Solved Can't boot from SSD after being cloned

[benja8151]

Hello!

I have an XMG A504 laptop with 60GB Kingston V300 SSD, which unfortunately I found kinda lacking the necessary volume. So I've recently bought a Samsung 850 EVO with 120GB and I'd like to clone the disks. I have already tried to clone them once using Paragon Hard Drive Manager utility(with default settings) - I have plugged them into my desktop PC. When I've tried to boot the laptop I got an error saying device can't be found and winload.exe is missing. I assume this has to do with cloning a disk using another computer, but is there an easy way to fix it? I have tried Acronis TrueImage 2014 aswell and Macrium Reflect, but it still doesn't work.

Thanks for your help!
-Benjamin

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Have you tried imaging rather than cloning?

 

[benja8151]

Have you tried imaging rather than cloning?

No, I'll try it out. With imaging you mean backing the entire Kingston disk to a hard drive in my desktop PC and then restoring that backup to the new SSD?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Have you tried imaging rather than cloning?

No, I'll try it out. With imaging you mean backing the entire Kingston disk to a hard drive in my desktop PC and then restoring that backup to the new SSD?

Yeah. I don't know what partitions you have on the Kingston, but you'd need to include C and any other partition that was marked as "system" in Windows Disk Management. That could be C alone, C plus System Reserved, or something else--depending on how that drive is set up. You could make a single image file of all necessary partitions or make one image file for each of the necessary partitions.

Only reason I ask is that imaging is sometimes more trouble free. If one fails, try the other.

 

[fireberd]

I recently upgraded my boot SSD (OS and my recording studio software installed). I did a Clone using Macrium Reflect Pro (paid version) and the new/cloned disc acted almost like a new install, and never quite finished. I did an image of the old SSD and then restored to the new SSD and all was OK.

 

[benja8151]

Allright so I've tried to image the disk as well, no success, actually, it was even worse (didn't even give me a blue screen with error code). I have checked the partitions on my laptop now and I see that the system partition reserved partition is on the hard drive. Does that have to do anything with the problem?

 

[whs]

Did you change the boot sequence in the BIOS to boot from the SSD.

 

[benja8151]

Did you change the boot sequence in the BIOS to boot from the SSD.

Not specifically in the BIOS no, but I did chose to boot from the SSD in the startup options in the beginning.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Did you include that System Reserved from the hard drive in your image file, so that it would be part of the restoration?

 

[whs]

Did you include that System Reserved from the hard drive in your image file, so that it would be part of the restoration?

Good point.

 

[benja8151]

No I haven't, I've only cloned the second disk. But if I replace the disks, the system reserved partition is still on the main hard drive right, I mean it's not changed, so why would it cause problems?

EDIT: If I understand you correctly I should first move system reserved partition to the Kingston disk and then clone it?

 

[whs]

Because your SSD needs it's own system partition. Else it will not boot. This is not a dual boot but 2 completely independent systems.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

No I haven't, I've only cloned the second disk. But if I replace the disks, the system reserved partition is still on the main hard drive right, I mean it's not changed, so why would it cause problems?

EDIT: If I understand you correctly I should first move system reserved partition to the Kingston disk and then clone it?

I thought you were going to try imaging, not cloning.

If imaging, as said previously, you need to image and restore System Reserved as well as C.

You wouldn't "move" anything. You wouldn't "clone" anything. You make images of those 2 partitions and then restore them by booting from a recovery disk made within the imaging program. Did you do any of that?

 

[benja8151]

Okay I'll try. Then again if I would image both partitions, do I need to restore them both on a new SSD or do I need to restore system reserved to a hard drive (the current location)? This might be a dumb question but I would like to be sure before doing anything with system reserved.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Okay I'll try. Than again if I would image both partitions, do I need to restore them both on a new SSD or do I need to restore system reserved to a hard drive (the current location)? This might be a dumb question but I would like to be sure before doing anything with system reserved.

You'd restore both to the SSD.

The idea is to be able to boot with ONLY the SSD connected. On the other hand, if you have C on the SSD and System Reserved on the hard drive, both of those drives would have to be connected.

I'd probably make one image file, containing both C and System Reserved. Then restore it to the SSD.

You need to make a boot disc within Macrium. Choose the "WinPE" method rather than the "Linux" method. If this disc won't boot your PC, you cannot restore your image files to the SSD.

 

[benja8151]

Allright but restoring System reserved to SSD would mean I then have 2 System reserved partitions on my laptop, doesn't it? The one on the hard drive and the one on the SSD. Would everything be still okay?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Allright but restoring System reserved to SSD would mean I then have 2 System reserved partitions on my laptop, doesn't it? The one on the hard drive and the one on the SSD. Would everything be still okay?

Yes. When you are done, make sure it will boot with JUST the new SSD connected. If it does, you can then delete the old System Reserved.

If imaging fails and cloning fails, then you have to do a clean install to the new SSD. That could happen. Imaging and cloning aren't 100% reliable, but they are both worth trying.

http://www.sevenforums.com/backup-r...freefilesync-without-malware.html#post2995645

You might want to look at post 15 in the above thread. It describes how you can put Macrium on a USB thumb drive and use that to make and restore image files. Or just use the standard method of installing Macrium and burning a boot disk.

 

[benja8151]

Okay let me just go through it all, so that I'm sure what I need to do.
1) I backup system reserved and the partition on current SSD to an external disk using Macrium Reflect.
2) I create a boot DVD with Macrium.
3) I replace the SSDs and boot with Macrium DVD.
4) I restore both partitions to the new SSD and boot from the new SSD.
5) If it works I can delete the old system reserved freely.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

see comments in bold

Here's a tutorial:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html

Okay let me just go through it all, so that I'm sure what I need to do.
1) I backup system reserved and the partition on current SSD to an external disk using Macrium Reflect.

Yes. More exactly you are making an image of those 2 partitions. These will be roughly half the size of the occupied space of those 2 partitions. So, if C uses 100 GB now, that image file will be roughly 50 GB in size. I think you can make one image file containing both partitions, but because System Reserved and C are on different drives, you might have to make a separate image file for each partition.

2) I create a boot DVD with Macrium.

A CD will work fine. I assume a DVD would also work. Burn it with your favorite burning app and make sure it boots the PC.

3) I replace the SSDs and boot with Macrium DVD.

Yes. I'd make sure that the new SSD and your external drive containing the image file were the ONLY drives connected. If the burned CD/DVD won't boot your PC, you are out of luck.

4) I restore both partitions to the new SSD and boot from the new SSD.

Yes. Then take a look at Windows Disk Management. You may find that some of the space on the new SSD is "unallocated space". You can then add that unallocated space to C. The restoration process might take 15 minutes or more, depending on how big that image file is and how fast your PC is.

Macrium's interface is intuitive. You just have to navigate it correctly, find the image files you made, and then direct the restoration to the new SSD.



5) If it works I can delete the old system reserved freely.

If it boots with ONLY the new SSD connected, you can do whatever you want with any of the partitions on the old SSD.

You might have fixable issues after the restoration or you might fail completely, but if cloning doesn't work, imaging or a clean install is all you have left to try. So give it a go. It's not going to hurt anything.

 

[benja8151]

Good news, it worked.

However, the computed had to be booted form the hard drive, not the new SSD, so I guess I won't be touching original System reserved partition. I also had some trouble extending the C: partition into an unallocated space on SSD (the software said there is no free space). In the end I just merged both partitions (C: and Unallocated space) and it seems fine. Current state is:

Thanks to everyone for helping me solve this annoying problem!