Samsung Data Migration Issue

[TipsyMcStagger]

I used the Samsung data migration program to clone my factory Sandisk 250GB SSD to a new 500GB Samsung Evo 850 SSD. The 250GB SSD was partitioned into C and D drive.

After cloning and installing the new Samsung SSD, it appears that only the C partition was cloned. With the new HDD installed, I tried connecting the original SSD to the USB port in an attempt to simply copy the data from the old "D" drive. But the 250GB drive doesn't show up as an available drive.

Suggestions?

Thanks.

Tipsy

 

[USAFRet]

Laptop or desktop?
How are you connecting the 250GB to the USB? What cable, exactly?

Can you show a screencap of the current Disk Management window?

 

[TipsyMcStagger]

Laptop or desktop?
How are you connecting the 250GB to the USB? What cable, exactly?

Can you show a screencap of the current Disk Management window?

It's an Asus B400A laptop. I used a StarTech USB3S2SAT3CB transfer cable.

I apologize but I'm not exactly clear on where to find the Disk Management window.

Tipsy

EDIT: Think I got it:

 

[USAFRet]

Laptop or desktop?
How are you connecting the 250GB to the USB? What cable, exactly?

Can you show a screencap of the current Disk Management window?

It's an Asus B400A laptop. I used a StarTech USB3S2SAT3CB transfer cable.

I apologize but I'm not exactly clear on where to find the Disk Management window.

Tipsy

hmm....that cable should work.
Did you connect the Sandisk before or after power on?
Is there another USB port to try?

 

[TipsyMcStagger]

hmm....that cable should work.
Did you connect the Sandisk before or after power on?
Is there another USB port to try?

I posted the requested Disk Management info above, as an Edit. The Sandisk was not connected at the time of that screen shot.

I connected the Sandisk after the power was on.

Is it possible to reinstall the original drive and redo the clone with both C & D drives?

Tipsy

EDIT: Here is a Disk Management screenshot with the original Sandisk SSD connected by USB. It says it's "Offline" because of a "Signature collision with another disk that is online."

I found this note in the Samsung Migration software User manual: "On systems with two (2) drives or more (e.g. “C:”, “D:”, and “E:” drives) with the operating system installed on the “C:” drive, only the first two drives will be cloned. The “System” partition that is created during Windows installation is automatically replicated."

 

[mjslakeridge]

How did you clone to the new SSD? Using the same USB cable and USB port that you are now trying to use to see the old drive? If so that would rule out the cable and port.

Is is just data (not applications) on the old D drive? If so you can reinstall the old SSD, copy the contents of the D partition over to the C partition (presuming there is enough free space, and then re-do the clone of C to the new SSD.

I don't think you can clone 2 drives in one operation (I could be wrong, have not used that tool).

 

[TipsyMcStagger]

How did you clone to the new SSD? Using the same USB cable and USB port that you are now trying to use to see the old drive? If so that would rule out the cable and port.

Is is just data (not applications) on the old D drive? If so you can reinstall the old SSD, copy the contents of the D partition over to the C partition (presuming there is enough free space, and then re-do the clone of C to the new SSD.

I don't think you can clone 2 drives in one operation (I could be wrong, have not used that tool).

I cloned the new SSD using the same cable and port with the Samsung Migration software.

If I reinstall the old drive, I'm not sure I can copy D to C. There seemingly won't be enough space. Here's a screenshot of the original SSD I took just before the clone.

Tipsy

 

[USAFRet]

If you replace the original 250GB drive, does the system boot up properly?
If so, try the clone thing again, but with Macrium Reflect this time.
Download and install from here: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

 

[TipsyMcStagger]

If you replace the original 250GB drive, does the system boot up properly?
If so, try the clone thing again, but with Macrium Reflect this time.
Download and install from here: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

I don't know if will boot up properly. I have no reason to believe it won't. I'm posting from this machine, so I'll have to swap the drives, download Macrium and try again.

Thanks.

Tipsy

 

[mjslakeridge]

Doesn't look like my idea will work as there is not enough space on the C drive. You may have one or more restore points on the C drive that you could do away with, but that would preclude you from restoring back to factory settings (conditions) in the future. I don't use the Windows recovery points, as I back up my OS drive to a separate drive from time to time using Acronis True Image. You could use Macrium Reflect for that in the future.

 

[TipsyMcStagger]

Thanks! I'll call it a success! I repeated the process, this time using Macrium Reflect. The D drive is now present on my new Samsung 500 GB SSD.

My only question now is, how do I allocate the nearly 228 unallocated GB's back to the D drive partition? I watched a few videos but the process didn't work for me. "Extend Volume" is not selectable on the D drive.

Is there any way to reallocate the 228 unallocated GB's to the D drive using features native to Windows 10? Or do I need to install another piece of software to do this?

Tipsy

 

[mjslakeridge]

I think the extend volume option is only available if the partition immediately to the right of the partition you are trying to extend is empty (unallocated). I haven't used Windows 10, so am not entirely sure. So in your case you could probably extend the 25GB recovery partition. Did you create that, or was it cloned over from your old SSD?

 

[TipsyMcStagger]

I think the extend volume option is only available if the partition immediately to the right of the partition you are trying to extend is empty (unallocated). I haven't used Windows 10, so am not entirely sure. So in your case you could probably extend the 25GB recovery partition. Did you create that, or was it cloned over from your old SSD?

What you see is exactly as it was cloned. The only options available when right-clicking the 4GB and 25GB partition is "Help."

I've downloaded and installed Minitool Partition Wizard Free but when I select Extend on the D partition, only the C partition is available to use for additional space.

