Solved Windows 8 Migrate to SSD problems - SSD not booting

BOOSTEDI5

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Hi, I recently bought a Samsung 840EVO 240GB SSD to upgrade my mechanical HDD on my asus x202e laptop.

I have the SSD hooked up via USB. Last night I attempted to clone the entire disk (Including the 300MB uefi partition, 900 MB recovery partition and of course the primary OS partition.)

Here's a screen shot of diskmgmt>

partitionswin8.PNG

What's interesting to me is my OS Partition on the HDD shows (Boot, Page File,ect) But my SSD OS Partition does NOT reflect this information.

And here's a shot of how the EaseUS cloning software that I tired first.
cloning.PNG

After using this software to clone the entire disk I attempted to boot off the SSD by choosing it during the boot sequence. It will start to boot off the SSD (I can see the blue access lights on the USB connector showing activity) and then it will switch over to the HDD half way through the boot up. If I disable the HDD entirely in the BIOS Windows will attempt a "repair" and then it brings me to a menu to continue to Win 8.1, reboot,etc.

If I hit continue it will just reboot and repeat. I'm almost certain something isn't right with the uefi/gpt settings.

Tonight I bought paragon migrate to SSD that had a additional button to tick that I "thought" would get me past the issue I had with EaseUS. The button in Paragon that I checked is called "Create new EFI entry for destination drive".
One of the major "caveats" that paragon warns you is that the "source" partition will no longer be bootable after the migration is complete.

After cloning the disk over using Paragon I rebooted with my heart racing (You know!) and was skeptical it wouldn't work. Well, the exact same thing is happening with Paragon. I went into my Bios and tried the typical stuff (Disable fast boot/secure boot,etc) and nothing works to boot the SSD. I'm having the same issue I had with EaseUS. I was thinking the "Create new EFI entry for destination drive" in paragon would allow this to work. Unfortunately I spent $15 on software I didn't need. Oh well, at least it was cheap and the software does seem good! It clones quickly.
Well, luckily I'm still able to boot off my "source" HDD so that's a relief. I had my WinPE bootable USB ready with diskpart utility in case I couldn't boot off the HDD.

Well, I "think" I know what the issue is after getting into diskpart. I'm showing what appears to be two active partitions.

Can someone let me know how to correct this? I was going to try Easy BCD but they want $20 for that software now. Their supposed to be a WinPE bootable USB disk paragon used to offer to correct EFI boot parameters but they no longer offer this from what I can tell.

Here's what disk part shows.. Disk 0 is my HDD and Disk 1 is my SDD.

Code:
DISKPART> list disk
  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          465 GB      0 B        *
  Disk 1    Online          232 GB   114 GB        *

DISKPART> select disk 0
Disk 0 is now the selected disk.
DISKPART> list
Microsoft DiskPart version 6.3.9600
DISK        - Display a list of disks. For example, LIST DISK.
PARTITION   - Display a list of partitions on the selected disk.
              For example, LIST PARTITION.
VOLUME      - Display a list of volumes. For example, LIST VOLUME.
VDISK       - Displays a list of virtual disks.
DISKPART> list disk
  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
* Disk 0    Online          465 GB      0 B        *
  Disk 1    Online          232 GB   114 GB        *
  Disk 2    Online           29 GB      0 B


DISKPART> list partition
  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    System             300 MB  1024 KB
  Partition 2    Recovery           900 MB   301 MB
  Partition 3    Reserved           128 MB  1201 MB
  Partition 4    Primary            185 GB  1329 MB
  Partition 5    Recovery           350 MB   187 GB
  Partition 6    Primary            258 GB   187 GB
  Partition 7    Recovery            20 GB   445 GB


DISKPART> list partition
  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
* Partition 1    System             300 MB  1024 KB
  Partition 2    Recovery           900 MB   301 MB
  Partition 3    Reserved           128 MB  1201 MB
  Partition 4    Primary            185 GB  1329 MB
  Partition 5    Recovery           350 MB   187 GB
  Partition 6    Primary            258 GB   187 GB
  Partition 7    Recovery            20 GB   445 GB

So, it appears that Disk 0 partition 1 is the active partition. That's the 300 MB uefi partition. And here my SSD (Disk 1) info. I also see it has the same partition set as active.

