Booting a cloned disk

[GrateJames]

Hello!
I'm trying to clone my 512GB SSD to my much larger 4TB USB hard drive, without disrupting the other partitions. I've tried cloning 3 different ways: GParted, Macrium reflect cloning, and Macrium Reflect image and then restored to the drive. In each case I cannot boot. Though the clone is detected in the uefi, starting it shows a black screen, followed by a very quick flash of text before rebooting (I believe it says 'Abort System', but it is too quick to read). I can get a bit further by using the Macrium rescue media to 'fix boot problems' to reset the entries in the Windows Boot Manger. Then I can select Windows instead of EFI USB Device in UEFI, which results in a recovery screen. One of the options in advanced is to select an OS, where I can choose between Windows (Volume 5) and Windows (Volume 11). Volume 11 falls through to the next item in the UEFI boot list (grub), while Volume 5 loads the original windows install.

When cloning, I see 4 partitions:
SYSTEM_DRV, 260MB, FAT32
(None), 16MB, Unformatted
Windows-SSD, 475.69GB, NTFS
WINRE_DRV, 1000MB NTFS
All of which copy without issue and are appended after the two data storage partitions on the 4tb drive

Is there something simple I'm missing? I've been at this for a while and I can't find what's stopping it. My only guess is that when copying the EFI partition across the partition indexes are wrong because of the partitions previously on the HDD, but I don't even know how I'd repair that. Let me know if there's any information I can provide, screenshots, or things I should try.
Thank you for any help!

 

[ChatGPT]

Hello there!

It seems like you've taken several steps in cloning your SSD to your larger USB hard drive, but you're encountering booting issues. Let's try to address those problems and find a solution.

Firstly, when cloning a drive, it's important to ensure that the target drive (in this case, the USB hard drive) is set up correctly. Based on the information you provided, it seems like the cloning process went smoothly as you can see all the partitions on the cloned drive. However, it's worth mentioning that the 16MB unformatted partition is usually the Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR) and it is normal for it to be present.

Now, let's discuss the booting problem you're facing. It seems that the cloned drive is being detected in the UEFI, but it fails to boot and quickly shows a black screen with a message that you can't read. This typically indicates a boot problem.

One possible issue could be related to the EFI partition. The EFI partition contains important boot-related files, and if it's not correctly cloned or set up, it can cause booting problems. To resolve this, you can try the following steps:

1. Use the Macrium Reflect rescue media to boot your computer.
2. Select the "Fix boot problems" option.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions to repair the boot entries.
4. Once the repair process is complete, restart your computer and check if the issue is resolved.

If the problem still persists, it might be worth trying an alternative approach to cloning. You could consider using a different cloning software like Clonezilla or Acronis True Image, as different software can sometimes yield different results.

Additionally, you mentioned that you have two Windows volumes (Volume 5 and Volume 11) on your cloned drive. Volume 11 seems to be causing the boot to fail, while Volume 5 loads the original Windows installation. In this case, you may want to remove or delete the problematic volume (Volume 11) to see if it resolves the issue.

It's important to note that manipulating partitions or volumes can be risky, so it's always recommended to create a backup of all important data before attempting any changes.

Hopefully, these suggestions help you resolve the booting problem you're experiencing. Let us know if you have any further questions or if there's anything else we can assist you with!

 

[cybernautilus]

I'm new to this forum though experienced IRL so please bear with me if I break forum conventions or protocol.

The one item that immediately comes to my notice is -- UUID clash. Whenever cloning partitions, if you intend even just using them on the same machine i.e. not necessarily booting from the cloned partition, you must be mindful of generating a new UUID of the cloned partition to avoid the kind of situation that you are currently experiencing.

There is a quick and dirty method to verify the integrity of your cloned partition i.e. whether booting it is possible or not -- disable or hide the source (original) partition (which boots correctly) in the BIOS, then try booting with the cloned partition. I have been able to get such a configuration to boot. Although Windows is quite finicky and may still throw errors which will need to be solved separately (sysprep etc) whereas a cloned Linux partition just boots.

 

[GrateJames]

No problem, I'm new here too!
UUID clash sounds very possible, since both the clone and the 'source' drive are plugged in, so I'll have to do some research into that. Unfortunately the laptop I'm on has a Lenovo UEFI with very few settings, so I don't think I can disable the internal drive short of disassembling the laptop or sabotaging the EFI entry, both of I'd like to leave as a last resort.
This is definitely surprising to me after having cloned Linux drives many times before for system upgrades or drive swaps and having it work seamlessly!

Thanks, James

 

[Jimbo22]

Are both drives ssd, or is the target drive an HD....ie spinner/mechanical.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Windows Forums mobile app

 

[GrateJames]

Cybernautilus, I can't seem to find partition UUIDs? I have found information about the type-id, but these are supposed to match and dictate the type of the partition (set id), disk IDs that are different, and BCD UUIDs that appear to be different, but I can't tell for sure (EasyBCD unhelpfully responds {default} and {69573...db53})

Jimbo22, the source drive is a 512GB internal SSD, while the target is a 4tb USB HDD (Reported as "WD My Passport 2627 USB Device" in diskpart)

I also forgot to mention, but I spent last night re-arranging partitions on the HDD so that the first four partitions are the cloned ones, moving the old data partitions to be at the very end. Thought this might help things with partition indexes as mentioned in my first post, but no change.