I think it is, as you suggest, because of the position of the unalloacted space. But I have no idea how to move the unallocated space to the immediate right of the D partition.

Tipsy

 

[mjslakeridge]

I am not sure how to move the positions of the volumes around. Attached is a video where a guy is shrinking volumes, extending volumes, etc., but there are no more volumes "in the way":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJiakVgAtn4

I am sure there is a way to get the unallocated space merged into the D partition, but I don't want to mess things up for you. You could delete the 4GB and 25GB volumes, but I don't know if they contain any data. At least you have your original SSD and could clone again if something goes wrong.

I would suggest closing this thread (select a best answer) and create a new one entitled "Need help with unallocated space on SSD" or something similar. Since your original problem is solved (the cloning part), you may attract some new eyes for the new issue.

 

[TipsyMcStagger]

I am not sure how to move the positions of the volumes around. Attached is a video where a guy is shrinking volumes, extending volumes, etc., but there are no more volumes "in the way":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJiakVgAtn4

I would suggest closing this thread (select a best answer) and create a new one entitled "Need help with unallocated space on SSD" or something similar. Since your original problem is solved (the cloning part), you may attract some new eyes for the new issue.

I've seen that video. It didn't work for me.

I'll try a new thread. Thanks for your help.

Tipsy

 

[mjslakeridge]

Good luck. I will try to follow your new thread and maybe learn something!

 

[TipsyMcStagger]

I might be looking right at it but I don't see a way to choose a best answer or to mark the thread as solved.

If a moderator can do this, please do.

Thanks.

Tipsy

 

[mjslakeridge]

That's odd. I see now that your thread is a discussion (as indicated by the " symbol), rather than a question, so there is no way to select best answer. I don't know how you start a thread as a discussion vs a question. Maybe that is why it didn't get many reads.

 

[TipsyMcStagger]

That's odd. I see now that your thread is a discussion (as indicated by the " symbol), rather than a question, so there is no way to select best answer. I don't know how you start a thread as a discussion vs a question. Maybe that is why it didn't get many reads.

I must have made an incorrect selection when I started the discussion.

Tipsy

 

[mjslakeridge]

For your new thread, go to the "ask the community" box. That is how I have always started my attempts to get help. I don't even know where the discussion option is.

 

[TipsyMcStagger]

For your new thread, go to the "ask the community" box. That is how I have always started my attempts to get help. I don't even know where the discussion option is.

I believe that's what I did. I must have deselected the check mark next to "Request solutions to this Question (not a discussion)."

Tipsy

 

[mjslakeridge]

I guess I have never noticed that option. I am pretty sure someone will be able to get that unallocated space merged with the D drive main partition. Just keep your old SSD in a safe place for now.

 

[TipsyMcStagger]

I guess I have never noticed that option. I am pretty sure someone will be able to get that unallocated space merged with the D drive main partition. Just keep your old SSD in a safe place for now.

Wilco.

Tipsy

 

[ArtPog]

Laptop or desktop?
How are you connecting the 250GB to the USB? What cable, exactly?

Can you show a screencap of the current Disk Management window?

It's an Asus B400A laptop. I used a StarTech USB3S2SAT3CB transfer cable.

I apologize but I'm not exactly clear on where to find the Disk Management window.

Tipsy

EDIT: Think I got it:

1. Your objective to "integrate" the 227 GB of disk-space in the unallocated portion of the drive with the current D:
partition of 114 GB is doable and reasonably straightforward.

2. Note that the two intervening partitions sandwiched between the D: partition and the unallocated disk-space of
227 GB, i.e., the 4 GB & 25 GB partitions are devoid of data. Simply stated, they are empty partitions.

3. That being the case, there would seem to be no reason why you should not delete both of those partitions
(using the Disk Management "Delete Volume" command) thus creating all unallocated disk-space following the D:
partition.

4. Then, of course, simply using DM again, encompass all that unallocated disk-space using the "Extend Volume"
command.

NOW...
While the above process is relatively simple & straightforward, as all of us have learned working with PCs over
the years - #!*@ happens! This is especially true when changing drive configurations, i.e., partition manipulations.
That is why we ALWAYS recommend that before a PC user undertake "partition management" processes he/she
FIRST, BEFORE UNDERTAKING such, clone the existing drive to another drive as a fallback position. So in the
event the process goes awry the user has a safety net at hand.

Finally...
Assuming all goes well and you're satisfied with the results, make it a practice to clone the contents of your boot drive on a reasonably frequent basis so that you always have at hand a fairly up-to-date clone of your day-to-day drive. So when the day comes that the system becomes dysfunctional because of a failed boot drive or corrupt because of malware, you have the means at hand to return the system to a functional state quickly and with relatively little effort.

 

[TipsyMcStagger]

2. Note that the two intervening partitions sandwiched between the D: partition and the unallocated disk-space of 227 GB, i.e., the 4 GB & 25 GB partitions are devoid of data. Simply stated, they are empty partitions.


3. That being the case, there would seem to be no reason why you should not delete both of those partitions
(using the Disk Management "Delete Volume" command) thus creating all unallocated disk-space following the D:
partition.

Thanks, I used MiniTool Partition Wizard to move the 25GB partition but I wasn't able to move the 4GB partition, so I deleted it. I was then able to reallocate the space to the D drive.

All is working well, however, it's subsequently been pointed out to me that the 4GB partition was not "empty," but instead reserved as an "OEM" partition and deleting this has eliminated the ability to return Windows to its "original state."

I'm not sure how critical it is to be able to return Windows to its "original state" but all is working well for now and I will consider whether I want to repeat the cloning process a third time in order to restore the 4GB OEM partition I deleted.

Tipsy