cloning Notebook without CD drive

[marcplante]

I'm trying to use Acronis true image to clone the image of the hard drive on a notebook that does not have a DVD drive.

Device is a Samsung ATIV9 notebook running Windows 8.1
I have a copy of Acronis True Image 2014 installed on the hard drive
I have formatted the destination SSD using Windows disk Management and assigned it a drive designation.

I started the application and ran through the clone routine.

Acronis sees the additional image and allows me to select it as the destination drive

The system reboots, then gives an error that one or more of the removable disks may not have started at the moment.

Acronis indicates that it needs to run from external boot media (?). Do I need to build a USB based boot drive, then boot the notebook from a USB drive to clone the HD?

Thank you,

 

[Charlie98]

Yes, you can't clone while you are operating within Windows. You need to boot into Acronis somehow (CD is best, but unless you have an external drive, that's out. A USB stick will work as long as your laptop will allow you to boot from a USB port.)

 

[corkyg]

... Acronis indicates that it needs to run from external boot media (?). Do I need to build a USB based boot drive, then boot the notebook from a USB drive to clone the HD? Thank you,

Yes, that's how I do almost weekly. I used the installed Acronis to prepare a bootable USB thumb drive, and that does it.

 

[marcplante]

So all I need to do is figure out the hotkey on the samsung to get into bios and switch the bit disc. Thanks