SSD misread on Windows (attempting to clone drive)

[authorandrew]

Yes, brand new install. I've installed some things, but not much. The latest issue was after I installed the HP sound driver (IDT audio), I had to restart. It shut down fine, but then after POST it sat at a black screen for about ten minutes. I decided to leave it and see if it would ever come up, but doesn't look like it. I'm sure the force shut downs (on the power button) aren't helping the drive or the system (isn't a force shut down really bad for an SSD?) but I can't just leave it at a black screen permanently.

It's also worth noting that I occasionally had this issue when I replaced my hard drive last year (to the same model), but it eventually went away.

 

[KYHI]

So this happens after a driver install? Small history lesson tells me that is the case..

I assume that this was a manual install of the sound driver package?

 

[authorandrew]

This was a manual install, yes, but it's the one specifically for my model + Windows 8. The issue happened before I installed this driver, this afternoon. It's entirely possible it could be something else on the system -- I've installed about 6-12 apps and probably 3-4 drivers.

(Could this be an issue with the SATA connection if I have had the same problem spanning years and different drives?)

 

[KYHI]

not all windows 8 drivers work in windows 8.1 and visa versa

 

[authorandrew]

Right, but I had this on my previous install and it worked fine (aside from that initial setup, which as I wrote above, subsided), so I'm quite confused.

 

[authorandrew]

I continue to get intermittent '3F0' errors on boot up. Everything loads fine after a try or two, though, so I'm not really sure how to proceed. As far as installs I'm basically at the full complement of what I need on my system so as long as things still boot I'm fine. Long-term, hopefully this will disappear as it did on the last drive.

 

[KYHI]

and from what I can tell - 3F0 error - is a failing hard drive.. But the fix seems to be the SATA connector / connection between HDD and MOBO

 

[authorandrew]

Is there a way to easily replace that on a laptop? Maybe I could replace it with a SATA3 connector and get more speed out of this drive.

 

[KYHI]

I.m not sure what your pc has - connector, imposer, ribbon cable, sata cable, idk

 

[authorandrew]

I'm looking into it. This is the component I need (HP Pavilion DM4 1000 Hard Drive Connector w Cable 6017B0258901 | eBay) so it wold be a pretty simple teardown to replace it, assuming that's where the problem lies, of course. Might also take the opportunity to replace the fingerprint reader in this thing.

 

[KYHI]

That would be a connector for the HDD to MOBO - can't say for sure it will fix the 3F0 errors - although that appears to be the general 3F0 fix
And for less then $4 - you don't have a lot to lose..

 

[kyleadam]

I don't know if you're still having this issue but I was dealing with the same thing. My Magician wouldn't recognize that my SSD was plugged in. I then did a bunch of research and even read through most of this threads comments and think I have a solution.

So for me, its that when I went to install Magician, I didn't realize that Magician is NOT what you are supposed to install to CLONE the SSD from your HDD. Insert that Samsung disc again and you should notice a different program you are able to install called Data Migration. This will see both your SSD and HDD and you will be able to migrate all your data onto the SSD (clone it). Magician, I learned, is for future use of the SSD after it is all installed and cloned to keep it optimized, etc.

This thread is a few months dead so I'm sure you've figured it out, but I just wanted to put the issue to rest. And I hope this is the correct solution to your problem, and I'm not crazy. :thumb:

 

[kyleadam]

Okay so I just explained the solution pretty extensively but it didn't post so eff this I'm just going to write it again quickly.

I THINK I figured out your problem after reading through most of this thread. So the Magician program is for AFTER the SSD is already cloned and is used for optimization and maintenance, etc. The Samsung install disc that comes with the SSD has another program to install (which I missed the first time I installed Magician and is why my computer would not recognize that I had the SSD plugged in as well) called Data Migration. Connect your SSD via sata2usb cable and open Data Migration and this tool should be very simple to walk through and clone the data from your HDD to your SSD. After that, the Magician tool should recognize the SSD which you would probably just install into the sata bay inside the computer.

Hopefully this helps and solves your problem. Or it was just pointless because this thread is all ready a few months old and you've probably figured everything out by now. :thumb: