Cloning HDD to SSD not working. HDD has bad sectors.

[godfather17]

I am trying to clone a WD 320GB HDD (with windows 10 installed on it) to a SanDisk 256GB SSD. I have tried using easeus todo backup cloning option but that does not work because it says that the HDD has bad sectors (the OS is currently running without a problem even with the bad sectors). I then tried using Acronis True image recovery drive to perform the cloning. I once again get error messages regarding the bad sectors. However, I am able to complete the cloning from the HDD to the SSD. I disconnected the HDD and connected the SSD and attempted to boot. Windows never boots up. After the bios loads and it attempts to boot from the SSD all I see is a black screen with a blinking cursor on it. I then tried using a windows 10 recovery disk to repair the start up but that does not help (I see the black screen with a blinking cursor again). I then thought about booting into safe mode to see if the problem is that the windows is not loading the drivers for the SSD. However, the windows 10 recovery disk does not have the "Startup settings" option which would allow me to boot into safe mode.

I have read that clonezilla is a good option to use when you are cloning from a HDD that has bad sector but the problem is that the HDD and the SSD are not the same size which I have read is a problem when the target disk is smaller. 

I also know that there are 5 bad sectors on the HDD because I checked it by using the disk utility option under the a try ubuntu usb stick I have. 

Does anyone know how I can fix this problem? So far the OS on the HDD is running fine but I do not know how much longer that is going to last. I am very worried because this is my father's computer which he uses it to run his small business. If it goes down then it is a HUGE problem. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[jono20]

Try defragmenting and cleaning up the drive and then shrink the main partition down to <235GB or so and try the clone again.

[pedro69]

Have you tried to reapir the bad sectors?

 

http://www.dposoft.net/hdd.html

[godfather17]

Try defragmenting and cleaning up the drive and then shrink the main partition down to <235GB or so and try the clone again.

 

I thought about doing that. Do you think that if I shrink the partition down to <235GB, it will allow the easeus todo or the acronis to work? Or are you saying to shrink it so I can use clonezilla? I am trying not to use clonezilla because I have never used it and I cannot afford to make a mistake. 

[godfather17]

Have you tried to reapir the bad sectors?

 

http://www.dposoft.net/hdd.html

No I have not. I will try to shrinking option posted by jono20 first. If is doesn't work then I will give dpsoft a try. Thank you guys. 

[jono20]

I thought about doing that. Do you think that if I shrink the partition down to <235GB, it will allow the easeus todo or the acronis to work? Or are you saying to shrink it so I can use clonezilla? I am trying not to use clonezilla because I have never used it and I cannot afford to make a mistake. 

 

Acronis has proportional cloning built in so it shouldn't need it, but it should make things a bit easier for the software. 

[godfather17]

Acronis has proportional cloning built in so it shouldn't need it, but it should make things a bit easier for the software. 

 

So defragmenting the HDD found multiple bad sectors. I tried shrinking to <235GB but the disk management would now allow me to shrink less than 15 GB. I tried running acronis and easeus todo backup but the same thing happened as I described in the original post. 

 

I am going to try what pedro69 recommended. However, I have reservations due to the fact that I have never used it.  How safe is it to use the HDD regenerator? 

[jono20]

So defragmenting the HDD found multiple bad sectors. I tried shrinking to <235GB but the disk management would now allow me to shrink less than 15 GB. I tried running acronis and easeus todo backup but the same thing happened as I described in the original post.

I am going to try what pedro69 recommended. However, I have reservations due to the fact that I have never used it. How safe is it to use the HDD regenerator?

How full is the drive?

[godfather17]

How full is the drive?

The drive only has 100GB that is being used plus or minus a few mbs because of boot/recovery partitions. That is why I am not understanding why it is not letting me shrink it to less than 235. 

[jono20]

The drive only has 100GB that is being used plus or minus a few mbs because of boot/recovery partitions. That is why I am not understanding why it is not letting me shrink it to less than 235.

Yeah usually the defrag fixes that, strange.