I would like to remove the Active partition from Disk 0 Partition 1. I believe Easy BCD could do this but I should be able to do it via diskpart. I tried some commands but it gave me some errors about MBR or something.

Here's the output from the SSD.

Code:
DISKPART> select disk 1
Disk 1 is now the selected disk.
DISKPART> list partition
  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    System             300 MB  1024 KB
  Partition 2    Recovery           900 MB   302 MB
  Partition 3    Primary            117 GB  1202 MB
DISKPART> select partition 1
Partition 1 is now the selected partition.
DISKPART> list partition
  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
* Partition 1    System             300 MB  1024 KB
  Partition 2    Recovery           900 MB   302 MB

Thanks for any/all help!! Also, as any FYI I used my USB to boot up a live version of partition magic to initialize the SDD with GPT file system. I probably didn't need to do this but I want to eventually get dual boot on this. I would just like to get windows 8.1 working first. Thx
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 OEM Touch
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus x202e
    CPU
    Core I3
    Motherboard
    NA
    Memory
    4 GIG
    Graphics Card(s)
    NA
I would probably remove the old hard drive and install the SSD in its place to test. If you cloned the Boot Information, it might still be pointing to the old install.

The indications of System, Boot, etc. are on the fly. They indicate which partitions are currently serving that purpose.

Edit: You also show the extra Recovery Partition (350 MB) that replaces the original one when you update to Windows 8.1. It becomes the working version and will also need to be migrated.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8 64bt
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus Aspire
    CPU
    Sempron 2.8
    Motherboard
    Asrock
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung
    Screen Resolution
    1024 x 768
    Hard Drives
    2 x ide
    1 x sata
    Internet Speed
    Up to 24 :)
theog, thanks for your response on this. It's possible I might need to clone the 350 Recovery partition but I don't know why it would care about the D: partition that doesn't have any data or applications installed on it. It's just spare space I haven't used. It came this way from the factory. I intionally didn't load anything to it because I knew I wanted to upgrade to SSD. I don't know if GPT is specific with looking for all partitions that were previously created on my HDD?

The paragon migrate to SSD software selected those 3 partitions by default. I'm assuming the software knows what partitions are needed to operate the OS but not 100%. I'm reviewing the link you provdided for their backup software.

I'm probably going to load the paragon recovery software win PE build to USB and try their
Boot Corrector — allows the user to perform UEFI switch in order to define a bootable operating system in case of several OSs hosted on one UEFI machine.


Saltgrass, thanks for this suggestion. I definitely would have tried to remove the HDD and install just the SDD if it was easy. This laptop case requires a bit of effort to remove and I haven't done it yet. I might give that a shot to see if that works but I'd like to get this booting off the SSD externally if possible. Thx for the info on System, Boot,etc. That makes sense. I'll probably attempt to just clone/migrate the Recovery Partition (350 MB) over to the SSD to see if that helps.

I'll report back if/when I find a solution. Never thought this would be such a PITA. I would have used the migrate software that came with the SSD if I had an optical disk drive.

kaybee327, I'll also look into that software.

Thx Win8 users! :thumb:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 OEM Touch
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus x202e
    CPU
    Core I3
    Motherboard
    NA
    Memory
    4 GIG
    Graphics Card(s)
    NA
If you are going to delete the Recovery Partition, Have you made the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Disks?

information   Information

We always assume you have made your Recovery Disks using the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Media Creator app the first day you had your new PC.
& made the Startup Repair CD. (Windows 8 only)
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/5132-recovery-drive-create-usb-flash-drive-windows-8-a.html
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2855-system-repair-disc-create-windows-8-a.html (Windows 8 only)



I would recommend you making the OEM manufacturer's Recovery DVD's or USB drive.
To make ASUS Recovery disk download BACKTRACKER.

http://www.asus.com/supportonly/ASUS_Backtracker/#support_Download_36

ASUS said:
Using the Support DVD to restore system recovery.

