Question Windows 10 Disk Management can't see Samsung SSD after cloning but BIOS can

[Iggyau]

At work I installed a Samsung 860 EVO SSD into an old Acer X480G and had a strange problem. I eventually fixed it but was curious to know why I had the issue in the first place. This was the first time I've installed an SSD.

So I installed the Samsung 860 EVO SSD using the CD-ROM sata cables. I did the clone using the Samsung Data Migration software. There was a message saying something about not being able to clone any vendor recovery partition. The Acer X480G left the factory with 3 partitions. A recovery partition, C drive and D drive. I didn't think it would be too much of any issue.

Samsung Data Migration software completed the cloning. I try and boot from the SSD and after the windows start screen with the circling dots the screen goes black with a white windows mouse cursor. Rebooting SSD didn't help.

I boot up again using old hard drive to redo the cloning but Windows 10 disk management can't see the SSD. I go into BIOS and it can see the SSD.

Cut I long story short I reached out to a gamer friend who told me to use a bootable Clonezilla USB for cloning then in Windows 10 use Easeus Partition Master to resize partitions. That solution worked as it cloned the hard drive block by block including the recovery partition.

So I still can't figure out why Windows 10 couldn't see the SSD after the Samsung Data Migration cloning. Is the Acer computer hard wired somehow to not work properly unless the recovery partition exists? The PC did sort of partially boot from SSD after the Samsung cloning but to a black windows screen.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Missing Recovery Partition shouldn't cause boot failure.

There may have been a small (100MB) hidden EFI partition (no drive letter) on the source drive. This is the boot-loader and system won't boot if it's missing --- may be the Samsung Migration software failed to copy it over?

 

[Iggyau]

Missing Recovery Partition shouldn't cause boot failure.

There may have been a small (100MB) hidden EFI partition (no drive letter) on the source drive. This is the boot-loader and system won't boot if it's missing --- may be the Samsung Migration software failed to copy it over?

Not sure but I vaguely remember seeing something about a boot loader or something similar when Clonezilla was running.

The whole saga was frustrating. I had seen multiple YouTube videos on upgrading to an SSD and none of them mentions any problems remotely similar to this. Lost a whole weekend getting this working.

 

[USAFRet]

-----------------------------
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
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
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
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.
-----------------------------

 

[Iggyau]

-----------------------------
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
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
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
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.
-----------------------------

As I mentioned in the original post, I did this. I used Samsung Data Migration when the SSD was new straight out of the box. It completed cloning but couldn't properly boot and then booting from HDD Windows Disk Management couldn't see the SSD. Restart into BIOS and it could see the SSD so I knew it wasn't a hardware issue. Samsung Data Migration failed to do the job properly. Maybe if I did the clone with Macrium Reflect from when the SSD was brand new it could have worked but I don't know. At the stage where Windows Disk Management couldn't see the SSD I doubt any Windows 10 solution would have worked.

And as I originally mentioned I had to use a Clonezilla bootable USB to redo the cloning as Linux could see the drive. Then when I booted from SSD into Windows 10 I used Easeus Partition Master to resize partitions that were already setup from the Acer factory.