Help? Clonezilla/Boot USB to Migrate original HDD to New SandDisk SSD

Hello and thanks for reading and any advice!

I am having trouble trying to migrate/clone my original Toshiba Satellite c855 - s5214 640G HDD (the one listed on my specs here) to a new SanDisk Extreme Pro 480G SSD.

(The only experience I have with the migration/clone process is a Samsung 850 EVO 250G I successfully migrated 2 days ago using Samsung Migration software disk that came with the SSD. Samsung's Migration Software only appears to work with Samsung HDD's/SSD's, as I discovered)

So, after doing research on 7forums and YouTube I decided on attempting the migration with a Clonezilla method I found on YouTube. This is the link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS6VhLDw-io

I followed instructions to make a Bootable USB with Clonezilla (success), and then carefully followed the migration/cloning instructions (or so I believe). However, after several attempts (and various experimental format/unformatted approaches (making simple Volumes, attempting unallocated, even exFAT) I can't get the Clonezilla method to work or complete.

*The one thing I suspect is that the YouTube video does not specifically detail the format/unformatted characteristics of the "target" drive (in this case, my new SanDisk SSD) the backup clone/image "source" is being copied to.*

I have some screenshots I will attach that correspond to the following methods I've tried. Thank you again for reading and any help you can provide!


1st attempt
Opened Disk Management in Windows 7, Initialized SanDisk SSD (after connecting via USB enclosure), Made simple Volume, no drive letter assigned, formatted NFTS with default Allocation Unit Size, rebooted with Clonezilla, ran smooth into cloning setup process until "target drive format" failure (screenshots 1,2,3)

2nd attempt
Deleted volume (to remove previous format), made new simple volume, no drive letter assigned, chose "Do not format this drive", rebooted with Clonezilla, ran smooth into cloning process until "no space left on device" failure
(screenshots 4,5)

3rd attempt
Deleted volume (to remove previous format), left SanDisk SSD unallocated and unformatted, rebooted with Clonezilla, ran to beginning of setup process, SSD was not recognized by Clonezilla
(screenshots 6,7,8)

4th attempt
Made simple Volume, no drive letter assigned, formatted exFAT with default Allocation Unit Size, rebooted with Clonezilla, ran smooth into cloning setup process until "target drive format" failure
(screenshots 9,3)

whs said:

Have a look at this. It always works:

SSD - Install and Transfer the Operating System

I never used Clonzilla, but the procedure should be similar. And don't forget to align the SSD.

Thanks whs! I've browsed this tutorial a few times. It get's a little "Martian" to me at a certain point due to my limited DOS experience and my rather novice/user Windows skills.

I'm trying to educate myself with all the help and great advice I've been receiving since joining the forum recently. I try to be careful not to get ahead of my learning curve and screw something up. At the same time, I'm really trying not to ask too many "dumb" questions. I don't have recovery disks for this laptop as I bought it 1 yr. old, used. I've made restore points and know there is a recovery partition, but I'm a little paranoid of missing or doing an unnecessary step and losing my primary laptop.

What does it mean to be "aligned"? is it same as formatted?

If so, it seems that Clonezilla didn't like the "formatted" SSD target?

Clonezilla "seemed" to work when I made the attempt with the SanDisk target drive initialized, but unformatted. But it failed due to lack of space on target drive.

Q: Is this because my Toshiba source drive is 640G and the SanDisk is 480G?? (I thought it would only image "used" space, not "free" space)

Another point I don't understand: in the YouTube video is that a 64G USB flashdrive (target) was used to backup image a 120G HDD (source, with only 19G used space), similar to what I am attempting.

Disk Management will only allow me to shrink the Toshiba to about 500G (still bigger than SanDisk). Should I shrink the Toshiba C\ drive with Partition Wizard to the size of the SSD (447G)

Here is a screenshot of Elevated Command Prompt and Disk Management:

Formatting and aligning are two different things. The SSD must be aligned properly to operate at its best speed.

I've never done a clone, but I wouldn't be surprised if you have problems due to the target drive being smaller than the source drive.

Are you wedded to Clonezilla for some reason?

Are you unwilling to use imaging rather than cloning for some reason?

Imaging the source drive creates a file based on the OCCUPIED SPACE on the source partition, not on the size of that partition or the size of the drive. That's why an image of a 120 GB drive with only 19 GB occupied can fit on that 64 GB flash drive.

@whs & @Ignatzatsonic

I think I'm done with Clonezilla for now. Maybe the whole cloning idea......However......

I let my inexperience guide me, wrongly thinking I could possibly use the Samsung Migration software that was successful 2 days ago on our other laptop (migrating a Seagate HDD to a Samsung 850 EVO SSD). The software didn't recognize the SanDisk. I did however Initialize and create the simple Volume on the SanDisk. (Is it possible initialing is the problem here??)

**At that point I should have gone to SanDisk.com (Actually I should have gone there 1st)**

I tried the Clonezilla method after viewing several methods on YouTube, as it seemed simple(to good to be true maybe)

I just spent some time on the SanDisk site. I downloaded the PDF file for installation and cloning/migration. Also watched the tutorial video. Key points:

Neither the PDF nor the Video mention anything about initializing the SanDisk prior to migration. They both clearly state to simply connect SSD via USB and use their recommended cloning software Apricorn's EZ Gig IV 4.3.8 UEFI GFX, then simply start the software and it would recognize the SSD. Then select the "source" HDD, the "target" SSD, run it, then swap the drives and reboot and BOOM....done........if it was that ez (lol).

Here's the Link to the PDF:
http://downloads.sandisk.com/downloa...tall-guide.pdf

Here's the link to video tutorial:
How-to videos for Solid State Drives

So, if SanDisk is not skipping any steps then is it possible the SSD didn't need initializing and formatting? I can delete the Volume to get rid of the formatting. Can I UNinitialize the SSD to get rid of the MBR and return it back to in the box, factory condition to retry the process with SanDisk's recommended method?

screenshots:

I am SUPER grateful to both of you for taking your time to help me out here, and Ignatzatsonic thanks for visiting from my other thread on the Samsung.

@whs - can I Uninitialize the SanDisk SSD then by uninstalling the driver (1st screenshot from my previous post above)?? Will that restore to "in the box, factory" state?? I'm ready to try this but prefer to be advised

You certainly should be able to effectively "uninitialize" a drive---by re-ininitializing it. You can go back and from from MBR initialization to GPT initialization at will. To do so you must get rid of all partitions first.

I have no personal experience with Clonezilla or any "migration" software supplied by drive manufacturers.

My understanding is that migration software is "iffy", but when it works, all initialization and formatting is done within the migration software as necessary and that the user does NOT have to manually do any of that beforehand.

But migration software seems to be iffy enough that I'd go directly to an imaging method.