Windows 10: Laptop won't boot from cloned SSD

Discus and support Laptop won't boot from cloned SSD in Windows 10 Installation and Upgrade to solve the problem; Good morning, I have a Lenovo laptop which has a 256GB M.2 SSD. All works great, but I want to install a larger SSD. I have cloned the old drive to... Discussion in 'Windows 10 Installation and Upgrade' started by AlanPanda, Jan 24, 2021.

  1. AlanPanda Win User

    Laptop won't boot from cloned SSD


    Good morning,


    I have a Lenovo laptop which has a 256GB M.2 SSD. All works great, but I want to install a larger SSD. I have cloned the old drive to the new Crucial SSD, but the laptop will not boot from it. It just responds with 'Inaccessible drive'.


    I have done or tried these:

    - put the old drive and the new drive into USB caddies and used EaseUS to clone the full partition

    - when the new drive wouldn't boot I wiped it, installed it in the laptop, booted from EaseUS Startup Drive, and cloned it in situ from the old SSD in a USB caddy.

    - still not joy, so I created an image of the old ssd on to a USB drive, and used EaseUS to burn the image to the new SSD that was in situ in the laptop. No joy.

    - With the new SSD in place I booted from a Windows installation disc and tried 'Repair'. It instantly came back with 'Cannot repair your system'.

    - I tried to install Windows from the disc, but it says it can't be installed on a GPT formatted disc

    - I confirmed that the new SSD has been formatted as GPT, the same as the old SSD so I don't want to convert it

    - I confirmed that the BIOS setting has 'Legacy support' turned on, and 'Try UEFI first'. hadn't changed anything there.

    - I have tried rebuilding the Master Boot record: still won't boot.

    - If I enter the 'Boot sequence' at start up I can see all the drives New SSD, DVD and 'Boot Manager'. I read that using UEFI 'Boot Manager' must always be the first choice, whereas with MBR drives you should select the drive itself. Neither option works.

    - If I re-fit the original SSD into the laptop and connect the new cloned SSD in a USB caddy, and select 'Boot sequence' at startup, I am offered the USB-connected new drive as a potential boot drive. I selected that and it said 'Automatic repair...', and a few minutes later the laptop booted. I am pretty sure it did indeed boot from the USB-connected drive, as it was slower, the light flashed a lot, and when I shut it down it took several minutes to shut down completely. But I can't be certain.

    - I was hopeful of a successful boot if I fitted the new 'repaired' SSD into the laptop, but no success. Same message - 'Drive is inaccessible'.

    - Final thing I tried was to remove the drive from the laptop, leave the slot empty, and connect it as previously with a USB caddy. I hit 'Boot sequence' at start-up, and selected the USB drive. No luck. Also selected 'Boot manager', and no luck either.


    I am keen to get this working by cloning, not by a fresh Windows install, as I want this technique to work for me as a disaster recovery method, also.


    All advice gratefully received.

    Thank you.


    BTW: if you buy a Crucial drive you can create a clone using their Acronis software. But it didn't recognise the Crucial drive as being from Crucial, so it doesn't work. EaseUS has always worked for me, many times, in the past.

    :)
     
    AlanPanda, Jan 24, 2021
    #1

  2. Unable to boot Windows after cloning it to SSD

    Hi,



    Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



    I understand that you are facing issues while booting the PC after cloning Windows to new SSD. I would like to know what happens when you try to boot the PC to desktop using SSD?



    The reason you are not able to boot the PC is that the files required to boot Windows are still recognizing the HDD as the main drive. I would suggest you to try rebuilding the BCD files and see if you are able to boot the PC using
    SSD.



    Kindly follow the steps below to rebuild the BCD.



    1. Create a bootable media and boot the PC using the media.
    2. On the Install Windows screen, select Next >
      Repair your computer.
    3. On the System Recovery Options screen, select
      Troubleshoot
      > Advanced options > Command Prompt.
    4. Now type in the commands and hit enter: BOOTREC /FIXMBR

      BOOTREC /FIXBOOT


      BOOTREC /scanos

      BOOTREC /rebuildbcd
    5. Restart the PC.


    If the issue persists, please get back to us with the results of the troubleshooting steps to assist you further.



    Regards,

    Prakhar Khare

    Microsoft Community – Moderator
     
    Prakhar_Khare, Jan 24, 2021
    #2
  3. cadaveca Win User
    Moving to SSD. Clone or not to clone?

    Part of how I keep my SSD fast is to clone it to a platter drive, then clone back. You just want to make sure that you are only cloning teh used space, and not the empty space.


    So, again, I isntall Windows to the ssd. Clone to platter drive, then clone back.

    I am not sure why, but if I do not do the clone step, the drive's speed, and windows booting, decreases substantially within a week or so.

    I am using a Corsair F60 SSD and a Western Digital 500AAKS as drives, and using the free version of Acronis that WD provides, if any of that matters. I am not sure, at this point.
     
    cadaveca, Jan 24, 2021
    #3
  4. Protik Win User

    Laptop won't boot from cloned SSD

    Issues booting from cloned ssd

    I use a L440 Thinkpad with windows 10. Recently I decided to upgrade my laptop which have a regular HDD. So bought a 480GB Sandisk SSD, mounted that to a caddy. Then replaced my optical drive with that caddy. When I turned on my laptop the SSD showed up
    in "disk management". Formatted it with GPT by following the instructions available online. Then cloned the disk using EaseUS Todo backup. Everything is cloned successfully. But unfortunately I cannot boot from the SSD. Even the SSD doesn't show up in the
    boot order.

    Following various internet forums tried disabling "Secure boot" and choosing "Legacy only" from BIOS. But nothing works. It is to be noted that both my HDD and SSD are connected. As per instructions I shutdown right after cloning the disk into SSD, but nothing.
    Any help regarding how can I boot from SSD?
     
    Protik, Jan 24, 2021
    #4
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Laptop won't boot from cloned SSD

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