Issue with Drive Size After Cloning

Many disk-cloning programs (apparently CloneZilla may be one of them) will create a partition on the destination drive (the recipient of the clone - in your case the 250 GB SSD) ONLY to the extent of the cloned partition on the "source" (the drive that was cloned - in your case the 120 GB SSD). The program will NOT utilize the full disk-space capacity of the destination drive to contain the cloned contents of the source drive. Are you following me?

Now in many cases it's a simple process to EXTEND the cloned partition using Disk Management as long as the disk-space on the destination drive FOLLOWING the cloned partition is UNALLOCATED disk-space. A problem occurs when there's one or more partitions on the destination drive that FOLLOW the cloned partition. That would prevent using DM to extend the cloned partition. Are you with me?

Now there are ways to get around that. If you're interested send in a clear complete screenshot of Disk Management of the present drives' configuration. DON'T send in a screenshot of a partition management program, e.g., Partition Wizard. Capiche?

Unfortunately you didn't submit a screenshot of Disk Management indicating the results of the disk-cloning operation reflecting the 250 GB SSD that presumably was the recipient of the cloned contents of your 120 GB boot drive. The screenshot obviously reflects the situation PRIOR to the disk-cloning operation, does it not? We've got to "see" the results of the d-c operation.

Anyway, if the only disk-space following the cloned C partition on the 250 GB drive is the 450 MB Recovery Partition, that's a trifling amount of disk-space and there's really no need for deleting that partition and then extending the boot partition just to obtain 450 MB of additional disk-space.

For future reference...The "so-called" 450 MB Recovery Partition following the boot partition can most likely be deleted. You will be unable to directly delete that partition using Disk Management; you will need to use DiskPart to do so. I'm going to assume you're familiar with that valuable Windows utility. (If not, do a simple Google search on "using diskpart"). The final command you invoke when using Diskpart is "delete partition override". You need that "override" flag for the deletion. You probably know that already. Obviously following the deletion the resultant disk-space will be unallocated and you can use DM to extend the C partition.

But again, there is really no need to do so to gain an add'l trifling amount of 450 Megabytes of disk-space assuming that's the only partition following the cloned boot partition on the 250 GB drive.

The screenshot you submitted shows a 120 GB drive - Disk 4 - (actual disk-space 111+ GB) THAT CONTAINS THE C BOOT PARTITION. The screenshot DOES NOT contain the 250 GB drive that you had previously indicated was the RECIPIENT OF THE CLONED CONTENTS OF THE 120 GB boot drive. So the screenshot reflects the current boot drive is the original 120 GB SSD. Is that not so?

It's really crucial that we need to view a comprehensive view of a screenshot of Disk Management including the connected drives in the system, i.e., the bottom portion of DM. Just ensure that ALL connected drives are reflected in the screenshot. I'm getting the impression that something went substantially amiss with the disk-cloning operation.

I fully understand your puzzlement, let alone your frustration, with this situation, but believe me, unless we're both looking at a "historic first" in the PC "universe", Disk Management is correctly reporting the situation as it now stands. If you want further proof, all you have to do is get inside your PC case and disconnect the 120 GB SSD from the system. (Since your system apparently contains another 120 GB drive, might as well disconnect that drive as well). Then power-on the PC and attempt to boot to the OS. The system will not boot.

The only reasonable explanation for the problem you're experiencing is that something is amiss with the installation of the 250 GB M.2 SSD since that drive is not listed in DM (assuming you've submitted the complete schematic of DM).

My only suggestion at this point is to disconnect all the drives connected in the system other than the 120 GB SSD (the one that will serve as the "source" drive for the disk-cloning operation) and the Samsung M.2 SSD, ensuring that the latter is correctly installed and does not adversely impact the SATA data connector of the source drive.

I recall you used CloneZilla for the d-c operation and indicated it was "great". CloneZilla is far, very far, from my favorite disk-cloning program for a variety of reasons, but if you're satisfied with it then give it another try with ONLY the source & destination drives connected.

