[SOLVED] Rebuild Question and SSD BOOT issues

[sixty4]

It's been a while since I have had to rebuild a machine and I am having a world of issues after my primary drive ran of space and I decided to start over with a new SSD. I am going from a 240 Sandisk SSD to a new 1TB Samsung 870 QVO. The issue is I have not been able to install windows 10 into on the Samsung drive as the Windows 10 installation will not recognize the drive when its installed in my machine regardless of the partition type (GPT.). I tried a few things including DISKPART from an external docking station which worked and the Windows 10 install can see it in an external bay but I cannot install Windows when the SSD in in the docking station. The Windows install will not see the drive and therefore I cannot install to it. Perhaps Windows 10 install does not have the drivers to see the SSD when its installed in the PC but how can it see it when its in the docking station?

I then tried to clone the new Samsung drive from a CLEAN install of Windows 10 on an older 240GB Toshiba SSD (Disk 0) using Samsung Disk Migration Tools which appears to work but the cloned drive as you can see in the image does not have a BOOT file, Page File, or Crash Dump file per the screen shot. This screen shot is booted into the clean Windows 10 drive on Disk 0. I cannot boot to the Samsung drive but I was able to enable it in Disk Management.

I could just leave the Samsung drive as storage and be done with it and continue with my install of apps on the Toshiba 240 GB drive but my preference would be to install Windows 10 on the new Samsung Drive which may not make sense... I also have another second spare 240 GB Sandisk SSD.

This is a link to Disk Management: https://ibb.co/jR5knnL

 

[USAFRet]

For the fresh install attempt, was the 870 the only drive connected?
If not..try it again, with only that one drive connected.

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

 

[USAFRet]

For the clone attempt, what tool did you use?

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Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
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Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, 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

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

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD
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.
-----------------------------

 

[sixty4]

Yes, when I attempted the install for the 870 the SSD was the only drive and it only went directly into my BIOS on boot. I did try to BOOT with the new SSD only connected and it went into the BIOS but I can try that again.

For the clone I used. Samsung Disk Migration Tools (as you happened to suggest) https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/

Thank you USAFRet

EDIT: 9:30 EST, when the new SSD is hooked up, it just continues to go directly into the BIOS and when I attempt to view the F12 BOOT menu its's empyty (Toshiba drive disconnected. I have hot swap drives in my old Level 10 GT. https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-LEVEL-Gaming-Modular-Computer/dp/B005F7794S