Problem migrating the system drive from my source NVMe to a new target NVMe: “The external backing provider is not recognized.”

sdowney717 · Mar 6, 2024

I have put drives setup on one PC into an entirely different PC and windows detects all the new hardware and runs.
You could do that, use another PC with your current drive and clone it onto the new NVME.
Then put the new NVME back into the original PC

That will eliminate your original PC being part of a cloning process

sdowney717 · Mar 6, 2024

another thing to try is run the DISM commands and SFC on the booted cloned drive\

Maybe the clone has some errors causing it not work right

BrianInEngland · Mar 6, 2024

BothHands said:
Thanks, and Duh. I just downloaded it, too. If you read my reply to @Flashorn above you'll understand that I'm kinda "thrashing about" at this point. In over my head, but with help from you guys I'll get it done.

Been reading up on DOS command xcopy. Was going to try that to see if it would provide a true cloning where the source and target data match exactly. A result wherein I actually could use Disk Management, et al. But now that you and @Flashorn (and @SIW2 who snuck in when I wasn't lookin!) have provided me with basic awareness of DISM and other utilities, as well as a working copy of Marcrium Reflect FREE...man, I don't know which way to turn. Ah, but too many options is a Happy Problem. =D

Will go read SIW2's posts and see if they nudge me in one direction or another. Thanks!

Xcopy can't be used for files that are locked/in use by the OS.

RD Mercer · Mar 6, 2024

BothHands said:
Could you provide a link to what you're using as a duplicator? And also "the card" you mention in relation to your NVMe M.2 drive.

Amazon.com

BothHands · Mar 6, 2024

Flashorn said:
No that's fine. I forgot to mention it. Other devices such as external drives or headphones...
let us know how it goes.

Thanks. Will do.

Flashorn said:
Did you watch the video? That's how I learned to clone.

I just did. Thanks.
I learned about two weeks ago by watching this YouTube video by Ask Your Computer Guy, who uses and highly recommends Macrium Reflect FREE. It was his recommendation that sent me to the MajorGeeks download page.

BothHands · Mar 6, 2024

BrianInEngland said:
Xcopy can't be used for files that are locked/in use by the OS.

Thanks for that insight, @BrianInEngland. And thanks to you and @Sdowny717 for sparing me having to learn and implement yet another ineffective measure. I seem to be upta me arse in those, and there are only so many hours in a day. =D

BothHands · Mar 6, 2024

RD Mercer said:
Amazon.com

Amazon.com

I see now. I'll look into those further. Thanks

RD Mercer said:
Amazon.com

I built a Windows PC desktop for audio production back in 2012. It's way behind he curve now, but still useful. The motherboard has no NVMe capability, and I was considering THIS as a way to run a 1TB NVMe as my second drive. The best mobo slot available is a PCIe 2.0 X4 slot, and I'm pretty sure that slot would slow the data transfer rate way down.

Assuming your motherboard has no free NVMe slots, is it your intention to use that PCIe adapter to house your Target drive, so you can clone/migrate from the Source NVMe drive on your mobo?

BothHands · Mar 6, 2024

sdowney717 said:
I have put drives setup on one PC into an entirely different PC and windows detects all the new hardware and runs.
You could do that, use another PC with your current drive and clone it onto the new NVME.
Then put the new NVME back into the original PC

That will eliminate your original PC being part of a cloning process

Would this work?

1. I have only one NVMe external enclosure (it connects via USB 3.1)

2. I have a desktop computer with a C system drive and a D data drive. No NVMe capabilities.
3. Install DiskGenius or Macrium Reflect on the desktop C drive.

4. Remove the good/original/source C drive from my Beelink miniPC and install it in the NVMe USB enclosure.
5. Boot the desktop computer and then connect the NVMe enclosure via USB.
6. Migrate the 4 individual partitions (C, D and the two Win utility partitions) individually to desktop drive D.

7. Shut down the desktop computer.
8. Swap the good/original/source C drive (the Beelink system drive) out of the USB enclosure.
9. Swap the wiped, unallocated 1TB target NVMe drive into the USB enclosure.

10. Reboot the desktop computer.
11. Migrate those four individual partitions from the desktop D drive to the 1TB target NVMe drive.

12. Install the (blasted!) 1TB NVMe drive as the Beelink C system drive.

RD Mercer · Mar 6, 2024

BothHands said:
I see now. I'll look into those further. Thanks

I built a Windows PC desktop for audio production back in 2012. It's way behind he curve now, but still useful. The motherboard has no NVMe capability, and I was considering THIS as a way to run a 1TB NVMe as my second drive. The best mobo slot available is a PCIe 2.0 X4 slot, and I'm pretty sure that slot would slow the data transfer rate way down.

Assuming your motherboard has no free NVMe slots, is it your intention to use that PCIe adapter to house your Target drive, so you can clone/migrate from the Source NVMe drive on your mobo?

