SSD Clone/MiniTool Partition problem and now OS won't boot up

Hello Rockstars,

I tried to undertake a straightforward cloning operation and have accidentally dug myself into a hole which I don't know how to get out of.

I have an old Kingston 64GB SSD drive which has my OS and programs. I tried to clone it to a new OCZ Vertex3 120GB SSD drive. After reading many forum posts here and elsewhere, the process seemed pretty simple. I used Macrium Reflect Free Home Edition, and the cloning process went fine.

I then used MiniTool Partition Wizard (Free) to expand the partition on the clone drive to make use of the full capacity of the new larger SSD. I also renamed the old Kingston drive to "MainOld". So far, so good.

Now here's where I think I got into trouble. I wanted to change the drive letter on larger SSD to C: Main and set it as my primary drive. Because I still had the old SSD still hooked up, the program wouldn't let me make these changes. I didn't want to unplug the old SSD in case something went wrong. So I changed the drive letter on the old SSD to G:"MainOld". I still couldn't make the changes to the new SSD.

So I rebooted my system and went into the BIOS. I set the new SSD as my first drive and put it 2nd on the Boot Menu list (behind the DVD drive). Windows started up fine. And since I had started up Windows using the new SSD, my desktop icons wouldn't work. I fired up the MiniTools program again from the Start Menu. Things looked promising. The new SSD was listed as a Primary drive and the old one was a Logical drive. Unfortunately, I still couldn't change the drive letter on the new SSD. A message had also popped up informing me I needed to restart Windows. So I did.

That's when the problems began. Windows seemed to start up normally. After the login screen, I got a splash screen telling me "Preparing Your Desktop". After waiting a couple of minutes, I got the BSOD with a tiny note in the bottom corner telling me my version of Windows wasn't valid. No error number or anything. I restarted Windows, went into the BIOS, and set my old SSD as my primary boot drive. This didn't help as all I got was a black screen asking for a boot CD. I reset again, went into the BIOS and set the new SSD as my primary and started windows in the Safe Mode. Another BSOD. Except by some chance, I was able to access my Task Manager. Couldn't do anything with it. So I powered off my PC, and unplugged the old SSD. That didn't work either. Same BSOD.

Also at some point in all this madness, I went into BIOS and changed Storage Config to read AHCI. Seeing how this didn't help things at all, I changed it back to IDE. Then I noticed that the BIOS wasn't seeing one of my other internal HDs.

Where did I go wrong? And how do I fix this mess?

Thank you in advance.
BigMez

FYI - Fearing something might go wrong, I did make an image of my old SSD onto another drive using Macrium Reflect. Unfortunately I couldn't create any boot media because of a corrupt or missing neutral.cab file.

When the cloning was finished, you should have powered off...removed the Kingston, and put the new OCZ in. If it booted, then you could proceed to the next step. If not, you would still have your Kingston intact, ready to roll back to.

If that had worked and you could boot from the OCZ, then you could proceed to enlarge the partition, either in Windows or using another tool. One step at a time.

Your BIOS should have been on AHCI in the first place if you were using an SSD, but swapping that will cause a drive to not boot as well.

Given the amount of time spent so far, I would have opted for a clean install long ago. This way, you can set the controller to AHCI, work right with the new OCZ, and ensure you get the latest drivers, apps, etc. No harm, and it only takes a few hours, if that.

Thanks DeaconFrost.

So far I've only spent an hour on this. I use Secunia to keep my progrmas and drivers up to date. I just have so many programs, i don't want to go through the laborious task of re-installing everything again.

Is there any way, I can get my old SSD running as a boot disk and just starting the process over again? And doing it the right way like you outlined?

BigMez

You cannot change the drive letter of Win7 or any OS as it will ruin it. Win7 is designed to always see itself as C when booted if it is correctly installed from the booted installer and not run from another OS. How other OS"s see it when booted is irrelevant.

Try cloning again and this time set any requested drive letter in Macrium to Auto. Make sure the clone is marked Active, set first to boot in BIOS. If it doesn't start run Startup Repair repeatedly.

Sometimes when a drive letter slips during cloning it results in a bluescreen Non-Geniuine lockout which is resolved this way: Paragon Rescue -change drive letters

Thanks for the great advice, rockstars.

With only the old SSD connected I'm still trying to use my Win7 disc for Startup Repair. I've done it several times, but it's still not booting up properly. When looking at the Startup Repair diagnostics, it looks the same each time. The last line says:

Root cause found
-----------------------
The partition table does not have a valid System Partition.
Repair Action: Partition table repair
Result: complete successfully. Error Code 0x0

When I start up windows without the Disc, it keeps asking me for Boot Media.
(sigh)

On average, how many more times does it take to address this repair?

If this doesn't work, what are my other options. Aside from a brand new install on the new SSD.


Thanks.

BigMez

Unplug all other HD's and peripherals.

Mark Active the Win7 partition or it's System Reserved boot partition (preferred if you have it): Partition - Mark as Active (Method Two)

Then run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times until Win7 starts.

GregRocker,

I did as you suggested: unplugged all my other drives and all peripherals.

I tried using Mark as Active -Method Two, however, I ran into another problem. The only partition choices I have on the disk are:

Partition ## Type Size Offset
Partition 0 Extended 59GB 992KB
Partition 1 Logical 59GB 1024KB

When I tried to make the logical into an primary, I got the Virtual Disk Service Error. I looked through this forum but didn't find a solution to this problem. Also curious as to why it listed two partitions, when there is only one.

Any suggestions?

And, again, I want to say "Thank you" for your step by step instructions and your patience. Sorry this is dragging out so long, but I have a guest visiting from out of town. I'm trying to squeeze in repair time wherever I can.

BigMez

Boot free Partition Wizard bootable CD to convert the Logical extended partition to Primary: Video help on how to set partition as Primary or Logical.

Next rightclick on the Win7 partition to Modify>Set to Active, click OK.

Now try rebuilding the MBR: Rebuild MBR with Partition Wizard Rebuild MBR Video Help.

After applying all steps, if Win7 doesn't start boot into the DVD or Repair CD to run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times.

If problems persist please post back a camera snap of the PW drive map and listings. Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums - Windows 7 Forums

Hey Rockstars,

Just want to give you all a big sincere Thanks for all your help. My system is back up and running on the new cloned SSD.

I finally had some time tonight to work on this.

Here's what I did:
1) Created a bootable Partition Wizard CD on my laptop; used the CD to change my old SSD to Primary and Active. Also used it to fix the MBR.
2) Took out the disc and rebooted the system using the old SSD. Looks normal again. Things are working fine.
3) Shut down the system and plugged in the new SSD
4) Booted back up again.
5) Used Macrium Reflect to clone the old SSD to the new larger SSD; left settings on auto.
6) Used Partition Wizard to check that the new clone was marked Active and Primary.
7) Shut down the system and unplugged the old SSD.
8) Booted up using the new SSD. Everything worked fine.
9) Used Partition Wizard to rename it and resize the cloned partition to use all the disk space available.
10) rebooted again to make sure the resize operation didn't screw anything up.
11) After making sure everything looked okay, I shut down the system again.
12) Plugged all my other hard drives and peripherals back in.
13) Rebooted. Everything's perfect.

I think I owe some people a few beers.

Big Mez