Cloning your OS to a new drive, so complicated?

[thilanliyan]

Recently I bought a Crucial MX200 500GB drive and I thought moving all my data from my old 180GB SSD would be a simple matter of cloning using the provided Acronis True Image, however, it wasn't as simple as I thought it would be.

Firstly, Acronis does not allow you to resize the partitions to your liking. I don't know if this is a limitation of the cloning process but since it does allow you to make the partitions proportionally bigger when cloning, I'm guessing it should be possible. In my case, I wanted to increase the size of the OS partition and keep the size of the boot and recovery partitions the same as my 180GB drive. This was not possible in Acronis.

So I used Acronis to make an exact clone of the 180GB drive and figured I would just increase the size of the partition afterwards. Acronis does the cloning outside of windows and immediately makes the new drive the boot drive. So I rebooted with the new drive then tried using Mini tool Partition Wizard to resize the partition to fill up the rest of the drive. This operation was also performed outside of windows, and after rebooting, I found that my OS installation was hosed...blue screen on startup.

So back to the drawing board. I figured it was changing the partition size while the drive was the main drive that caused the issue, even though it was done outside of Windows, so I figured I should clone the drive, then immediately resize without rebooting so I needed a cloning program that ran it in windows.

I used Macrium Reflect to do the cloning inside windows, and the used Partition Magic to change the partition size also within windows, then set the new drive as the active drive, disconnected the old drive, and rebooted. Everything seems to be working fine now.

Is cloning usually this complicated or did I do something wrong?

 

[UsandThem]

It's been a few years since I used Acronis or Macrium to clone, so I can't remember if I encountered any issues like you did. I do remember having to use some utility to resize partitions in the past.

However, the last couple of years I used Samsung drives and cloned them using Samsung Data Migration, and it gives the option of manually changing the partition sizes from the default recommendation. So I didn't have to do anything after cloning the drives.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Recently I bought a Crucial MX200 500GB drive and I thought moving all my data from my old 180GB SSD would be a simple matter of cloning using the provided Acronis True Image, however, it wasn't as simple as I thought it would be.

Firstly, Acronis does not allow you to resize the partitions to your liking. I don't know if this is a limitation of the cloning process but since it does allow you to make the partitions proportionally bigger when cloning, I'm guessing it should be possible. In my case, I wanted to increase the size of the OS partition and keep the size of the boot and recovery partitions the same as my 180GB drive. This was not possible in Acronis.

So I used Acronis to make an exact clone of the 180GB drive and figured I would just increase the size of the partition afterwards. Acronis does the cloning outside of windows and immediately makes the new drive the boot drive. So I rebooted with the new drive then tried using Mini tool Partition Wizard to resize the partition to fill up the rest of the drive. This operation was also performed outside of windows, and after rebooting, I found that my OS installation was hosed...blue screen on startup.

So back to the drawing board. I figured it was changing the partition size while the drive was the main drive that caused the issue, even though it was done outside of Windows, so I figured I should clone the drive, then immediately resize without rebooting so I needed a cloning program that ran it in windows.

I used Macrium Reflect to do the cloning inside windows, and the used Partition Magic to change the partition size also within windows, then set the new drive as the active drive, disconnected the old drive, and rebooted. Everything seems to be working fine now.

Is cloning usually this complicated or did I do something wrong?

Actually, it had never been that complicated for me. But while I've found software accessories or bundles with storage devices useful, I've never relied on the free Acronis. I bought Disk Director 11, and bought True Image 2014 three years later.

The resizing function or proportional cloning had always been a feature of many and various utilities in that category.

Even so, I've probably resized my boot-system volume (and the "System Reserved" as well!) within Windows computer maintenance ->disk-management feature. Never had any boot problems, or don't recall any.

Worst thing that ever happened was cloning with identical disk signature to the target and leaving both drives connected at boot time. Windows "Repair" with the install disc resolves that problem easily.

 

[thilanliyan]

I was going to use the proportional clone in Acronis but that would unnecessarily increase the size of the boot and recovery partitions so that was a no go as well. I'm assuming the acronis 2015 that comes with the crucial drive is not the free version as it does come with a serial number so I'm surprised it couldn't manually increase the size of the main partition.

 

[thilanliyan]

It's been a few years since I used Acronis or Macrium to clone, so I can't remember if I encountered any issues like you did. I do remember having to use some utility to resize partitions in the past.

However, the last couple of years I used Samsung drives and cloned them using Samsung Data Migration, and it gives the option of manually changing the partition sizes from the default recommendation. So I didn't have to do anything after cloning the drives.