About the Support DVD :
The Support DVD includes an image of the operating system, installed on your system at the factory.
or
You can order the Microsoft official OEM Recovery disks from the ASUS OEM manufacturer's website.
Essentio Recovery Software

You can also use the Recovery disk to install to the SSD.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
Thx OG. I'll look into creating that recovery to a USB drive before proceeding. I'll probably mess with it over the next few days when I have time. I'd rather not have to buy that $50 recovery CD. It mentioned it's for Essentio Desktop so I don't know if that would work on my asus x202e.

I looked at Asus website and they recommend keeping the recovery partition. I'm not surprised since I wouldn't really be able to recover the OS without that partition.

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Troubleshooting X202E

I might have to look into buying an external optical drive. Would make things quite a bit easier. Thansk again everyone!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 OEM Touch
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus x202e
    CPU
    Core I3
    Motherboard
    NA
    Memory
    4 GIG
    Graphics Card(s)
    NA
Thx OG. I'll look into creating that recovery to a USB drive before proceeding. I'll probably mess with it over the next few days when I have time. I'd rather not have to buy that $50 recovery CD. It mentioned it's for Essentio Desktop so I don't know if that would work on my asus x202e.

I looked at Asus website and they recommend keeping the recovery partition. I'm not surprised since I wouldn't really be able to recover the OS without that partition.

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Troubleshooting X202E

I might have to look into buying an external optical drive. Would make things quite a bit easier. Thansk again everyone!

If your system was originally win8 you would use Asus Backtracker to create a factory restore media. If you were originally win 7 Asus AI recovery will create factory restore media. Download from Asus support download clean install would be the best way to go. Clone hard drive to SSD is very easy using Macrium Reflect free edition
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro MC
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus G75VW / Z97 Pro
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-3610QM / I7-4790K
    Motherboard
    Z97 Pro
    Memory
    16 GB Hyundai HTM315156CFR8C-PB PC3-12800
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M (GF114M)
    Sound Card
    VIA 6.0.10.1600
    Screen Resolution
    1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 850 Pro 256, Samsung 850 Pro 1TB
    Internet Speed
    30 down 3 up
    Browser
    Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    NIS and Malwarebytes
You are welcome BOOSTEDI5. :dinesh:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
Solved!! SSD Empowered

I finally figured out I had to install the SSD to get Windows to boot correctly! I figured this out when I went into a bootable USB Stick with Paragon Recovery Media Builder software. I went into Correcting EFI parameters to view a list all of windows installations and boot orders and correct parameters. I circled the menu below.

paragon.PNG

After looking at Both my 500GB HDD and the 240GB SSD it showed BOTH DISK with the EXACT same parameters. The parameters were Partition ID: 1 & Active. They also show ID: 0x01 FAT12 for what I think was the GUID.

So, I proceeded with removing the case for my first time which is rather difficult the first time. Once I got it open I took out the HDD and installed the SDD. I then booted it up without putting the bottom of the case on to see if it worked. Sure enough! It booted Right up and running!

BTW, I used this guys guide/pictures to assist with my upgrade.

ASUS X202E hard drive upgrade instructions (replace w/SSD)

I'm pretty sure my issue was Disk 0 (HDD) was taking precedence over the Disk 1 (SDD). That was messing up the boot process not matter how I was trying to force the disk to boot in BIOS menu. It's possible could have got the SDD to boot from the USB if I messed with some other BIOS values.

Between upgrading to the SSD and installing a dual-band Wireless adapter my system is now worthy of the Ultrabook title it was designated.

I also wanted to mention my experience with the various migration software. The first one I used (EaseUS) would
have worked fine and it was free. It had good options on what to copy but it wasn't very specific on transferring the
UEFI parameters from one disk to the other. The one I bought > Paragon Migrate OS to SSD 4.0 for $16 isn't the one I ended up using. As I mention above it had that great boot utility that allowed me to discover the disk discrepancy which was nice. On my 3rd attempt to fix my issue I ended up using was Macrium Reflect mentioned by Clintlgm. That software didn't give me the information about aligning the SSD like paragon did so I was a little concerned about the alignment issue. But after going back into Macrium I noticed an option to align and I clicked that. It said already aligned. So I didn't bother doing any more cloning and trusted Macriums results before my install. Overall I'd probably recommend EaseUS or Macrium for free!

