Additional question - changing out C: drives

Will do, E.J.

Although somewhat cumbersome, this kind of "issue" is why I have always used the Windows utilities to replace a system drive.

Make an image of your initial/old system drive using Windows backup.
Make a "recovery" USB drive using Windows backup.
Insure that you can actuallyboot on the new "recovery" USB.
Replace the initial/old system drive with the new drive.
Boot on the recovery USB and follow the instructions to load the image from your external drive where it was stored.
After this you should be able to just boot on the new drive.
You will have to expand the partition to use the entire available space on the new disk, but you should be up and running.

I have heard about folks having "issues" with clones of drives using third party software, and have therefor avoided that route although it does have attractive attributes (along with the risks).

As long as you have the old/initial drive you should be fine.
Good luck.

Mark L wrote:Although somewhat cumbersome, this kind of "issue" is why I have always used the Windows utilities to replace a system drive.

Make an image of your initial/old system drive using Windows backup.
Make a "recovery" USB drive using Windows backup.
Insure that you can actuallyboot on the new "recovery" USB.
Replace the initial/old system drive with the new drive.
Boot on the recovery USB and follow the instructions to load the image from your external drive where it was stored.
After this you should be able to just boot on the new drive.
You will have to expand the partition to use the entire available space on the new disk, but you should be up and running.

I have heard about folks having "issues" with clones of drives using third party software, and have therefor avoided that route although it does have attractive attributes (along with the risks).

As long as you have the old/initial drive you should be fine.
Good luck.

Good insight although I have done this many times with no problems. If the drive is plugged in properly then this is a weird BIOS like I've not seen before.

All wiring looks good, and the computer does recognize the new drives. In the BIOS, which is AMI, the main screen lists "Storage Information" and both new drives are shown there. The C: drive is listed under PCIE SSD - CT500P1SSD8. (This is my laptop. Increased C: drive to 500 GB from 128 GB or whatever.)

In the Boot screen, I did go down to "UEFI Boot Disk Priorities", which I didn't go to before, and the new drive was listed as a 2nd option, so I selected it as 1st option. I figured that might solve the problem, but no, it didn't. Under Fixed Boot Order priorities, I tried it with the new drive as 1st option and 3rd option (this was the order I originally found them). Wouldn't boot up in either position.

I then went back into BIOS, to the Boot screen, and looked at "Boot mode select". The options under that are UEFI with CSM, Legacy, and UEFI. It was originally set to UEFI, and still is. Should I try to boot it in another position?

From reading on Google, one article mentioned updating the BIOS. Could this be a possibility?
In the BIOS, under the Advanced Screen, it does list "UEFI BIOS Update" as an option. The choices under that are:
MSI IN-BIOS update function ver. 1.4 for Aptiov
UEFI BIOS Update

The BIOS is made by American Megatrends, Inc., or AMI

Mark L wrote:Although somewhat cumbersome, this kind of "issue" is why I have always used the Windows utilities to replace a system drive.

Make an image of your initial/old system drive using Windows backup.
Make a "recovery" USB drive using Windows backup.
Insure that you can actuallyboot on the new "recovery" USB.
Replace the initial/old system drive with the new drive.
Boot on the recovery USB and follow the instructions to load the image from your external drive where it was stored.
After this you should be able to just boot on the new drive.
You will have to expand the partition to use the entire available space on the new disk, but you should be up and running.

I have heard about folks having "issues" with clones of drives using third party software, and have therefor avoided that route although it does have attractive attributes (along with the risks).

As long as you have the old/initial drive you should be fine.
Good luck.

Thank you, Mark.  I want to see if I can work through this first with E.J..  This that doesn't work, I will try your suggestion.  Your suggestion will entail some additional learning on my part as I'm not sure I understand how to "make an image using Windows Back-up", nor do I know how to make a "Recovery" USB Drive.  I'm sure I can learn this, but it's just additional time I would prefer not to have to spend.  Worst case basis, I will just take the thing to a local shop and tell them to fix it, but I hate that because that's admitting failure and I don't get to learn how to actually do this.  Thanks for your help though, and I may be back in touch with you later!

