Cloned HD to SSD &B SSD refuses to boot

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Feb 7, 2017
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Hi all.

Overclockers Telephone support suggested I post and ask about my problem in here...

I am trying to migrate or clone my old system hard drive on to a brand new Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB SSD but after the cloning process the SSD will not boot or if it does get to the desktop it is extremely slow and the mouse and keyboard do not work and I am unable to open any programs.

I have also tried to do the same onto a Brand New Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB SSD just in case the 250 one was too small or faulty but experienced exactly the same results.

The cloning software I have tried so far is:
Acronis True Image 2017 (fully licensed paid for version)
Samsung Migration
Macrium Reflect Free

My system runs Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SP 1.
My old system HD (the source drive) is 500 GB

I tried the process with all three programs in case one was not able to do it but another was and again got exactly the same results which to me seems to indicate the problem is with the EVO SSD's but I maybe wrong.

Just to make sure that my source drive is clone-able I then tried using all three programs to clone to two spare standard HD's, one a 250 GB nd the other a 500 GB and the all 3 programs cloned perfectly.

When I booted the standard drives after cloning windows booted in around 5 seconds and all of my software and product licenses had been correctly copied and were working as they should - so, to me, there is no problem with the source drive.

I will put a lot of detail here so that you know what I have tried so far and how I did it.

Here is how I performed the backup.

1. Installed the new SSD inside my computer and then opened Computer Manager>Disc Manager

2. From with Disc Manager I changed its Partition Style to 'MBR' and then changed the 'unallocated space' to a simple volume.

3. I repeated the above for the USB Hard Drive - so all three drives - the old system drive I want to copy, the USB Hard Drive I am going to store my backup on and the new SSD that I want to restore my backup onto then us as the system disc - are exactly the same formatting and file systems.

4. Using O&O Defrag (I have used this program for years) I did a 'Complete' Defrag of my old system disc before shutting my computer down.

5. Booted to the TI 2017 boot disc and at the Acronis Menu I selected the 64 bit version of TL.

6. From the left menu I selected 'Backup' then from the right hand menu I selected 'Disk and Partition Backup'.

7. On the next screen 'What To Back Up' it showed two Partitions on my system disk:
A. NTFS (unlabeled) (C Pri [it shows that it has only 60.9 GB of Used Space]
B. NTFS (System Reserved) (D Pri/Act [it shows that it has only 24.14 MB of Used Space].

8. I selected both partitions and clicked next.

9. On the next screen 'Archive Location' I selected 'Create new backup archive' and set the 'Backup Location' as my USB Hard Disk and set a file name.

10. On the next screen 'Finish' I clicked 'Proceed' and left TL to do its job which only took around 8 minutes.

11. Once TL reported the backup was successful and as no images were showing in the list I then selected 'Recovery' from the left hand menu and clicked 'Refresh Backups' from the right hand menu to refresh the list of backup images (to check the backup image was showing).

12. I then right clicked on the backup image and selected 'Validate Archive', on the next screen I selected 'Proceed'.

13. Once TL reported 'The Archive Was Successfully Checked' I shut my computer down - removed the old system disc, move the internal SATA cable for the new SSD over onto the Primary SSD port that the old system disc had previously occupied then rebooted using the TL recovery disk.

14. I selected the 64 bit version of TL and allowed it to finish booting.

15. From the left hand menu I selected 'Recovery'.

16. On the right hand side I then 'right clicked' on the image name in the list and selected 'Recover'.

17. On the next screen 'Recovery Method' I selected 'Recover whole disks and partitions' then clicked next.

18. On the next screen 'What To Recover' it now showed three partitions (there were only two on the one I backed up the image from:
A. NTFS (unlabeled) (C Pri [it shows that it has only 60.9 GB of Used Space]
B. NTFS (System Reserved) (D Pri/Act [it shows that it has only 24.14 MB of Used Space].
C. MBR and Track 0 (this is the new one that has appeared).

19. I clicked all three and then 'Next'.

20. On the next screen 'Destination of Disk 2' I selected the new SSD and then clicked next.

21. On the next screen I clicked 'Proceed' and a new screen opens which says 'Data Recovery' showing the progress of the operation. At the bottom of this screen I also ticked the check box 'Shut Down The Computer When The Operation Is Completed'

22. Once TL had completed and shut the computer down I removed the TL recovery disc and unplugged the USB Hard Drive that contained the backup image and then booted the computer as normal.

This is when I encountered all of the boot problems.
The drive begins to boot and gets as far as the 'Starting Windows' splash screen and sits there for 2 or 3 minutes before changing to a black screen with a mouse icon where it then freezes. Other times if I leave at this point it will eventually boot to the desktop after 20 minutes or so but the mouse or keyboard will not work although one time the mouse did work but I could not click on anything.

I wont list the steps I took using Macrium Reflect Free as that is fairly straight forward to use and Samsung Migration is even more simple but again using both of these resulted in exactly the same issues booting the SSD.

An MVP on the Acronis forum suggested I create a Win 7 repair disc using my old system drive and then try and repair the MBR on the SSD but after doing so I still have exactly the same problems.

Can anyone suggest anything as from reading various forums other people seem to be able to clone to EVO's with no problem?

If I can supply any further information do let me know.

Thanks in advance.
 
Solution
From your description of your system's configuration and your objective it sounds as if a straightforward disk-cloning operation should meet your requirements.

1. We'll assume - as you have indicated - that your 500 GB source drive boots without incident and functions problem-free. Should that NOT be the case read no further.

2. It would appear (again from your description of events) that the 500 GB SSD destination drive is non-defective. But to ensure this, check out its health with the Samsung Magician program while the Samsung is connected in the system as a secondary drive.

(Now you've also mentioned the possibility of using a 250 GB SSD as the destination drive. That would work PROVIDED the total data contents of your 500 GB...
From your description of your system's configuration and your objective it sounds as if a straightforward disk-cloning operation should meet your requirements.

1. We'll assume - as you have indicated - that your 500 GB source drive boots without incident and functions problem-free. Should that NOT be the case read no further.

2. It would appear (again from your description of events) that the 500 GB SSD destination drive is non-defective. But to ensure this, check out its health with the Samsung Magician program while the Samsung is connected in the system as a secondary drive.

(Now you've also mentioned the possibility of using a 250 GB SSD as the destination drive. That would work PROVIDED the total data contents of your 500 GB source drive did not exceed the disk-space capacity of the 250 GB destination drive (or you were able to clone ONLY an OS partition on the source drive that did not exceed the destination drive's disk-space capacity. Capiche?

So I'm proceeding on the basis that you will be utilizing a 500 GB disk as the destination drive.

3. So with ONLY the source & destination disks connected in your system use the Samsung Data Migration program to carry out the disk-cloning program. The destination disk can be unformatted, unpartitioned, contain all unallocated disk-space - in effect a "virgin" disk - or have been partitioned, formatted, with or without containing data. It simply doesn't matter insofar as the disk-cloning program is concerned.

(I'll assume your source disk is MBR-partitioned).

4. Presumably the disk-cloning program should be successful and its total contents migrated to the SSD destination disk.

5. Immediately following the disk-cloning operation, disconnect (or uninstall) the source HDD from the system and immediately boot to the SSD. Presumably it should boot & function without any problems.

6. Assuming that's so it's generally preferable (although not mandatory) that the new boot drive be connected to the motherboard's first SATA port (connector) - generally designated SATA 0 or SATA 1.
(BTW, it's always a good idea to mention the make/model of the motherboard you're working with re queries of this kind.)
 
Solution