Question Questions about using new SSD as boot drive

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SLR2009

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Hi, I am currently running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. My Motherboard is an Asus P8z68 Deluxe mother board. My Boot Drive (Drive C) is s 500gb Western Digital Drive that is listed as MBR. I would like to clone to my 1TB Crucial SSD to use that as my boot drive. I was planning on using EasyUS to Clone my Boot Drive to the new SSD. Do I first need to initialize the new SSD in Computer Management before cloning it or does EazyUS automatically do that when cloning it? Also should I intilize my new SSD as MBR or GPT? Thanks
 
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Lafong

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Most would tell you to use GPT when possible. Maybe you have some good reason to stay with MBR?

As far as I know, a clone from an MBR source disk will yield an MBR destination disk.

Here's what EaseUS has to say:

www.easeus.com

[Easy and Quick] How to Clone MBR to GPT SSD with Success

Here you can find a reliable disk clone solution that shows you how to clone MBR to GPT disk/SSD. Try it to clone MBR partitioned boot disk to GPT partitioned disk or SSD without boot issue or losing data.
www.easeus.com www.easeus.com
 
USAFRet

USAFRet

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SLR2009 said:
Hi, I am currently running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. My Motherboard is an Asus P8z68 Deluxe mother board. My Boot Drive (Drive C) is s 500gb Western Digital Drive that is listed as MBR. I would like to clone to my 1TB Crucial SSD to use that as my boot drive. I was planning on using EasyUS to Clone my Boot Drive to the new SSD. Do I first need to initialize the new SSD in Computer Management before cloning it or does EazyUS automatically do that when cloning it? Also should I intilize my new SSD as MBR or GPT? Thanks
Click to expand...
I much prefer Macrium Reflect, or Samsung Magician if it is a Samsung target drive.

GPT is much prefered.
If your current drive is MBR, you much change that first. The clone operation won't do it.

MBR2GPT tool.
learn.microsoft.com

Change a Master Boot Record (MBR) into a GUID partition table (GPT) disk

Learn how to convert a Master Boot Record (MBR) partition disk into a GUID partition table (GPT) disk by using Windows or the command line.
learn.microsoft.com
learn.microsoft.com

MBR2GPT - Windows Deployment

Use MBR2GPT.EXE to convert a disk from the Master Boot Record (MBR) to the GUID Partition Table (GPT) partition style without modifying or deleting data on the disk.
learn.microsoft.com


-----------------------------
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 target 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

Verify the system boots with ONLY the current "C drive" connected.
If not, we have to fix that first.

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 specify 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.
-----------------------------
 
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SLR2009

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Hi, I used Easyus to convert my boot drive to GPT without data loss and now the PC won't boot. It told me to enable UEFI. I went into Bios/advanced but I don't see an option that says CSM.
 
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Lafong

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SLR2009 said:
Hi, I used Easyus to convert my boot drive to GPT without data loss and now the PC won't boot. It told me to enable UEFI. I went into Bios/advanced but I don't see an option that says CSM.
Click to expand...

Not sure, but I don't think the relevant choice necessarily includes the letters "CSM". I think it can vary from one motherboard to the next.

Or your clone could have failed outright.

You could try other methods of converting to GPT.

Or consider other software.
 
SkyNetRising

SkyNetRising

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SLR2009 said:
Does my Motherboard's Bios support UEFI? The PC was bought around 2011.
Click to expand...
You have multiple possible issues there.

1. Your board is quite ancient. It may not support booting from GPT drives.
2. Using Easeus to convert to GPT may just did do the conversion without making drive UEFI bootable. There may be additional steps required.

Redo cloning in MBR mode.
 
USAFRet

USAFRet

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SLR2009 said:
I have a new SSD in my PC but it wasn't initialized or formatted. Can I install Windows 10 on it?
Click to expand...
Yes.

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...
forums.tomshardware.com forums.tomshardware.com
 
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SLR2009

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USAFRet said:
Yes.

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...
forums.tomshardware.com forums.tomshardware.com
Click to expand...
Thanks. What are the steps involved if I can't boot?
 
L

Lafong

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Dec 2, 2021
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SLR2009 said:
Thanks. What are the steps involved if I can't boot?
Click to expand...
Briefly;

Get a USB flash drive of at least 8 GB capacity.

