Solved Drive cloning - Aomei or Macrium - my experience

rpetruzz · Sep 3, 2022

Yesterday I had a challenging experience upgrading my PC's main boot drive. I had a great 1tb Corsair Force MP600 Gen4 M.2 2280 ssd as my boot drive, but I read about the WD_BLACK 1TB SN850X NVMe SSD Gen4 PCIe, M.2 2280 with almost twice the through put. So on a lark I bought one.

Some background, I had experience with Aomei Partition Assistant (purchased version) when I wanted to upgrade my PC to Windows 11 Pro but my boot drive was MBR. Aomei PA did a great job converting my drive in-place to GPT with EUFI. I also had tried Macrium Reflect (purchased version too) in the past but thought it too complicated for me.

So I started out by putting the new WD ssd into the 2nd nvme slot on my ASUS X570-E motherboard and used Aomei PA to "clone" my Corsair ssd to the Western Digital ssd. I used the Clone Wizard with "Quick Clone". It all went smoothly until I looked at the cloned drive with Disk Manager in Win 11 Pro.

While all the data had been cloned looking in Windows Explorer everything looked fine, in DM all the partitions were there, but everything "technical" was a horror show.

On the source boot drive the main partition was C: All other partions didn't have a drive letter assigned. The new ssd prior to Aomei cloning should have been D:. But, after cloning by Aomei the new main data partion was H: and the new recovery partion was I: and what should have been the EUFI partion was a standard partion and was J: AND the drive was MBR not GPT as was my boot drive.

I tried to boot with the newly cloned ssd on my ASUS M/B and phhttt. Not gonna happen.
Not to make this longer than necessary I'll say I tried a number of times to have Aomei clone my boot drive including at the end using Disk Manager to remove the drive letters and having Aomei convert from MBR to GPT on the cloned drive. To no avail. Realizing I was bordering on insanity doing the same thing over and over expecting better results I gave up on Aomei PA.

I decided to give my purchased version of Macrium Reflect a try. It was that or just use my Recovery USB and doing a clean install and installing all my programs again on the new ssd.

Well Macrium Reflect just did it. The resulting clone drive was a perfect image of my Corsair boot drive when viewed in both Windows Explorer and more importantly Windows 11 Disk Manager. As I expected it was a D: drive and no wonky drive letters assigned to unnecessary partitions.

I plugged in the cloned drive into my motherboard and whooop it booted like it had been there for years.

Did I not do something wrong with Aomei... I'll never know but going forward it's all Macrium Reflect for me.

SIW2 · Sep 3, 2022

Did I not do something wrong with Aomei...

It worked with your previous migration, so yes probably.

Ghot · Sep 3, 2022

@rpetruzz

Personally, I just use images, rather than cloning.
This seems to work across all backup software.

In your case, in AOMEI, you should have probably just taken a Disk image, and then restore it to the new drive.
That would bring the system partition(s), and any other partitions... to the new drive.

On a side note... Macrium is far more powerful than AOMEI, without the bloat of Acronis.
Most of us on here... use Macrium already.

The link to the Macrium Reflect user guide is in here...

Macrium Reflect and Bootable Rescue Media, pictures...

Quickie Macrium - backup and/or creating bootable Rescue Media guide... Restore from a backup, from within Windows... Quickie Macrium - using Bootable Rescue Media guides... Restore from a backup, using the bootable Rescue Media... Fix Windows Boot problems with the bootable...

www.elevenforum.com

TM21 · Sep 11, 2022

"Most" maybe, but not all.
Since 1997, I've used only one program for all by backups and Cloning.
I'm still using an upgrade of that original program. It's still Called "Ghost" and still works, every time, without fail.
I've talked about "Ghost" extensively, so I won't go into all that again. Nobody listens anyway. :tears:

I just want to say, "if your backup program is not working properly for you, then maybe you're using the wrong program."

pietcorus2 · Sep 15, 2022

Since today the bootmedia of the latest Macrium takes a lot of time for testing the diskwrite-speed ( starts when making a backup) , it takes about 1 hour for making a backup !!
Used to be about 5 minutes !
When going back to a previous backup , all went fine ( in 4 minutes )
Did a disk-check ; no errors found ..........
What could be wrong........????

