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New SSD, samsung data migration questions

3K views 13 replies 2 participants last post by  StoneRyno 
#1 ·
Got new samsung 860 EVO SSD (GPT) and before starting samsung data migration I'm warned that open files on the source disk cannot be cloned. Would this be a problem since OS files and anything virus protection etc is doing will make all sorts of files be open?

I would have thought that a tool like this would run as a bootable USB or CD/DVD so that there is no chance at all that any file would be open or anything at all running that could interfere with the process or prevent any amount of data no matter how small to not get cloned.

Also my current HDD (MBR) that has C: drive (one to be cloned) is actually 3 partitions: "System Reserved" (500 MB), "C: 18620.02 GB" (1.52 TB free), and unnamed 521 MB (shown as recovery partition). Is samsung data migration going to clone all of this?

Also does samsung data migration verify that the cloned contents of the new SSD are identical to those from the original disk?

I have Macrium Reflect Free Edition v6.3.1865 64bit (running it tells me I can upgrade to 7.1). I have always used that to perform backups of my drive to a network connected storage PC with a drive shared for it to backup the data to. Macrium Reflect has an option when running it from windows to "clone this disk". I have never used Macrium Reflect to clone before. It also asks about creating a rescue media (not sure if you can use that to clone). What I do know is that when I do a backup it has the option to verify the backup to make sure it is identical to the original.

What I don't know: does cloning also have the same option to verify identical to the original? 2nd Would using Macrium Reflect be better to use? If the rescue media can clone, would it be best to clone that way?

Thanks for any help ya'll can provide. Hopefully all of my questions can be answered. Of course if there is an even better way to do this then please do let me know. I want to make sure however I do this; that I don't have to do it more than once and that when it is done that all of the data on the new drive is identical to the existing drive so I can be certain of it's integrity.
 
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#2 ·
I have used the samsung data migration tool many times; it works flawlessly.
Once you finish the clone, do not reboot with both drives connected. Just shutdown and pull the old drive out or just pull the pw connector off. Now pw ON and make sure everything works; ie disk letters correct, etc. Once you are sure everything works ok, you can shutdown and reconnect the old [source] drive. Format it and use it for storage or whatever.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the reply. The only thing I see is that the 521MB recovery partition wasn't cloned and it changed the partition style. Which I was previously told that it would not do that. That it would clone from MBR to GPT. I don't want the drive to be MBR.
 
#4 ·
When you clone the drive, I highly doubt it is possible to change format ie gpt to mbr or whatever. What is possible is to change it from within windows however it does require a reasonably high level of skill AND you need to be comfortable working in CLI. Here is the microsoft doc on how to do this task;
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/mbr-to-gpt
 
#5 ·
Running the command mbr2gpt /validate in winPE as shown in the video does nothing. I verified using dir/p that mbr2gpt is on the X: drive that is loaded when booting to winPE. I'm quite technically inclined with windows but this lack of a result has me wondering what's going on. Typically running a command line command there should be some sort of output feedback even if the command failed. It should have provided feedback as seen in the video. But instead after typing the command the result is as seen like this:

Code:
X:\Windows\System32>mbr2gpt /validate
X:\Windows\System32>
 
#6 ·
I have done this 2~3 times for people who do not want to clean install however as I said, it requires a reasonably high level of skill. It does work well; I think the windows version must be 1709 or later so any recent install should be at that version or later. Current version is 1909.

You do have the system bios set to uefi mode on whatever system you are attempting to do this task correct? If it is set to legacy, of course it cannot work.
 
#8 ·
Current version is 1909.

You do have the system bios set to uefi mode on whatever system you are attempting to do this task correct? If it is set to legacy, of course it cannot work.
I am currently at 1903. That is also the latest winPE and ADK as far as I found. I however corrected the mbr2gpt issue from my previous post. According to MS's documentation winPE is missing certain dlls out of the box that mbr2gpt needed to run. The system bios can be UEFI but windows reports it currently as BIOS mode legacy. I'm not sure what setting to change to in my Z77 extreme4 motherboard to get the pure UEFI boot mode the instructions for mbr2gpt states to switch to after converting the drive.

