Solved Cloned my old HDD to a new SSHD but it will not boot.

[WaffleParties]

This is my current set up "HDD" Disk C: 2TB is my main drive that everything is installed into and windows boots off it.

I also have another storage drive "SSHD" Disk D: 4TB which now is empty.

And i bought an "SSD" Disk X: 240 GB I would like to move whatever i need to move from disk C: in order to boot my pc from the ssd (without having to re install windows)

I want to use the SSD to boot windows and certain programs, i would like the SSHD to be my main storage and the HDD for backup storage. Sorry i know this is troublesome.

Thanks for the help.

 

[topgundcp]

From your screen shots. You did nothing wrong. However, Your C drive which contains Windows OS also contains your personal Data (. Normally Windows OS occupies 25~40 GB + 350MB Recovery partition. You need to move all your personal data from C: drive to D: drive to reduce the size of C: first then make a backup image.

Also, if you installed games which can take a lot of spaces then you might need to uninstall those.

Below is the screen shot of my Windows OS. It occupies around 24 GB. All my data is stored in D: and in F: drives.



Hope this helps.

 

[whs]

I think you are best advised to get this program. It dows everything for you in 3 clicks.

Paragon Migrate OS to SSD - System migration to Solid State Drives (SSD) - Overview

Else, if you really want to be geeky, you can follow my tutorial - but that is a lot more difficult. There are certain things you have to observe like alignment, defrag, etc. The above program does all those settings automatically.

SSD - Install and Transfer the Operating System - Windows 7 Help Forums

The 2 partitions you have to transfer to the SSD as a minimum are the EFI partition and the C partition.

 

[topgundcp]

The 2 partitions you have to transfer to the SSD as a minimum are the EFI partition and the C partition.

MBR style was used in his Windows Installation. There's no EFI partition.

@OP,
It's OK to use Macrium. Just separate your data from C: drive then you'll be OK.

EDIT: FYI, it is advisable to separate your Windows OS and data so you can make a back up image of your Windows a lot faster in case your Windows becomes unbootable, infected by Virus etc... then you can restore Windows without losing your data.

 

[whs]

MBR style was used in his Windows Installation. There's no EFI partition.

Good catch. Thanks.

Then it is the 100MB or 300MB system partition in lieu of the EFI partition.

 

[WaffleParties]

I dont mind getting Geeky, problem is that ususally back fires at me but its a good learning experience.

Next question. How do i move my personal data from C: to D:? how do i know whats what?

I am guessing the In macrium the NTFS Active (296.1MB) is the boot and the other partition NTFS Primary (1.14TB) is all my personal Data? So i can just clone my personal data to D: and image/restore the NTFS Active to my SSD?

 

[whs]

May I suggest you post a picture of your disk management.

 

[topgundcp]

@whs,
Look at link #18. It's the same as disk management which he has C: drive with almost the whole disk allocated and occupies 1.14 TB + 350 MB Recovery partition.

 

[WaffleParties]

HDD to SSHD Problerm - Imgur

Here is my my Management.

 

[whs]

This is not really disk management. But for the pupose it will do.

What is all this stuff you have on C. Just make a seperate partition to move your user data out of there. You will have to temporarily store some of it elsewhere to gain enough space or move it directly to the 4TB SSHD.

 

[WaffleParties]

Ok, can i use Macrium to move my user data or would i have to do that manually (moving out folders that have data)?

Honestly most of the stuff on C is probably games, some documents, music etc.

 

[whs]

Games will have to be reinstalled. During the installation you have to direct them to the 4TB disk. Documents and music you can just copy paste to the 4TB.

Here is what I suggest:

1. om the 4TB - define 2 partitions. One for data and the other for the games. For starters I would go 50/50. Then move your user files to the data partition. Delete the games on the current C partition and reinstall to the games partition.

2. The SSD - define a 350MB aligned and active partition for the system partition. In the rest of the space define a partition for C. This is important and has to be done prior to restoring the images.

3. Hopefully moving the data and games out of C allows you to shrink the C partition to less than appr. 200GB. For that you need the bootable CD of partition wizard.

