[SOLVED] Cloning my system drive (2nd topic)

[asheenlevrai]

Hi

 

I need to clone my system drive into a new system (all the HW will be upgraded). I cannot perform a clean install of Win10 because I need to keep a software that is currently installed on my system drive and I cannot reinstall this app.

 

Current system (source):

Asus Z170-a (cannot handle NVMe drives AFAIU)

I7-6700

256GB M.2 drive (MBR, PCIe, AHCI)

 

Target system (destination):

Asus TUF gaming H570-pro Wifi

i5-11500

2TB M.2 drive (GPT, PCie, NVMe)

 

I tried to do the following:

1)

 - Boot the target system with the 256GB SSD inside -> drive is detected in the BIOS but cannot be chosen as a boot option (???)

2)

 - Clone the 256GB onto the 2TB SSD (This SSD is now MBR rather than GPT). I used Macrium Reflect Free

 - Boot the target system on the 2TB SSD -> drive is detected in the BIOS but cannot be chosen as a boot option (???)

 - I assume the Asus TUF gaming H570-pro Wifi cannot boot on MBR drives. Is that possible?

3)

 - (after 2) above) Boot the source system and connect the 2TB SSD via USB.

 - Convert the 2TB SSD from MBR to GPT (I used Minitool Partition Wizard)

 - Boot the target system with the 2TB SSD (now GPT) -> drive is detected in the BIOS but cannot be chosen as a boot option (???)

4)

 - Boot the target system on a USB Win10 installer -> I get an error message at POST about GPT that needs to be fixed and a recommendation to activate autofix in the BIOS (I am not familiar with this and I don't know what actually happened there)

 - Perform a fresh install of Win10 on the 2TB SSD just to make sure nothing is wrong with the drive -> everything is OK...

 

So now I wonder how I can "migrate" my current Win10 install (the one on the 256GB SSD, MBR) onto the 2TB SSD (GPT). Could I do a copy of the system partition rather than cloning the whole SSD?

Any other advice?

 

Best,

-a-

[asheenlevrai]

On the H570 motherboard. CSM cannot be enabled in the BIOS.

It's disabled and the option is greyed-out...

For what it's worth...

[SupaKomputa]

8 hours ago, asheenlevrai said:

I assume the Asus TUF gaming H570-pro Wifi cannot boot on MBR drives. Is that possible?

Most motherboard can use MBR and GPT. You got to enable legacy boot option for MBR.

8 hours ago, asheenlevrai said:

Boot the target system with the 256GB SSD inside -> drive is detected in the BIOS but cannot be chosen as a boot option

Before cloning you got to fix the broken boot sector, otherwise it won't be detected.

There are many tutorials on the net, i can't remember which one i've used.

 

You can also try fresh install and then copy the data to the new drive.

- fresh install, with the same username (this is important)

- install the app, if possible the same exact version.

- copy user data (C:/users/username), your app will use the same config as before.

- if necessary copy C:/ProgramData/Appname.

[Idle_Wild]

Hi,

I have an almost identical spec to your current system, I have the Asus Z170 ITX Pro Gaming board, I just installed a 4TB NVME drive and it's working albeit slowly.

 

I will soon be cloning my primary drive to the new one, I'm going to try to use dd to do it, although not sure if it will work.

 

You can get it from here: http://www.chrysocome.net/downloads/193249808b44fcc0a5be61e3258e38bd/dd-0.5.zip

 

I'll let you know if it works for me.

[asheenlevrai]

38 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

Most motherboard can use MBR and GPT. You got to enable legacy boot option for MBR.

 

I guess that's my issue then. Idk how to enable legacy boot. Cannot find the option in the BIOS. And as I mentionned, it looks like CSM cannot be enabled for some reason.

[asheenlevrai]

17 minutes ago, Idle_Wild said:

Hi,

I have an almost identical spec to your current system, I have the Asus Z170 ITX Pro Gaming board, I just installed a 4TB NVME drive and it's working albeit slowly.

Thanks @Idle_Wild for the heads up. I cannot remember why I used this M.2 PCIe AHCI SSD back then. Probably because it was laying around and I had no other use for it.

Anyway, even if my z170-a can manage NVMe SSDs, I'm not sure how this could help me. What should I do now (that I haven't tried already)?

 

Thanks a lot

-a-

[asheenlevrai]

43 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

 

Before cloning you got to fix the broken boot sector, otherwise it won't be detected.

Thanks @SupaKomputa but I'm not sure what you are referring to.

Maybe you can elaborate. Or I can use Google to educate myself.

Thanks

-a-

[asheenlevrai]

45 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

You can also try fresh install and then copy the data to the new drive.

- fresh install, with the same username (this is important)

- install the app, if possible the same exact version.

- copy user data (C:/users/username), your app will use the same config as before.

- if necessary copy C:/ProgramData/Appname.

I need to look into that but I'm not sure it would work.

The thing is I can no longer install the app I need on a fresh system. The app requires a key (serial number) and this key can no longer be activated (activation was limited in time). IDK if copying user data and appdata would solve this. I could try, though... Let's call that plan B. Or C...