Okay so I guess it is just a limitation of the software and not of a cloning process. That's what I figured. Acronis should really update the software to allow for this.

 

[mxnerd]

I find Acronis sometimes buggy.

Now I only use free tools. Either Clonezilla or EaseUS Diskcopy

Then use Mini Tools Partition Wizard or EaseUS Partition Master to resize the partitions.

By the way, after you cloned the disk, shutdown PC and pull the old drive out then reboot. Sometimes the cloning software get confused when you leave two bootable drives in the PC. Only after PC boots with new drive successfully, you reconnect the old drive or do what ever you want.

 

[Ranulf]

Last time I used Macrium for cloning I think it let me resize the partitions before starting the process. Its become my go to program for cloning/imaging in the past couple of years.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Okay so I guess it is just a limitation of the software and not of a cloning process. That's what I figured. Acronis should really update the software to allow for this.

The biggest obstacle created by these bundled versions is inability to clone a larger volume to a smaller drive, even if the used space on that volume will fit on the smaller one. Maybe they just assume you'd upgrade from smaller to larger -- I'm just speculating.

I've had to do more than the usual amount of resizing with what is effectively four dual-boot (Win7/10) systems. It seemed to me I only needed to enter "Computer Management --> Disk Management" to change the size of existing volumes and even "move them around." It seemed like a little plastic puzzle I received at age 10 sixty years ago, from the moving company of our Midwest-California transplantation. Little plastic pieces in a box, like furniture, which you had to move around until the puzzle was solved.

But if you can't resize in the process of doing a clone, well -- you can speculate. Instead of speculating, I invested -- in the licensed retail version when I needed it. But indeed I DO have the license keys on little square pieces of paper for the bundled version of Acronis.

 

[Charlie98]

I actually just cloned a 120GB SSD to a 256GB SSD yesterday using a full version of Acronis '13... there is a provision to dictate partition sizes, which I did. I also have a free (WD) version of Acronis '13 and it has the ability to size the new drive... so maybe you are just missing it somewhere?

 

[thilanliyan]

I actually just cloned a 120GB SSD to a 256GB SSD yesterday using a full version of Acronis '13... there is a provision to dictate partition sizes, which I did. I also have a free (WD) version of Acronis '13 and it has the ability to size the new drive... so maybe you are just missing it somewhere?

All Acronis 2015 allowed me to do was: leave as is, make proportionally bigger (which I didn't want to do), and manually change the size of ONLY the unallocated space left over once I subtracted the 180GB of the original drive. I tried to resize the C partition and I could make it a bit smaller, but could not make it bigger, even if I deleted the partition allocated to the extra space.

 

[Charlie98]

I've got a copy of A'15, if you are interested I can spool it up and see...

 

[thilanliyan]

I've got a copy of A'15, if you are interested I can spool it up and see...

That would be great. If I did miss something, I might redo the cloning.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I actually just cloned a 120GB SSD to a 256GB SSD yesterday using a full version of Acronis '13... there is a provision to dictate partition sizes, which I did. I also have a free (WD) version of Acronis '13 and it has the ability to size the new drive... so maybe you are just missing it somewhere?

MAY-BE-E-E, Pil-grim!

I think I had in mind more than a month ago to purchase a new Acronis license. Perhaps I should try one of the bundled licenses I got with a recent SSD purchase . . . .

IF only my inclination 40 years ago to spend chump change had the discipline of today.

Always wait at least a day before you actually buy something you don't need immediately-abso-tively-posilutely.

 

[Elixer]

All Acronis 2015 allowed me to do was: leave as is, make proportionally bigger (which I didn't want to do), and manually change the size of ONLY the unallocated space left over once I subtracted the 180GB of the original drive. I tried to resize the C partition and I could make it a bit smaller, but could not make it bigger, even if I deleted the partition allocated to the extra space.

Unless they really crippled the free edition, the option should be there.
You can also download the full version (trial) and try that.

However, a simple clone is all you need, then within windows, you can make the partition bigger.
There are a ton of utilities to do that, even window's disk management allows you to do that.
Paragon's (https://www.paragon-software.com/pm-index.html) or Minitool's (http://www.minitool.com/partition-manager/partition-wizard-home.html) partition utilities also work fine.

 

[thilanliyan]

Unless they really crippled the free edition, the option should be there.
You can also download the full version (trial) and try that.

However, a simple clone is all you need, then within windows, you can make the partition bigger.
There are a ton of utilities to do that, even window's disk management allows you to do that.
Paragon's (https://www.paragon-software.com/pm-index.html) or Minitool's (http://www.minitool.com/partition-manager/partition-wizard-home.html) partition utilities also work fine.

