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Cloning non-SSD to SSD

slightlyhuman

slightlyhuman

Lifer
What would be the easiest way to do this? I have a slow work PC. I have a spare 256GB SSD I want to put in it as the main drive. It has a regular 250GB SATA in there now. I just want to copy/ghost the currect SATA in there and throw it all on the SSD and swap them out.
I used to have a copy of Norton Ghost but it’s been quite a few years. Is there any free/easy/fast way to do make this swap?

I checked out xxclone but if I just need to pony up the $20 for norton utilities again I will, just looking for the cleanest, easiest way to clone the two drives.


:beer;
 
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Take a look at Macrium Reflect as a candidate for best free cloner.

BTW, your note is confusing. SATA is the connection interface, and is common to both HDDs and SSDs. When you clone HDD to SSD, you would be going SATA to SATA.
 
corkyg said:
Take a look at Macrium Reflect as a candidate for best free cloner.

BTW, your note is confusing. SATA is the connection interface, and is common to both HDDs and SSDs. When you clone HDD to SSD, you would be going SATA to SATA.
Click to expand...


Sorry should have stated it's a regular non-sdd going to SSD.

thanks for the suggestion.

RE: image size.. does cloning software only clone the used space?(ie. it's 250GB drive, with 100GB free) or will the file size be exactly the same size as the HD itself? Just curious if I need to grab my 500GB external to hold the image or it will be only the size of the data used on the non-SSD drive.

Thanks
 
It will just clone the used space & use maximum partition size of the target drive. Used space can't be more than the size of your drive, unless compressing the data.
 
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Macrium is probably the best tool. If its cloning feature ultimately fails to do what you need, you can always instead use its imaging capability, which might be a bit more trouble-free. You'd make an image of the current C and system reserved partitions, store them on some other drive (possibly external), boot from the Macrium rescue disk, and restore those images to the SSD.
 
Alright, managed to clone it without problems but ran into issues getting it to boot.

After cloning I swapped the non-SSD out for the newly cloned SSD, set it as first boot device in BIOS and this is the first screen I see once I power the computer on. If I have the non-SSD drive plugged up it boots up fine.

Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

IMG_20140729_150741363.jpg
 
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Check the BIOS. Where is the SSD in your boot order?

If you are getting to the network boot, it sounds like it's not even trying to look at the SSD.
 
I had the SSD connected by itself and set as the first boot device it still showed the above black screen.

I even plugged in both drives to pick the order in the BIOS to no avail. Also hit F12 to select boot device and only saw the non-SSD so I went back into the BIOS and saw both drives were showing up however, the SSD is under "non-bootable". da fuq?


IMG_20140729_160639691.jpg

IMG_20140729_160630131.jpg
 
OK, I am looking at the manual now. If I can't get back to you tonight maybe someone else can chime in.

Edit: OK, I did have a minute to look at this. For reference I am looking on pages 69-70 of this:

http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/thinkcentre_pdf/0b01212_edge71_sff_ug_en.pdf

It looks like that board has 3 SATA ports. Is the SATA drive using the same port as the old drive? And if so, have you tried other ports to see if they respond differently?

Have you checked to make sure that none of the SATA ports are disabled?

If you put your new drive back in and boot from it, can you see that data on your SATA drive?

From the screenshot you showed and what you have said so far, it is a possibility that the MBR just didn't get written to the new drive. You can make a new one for the SSD by booting off a Windows (whatever version you are running) DVD, or try the program again and see what was missed.

I have not used Macrium Reflect before, so corkyg or ignatzatsonic would be best to ask about that.

Other programs like Acronis (free trial period) and Todo Backup (free forever) could also be used to do this.

Last note, which maybe should have been first, is that since this is a Seagate drive, you might want to try using the Seagate DiscWizard software to do this for you:
http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/discwizard-master-dl/
 
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ketchup79 said:
OK, I am looking at the manual now. If I can't get back to you tonight maybe someone else can chime in.