If you're interested in using another d-c program I'll provide you with step-by-step instructions for using the program I virtually always use. Actually it's a commercial program costing $49.99 but there is a 30-day Trial Version that's available. Just a thought.

On another note...your drives' configuration is something of a mish-mash. But that's something for another day!

Indulge me for a moment, OK?

If I correctly understand you, you've uninstalled the former Kingston 120 GB SSD boot drive and that's the component now resting peacefully on your desk in the photo you submitted?

And you've absolutely certain - absolutely certain - that's the identical 120 GB Kingston SSD that was the boot drive prior to the disk-cloning operation, right? No ifs, ands, or buts about it, right?

And the other 120 GB Kingston SSD that had been connected in the system is no longer connected in the system, right?

So now when you boot the system, the boot is to the 256 GB M.2 SSD that was the recipient of the clone, right? There's no doubt about that, right?

But when you access Disk Management that utility clearly reports a 120 GB SSD as the boot drive. Is that not correct?

And DM does not report the existence of a 256 GB drive in its listing of installed drives, right?

And what about Device Manager? What does that show in its "Disks drives" section that is relevant to this issue?

ArtPog said:

mascott106 :

ArtPog :

I fully understand your puzzlement, let alone your frustration, with this situation, but believe me, unless we're both looking at a "historic first" in the PC "universe", Disk Management is correctly reporting the situation as it now stands. If you want further proof, all you have to do is get inside your PC case and disconnect the 120 GB SSD from the system. (Since your system apparently contains another 120 GB drive, might as well disconnect that drive as well). Then power-on the PC and attempt to boot to the OS. The system will not boot.

Well, I don't know about a historic first, but I can assure you that the status of my original C drive, the source drive, since I've begun posting has been as pictured here:

After the cloning, I booted from the 256 GB M.2 Drive, and while there was a signature conflict in Disk Manager, knowing that it did in fact work, I disconnected the 120 GB SSD and left it here on my desk, and I've been booting off of what is listed in my BIOS as a Samsung 950 Pro ever since. As in the properties dialogue that I posted, the drive itself is correctly identified, just the capacity isn't, and it can't seem to find the unallocated space. The other 120 GB SSD installed has a few games on it, and still does, so I know that I didn't accidentally clone to that or anything. Before the clone, I had formatted the drive as NTFS, so I know that it does have the full capacity of a 256 GB drive.

Again, I completely and totally understand that this makes zero sense based on what is in Windows disk partition tool. But I really need to get across that the original SSD, the one with 120 GB physical space, is no longer connected at all, and the drive that was cloned to, with 256 physical space, is reporting as if it were the original 120 GB drive, currently acting and fully functioning as my boot drive with all of the original data of the source.

Indulge me for a moment, OK?

If I correctly understand you, you've uninstalled the former Kingston 120 GB SSD boot drive and that's the component now resting peacefully on your desk in the photo you submitted?

And you've absolutely certain - absolutely certain - that's the identical 120 GB Kingston SSD that was the boot drive prior to the disk-cloning operation, right? No ifs, ands, or buts about it, right?

And the other 120 GB Kingston SSD that had been connected in the system is no longer connected in the system, right?

So now when you boot the system, the boot is to the 256 GB M.2 SSD that was the recipient of the clone, right? There's no doubt about that, right?

But when you access Disk Management that utility clearly reports a 120 GB SSD as the boot drive. Is that not correct?

And DM does not report the existence of a 256 GB drive in its listing of installed drives, right?

And what about Device Manager? What does that show in its "Disks drives" section that is relevant to this issue?

Click to expand...

I have a feeling that you believe you are about to debunk something huge here and he has made a simple mistake, but I can assure you this is not the case, nor is this a "historic first."

I just cloned a 1Tb drive to a 3Tb drive with the same results. Windows does not recognize that there is any unallocated space on the 3Tb drive and acts as if I have just stuck another 1Tb drive in it's place when I have not.