Question Storage split

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To clone I used Aomei. I know I did something wrong; as I mentioned I am not an IT guru. Disk 1 and Disk 2 are actually one physical SSD. Right now I would like to merge the 1 and 2, make show as one, and be able to clone disk 0.
 
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You cloned all the partitions from your existing drive (Disk 0) to the SSD (Disk 2) with their sizes retained, which means you cloned 3 partitions. The 100MB partition is a Windows partition that is created automatically as a system partition when you install, and isn't assigned a drive letter and can be ignored. The second is your Windows partition. The third is the recovery partition, which normally doesn't have a drive letter assigned but some systems end up with it (you can use AOMEI Partition Assistant to remove the drive letter). Then there's a bit of extra space free which is the difference between the sizes of the two drives.

Disk 0 is your original disk. Disk 2 is your SSD. Disk 1 is some removeable media like an SD card reader in your PC, with no card inserted. Disk Management will never show a single physical disk as two separate disk numbers. There is nothing to merge.

So you seem to have done things right to some degree, but the cloned SSD just isn't bootable. Often cloning utilities don't properly configure the system, and it can be difficult to make it work. Figuring out WHY it didn't work is the hardest part for trying to help someone in your situation. Windows requires proper configuration of the boot files and pointers to where it will find them, which sometimes changes when you change drives. Are you using a paid version of AOMEI Partition Assistant?

What are the models of the HDD and SSD? Are you removing the HDD then plugging the SSD into the same port? Is this an old OEM system? When you turn it on, do you see the BIOS and then it's blank instead of showing the Windows loading screen?

You could try other cloning tools like Clonezilla (though that can be daunting for someone without experience because it's not a pretty GUI with easy to understand options) or Acronis True Image (which isn't free, but the free trial may permit you to clone the drive).
 
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I believe my PC (ssd drive C) is messed up; I do not know what "Disk 1 No Media" represents - please see my first post/screenshot on Wednesday. That cloning did not work well.
I am starting over from the very beginning, doing full formatting of the external disk, this time on a laptop which does not show any Disk 1 Removable No Media. This full formatting will take probably until evening. Then I will attempt cloning again. Next post will follow.
 
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Radan said:
I believe my PC (ssd drive C) is messed up; I do not know what "Disk 1 No Media" represents - please see my first post/screenshot on Wednesday. That cloning did not work well.
I am starting over from the very beginning, doing full formatting of the external disk, this time on a laptop which does not show any Disk 1 Removable No Media. This full formatting will take probably until evening. Then I will attempt cloning again. Next post will follow.
Click to expand...
-----------------------------
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.
-----------------------------
 
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Radan said:
I believe my PC (ssd drive C) is messed up; I do not know what "Disk 1 No Media" represents - please see my first post/screenshot on Wednesday.
That cloning did not work well.
Click to expand...
Were you using USB sata adapter for cloning?
Not all USB sata adapters can be used for this purpose. They may use different sector size settings than used normally.
Cloned drives on such adapters are not readable after you connect them to computer directly.
Connect both drives (clone source and clone target) to your pc with sata cables directly. No USB sata adapters.
Radan said:
I am starting over from the very beginning, doing full formatting of the external disk.
This full formatting will take probably until evening.
Click to expand...
Formatting is not really necessary. You can skip it.
And full formatting on SSD is not advisable. It will cause a lot of writes and shorten SSD lifespan.
 
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SkyNetRising said:
Formatting is not really necessary. You can skip it.
And full formatting on SSD is not advisable. It will cause a lot of writes and shorten SSD lifespan.
Click to expand...
after 4 hours I am now at 63% full format; should I stop? And then how to do a Quick Format in this situation?
BTW, the original, old SSD is in really bad shape, I do not think ready for cloning. Yesterday wasn't so bad, today websites crushing every minute -unusable. Can I reinstall Windows 10 without losing all files (downloads, pictures, Thunderbird mail etc.) If so, how? I
 
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