Tried to backup to another HDD , this time no problems , went very fast !
So , have to check the HDD , which I always used for backups , with a disk-check.............

cereberus · Sep 15, 2022

TechnoMage2021 said:
I've talked about "Ghost" extensively, so I won't go into all that again. Nobody listens anyway.

I just want to say, "if your backup program is not working properly for you, then maybe you're using the wrong program."

Ghost is a pile of crap by modern standards, and I am convinced you are just saying what you do say about Ghost to try and pretend you know what you are talking about.

Last sentence is ridiculous - all main players are fine - if the program is not working, in most cases, it is almost certainly an issue with users pc, not the actual program.

Badger · Sep 15, 2022

TechnoMage2021: I warned you previously not to open the Ghost can of worms. lol

Kim Parker · Sep 30, 2022

TechnoMage2021 said:
"Most" maybe, but not all.
Since 1997, I've used only one program for all by backups and Cloning.
I'm still using an upgrade of that original program. It's still Called "Ghost" and still works, every time, without fail.
I've talked about "Ghost" extensively, so I won't go into all that again. Nobody listens anyway.

I just want to say, "if your backup program is not working properly for you, then maybe you're using the wrong program."

View attachment 38950

I remember Ghost, acquired by Symantec. Never used it, can it do Windows to Go? I like the feature of using WTG on different PCs

cereberus · Sep 30, 2022

Kim Parker said:
I remember Ghost, acquired by Symantec. Never used it, can it do Windows to Go? I like the feature of using WTG on different PCs

No it cannot.

glasskuter · Sep 30, 2022

I take the same approach as @Ghot I don't mess around with cloning when I can restore an image and manage resizing partitions in one go. In all my years of messing with computers I have never once cloned a drive. Because I trust it, I have no problem recommending my backup solution to anyone else because it's what works for me. But whatever works for the next guy is his business. Whether I think highly of his backup solution or not is immaterial. I'm just glad he backs up at all. It's all the non-backeruppers that I have little patience with.

jimbo45 · Oct 1, 2022

Kim Parker said:
I remember Ghost, acquired by Symantec. Never used it, can it do Windows to Go? I like the feature of using WTG on different PCs

So many ways to create Windows to Go just using basic Windows features -- iso image of windows system to be installed, diskpart, dism /Apply-Image and bcdboot.

Plenty of posts on this site to how how to do this --- 100% Free. Don't bother with the paid versions of 3rd party apps which usually have a problem if you then want to clone the Win to Go system to a fixed internal hard drive. With the dism /Apply-Image method simply copy the system to your HDD and re-install the windows bootloader via bcdboot or use macrium and then "Fix Windows boot problems".

Just created one on an external USB drive -- no problems. I wanted a relatively bog stansard RTM W11 build and this was the easiest way to do it.

Is this really so difficult !!!!! -- Not a Eurocent's worth of any paid / 3rd party programs -- all bog standard Windows.(And I'm usually a Linux Bigot) !!.

Here's the finished base job before converting by WU to 22H2. Everything working - including WD all green etc. Booted from USB ext SSD drive connected to a laptop via USB->SATA connector.

Cheers
jimbo

Kim Parker · Oct 12, 2022

jimbo45 said:
So many ways to create Windows to Go just using basic Windows features -- iso image of windows system to be installed, diskpart, dism /Apply-Image and bcdboot.

Plenty of posts on this site to how how to do this --- 100% Free. Don't bother with the paid versions of 3rd party apps which usually have a problem if you then want to clone the Win to Go system to a fixed internal hard drive. With the dism /Apply-Image method simply copy the system to your HDD and re-install the windows bootloader via bcdboot or use macrium and then "Fix Windows boot problems".

Just created one on an external USB drive -- no problems. I wanted a relatively bog stansard RTM W11 build and this was the easiest way to do it.

Is this really so difficult !!!!! -- Not a Eurocent's worth of any paid / 3rd party programs -- all bog standard Windows.(And I'm usually a Linux Bigot) !!.

View attachment 41053

Here's the finished base job before converting by WU to 22H2. Everything working - including WD all green etc. Booted from USB ext SSD drive connected to a laptop via USB->SATA connector.

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 said:
So many ways to create Windows to Go just using basic Windows features -- iso image of windows system to be installed, diskpart, dism /Apply-Image and bcdboot.

