ssd cloned to hdd won't boot in USB

Question

I'm upgrading my SSD on my Lenovo Yoga Pro 2 notebook.

In order to clone the original SSD, I wanted to first clone it to an external device, then boot the computer using the external device and clone it on to the new, now installed, SSD.

I managed to clone the SSD on an external HDD, but this HDD won't boot, blocking the process.

I am first getting a BIOS message saying no windows boot detected/no USB boot detected/no network boot detected. After this I get to manually choose where to boot from, I choose the USB, and it starts but crashes after a while.

Any idea what could be wrong? Is my strategy valid?

Why not skip the middle 'extra' drive copy and just copy your current drive directly to the new SSD? There isn't any reason for this extra copy. Also, how did you copy the drive? Bootable CD, drag-drop files from explorer? — Lee Harrison, Mar 18 '15 at 18:45
I imagine copying directly requires some sort of USB to mSata hardware connector, doesn't it? I'm trying to avoid costs. I cloned the drive using Macrium Reflect. — Alexis Eggermont, Mar 18 '15 at 18:50
Ok, that makes a bit more sense then. What software are you using to clone the drives? You need an offline clone/copy to do this correctly — Lee Harrison, Mar 18 '15 at 18:54
What do you mean? Is the intermediary HDD cloned using Reflect not a perfect clone of my original SSD? — Alexis Eggermont, Mar 18 '15 at 18:55
Ive never used reflect, but to get a complete copy you need to boot outside of your operating system off of a CD or Thumb drive. You can't properly copy operating system files while they are in use. Clonezilla is a popular tool for this — Lee Harrison, Mar 18 '15 at 18:59
possible duplicate of Can I install Windows OS (Windows 7) on a removable USB hard drive? — Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007, Mar 18 '15 at 19:12

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:17

3

After this I get to manually choose where to boot from, I choose the USB, and it starts but crashes after a while.

Any idea what could be wrong?

Windows doesn't like being booted/run from USB... you need extra utilities/work to get it booting and running from USB properly.

See these other SU questions:

Maybe also check out: Installing Windows 8.1 I get "You cannot install Windows on a USB flash drive from Setup"

edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:17

Community

1

answered Mar 18 '15 at 19:12

Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007

112,807

It shouldn't be necessary to boot from the USB cloned drive. He should be able to use Clonezilla to USB Boot clone it: Original Drive > Temp Drive > Final Drive – Lee Harrison Mar 18 '15 at 19:21
@LeeHarrison Sure, but (to me anyway) OP was asking why he couldn't boot from the USB drive, not "How do I clone this". ;) If you want to spend time dealing with the cloning problem that isn't being asked, more power to you -- but I'd suggest doing it in chat vs. in comments on this specific question.. Plus there are already MANY "How can I clone my drive?" questions that already cover using Clonezilla and the like. ;) – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Mar 18 '15 at 19:26

ssd cloned to hdd won't boot in USB

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