4. Make a Macrium image of the 350MB partition and the shrunken C partition. Then restore these 2 partitions to the SSD.

For the rest the usual.

 

[topgundcp]

2. The SSD - define a 350MB aligned and active partition for the system partition. In the rest of the space define a partition for C. This is important and has to be done prior to restoring the images.

Not to offend you but this is incorrect. As long as OP can shrink C drive + 350 MB Recovery partition from the 1TB HD to less than the capacity of the SSD then all he needs to do is to make a back up image as shown in post #17 and restore to the SSD. Macrium will restore the 350MB Rcovery partition and also will adjust to fit drive C: into the SSD and marks it Active automatically. I know this for fact because I have done it many times before.

@OP,
After the image is created, connect the SSD and restore the image to it. No need to boot from the USB, shutdown your PC, temporarily disconnect the 1TB HD, set the BIOS to first boot priority for the SSD then boot up.

 

[WaffleParties]

Great, As you sugested, I defined 2 partitions on the 4TB SSHD. I Defined 2 partitions on the SSD with one being a 350 MB one. I cleaned up my 2TB C: drive and backed it up onto the 4TB SSHD just as a precautionary.

But C: is still 800 GB, what folders are necessary to keep in C: Drive in order to boot windows? (Windows , Program files x86, etc...) Since i have a clone on the 4TB SSHD i can go ahead and delete the unecessary stuff from C: so it can be small enough to clone to my SSD. On the link i have added a picture of my C: drive.

HDD to SSHD Problerm - Imgur

 

[whs]

Not to offend you but this is incorrect. As long as OP can shrink C drive + 350 MB Recovery partition from the 1TB HD to less than the capacity of the SSD then all he needs to do is to make a back up image as shown in post #17 and restore to the SSD. Macrium will restore the 350MB Rcovery partition and also will adjust to fit drive C: into the SSD and marks it Active automatically. I know this for fact because I have done it many times before.

If the image is coming from a HDD, Macrium will not align it. It will maintain the HDD alignment which is no good. And I always activate the system partition just to be sure that the MBR points to it. Never checked whether Macrium would do that for me.

 

[whs]

Great, As you sugested, I defined 2 partitions on the 4TB SSHD. I Defined 2 partitions on the SSD with one being a 350 MB one. I cleaned up my 2TB C: drive and backed it up onto the 4TB SSHD just as a precautionary.

But C: is still 800 GB, what folders are necessary to keep in C: Drive in order to boot windows? (Windows , Program files x86, etc...) Since i have a clone on the 4TB SSHD i can go ahead and delete the unecessary stuff from C: so it can be small enough to clone to my SSD. On the link i have added a picture of my C: drive.

HDD to SSHD Problerm - Imgur

A normal C partition is appr. 30GB. You must get rid of all the stuff beyond 200GB - at least. Run WinDirStat. That will show you where the big chunks are.

https://windirstat.info/

 

[WaffleParties]

Great, That helped, i was able to do everything you guys sugested and i was able to boot off my SSD, Thanks a lot for the help.

My final question. If i wanted to boot certain games from my SSD to boot faster i would just have to move them to C: (SSD) drive instead of D: (HDD Storage) Drive?

Thanks again.

 

[whs]

The games you would have to reinstall to the SSD - not move. Moving the program files will not work because the registry would be out of wack.

Glad to see you running off the SSD - isn't that fun.

 

[WaffleParties]

Yes, the boot time is so much quicker. Again thanks for the help guys. However when i boot my system i always get the windows boot manager asking me to choose a OS, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, how can i make it so it only starts up windows 8.1.

I went into the system settings/advanced and chose 8.1 as my default but it still happens on boot.

Thanks.

 

[whs]

You have to get Windows 8 out of the bootmgr. Best with EasyBCD. There are some instruction starting with Step 3 in this tutorial I made a while ago.

Dual Boot - Delete a OS - Windows 7 Help Forums

Get the free version of EasyBCD - e.g. from here:

Download EasyBCD - MajorGeeks