Question Replacing Windows SSD

[bobdrad]

Hello!

I am upgrading my Windows SSD (M.2 NVMe).
* I cloned the drive, using Clonezilla. It had 6 partitions, partition 3 was the Primary/OS partition. All were cloned.
* Then using Gparted I moved the partitions following the OS partition (4-6) to the end of the volume and expanded the OS volume (3) to use the unallocated storage.
* Booting from the original SSD and using a USB adapter with an SSD enclosure for the new volume, I verified that the drive is recognized by Windows, appears healthy, and that the Windows partition contents appear as expected. Using diskpart I verified that all the partitions are present and appear identical to the originals (except for the expanded size of partition 3).

However, when I swap the SSDs, during bootup I get this message:

Error: no such device: A22B-96B8
Error: file `\efi\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi' not found

What can I do to get my system to recognize and boot from the new SSD?
I'm guessing the Windows Boot Manager needs to be reconfigured due to a change in volume ID?

 

[mmp09]

EFI partition is hidden and required for Windows or any OS that boots in EFI mode.
Did you clone the EFI Partition?

 

[punkncat]

The least fraught with possible issues way will be to use an external storage drive and pull everything you wish to keep so far as data onto it. If you already use a robust backup method this step would be obsolete.

Make sure you have all your keys for the apps and programs you are using. Check to be sure you have or can get the installer.

Take out the old drive, put in a new drive. Disconnect all other drives. Clean install OS on the new drive in the partition scheme you wish it to be in.

Success.

 

[USAFRet]

Use a better tool, other than CloneZilla.

Macrium Reflect does this easily.

-----------------------------
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 Magician (which includes 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.
-----------------------------

 

[bobdrad]

This worked, although I hate to use trial versions of software I never intend to use again (and I think using standalone software on an external drive for this purpose, rather than attempting to copy from an active partition, is a safer approach in general).

On reflection, I have a suspicion that the Clonezilla approach also worked, but I had removed my 2nd NVMe drive which contained an Ubuntu installation and which had installed Grub for dual-boot. So it may have been complaining about that missing volume, rather than there being any issue with the Windows volume. But I'll never know now.

In any case, I now have a working installation. The Macrium Reflect approach certainly worked, and was a little easier. Thank you very much!

 

[USAFRet]

(and I think using standalone software on an external drive for this purpose, rather than attempting to copy from an active partition, is a safer approach in general).

You can run Macrium from a USB flash drive for this as well.

But yes, cloning an active running OS is a bit weird. Shocked me the first time I did it.

 

[bobdrad]

By the way, I'd be very happy to mark your post as "Best Answer", but following that link appears to have obsolete information? I don't see any of the decorations shown. Here's what I got:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wkzG0XoVsamUmDQVSKdU0e8XP_asZuvi/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mlG5TIvNbCBlpWYsB4oa8qrw52ygpAWP/view?usp=sharing

 

[USAFRet]

By the way, I'd be very happy to mark your post as "Best Answer", but following that link appears to have obsolete information? I don't see any of the decorations shown. Here's what I got:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wkzG0XoVsamUmDQVSKdU0e8XP_asZuvi/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mlG5TIvNbCBlpWYsB4oa8qrw52ygpAWP/view?usp=sharing

Try it now.

What you saw was an aspect of how the thread was created. Discussion vs Question.