If you only have that small amount of data why not just do a clean-install of W10 on the SSD and manually transfer over the files after?

[middleclasspoor]

I hope you've already backed this drive up! Moving partitions around and attempting sector recovery efforts can lead to bad things sometimes!

 

FWIW, in attempting to clone a drive with bad sectors before I was able to get around the problem by not using "sector by sector" cloning. If the data in the bad sectors has been moved then it doesn't matter anyway, or , if the bad sectors have clobbered a system file then you can probably recover the lost file using the OS file integrity utilities.

 

Just my .02

 

Good luck!

[godfather17]

Yeah usually the defrag fixes that, strange.

If you only have that small amount of data why not just do a clean-install of W10 on the SSD and manually transfer over the files after?

I wish I could just do that but because the computer is used for a business then that is not an option. There are multiple programs set up which require to be set up by pointing to exact file locations so things such as the company's logo appears on estimates. The last time I had to reinstall windows, it took me 3 to 4 days to set up everything correctly and I do not know if I would be able to do it again. 

[godfather17]

I hope you've already backed this drive up! Moving partitions around and attempting sector recovery efforts can lead to bad things sometimes!

 

FWIW, in attempting to clone a drive with bad sectors before I was able to get around the problem by not using "sector by sector" cloning. If the data in the bad sectors has been moved then it doesn't matter anyway, or , if the bad sectors have clobbered a system file then you can probably recover the lost file using the OS file integrity utilities.

 

Just my .02

 

Good luck!

I did create a system backup. Does the windows backup option recover everything, e.g. programs and how the program is set up with exact detail? Or is it just for windows settings and files?

[godfather17]

I hope you've already backed this drive up! Moving partitions around and attempting sector recovery efforts can lead to bad things sometimes!

 

FWIW, in attempting to clone a drive with bad sectors before I was able to get around the problem by not using "sector by sector" cloning. If the data in the bad sectors has been moved then it doesn't matter anyway, or , if the bad sectors have clobbered a system file then you can probably recover the lost file using the OS file integrity utilities.

 

Just my .02

 

Good luck!

I tried doing the sector by sector cloning using todo backup but it says there is not enough space on the target drive. Acronis TI cloning does not have a sector by sector option under the cloning option. It only has a sector by sector option under the "backup up" option. Is that the way you mentioned? 

[godfather17]

Ok here is the latest. I tried using the "back up" option on acronis. It gave the same error but it finished. I tried restoring but the same issue occurred. I then tried restoring the system image made by the OS to the new SSD but that was unsuccessful as well. When I tried restoring (via the recovery usb) I got the following message on the last step prior to the restoring restarting: "Windows cannot restore a system a system image to a computer that has different firmware. The system image was created on a computer using EFI and the computer is using BIOS." That is weird because the image was created on the same computer to which I am trying to restore to. Hope someone else has other ideas. 

[godfather17]

Ok I ran easeus todo backup and was able to clone just the C: drive to the SSD. I tried booting to the new SSD but still got the black screen with the blinking cursor. Then I ran system repair via the recovery usb but that did not work either, still got the black screen with the blinking cursor. I should say that by cursor I mean a blinking underscore sign. 

 

P.S. Does anyone think that there is something wrong with the SSD?

[godfather17]

Okay I finally was able to do it this morning after 14+ hours. The original HDD started to give the same problem as the SSD. Luckily I had a copy that I made via Acronis TI "back up" option. I restored the back up to the SSD on restoring the windows partition and the MBR partition. I tried booting but it gave the same problem. I then used the windows recovery usb I made to enter the following commands under the command prompt:  -bootrec /fixmbr  enter    -bootrec /rebuildbcd   enter     -bootsect /nt60 c: /force /mbr    enter       -chkdsk /f c:    enter   -chkdsk /f d:  enter.  The italicized enter means that you should press enter. I found these command prompt after doing multiple searches. I am no expert and do not know what they do to your system, so use with caution. However, they helped me fix the problem I was having. Thank you for all the help guys. Hope this thread helps others in the future.