How do I make my cloned SSD (m.2/msata) my boot drive? (Laptop)

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I cloned my HDD over to my SSD, how do I make my SSD my primary boot drive? I've changed Boot Mode to [Legacy Support], Boot Priority to [Legacy First], and set the SSD at the top of the list. But I am still unable to wipe the HDD and my computer is still not booting from the SSD. (I use AOMEI backupper to clone)

SSD is a m.2 (similar to msata)
HDD is regular
they both are connected to the laptop at the same time
 
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sirstinky

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Is this a desktop of a laptop? If you cloned your primary HDD to an SSD then you should be able to boot from it. In the BIOS, you need to select the boot drive from the list of devices in the boot menu (it will have a long name that matches the model number of the drive). Make that your first boot drive (not necessarily first boot device, which is usually the floppy if you have one, or the optical drive).

What I've done in that case is take out the HDD and just run the SSD so there's no confusion between boot devices. Once you establish a boot and can get into Windows, then you install the big HDD and format it and use it for storage (install apps and keep your files on it). I am not familiar with AMOEI backupper, but if it's line any other cloning program, it should work the same way.
 
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It's a laptop so i'd prefer it if I didn't have to pull out a drive but this is a picture of what my UEFI boot looks like http://imgur.com/DtFHG9W M2 SSD = SSD and ST1000 = HDD. I think changing the EFI boot manager may work but i'm not sure how.
 
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sirstinky

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You are using Windows 8 I presume?

The BIOS is still pointing to the old drive (ST1000LM). You could try to change the boot mode from legacy back to the UEFI (did you change it before?). From my research, that's going to be the most straightforward course of action. You want the EFI to point to the M2 SSD, not the ST1000LM. I would set your first boot drive to the optical drive HL-DT-ST and the second to the M2 SSD. Once you get into Windows on the SSD, find your other drive from the computer properties disk manager and format it NTFS.
 
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I'll try that and get back to you. Thanks. and yes it was originally UEFI
 
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IrvSp

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I'm thinking you only basically copied over the C: partition. Booting with Secure Boot uses others on the Primary drive.

Google "cloning hard drive to SSD in laptop with secure boot" and you'll find many pages to look at.

You didn't detail how you cloned either? Most laptops will not accept 2 disks, so I assume you used one external? That info might help. Backup S/W is not the same as cloning a boot partition. That will only 'restore' the C: partition, not the boot record or MBR of any GPT data that is needed for boot.

Personally, I used (on a desktop) Paragon's Migrate OS to SSD (http://www.paragon-software.com/technologies/components/migrate-OS-to-SSD/) and it did the whole job for me. Even set up the BIOS to boot from the SSD. I also left the original hard drive in, but it seems the other partitions from the old primary drive were copied over to the SSD. That works out well for me as I can always boot the OLD C: if need be.
 
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I put in a m.2 ssd and yes i copied the entire C: partition and only that over to the ssd.
But when i removed the entire HDD it was stuck in some loop. And i'm not sure how to disable secure boot. Not sure if i can at all. Laptop in question is Lenovo's y410p
 
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http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-drive-cloning-software.htm i used the one right above Paragon
 
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sirstinky

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Windows 8 does things a little differently than 7 or XP or Vista. If the laptop came with Windows 8, to my knowledge by default, the system boot properties is set to the U/EFI protocol, not legacy. I am not sure what happened in your case, but you need to get out of legacy and back into UEFI. I think that would go a long ways in fixing the issue. Try this article http://www.wikihow.com/Change-BIOS-Mode-from-UEFI-to-Legacy-in-Windows-8 It will show you how to disable secure boot. You'd have to do this from the drive that lets you into Windows though.


So far I haven't found any way to switch legacy back to UEFI. That might be an issue that could only be fixed by flashing your firmware or reinstalling Windows. That might not even be the issue, it's possible that it's something else like a corrupted file.
 
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Thanks I'll look into that.
If i end up having to reinstall windows, any clues on how to do that when my copy came preinstalled with the computer?
 