Bill

There are multiple ways to accomplish this and my intention was just to present an option.  If you need to dig into the approach that I suggest we can certainly support you.

There is a an end to the process!

OK, Nothing seemed to work, so I switched C: drives back to my old C: drive and it booted right up. I then placed the NEW C; drive that doesn't boot into the holder and plugged it back into a USB 3.1 port. I went into Computer Management> Disk Management to get the new D: up & running. Did that with no problem, and took a screenshot of the 3 drives (Old C: drive, new 2 TB HD, and NEW C: dive that doesn't boot.)

Here's what it looks like. Shouldn't the old C: drive and NEW C: drive be idententical, except for size)? They are not at all. Any idea what this tells us?

Image below:

So it has already done the partition increase for you which makes me think that this wasn't a true clone. In a true clone, you would get an identical 117.94 GB and then the rest unallocated. That could be the problem. The increasing of partition size is done after you get it all running if it's really a clone.

I haven't used Acronis in many years because it always had weird little problems. You could try to reclone using the free version of Macrium Reflect and make sure you use the clone option not the backup options.

Bill

These kinds of issues are why I choose to use the Microsoft software.

Go to Control Panel
Open Backup and Restore (Windows 7)
Click on "Create a system image" on the left side and put the image onto an external USB hard drive
Click on "Create a system repair disc" on the left hand side and make a system repair USB stick
Insure that you can boot onto the created USB system repair stick
Swap the "C" drive with your new SSD
Boot onto the USB system repair stick
Load the image from your external image 
You should now be booting onto the new SSD
You will need to expand the partition to use the entire new SSD

One advantage to this approach is that you have a backup image on the external hard drive in addition to your old SSD.

If you have any questions just shout.
Mark

Thank you both.

It will be tomorrow before I do anything because I'm transferring data from my old D: drive over to my new D: drive currently and it still has a while to go before finishing.

Tomorrow is another day - I'll be back at it then!

OK, I'm back at it this morning.  

Downloaded the free version of Macrium Reflect and cloned C: drive again.  here is the picture of the new clone:




I'm trying to extend the volume currently but have questions.

I received these two screens. I assumed this was correct so I hit NEXT.

Then his screen came up: I haven't done anything with this yet.  I wanted to make sure this is correct before I click to continue.  Is it safe to click YES to this?


 

Bill

I can't answer your question about Macrium.  However, my suggestion is that after cloning your "old" C drive you install the new clone version in your machine and boot to it to insure that you have a fully functional clone of the original drive.

Then, and only then you can address extending the volume.  

It seems to me that this approach is the most conservative, and safe way to proceed?

OK, let me be sure I understand you.

I should swap out the old c: drive for the new c: drive, then see if it boots.

If yes, then extend the volume?

Correct?

Yes.  That is correct.  First insure that you have made a fully functional clone of the original "C" drive and then you can extend the volume in the computer.  

Ok, I'm on it. I'll be back with the results in a few.

Bill Chambers wrote:Ok, I'm on it.  I'll be back with the results in a few.

Yes, exactly what Mark said - I'm pretty sure that was in the instructions in the thread

SUCCESS.  It booted up.  Took it a while, several instances where it said it was repairing something but then Windows popped up.

I've shut down and re-started twice and it opened up fine those two times.  One difference though, it definitely makes more noise now, like the processor is working harder or something.  Is this normal?

Here's the new screen in Computer Management. Ok.  So now to extend the volume.  The screen shot above is through Computer Management, not Macrium.

Before I screw-up the success we've had so far, what's the next step in extending the volume?

Great news.  

It has been a long time since I extended a volume, so I'll let EJ, or someone else help you along, but you are almost done.

Sounds good. Thanks so much for your assistance, Mark.

You should be able to just right click in the shaded Windows C: section on the screen above and then select - extend volume.