Just had a thought. You did have the destination drive blank correct ie no partitioning, no formatting, nothing? If the destination drive had been formatted, that is one reason why you would end up with mbr.
The destination drive must be empty; just like it comes out of the box.
The new SSD was not formatted but simply initialized to GPT as per instructions to me in order for it to be GPT. But when it cloned the old HDD (MBR) it ended up as MBR and also missing the recovery partition at the end. Not having the recovery partition is probably of no consequence as that can always be done again if needed. As I recall initially there was none and I took steps to get it. Is it is possible to repeat the clone process by booting windows again from the HDD that still has all the data on it from before cloning and repeat the clone doing something different so that it is GPT? If not mbr2gpt log files report the following once i was able to run /validate: "
Error ValidateLayout: Last partition too close to the end of the disk. Should end at offset 1000204869120 or below, found at 1000204886016" I'm familiar with changing partition sizes so I could do that in order for mbr2gpt to be used.
 
#7 ·
Just had a thought. You did have the destination drive blank correct ie no partitioning, no formatting, nothing? If the destination drive had been formatted, that is one reason why you would end up with mbr.
The destination drive must be empty; just like it comes out of the box.
 
#9 ·
OK, if your system was in legacy bios, you had mbr. That is why the clone had mbr. You first need to change the bios mode to uefi then do the procedure outlined in the MS link.
FWIW I never used the tool in PE mode; I use the full os switch and never had a problem.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Attempting to find out what setting I'm supposed to change to get UEFI. The manual and the bios info aren't clear as to what the setting options are. The only boot related setting I have seen so far that metions UEFI is a setting called fast boot (current setting disabled) and has two other settings fast and ultra fast. In regards to ultra fast it states that in order to access setup again use restart to UEFI in windows.

EDIT: I've resized the partition to allow for 1MB of space at the end of the drive. And now mbr2gpt /validate passes. So the SSD is ready for the process as soon as I know what setting to change on the motherboard.
 
#11 ·
Each bios [and sometimes even each revision or update] is slightly different in how it presents menus/options. Because of that, giving you exact instructions on where this option resides is next to impossible unless the system is in front of me.
I assume you have read your manual.
When you do find the setting, you may need to select windows boot mgr as first boot device. Set uefi mode first then if the system will not boot into windows, check the boot order.
 
#12 ·
I do wish that the industry was much more consistent in its naming and placement of settings it would make things so much easier. I figured on here though it would be much less likely that someone would be familiar exactly with the motherboard I have. I did ask about what setting if any needs to be changed on the forum where the motherboard was recommended to me back when I built this PC figuring people there would know. I don't have a certainty yet on that. The Z77 extreme4 manual is very lacking of details about the settings. The bulk of it is like this: VTT Voltage --- Use this to select VTT Voltage. But if you don't know what VTT is and there is no info online about it then you have no idea what to do with it at all. And my predicament so far because I can't seem to find if there is a setting i need to change or not. For all I know it automatically knows what mode to be in. But I don't want to assume anything and end up in a no boot scenario.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I looked at your manual and you are correct; it is pretty poor. I checked the support page for your board and found something that may help. In the manual, the newest supported operating system is win7 however the support page lists win10 as supported. The latest release bios is dated July of 2013 however win10 was not RTM until 2015. There are beta bios listed as late as May of 2018. It is possible that the beta bios has options for win10.

Up to you if you want to attempt to update the bios to a beta release. Generally I recommend using the latest release bios and not a beta unless the beta bios has a fix or support you need. Up to you if you want to attempt a flash with a beta bios. If you do decide to update, be sure you read and fully understand the flashing procedure. The ONLY way I ever update an asrock board is by using instant flash which is a utility built into the bios itself. IMO using a windows based flashing program is just asking for a problem.

While a bios update is not difficult, an incorrect or corrupted flash can render your board unbootable ie junk.
 
#14 · (Edited)
I hadn't thought to add that info to the thread previously but yes I am running that beta BIOS. It actually contained something that was needed. It was recommended to install related to the spectre / meltdown threat from last year. I have no idea if it contains any settings that weren't there in previous version of the BIOS.

EDIT: after a lot more digging for info it appears that the z77 eztreme4 automatically selects the boot mode based on if the drive is MBR or GPT. After having found a few obscure threads on a few other forums saying they were running UEFI/GPT mode with the z77 extreme4 and one that said to use ultra fast mode the drive had to be GPT I went ahead and converted confident that worse case scenario I would have to change the one setting to ultra fast mode. According to windows system information I'm now in UEFI mode without having to change the one setting to ultra fast.
 
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