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Oh yeah, I've already seen that article. I didn't find a secure boot option in my bios/uefi
 
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sirstinky

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If it didn't come with a recovery disk (a CD boot disk to repair Windows if it becomes corrupted or unrecoverable), your PC came with a recovery partition on the hard drive that lets you repair install Windows if necessary. As far as doing that, you do it from within Windows. It's in the system tools or settings (I think, I don't know how Windows 8 does it) it will be called system recovery or recovery/restore or something like that. Obviously, back up your files first because it will wipe the system.
 
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The has to be OTHER partitions that are read during boot on the boot drive. I ran PARTDISK and checked my boot drive:

===============
DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 931 GB 2048 KB *
* Disk 1 Online 111 GB 1024 KB *
Disk 2 Online 931 GB 0 B
Disk 3 No Media 0 B 0 B
Disk 4 No Media 0 B 0 B
Disk 5 No Media 0 B 0 B
Disk 6 No Media 0 B 0 B

DISKPART> list part

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 System 500 MB 1024 KB
Partition 2 Primary 110 GB 502 MB
Partition 3 Recovery 898 MB 110 GB
===============

Disk 1 is my SSD. Partition 1 on it is the EFI System Partition and I suspect that is what you are missing. The Paragon program I showed handles this and recreated it during the cloning process. Many Back-up programs can't handle uEFI/GPT drives and do not create this partition. My back-up program did not and that is why I had to buy the Paragon program. So do but usually NOT the free versions or they are too old and do not support uEFI/GPT.

It is possible that if you do a CLEAN install to the SSD and THEN clone over the C: drive it might just fix the problem? That is do a NEW install using the install media to the SSD, make sure it boots, and then clone the C: partition over.


 
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Yeah there are some small minor partitions on the main C: drive.

Why would having a clean install on the ssd then cloning the C: work? Wouldn't cloning the C: wipe it?
 
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IrvSp

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Yes, the C: partition would be wiped out and replaced with your OLD C:, but the other uEFI partition (does NOT have a drive letter) would remain. That is the one that holds the boot data and what I think is missing on your SSD. Older non-GPT drives had an MBR (Master Boot Record) that was loaded by the BIOS and then loaded the OS. The uEFI partition serves the same purpose and with it missing you can not boot.

 
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IrvSp

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Maybe I misunderstood. Which C: drive are you talking about? You have the original that is a hard drive and that should have a similar structure like I showed in my post. A 500MB uEFI partition without a drive letter assigned, a recovery partition with no drive letter and probably a Lenova restore partition that might have a drive letter assigned and possibly another one for diagnostics.

If you used a back-up program it might not create anything but a C: partition on the SSD.

Do you have BOTH the hard drive and SSD connected on the laptop? If not, then just how did you create the SSD?

 
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Yes they're both connected to the laptop. The ssd isn't a 7mm one, its a m.2 one (like msata, its a small form factor).
 
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sirstinky

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I would venture to say that the boot file is somehow missing, or didn't get copied over in the clone (as IrvSP said, the U/EFI partition that contains the boot files). Not sure how it happened, but I have experienced this imaging windows 7 machines. The proper partitions weren't imaged, so there was no boot when I restored the image. It wasn't until I re imaged the machine with the correct partitions. I think it was D, there were different partitions up to E: which didn't have the boot files. I confirm what IrvSP is saying. They were special additional partitions for diagnostics and drivers (it was a dell PC), that I would get boot. I am thinking it has to be related to Lenovo's configuration for the recovery partition, or the cloning software you used. That's why it's always better to use highly-rated programs that work. You may have to buy them. Acronis makes the best imaging/cloning programs out there. They have a free trial, use it and keep it for 14 or whatever days and let it expire. I've used it extensively to image/clone servers with no trouble. It's worth the weight in gold to get consistent clones and images. It will copy everything, recovery partition, your apps, programs, etc. and you'll be good to go.
 
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Alright ill try recloning, do you have a link to Acronis download?
 
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