My "OLD" ASRock Z97 Extreme4, LGA 1150 Motherboard has an onboard NVMe M.2 slot, but the onboard M.2 slot is not much faster than the sata ports. With the M.2 Samsung 980 on the card, it produces around 2900 read and 2200 write speeds. Yes, it would be much faster on a today's board, but the good thing is, I already have the M.2 drive "or a few Samsung M.2 drives" if and when I ever decide to upgrade. I also like the M.2 on the card because it's easier to remove, I don't like the M.2 drive plugged in along with a regular Sata drive, it's been known to corrupt my windows 11 on my M.2. Since I don't do much on the PC, but maybe use MS Office and surf the web, my board with the 4790K and 32 Gig of ram is blistering fast enough for me on the Xfinity 1.2 Gbps plan, so I see no reason to upgrade "at the moment".

I don't know what board you might want to use, but if it doesn't have at least a PCIe x4 or x8 slot, I'm not positive, but I don't think you will be able to boot from the card with the M.2 drive.

BothHands · Mar 6, 2024

sdowney717 said:
another thing to try is run the DISM commands and SFC on the booted cloned drive\

Maybe the clone has some errors causing it not work right

In fact, I did run the DISM and SFC on the booted cloned drive. In other words, I was checking the buggy target drive. New drive that received the cloned data.

I have swapped the drives. Now the good, functioning original/source drive is the C system drive. Per your comments, I will run the DSIM and SFC on this good, functioning original/source drive. I didn't consider doing that before... Thanks.

BothHands · Mar 6, 2024

RD Mercer said:
My "OLD" ASRock Z97 Extreme4, LGA 1150 Motherboard has an onboard NVMe M.2 slot, but the onboard M.2 slot is not much faster than the sata ports. With the M.2 Samsung 980 on the card, it produces around 2900 read and 2200 write speeds. Yes, it would be much faster on a today's board, but the good thing is, I already have the M.2 drive "or a few Samsung M.2 drives" if and when I ever decide to upgrade. I also like the M.2 on the card because it's easier to remove, I don't like the M.2 drive plugged in along with a regular Sata drive, it's been known to corrupt my windows 11 on my M.2. Since I don't do much on the PC, but maybe use MS Office and surf the web, my board with the 4790K and 32 Gig of ram is blistering fast enough for me on the Xfinity 1.2 Gbps plan, so I see no reason to upgrade "at the moment".

I don't know what board you might want to use, but if it doesn't have at least a PCIe x4 or x8 slot, I'm not positive, but I don't think you will be able to boot from the card with the M.2 drive.

Thanks for clarifying. Having given up on the NVMe adapter (for PCIe slot) I intended to buy a pair of 1TB Samsung 870 EVO, but the price jumped, and I'm up to my neck is sorting out this problem, that I never imagined would be a problem... Grrr. And you're right, I would not be able to boot from an NVMe via a PCIe mobo slot. That drive could not function as my system drive.

BothHands · Mar 6, 2024

GUYS, I HAVE TO ASK A QUESTION BEFORE I CAN MOVE FORWARD.

I'm reinstalling DiskGenius on the good original/source 500GB drive.
The install operation posts the following warning:

don't install DG on your TARGET drive, right.png

I don't understand what they mean by "...the partition where you want to recover files."
What does "recover files" mean in this context?

Logically, you would not want to install this software on a drive that will receive the cloned data, because transferring the data will WIPE OUT the software. Am I right? If so, I take this warning to mean: Do not install DiskGenius on the Target drive (the drive that will receive the cloned data).

And if that's correct, I should go ahead and install DiskGenius in Program Files on the C drive, as I would any other software. Yes?

RD Mercer · Mar 6, 2024

BothHands said:
Having given up on the NVMe adapter (for PCIe slot) I intended to buy a pair of 1TB Samsung 870 EVO, but the price jumped.

I think this is a great price, of course it will most likely go for much more.

Samsung SSD 870 EVO, 1 TB | eBay

Samsung SSD 870 Evo 1 TB Storage 560 MB/s Read Speed 530 MB/s Write...

www.ebay.com

The buy it now is around $100.00

Samsung 1TB 870 EVO SATA 2.5" Internal Drive V-NAND SSD - New In Sealed Box 887276431970 | eBay

Samsung 870 EVO SATA 2.5" V-NAND SSD 1TB. Interface: SATA III: 6 Gb/s Interface, compatible with SATA II: 3 Gb/s & SATA I: 1.5 Gb/s interface. Maximize SATA interface limit up to 560/530 MB/s for read and write sequential speeds.

www.ebay.com

RD Mercer · Mar 6, 2024

BothHands said:
GUYS, I HAVE TO ASK A QUESTION BEFORE I CAN MOVE FORWARD.

I'm reinstalling DiskGenius on the good original/source 500GB drive.
The install operation posts the following warning:

View attachment 89396

I don't understand what they mean by "...the partition where you want to recover files."
What does "recover files" mean in this context?

Logically, you would not want to install this software on a drive that will receive the cloned data, because transferring the data will WIPE OUT the software. Am I right? If so, I take this warning to mean: Do not install DiskGenius on the Target drive (the drive that will receive the cloned data).

And if that's correct, I should go ahead and install DiskGenius in Program Files on the C drive, as I would any other software. Yes?

That looks like a recovery software, to me it looks like it means that you need to have a different drive or partition to recover files to, I'm not sure.