Here's a few pictures I took during the upgrade. Good times! Next up comes installing Ubuntu on my spare 100GB space for dual boot!

The SSD
P1030241.jpg

The new wireless adapter allowing me to go from 72 Mbps to 300 Mbps! Much Better!
P1030243.jpg

And a couple other pictures.

Out with the Old
P1030250.jpg

In with the NEW!

P1030251.jpg

= Benchmark Express!

ssdbenchmarkoptimized.png

The Laptop

asusx202e.jpg

Merry Christmas & Thanks for the help everyone!! SSD is SO Much BETTER than 5400 RPM HDD!

:cool:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 OEM Touch
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus x202e
    CPU
    Core I3
    Motherboard
    NA
    Memory
    4 GIG
    Graphics Card(s)
    NA
You state in post 1 Easybcd COSTS $20...Not true , its free, and it is a doddle to set up a duel boot with Ubuntu.
You could also set up a dual boot with your HDD and your SSD.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
You state in post 1 Easybcd COSTS $20...Not true , its free, and it is a doddle to set up a duel boot with Ubuntu.
You could also set up a dual boot with your HDD and your SSD.

Hey, thanks for clarifying that. I was at neosmarts webpage and notice EasyBCD 2.2 is still free. I think I clicked on a different link.

Finally got Ubuntu 12.04 LTS running dual boot. Was a bit of a hassle but I got it working. :party:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 OEM Touch
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus x202e
    CPU
    Core I3
    Motherboard
    NA
    Memory
    4 GIG
    Graphics Card(s)
    NA
You state in post 1 Easybcd COSTS $20...Not true , its free, and it is a doddle to set up a duel boot with Ubuntu.
You could also set up a dual boot with your HDD and your SSD.

Hey, thanks for clarifying that. I was at neosmarts webpage and notice EasyBCD 2.2 is still free. I think I clicked on a different link.

Finally got Ubuntu 12.04 LTS running dual boot. Was a bit of a hassle but I got it working. :party:

A pleasure.....Surprised you didn't install Ubuntu 13.10
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
You state in post 1 Easybcd COSTS $20...Not true , its free, and it is a doddle to set up a duel boot with Ubuntu.
You could also set up a dual boot with your HDD and your SSD.

Hey, thanks for clarifying that. I was at neosmarts webpage and notice EasyBCD 2.2 is still free. I think I clicked on a different link.

Finally got Ubuntu 12.04 LTS running dual boot. Was a bit of a hassle but I got it working. :party:

A pleasure.....Surprised you didn't install Ubuntu 13.10

I was thinking about it but I heard it has a time limit of 9months or something. I booted up 13.10 on a USB and it looked the same on bootup.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 OEM Touch
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus x202e
    CPU
    Core I3
    Motherboard
    NA
    Memory
    4 GIG
    Graphics Card(s)
    NA
Thanks for sharing this information. This is very helpful. Anyway , i need your help guys.. I dont want to create a new thread since this is related. I tried cloning the OS partition to SSD , but did not boot.

Here's my setup:

Original OS - Windows 7 , and I have windows 8 installed also. Win8 starts up first and I got to choose between win 7 or win 8 .
OS location: C - win7 ; F - win 8 ; D - recovery

What I've done so far:
  1. Took a backup of drive c
  2. while on win 7 - created a recovery disk ( after creating the disk - the name it suggested is recovery disk for win 8? - does this mean win 8 is my primary?)
  3. I want windows 7 for now so I cloned drive C using easeus software , and cloned the drive C partition.
  4. Replaced my HDD with SSD ; booted from CD/ROM using recovery disk , windows load files but nothing happens.


is there anything I missed? or you guys have any suggestions? I tried searching for other forums but this one is the closest to my situation.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8
See my reply to post by DBDx316 2 hrs ago....."SSD not registering on boot after HDD to SSD".
Down load EasyBCD and follow instructions in that post.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
I finally figured out I had to install the SSD to get Windows to boot correctly! I figured this out when I went into a bootable USB Stick with Paragon Recovery Media Builder software. I went into Correcting EFI parameters to view a list all of windows installations and boot orders and correct parameters. I circled the menu below.

