition from the image you made, over-writing the C on the clean install you just made one the SSD.

Run “Fix Windows boot problems” from the Macrium recovery USB menu to correct the BCD table entry.

The PC should then boot to Windows as it was on the old system, including all the installed software.

If you don't want to bother with all of that then just use MBR on the SSD or do a clean install.

 

[Ethonodon]

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...management/change-a-gpt-disk-into-an-mbr-disk

Above are Microsoft's instructions on how to change GPT to MBR.

I think there are applications that will allegedly change MBR to GPT without harming data, but I don't know if they are reliable.

You can't clone MBR directly to a GPT disk.

However....you can still end up with GPT on the SSD if you prefer GPT.

I've never done it, but here are instructions from a decent source:

Use Macrium Reflect to make an image file of ALL partitions on the mbr HDD.

Clean install the same version of Windows 10 onto the SSD in UEFI/GPT mode.

This creates the necessary partitions for a UEFI system.

Boot from your Macrium recovery media USB stick.

Restore ONLY the C partition from the image you made, over-writing the C on the clean install you just made one the SSD.

Run “Fix Windows boot problems” from the Macrium recovery USB menu to correct the BCD table entry.

The PC should then boot to Windows as it was on the old system, including all the installed software.

If you don't want to bother with all of that then just use MBR on the SSD or do a clean install.

I'm just going to do MBR on the SSD. Does this work in Macrium Reflect since I have a Samsung SSD?

 

[Ethonodon]

Also, I've noticed I can fit all three partitions in the SSD when I put in 1 and 3 before 2- does the order matter?

 

[Lafong]

Macrium doesn't care about the SSD brand.

 

[Lafong]

Also, I've noticed I can fit all three partitions in the SSD when I put in 1 and 3 before 2- does the order matter?

A successful clone will order as necessary......should be a replica of the source drive.

Cloning can fail.

Know what Plan B is if cloning fails.

 

[Ethonodon]

A successful clone will order as necessary......should be a replica of the source drive.

Cloning can fail.

Know what Plan B is if cloning fails.

Well, obviously it can fail, but does it affect anything if I have to put them in the order 1, 3, 2? For some reason, whenever I drag 2 to the SSD it fills all the remaining space, regardless of the fact that it only occupies a little over half of the SSD's max storage.

 

[Lafong]

Well, obviously it can fail, but does it affect anything if I have to put them in the order 1, 3, 2? For some reason, whenever I drag 2 to the SSD it fills all the remaining space, regardless of the fact that it only occupies a little over half of the SSD's max storage.

Cloning with Macrium does not involve "dragging" anything. It's a hands off procedure, with Macrium having full control. You don't put anything anywhere.

You should be able to use Samsung software to do the same thing.

You may end up with some "unallocated space" on the target drive, but that can be easily fixed after the successful clone.

 

[Ethonodon]

Cloning with Macrium does not involve "dragging" anything. It's a hands off procedure, with Macrium having full control. You don't put anything anywhere.

You should be able to use Samsung software to do the same thing.

You may end up with some "unallocated space" on the target drive, but that can be easily fixed after the successful clone.

Oh, I see. Once again -because USAFRet mentioned it earlier- I don't need any special Samsung software? He made it sound like Samsung SSDs might only work with a certain software that isn't Macrium. Just want to make sure I'm doing this right.

 

[Lafong]

Oh, I see. Once again -because USAFRet mentioned it earlier- I don't need any special Samsung software? He made it sound like Samsung SSDs might only work with a certain software that isn't Macrium. Just want to make sure I'm doing this right.

That's right. Macrium works with any brand.

As far as I know, Samsung software works only with Samsung drives as the destination drive.

I think the formal name is "Samsung Data Migration" software.

Macrium has a free version and a paid version. The free version would work fine for your purposes.

The Samsung software may be simpler, but it may fail. If it fails, try Macrium.

 

[Ethonodon]

That's right. Macrium works with any brand.

As far as I know, Samsung software works only with Samsung drives as the destination drive.

I think the formal name is "Samsung Data Migration" software.

Macrium has a free version and a paid version. The free version would work fine for your purposes.

The Samsung software may be simpler, but it may fail. If it fails, try Macrium.

Macrium's what I was already planning on using, plus I already have it installed. I'll just use that. I guess we'll just see how things go, but I forsee the cloning process taking quite a while.

 

[Lafong]

Macrium's what I was already planning on using, plus I already have it installed. I'll just use that. I guess we'll just see how things go, but I forsee the cloning process taking quite a while.

Speed would depend on your CPU horsepower and the amount of data that needs to be cloned. I image rather than clone, but I'd guess cloning could take an hour or more.

 

[SkyNetRising]

You can't clone MBR directly to a GPT disk.

Yes you can. Result will not be bootable though.

Convert target drive to same partitioning scheme as source drive, if you want it bootable.
Note 50MB partition for bootloader is too small. Recommended size is 350MB to 500MB.
499MB partition on source drive is most likely a recovery partition. It is not necessary to clone it. It probably won't be a functional recovery partition after cloning anyway.

 

[TerryLaze]

Disk 1 first 50MB partition holds you boot data if you don't copy that you won't be booting into windows at all.
Second partition is your data, third 4Gb partition probably holds a pre configured install.wim to recover your system to factory default.

 

[SkyNetRising]

third 4Gb partition probably holds a pre configured install.wim to recover your system to factory default.

4GB? it is 499MB.

 

[TerryLaze]

4GB? it is 499MB.

Oh, there is a dot there...had to zoom in to see that.

 

[Ethonodon]

It would seem that the clone process was successful. My computer seems many times faster on the SSD. However, I notice that occasionally my old HDD -which I've now retired to be a media drive- seems to occasionally turn off while I'm running something? I hear something in my pc happen, then a few minutes later a similar noise will play. Doesn't seem to affect anything, it's just an observation.

 

[TerryLaze]

It would seem that the clone process was successful. My computer seems many times faster on the SSD. However, I notice that occasionally my old HDD -which I've now retired to be a media drive- seems to occasionally turn off while I'm running something? I hear something in my pc happen, then a few minutes later a similar noise will play. Doesn't seem to affect anything, it's just an observation.

Power saving options include turning off the HDD after some minutes of inactivity to save power.