It looks like that board has 3 SATA ports. Is the SATA drive using the same port as the old drive? And if so, have you tried other ports to see if they respond differently?

I tried only 2 of them. I'll try it in the morning.

Have you checked to make sure that none of the SATA ports are disabled?

Not in the BIOS yet, will do that also.

If you put your new drive back in and boot from it, can you see that data on your SATA drive?

I haven't been able to get past the BIOS/POST with the new SSD drive. However, I can see all the copied contents when it's a slave to the old drive.

From the screenshot you showed and what you have said so far, it is a possibility that the MBR just didn't get written to the new drive. You can
make a new one for the SSD by booting off a Windows (whatever version you are running) DVD, or try the program again and see what was missed.

I do remember when formatting it this morning that I checked the top option that would write an MBR. I've got a few options to try before just starting over, worst case scenario

I have not used Macrium Reflect before, so corkyg or ignatzatsonic would be best to ask about that.

Other programs like Acronis (free trial period) and Todo Backup (free forever) could also be used to do this.

Last note, which maybe should have been first, is that since this is a Seagate drive, you might want to try using the Seagate DiscWizard software to do this for you:
http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/discwizard-master-dl/
Click to expand...


Thanks for your help, I'll report back after tinkering with it.

Opinions on Norton being super easy for this kind of stuff?
 
ketchup79 said:
If I can't get back to you tonight maybe someone else can chime in.
Click to expand...
If I was to step in, it would be with this.

slightlyhuman said:
Alright, managed to clone it without problems but ran into issues getting it to boot.
...
Not sure what I'm doing wrong.
Click to expand...

There is something about making a drive bootable that I am not aware of. It could be something as simple as the Master Boot Record, I am not sure since I have not looked into it that deeply.


It seems that one of these situations happened, and I am not sure which.
  • whatever program was used to clone the drive did not copy the MBR or make the drive bootable, or
  • after the drive was cloned, the system was restarted with the original system drive still connected.

The original system drive should have been disconnected before restarting.

Did the BIOS POST?
Has the original system drive been disconnected?

My advice would be to image the drive using either EaseUS Todo Backup Free or Acronis. Acronis because that is what I am familiar with. Regarding a free imaging program, there is a saying that you get what you pay for. I have not tried any free imaging program, so cannot attest to the differences between Acronis and anything else that might be used. Although Microsoft has an imaging program, Backup and Restore, under the (Start Menu | Maintenance folder) that works for free. I have seen that used successfully once but am not otherwise familiar with it.


Additionally, what interface is connecting this SSD to the motherboard? What is the brand and model of this SSD? The shown error is with the Realtek PCIe controller. Is this SSD connected to the motherboard with a PCIe connection or with a SATA connection? If PCIe, the SSD manufacturer will have a driver that first needs to be installed before the PCIe connected drive can be booted from.

SSD_interface.png



EDIT:
We need to be informed of whatever program was used to clone the drive so someone with that specific experience may provide assistance.
 
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I just remoted in and wiped the SSD. However it didn't give me the option to have an MBR written this time. I'm trying the Seagate clone as I type this. I'll unhook the old drive tomorrow before booting and see how it goes.

Should I let it power on and go on its own or catch the BIOS first and look in there?
 
slightlyhuman said:
...Should I let it power on and go on its own or catch the BIOS first and look in there?
Click to expand...

Either/or. You may want to make sure the SSD is in the Boot sequence, but you would just see the network boot if it is not.

Some computers are picky and want you to re-save BIOS options when a drive changes. but that is mostly from years past.
 
Came into work after the seagate software did it's thing. SSD fired right up.

Amazing how much faster it is. Simply amazing. Thanks for ALL the help and suggestions guys.

:beer; all around
 
Awesome! Just ordered my first two last night (well, first two for me). Looking forward to getting those fired up tomorrow.
 
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