Go to Microsoft web site and locate "Media Creation Tool".

Download it onto your USB flash drive.

Disconnect all drives other than the one you want to put Windows on.

Attempt to boot from the flash drive.

If it will boot, you should see all existing partitions displayed. Delete them all and follow the prompts.
 
Sec-Wizard

Sec-Wizard

May 29, 2023
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Hi @USAFRet @Lafong @SkyNetRising ,

I read the article on cloning SSD/HDD using Clonezilla: https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/clone-your-ssd-or-hard-drive
There I found recommendations on other tools too.
I have an Acer Aspire A515-51G which is a 2017 model and it shipped with a WD 1 TB SATA drive. The drive is dual-boot (Win10 & Ubuntu 18.04 LTS)
My board has a M.2 slot and I want to add a NVMe SSD 512 GB or 1 TB (after some research I shortlisted AData Swordfish/Legend 750 and Samsug 970 Evo Plus).
I found in the Samsung cloning tool manual that the OEM partition won't be cloned and AData cloning tool doesn't have that explicitly mentioned. So is the cloning of OEM partition (/dev/sda1 EFI System in my case) not neccessary?
Will I able to clone both Win 10 and Ubuntu using the SSD vendor tools or suggested tools like Macrium, Ubackup ?
Or Clonezilla would be best since I have dual boot system?
The partition info of my drive is below. The 'Partition Style' is GPT as per Windows Disk Management tool

HTML: 
Disk /dev/sda: 931.5 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 0A764478-3CE2-4019-88C4-82B011C6752B


Device          Start        End    Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1        2048    2099199    2097152     1G EFI System
/dev/sda2     2099200    2131967      32768    16M Microsoft reserved
/dev/sda3     2131968  210687646  208555679  99.5G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda4   210688000  211812351    1124352   549M Windows recovery environment
/dev/sda5   211814400 1470105599 1258291200   600G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda6  1470105600 1533020159   62914560    30G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda7  1533020160 1869146111  336125952 160.3G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda8  1869148160 1890447359   21299200  10.2G Linux swap
/dev/sda9  1890447360 1953523711   63076352  30.1G Microsoft basic data
 
USAFRet

USAFRet

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CloneZilla used to be a good tool.
It has serious limitations, that are alleviated with newer tools. Primarily, drive or partition sizes.

Macrium Reflect should be able to do your clone thing no problem.
But, if as above, the Target drive does not boot up, the clone process failed in some way.


-----------------------------
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 target 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

Verify the system boots with ONLY the current "C drive" connected.
If not, we have to fix that first.

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 specify 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.
-----------------------------
 
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Sec-Wizard

Sec-Wizard

May 29, 2023
6
0
10
USAFRet said:
CloneZilla used to be a good tool.
It has serious limitations, that are alleviated with newer tools. Primarily, drive or partition sizes.

Macrium Reflect should be able to do your clone thing no problem.
But, if as above, the Target drive does not boot up, the clone process failed in some way.


-----------------------------
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 target 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

Verify the system boots with ONLY the current "C drive" connected.
If not, we have to fix that first.

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 specify 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.
-----------------------------
Click to expand...
Thank you for the steps @USAFRet . Since mine is a dual-boot (Win + Ubuntu) system, will those cloning software clone both Windows and Linux partitions?
Is cloning the OEM partition (/dev/sda1 EFI System in my case) necessary?
 
Sec-Wizard

Sec-Wizard

May 29, 2023
6
0
10
Thank you @USAFRet and @SkyNetRising for the answers and explanations 👍🏻.

Since my laptop is a 2017 model (BIOS updated to 20190301 release), so while buying a NVMe SSD should I focus on models which were released close to that year, e.g. 2019/2020/2021 ? Just to make sure the SSD works with my laptop. Or that doesn't matter?

I have short-listed the below SSDs after doing some research and reading tech reviews for the past 2 weeks :

  • ADATA SWORDFISH 1 TB
  • ADATA LEGEND 750 1 TB
  • ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1 TB
  • WD Blue SN570 1 TB

I found these were value for money, entry/mid rage SSDs which will cost under PLN 250 (I am in Poland) and have good warranty, MTBF, TBW, p-SLC, Thermal stability.

I don't need a very high performance SSD or for gaming purpose.

What do you feel about these short-listed SSDs for my laptop?
 
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