I was using the version that came with the crucial ssd, which I'm assuming is not a free version since it came with a registration key.

Windows disk management would not allow me to resize the partition once I had booted with the disk.

And using Minitool to resize the partition after booting with it hosed the installation.
As I said, I didn't think it would be complicated but for some reason it did end up that way for me.

Ideally I could have done it all within Acronis but it didn't have the option to just resize the main partition.

 

[Elixer]

Windows disk management would not allow me to resize the partition once I had booted with the disk.

What was the exact error message?
I assume you clicked on the C partition, and then select "extend volume"?
Can you show us a screen show of the partition layout? (of that disk management screen)

And using Minitool to resize the partition after booting with it hosed the installation.
As I said, I didn't think it would be complicated but for some reason it did end up that way for me.

I have never seen that program fail, I am thinking you may have did something wrong?
Can you explain a bit on how you did it?

I have used both those programs recently as well...

 

[UsandThem]

The problem extending the partition within Windows is due to Windows allowing a partition to be extended only if the unpartitioned space is directly after the partition.

For example, if you have a C: partition, and Windows creates a small system reserved partition after it, you can't extend the C: drive simply using disk management.

That's when you have to use a 3rd party utility.

 

[UsandThem]

Also, in this user guide, it states you can resize the partitions within the program before starting the clone:

https://kb.acronis.com/content/56634

 

[Elixer]

The problem extending the partition within Windows is due to Windows allowing a partition to be extended only if the unpartitioned space is directly after the partition.

For example, if you have a C: partition, and Windows creates a small system reserved partition after it, you can't extend the C: drive simply using disk management.

That's when you have to use a 3rd party utility.

Right, that is why this is curious, and I asked for a screenshot. In a normal windows install, there shouldn't be any partition after the main (OS) partition.
On some laptops, they do have a extra partition for the "recovery" software, but, if that is the case, you just move that partition over using minitools or whatever.

 

[UsandThem]

Here's mine from a clean Windows 10 install

The unallocated space on both drives was a OP I set at a later date. After the install, I had the recovery partition, EFI, C:. and then another recovery partition.

 

[UsandThem]

Actually, now that I think about it, I cloned a Sandisk SSD because it was showing errors. After a clean install on the Sandisk, I bought a 850 EVO and cloned it using Samsung Magician. That's probably why I now have two recovery partitions.

Edit:

Now that I really think back, I intially upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7, found out the new Sandisk SSD had issues, and then I cloned it to a 850 EVO. Man, my memory is starting to go.

Heck, there's always something to learn with computers........

 

[thilanliyan]

Right, that is why this is curious, and I asked for a screenshot. In a normal windows install, there shouldn't be any partition after the main (OS) partition.
On some laptops, they do have a extra partition for the "recovery" software, but, if that is the case, you just move that partition over using minitools or whatever.

I have a recovery partition after the main OS partition, I guess that's why I couldn't extend it according to UsandThem. Maybe that's why I couldn't do it in Acronis as well?

As for the initial try, I did the clone with Acronis (it did it outside Windows). It rebooted setting the new drive as the boot drive. I then extended the main partition using Minitool (which did it outside Windows), and then I rebooted and I was having trouble opening any system programs (task manager, control panel, etc). So then I rebooted to see if that would fix the issue but it gave me a blue screen before getting to the logon screen. Every reboot afterward gave me the blue screen, so I started the cloning again as I said in my OP. Sorry, I didn't take screenshots while doing it.

 

[Elixer]

I have a recovery partition after the main OS partition, I guess that's why I couldn't extend it according to UsandThem. Maybe that's why I couldn't do it in Acronis as well?

Yeah, that would stop Windows, but wouldn't stop minitools, as long as you had the same layout, the boot loader wouldn't care.

 

[thilanliyan]

Really not sure what happened after I used mini tools. It seemed to extend the partition fine, it booted into Windows the first time but windows was definitely hosed. And then it wouldn't get passed the loading screen without blue screening.

 

[DaveSimmons]

This makes me glad I paid a little extra for Samsung

Last month I migrated my Windows 8.1 work PC boot drive from 120 GB to a 500 GB Samsung, and my Windows 7 gaming PC from 60 GB intel to 250 GB Samsung.

In both cases the Samsung migration software ran within windows, copied the data, resized the partitions. I shut down, replaced the old drives with the new ones, and booted up. Windows detected the change, required one restart and it was done.