View attachment 33954

Unfortunately, the rest of that comment was pretty much useless me me. Even following the directions of the picture didn't fix my problem, but it absolutely had me on the right track.

A little back story. I work at a datacenter. I am now a father of 6. I do side work for family, friends, and neighbors.
This is the first forum I have signed up with, to contribute!!

The job that lead me here was an unsuspecting issue with anti-virus, or so my neighbors thought.
My neighbors are snow birds, in the most unusual way. Rather than winters in Florida, they spend summers here, and winters in the Bahamas.
They have brought me there laptop every now and then for usual complaints, pop-ups, anti-virus issues, malware.

Laptop specs:
Acer Aspire
Core I-5
Windows 8.1
1TB Seagate / UEFI boot from the factory / GPT formated disk

Some how they fell for the AVG upgrade, 30 days free, and the clock ran out the week before they came back to Florida.
So I downgraded the AVG fine, but the performance was in the tank. I check the task manager, disk was at 100% with some IO wait. Besides some system processes and known applications nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, except for the performance issues.

I decided to do some digging and got out Hiren's(I still use 16) and use the HD Tune. I love that program because I feel it represents the true read/write speeds for any drive. On spindle drives it tends to be fastest at the beginning of the scan and slow down as it reaches the end of the disk. This isn't an error but rather the disk spins at its full speed and as the arm swings(I guess from outside to inside) and the drive has to slow down to read the clusters properly towards the center of the disk.(Or vise versa, but pretty sure my logic is correct).

Well back to the test. It started right in the 100MB/sec range. Right around the 5-10% mark it tanked down to 5MB/sec range. WOW, found the real problem. Lets replace the disk!

Sent the neighbors down to our local Tiger Direct for a 1TB WD replacement drive. Turns out in March Tiger announces they are closing all but 3 stores, and the shelves were empty, so an employee recommended Best Buy. They came back with a Blue WD drive. My thought about the drives, if it is not Enterprise, flash(SSD), or WD Black I don't use it. So I don't recommend it either! They returned it just to come back with a WD drive in a black box. A Hybrid drive. I wouldn't even touch the box, that's how much I distrust hybrid drives. More points of failure, for what, a little cache to help speed a traditional disk up.

So we came together and decided SSD was the way to go. They would not be affected by possible spindle failures or surface errors any more.
Found a decent Kingston V300 480GB SSD.

Came in, no software, which apparently many, if not most drives come with, but may or may not work. No big deal, I will just find whats recommended that i can find a trial version for!

Not going to go into all the versions I tried, but there was only a few results:
1) It didn't copy all 7 partitions
2) It wasn't compatible with Windows 8.1
3) It didn't load the OS once all the data was copied over

I even got desperate to the point, where after 2 days of late night trial and error, I caved and bought software for the first time in a long time.
I bought Paragon Migrate OS to SSD 4.0, which supports Windows 8.1, the free version didn't support it, and " I just knew it was the right software". Wrong. It didn't copy all 7 partitions...

Well that where OP saved my brain. I had already tried Paragon Backup & Recovery 15 Home Trial, but after it migrated the 7 partitions, it wouldn't boot. Same 0x000025 error as before. That picture saved me. I looked up how to get the PE environment provided by Paragon on USB. Then I found and ran the Boot Corrector. Having done all the research at home but having brought everything to work, I only remember the hand draw circle at the top of the picture(Windows installation to correct). That didn't fix it. The I read the menu. knowing this was VERY likely a EFI, issue I selected Correct EFI boot parameters. That didn't fix it. Having done work on previous Vista and 7 OS I went for the boot parameters(boot.ini, BCD) option. That fixed it I was so relieved. I was able to return a fully functional laptop, running 300 MB/sec read and 250 MB/sec write. 14.5 seconds to lock screen at boot. Under 35 seconds to load Skype that is auto-start for them.

I hope you can keep this forum around for a long time, and I hope my struggle will help someone else.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custim Rig
    CPU
    AMD A10-6800K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H
    Memory
    8GB DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD APU Radeon HD 8670D
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    AVg 2015 Free
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