Plenty of posts on this site to how how to do this --- 100% Free. Don't bother with the paid versions of 3rd party apps which usually have a problem if you then want to clone the Win to Go system to a fixed internal hard drive. With the dism /Apply-Image method simply copy the system to your HDD and re-install the windows bootloader via bcdboot or use macrium and then "Fix Windows boot problems".

Just created one on an external USB drive -- no problems. I wanted a relatively bog stansard RTM W11 build and this was the easiest way to do it.

Is this really so difficult !!!!! -- Not a Eurocent's worth of any paid / 3rd party programs -- all bog standard Windows.(And I'm usually a Linux Bigot) !!.

View attachment 41053

Here's the finished base job before converting by WU to 22H2. Everything working - including WD all green etc. Booted from USB ext SSD drive connected to a laptop via USB->SATA connector.

View attachment 41057

Cheers
jimbo

I was checking out more about Windows to Go both in the old Microsoft Enterprise and also Hasleo. From what I saw, Windows to Go after being created doesn't even need an internal drive if it is plugged in as a portable (SSD). It checks out the hardware on the computer and loads the appropriate drivers. And it can be moved to different computers.

Other ways of installing Windows on a portable SSD, after being installed can the portable be moved to different computers? To me that would be the whole point of Windows to Go. Microsoft stopped including WTG on Enterprise because it couldn't be updated. Hasleo claims their software is the only one that can update Windows.

I just got a new custom built computer with W11 and made a clone using Hasleo which seems to work well on my previous W10 computer. Not sure, but Hasleo WTG apparently makes a true WTG by cloning also? I like using a portable SSD on a new install as that takes the wear and tear of the registry and keeps the physical internal shiny and pristine.

Badger · Oct 13, 2022

Kim Parker said:
I was checking out more about Windows to Go both in the old Microsoft Enterprise and also Hasleo. From what I saw, Windows to Go after being created doesn't even need an internal drive if it is plugged in as a portable (SSD). It checks out the hardware on the computer and loads the appropriate drivers. And it can be moved to different computers.

Other ways of installing Windows on a portable SSD, after being installed can the portable be moved to different computers? To me that would be the whole point of Windows to Go. Microsoft stopped including WTG on Enterprise because it couldn't be updated. Hasleo claims their software is the only one that can update Windows.

I just got a new custom built computer with W11 and made a clone using Hasleo which seems to work well on my previous W10 computer. Not sure, but Hasleo WTG apparently makes a true WTG by cloning also? I like using a portable SSD on a new install as that takes the wear and tear of the registry and keeps the physical internal shiny and pristine.

Hi Kim,
Thanks for bringing this program to my attention. I just downloaded and tested Hasleo Backup Suite Free v2.9 (Build Sept 6, 2022) here. I performed a full backup of my C: drive, then wiped the C: drive clean using their util, and then did a full restore. All worked without issue.

Kim Parker · Oct 13, 2022

Badger said:
Hi Kim,
Thanks for bringing this program to my attention. I just downloaded and tested Hasleo Backup Suite Free v2.9 here. I performed a backup of my C: drive, then wiped the C: drive clean, and then did a restore. All worked with no issues.

Glad to hear it, I really like the Hasleo programs. Also like Macrium Reflect for imaging/ backup. For a free software, it sure does an excellent job.

Badger · Oct 13, 2022

Kim Parker said:
Glad to hear it, I really like the Hasleo programs. Also like Macrium Reflect for imaging/ backup. For a free software, it sure does an excellent job.

I agree.

jimbo45 · Oct 13, 2022

Badger said:
I agree.

Since a long time now windows on external drives created with vhdx (physical virtual files) can be installed and updated and moved at will -

create the vhdx file with diskpart, create vdisk file=...., attach vdisk etc.

No need for hasleo or anything else. Create your Windows system with dism exe /Apply-Image and the bootloader via bcdboot (or easybcd or whatever) bcdboot is the standard internal Windows command.

dism /Apply-Image creates a Windows system far faster than the Hasleo system too !!!!.

Cheers
jimbo

barman58 · Oct 13, 2022

I use WTG images quite a lot, for pre-install testing of operating systems, the advantage being that you test the OS on the actual native hardware.
I use Rufus to build the WTG image and it can be done quickly onto NVMe drives

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