Edit: Ok, I see now, it just wants to make sure your backup tib. or whatever that software calls it, is not on the same partition, as the partition your backing up. Personally, I would never back up to a partition on the drive I'm backing up, I would always use another drive, but that's just me.

SIW2 · Mar 6, 2024

BothHands said:
GUYS, I HAVE TO ASK A QUESTION BEFORE I CAN MOVE FORWARD.

I'm reinstalling DiskGenius on the good original/source 500GB drive.
The install operation posts the following warning:

View attachment 89396

I don't understand what they mean by "...the partition where you want to recover files."
What does "recover files" mean in this context?

And if that's correct, I should go ahead and install DiskGenius in Program Files on the C drive, as I would any other software. Yes?

Diskgenius has a data recovery function ( only usable in the paid version). If you wanted to recover data from a partition ( e.g files/folders that were accidentally deleted ) it is a bad idea to write anything to the partition in question.

Therefore any data recovery program should not be installed onto a partition on which you want to run the data recovery module.

You dont want to use the data recovery function so it doesnt matter.

BothHands · Mar 6, 2024

RD Mercer said:
I think this is a great price, of course it will most likely go for much more.
The buy it now is around $100.00

870 EVO SATA SSDs (1TB) were $75 apiece on Amazon and Samsung.com when I started down this twisted path. I put off buying until I had this "all worked out," and then a few days ago the price jumped about 20%, to $90 I think. And the other big drive I wanted to buy jumped similarly.

BothHands · Mar 6, 2024

SIW2 said:
Diskgenius has a data recovery function ( only usable in the paid version). If you wanted to recover data from a partition ( e.g files/folders that were accidentally deleted ) it is a bad idea to write anything to the partition in question.

Therefore any data recovery program should not be installed onto a partition on which you want to run the data recovery module.

You dont want to use the data recovery function so it doesnt matter.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, @SIW2. I never would have figured that out. I will install DiskGenius first thing in the morning.

Then I will clone/migrate again. If it fails, I'll wipe the Target drive (yet again) and run DISM and SFC...this time I'll run THEM on the good source drive (I ran them on the flaky target drive before, and found 3 corrupted .sys files related to BlueTooth services that I don't use). If those utilities find and repair anything on the source drive, I'll try another migration.

If that fails, I'll seek the best way to disable BlueTooth capabilities, in Windows and/or in BIOS. Then I'll try another Migration.

If all of that fails, I'll install Macrium Reflect FREE, and see if that works. If it doesn't, I'll try running the migration on a second computer, with both NVMe drives—the source and the target—as secondary drives (so the source drive is not the system drive when the migration takes place).

This has become my new full-time career.

DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHAT "The external backing provider is not recognized” MEANS?
WHAT IS "THE EXTERNAL BACKING PROVIDER?"

Scott · Mar 7, 2024

RD Mercer said:
I don't know what board you might want to use, but if it doesn't have at least a PCIe x4 or x8 slot, I'm not positive, but I don't think you will be able to boot from the card with the M.2 drive.

You can boot from a x4, x8, or x16 slot.

BothHands said:
Grrr. And you're right, I would not be able to boot from an NVMe via a PCIe mobo slot. That drive could not function as my system drive.

Do you have at least a PCIe x4 slot available? I actually boot Windows 10 from a PCIe x4 slot.

BrianInEngland · Mar 7, 2024

BothHands said:
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, @SIW2. I never would have figured that out. I will install DiskGenius first thing in the morning.

Then I will clone/migrate again. If it fails, I'll wipe the Target drive (yet again) and run DISM and SFC...this time I'll run THEM on the good source drive (I ran them on the flaky target drive before, and found 3 corrupted .sys files related to BlueTooth services that I don't use). If those utilities find and repair anything on the source drive, I'll try another migration.

If that fails, I'll seek the best way to disable BlueTooth capabilities, in Windows and/or in BIOS. Then I'll try another Migration.

If all of that fails, I'll install Macrium Reflect FREE, and see if that works. If it doesn't, I'll try running the migration on a second computer, with both NVMe drives—the source and the target—as secondary drives (so the source drive is not the system drive when the migration takes place).

This has become my new full-time career.

DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHAT "The external backing provider is not recognized” MEANS?
WHAT IS "THE EXTERNAL BACKING PROVIDER?"

It sounds to me that you've got a VERY non-standard Windows installation

BothHands · Mar 7, 2024

Scott said:
You can boot from a x4, x8, or x16 slot.
Do you have at least a PCIe x4 slot available? I actually boot Windows 10 from a PCIe x4 slot.

Thanks for the picture, @Scott. I do have a PCIe X4 slot available, but it's gen 2.0 so it would really slow down an NVMe. I don't know how much it'd be slowed, but I think the data transfer rate would be in the SATA III ballpark (maybe...).

I read online that many pre-NVMe motherboards cannot boot from an M.2 in a PCIe adapter. Some can, but only with a BIOS update. My mobo is about 12 years old, and the "most recent" update is from 11 years ago, I think. Considering how much trouble I'm having just migrating a drive, I don't want to open another can of worms. =O