 

[GrateJames]

I tried to respond, but it got stuck waiting for mod approval, so I'll try repeating it here:

Cybernautilus, I can't seem to find partition UUIDs? I have found information about the type-id, but these are supposed to match and dictate the type of the partition, disk IDs that are different, and BCD UUIDs that appear to be different, but I can't tell for sure (EasyBCD unhelpfully responds {default} and {69573...db53})

Jimbo22, the source drive is a 512GB internal SSD, while the target is a 4tb USB HDD (Reported as "WD My Passport 2627 USB Device" in diskpart)

I also forgot to mention, but I spent last night re-arranging partitions on the HDD so that the first four partitions are the cloned ones, moving the old data partitions to be at the very end. Thought this might help things with partition indexes as mentioned in my first post, but no change.

 

[Jimbo22]

I'm not sure as it's been awhile as I've been out of the game for some time.

If memory is correct and your Target drive is a portable drive as I suspect based off of description. I think that's the problem as you can't/not allowed to boot from portable drives without some hoop jumping.

I will have to defer to the experts for further assistance.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Windows Forums mobile app

 

[GrateJames]

Ok, that also looks like a promising route. I'm looking into Hasleo's WinToUSB and WinToHDD, as well as AOMEI Backup, which supposedly can support this according to ubackup.com/clone/clone-windows-to-usb-drive-1021.html

Edit: None of the three of those support disk cloning to an external drive without destroying partitions with the free version...

 

[Jimbo22]

Next questions: With this portable drive, what is your intended use for it? Are wanting to image a drive for a backup or clone to replace a faulty drive?
As cloned is bootable, where's an imaged drive is not.

If you're just using the portable drive for os backups then the image route is what you want. Where you can backup any or all of the data. Then setup backup intervals.

Personally, I like Aoemi and use it. I've had mine for 10 yrs or more. A promotional Pro version free deal.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Windows Forums mobile app

 

[GrateJames]

My hope was to eventually switch to a lightweight linux distro on this old laptop, while keeping a bootable version of the old windows setup. Cloning the data is easy, but I have years of configs and tinkering that make it important to preserve the whole OS.

Right now I'm trying to image the disk to vdi so that I can just spin up a vm, but I won't know how well it's worked for a couple hours probably.

Edit: Got a 'No bootable medium found', and am posting on the VirtualBox forums to try to continue down this path

 

[cybernautilus]

Since you intend to switch to Linux anyway, albeit later, why not boot with it's live disc? The Deb family (which I'm familiar with) usually has (or allows to install) some graphical disk management program. For example, in the Linux Mint (highly customised) which I use, shows UUIDs quite plainly and painlessly. I know that the KDE desktop environment also has it's own disk management utility. I'm not familiar with other branches of Linux viz. the Fedora / Red Hat branch or the Arch / Manjaro sub-branch, but I have reason to believe they, too, have such a utility, although it's ease-of-use I cannot vouch for.

I am a strong advocate for graphical programmes on the Linux platform which, IMO, are practical for the bulk of the users who aren't 'keyboard warriors'.

 

[cybernautilus]

Replying to the discussion regarding booting MS Windows off of an external drive -- yes, WintoUSB is a good choice. I have used it to multi boot Linux (Mint) with various versions of Windows (7, 8.1 and 10) on an 2010 Acer laptop, successfully. In fact, my teenage kids could use the laptop without any difficulty booting into whatever OS was necessary for their school work or playing or browsing the Internet etc.

I had all the three Windows versions installed on their own VHDs (not VHDx which I found problematic to port and impossible read from Linux using VirtualBox), allowing for a 'golden copy' of the initial install which I backed up to revert to in case of any problem (Windows is far more fussier than Linux IMHO).

I have never used Aomei for this particular use -- only their free partition management utility for manipulating NTFS partitions from Windows.

Regarding your problem that the free utilities destroy the partition which they are allocated to work with, why not back your Windows installation to a VHD? That's how I started off. Windows 7 onwards all versions permit backing up to VHDs and Virtual Box can read, boot off of, and convert VHDs to it's own VDIs if required. I can confirm from personal experience, and can offer step-by-step instructions should you need them.

I have years of configs and tinkering that make it important to preserve the whole OS.

I totally understand your requirement. I have been "lugging along my past baggage" as my wife puts it, since around a couple of decades. Although, not quite successfully to be honest.

 

[GrateJames]

After a week-long battle, I'm back! I never got Windows to boot from the external drive, and the repair tool would always fail, saying it couldn't find the hard disk. I did eventually get it to boot from a VM by cloning to a vdi, and fighting it for a while! However, because of the 'hardware' changes, it invalidated my windows activation. That's fine as far as I can tell, I only need to have it saved in case I need to pull data from it. I think the way this is going to end is with a macrium reflect disk image and a vdi both stored to my external HDD. As a bonus, I should be able to mount the vdi to pull stuff from it from linux without having to spin up the VM.

A little bit disappointment I couldn't get it to dual boot the way I originally hoped for, but this will probably be better for portability anyway.

Now I just have to work up the nerve to clear the original drive...