[asheenlevrai]

27 minutes ago, Idle_Wild said:

I will soon be cloning my primary drive to the new one, I'm going to try to use dd to do it, although not sure if it will work.

You can get it from here: http://www.chrysocome.net/downloads/193249808b44fcc0a5be61e3258e38bd/dd-0.5.zip

 

I'll let you know if it works for me.

I was recently told on this forum about Macrium Reflect Free and I was successful cloning M.2 NVMe SSDs with it. It's user friendly and easy to use.

Then I could move and resize the partitions on the new drive with Minitool Partition Wizard. Also very easy and straightforward.

I'm not sure I could have done everything with Macrium but at least it wasn't super intuitive to me when I was trying to play around with the partitions on the new SSD

[asheenlevrai]

52 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

Before cloning you got to fix the broken boot sector, otherwise it won't be detected

This drive works well on the z170-a (but cannot be used as boot device on the H570). I guess that means the boot sectors are OK, right?

 

I'm a bit confused now...

[SupaKomputa]

1 minute ago, asheenlevrai said:

This drive works well on the z170-a (but cannot be used as boot device on the H570). I guess that means the boot sectors are OK, right?

 

I'm a bit confused now...

If it was detected on the old motherboard, then you should make it work on the newer one.

Find something on the bios that said "legacy boot", and enable it.

[asheenlevrai]

19 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

If it was detected on the old motherboard, then you should make it work on the newer one.

Find something on the bios that said "legacy boot", and enable it.

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/13MANUAL/PRIME_PRO_TUF_GAMING_Intel_500_Series_BIOS_EM_WEB_EN.pdf

 

I found this:

"Due to Microsoft Secure Boot regulations, ensure the Microsoft signed UEFI driver is contained in the plugged PCI-E based storage including M.2 SSD before setting [Launch CSM] to [Disabled]. Otherwise, the PCI-E based storages will be only available for the data drive usage. "

It sounds like what I am experiencing: the SSD is detected but cannot be used for boot (only for data?). CSM is disabled and I cannot enable it. I guess I should look into secure boot. OS Type is set to "Other OS" and Secure Boot mode to "custom". I tried switching for "standard" but this didn't change anything.

 

I'll try again tomorrow if I can.

[asheenlevrai]

10 hours ago, asheenlevrai said:

...

4)

 - Boot the target system on a USB Win10 installer -> I get an error message at POST about GPT that needs to be fixed and a recommendation to activate autofix in the BIOS (I am not familiar with this and I don't know what actually happened there)

 

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/13MANUAL/PRIME_PRO_TUF_GAMING_Intel_500_Series_BIOS_EM_WEB_EN.pdf

 

page 57. That's what happened.

"Boot Sector (MBR/GPT) Recovery Policy

Allows you to select the Boot Sector Policy.

Configuration options: [Auto Recovery] [Local User Control]

[Auto Recovery] : Follows UEFI Rule."

 

I had to set it to Auto Recovery

[asheenlevrai]

18 hours ago, asheenlevrai said:

Hi

 

...

 - Perform a fresh install of Win10 on the 2TB SSD just to make sure nothing is wrong with the drive -> everything is OK...

 

...

Even when I did this, only the Win10 USB installer was present as a boot option. However, Windows was able to see the drive (just like the BIOS is, although it doesn't offer it as a boot option) and once the OS was installed "Windows boot manager" was present in the boot options in the BIOS, allowing to boot from the SSD.

[asheenlevrai]

I cannot find any way to enable legacy boot (or CSM) on this board :(

[asheenlevrai]

I tried to to the following:

 - fresh install of Win10 on the 2TB drive (on the new system)

 - boot on the old system (on the 256GB drive)

 - attach the 2TB drive via USB to the old system

 - use Macrium Reflect to:

   * erase all partitions but the 1st one (EFI?) on the 2TB drive

   * copy the system partition from the 256GB drive onto the 2TB drive

 - put the 2TB drive back into the new system

 - boot -> nothing (drive detected but not available as a boot option.

 

I couldn't find any way to setup Secure boot (or disable it) in a way that would allow me to boot on the 256GB drive on the new system either.

 

I'm starting to be despaired... Time for plan C?

[asheenlevrai]

https://scottiestech.info/2021/04/13/why-cant-i-enable-csm-on-my-new-motherboard/

 

Turns out you cannot enable csm on 500 series motherboards when using only the igpu.

The igpu doesn't support legacy boot

[asheenlevrai]

I solved the issue by doing the following:

 

 - boot the old system (from the 256GB SSD)

 - attach the 2TB SSD via USB

 - use Macrium Reflect to clone the 266GB SSD onto the 2TB SSD

 - use mbr2gpt (don't forget to specify disk:X in the args!!! In my case X=1) to convert the 2TB disk from MRB to GPT

 - place the 2TB disk into the new system

 - boot -> Win10 boots (happy smile on my face)

 - use Minitool Partition Wizard to resize the system partition on the 2TB SSD

 

That was...

Well, it's done now...

 

Thanks

-a-