Trying to Clone SSD Drive to another SSD Drive

Okay,

So here's the thing. Laptop with small (16GB) Optane SSD & 1TB Seagate HDD failed. Retailer tried to repair, repair failed. Retailer replaced machine with new (lower spec) machine that only has m.2 NVMe PCIe sockets.

Bought a small 'Proof-of-concept' SSD to check the 'spare' m.2 socket could access a SSD as a drive.

Have determined that BOTH m.2 NVMe PCIe sockets work and can access the SSDs (read & write).

Problem is this. I'm using Acronis True Image to clone the OEM SSD (a 256GB drive) to another SSD. However, Acronis can't see the OEM drive - only the new empty drive.

So, OK, I bought a USB to m.2 NVMe PCIe adapter.

Put the new SSD in the external USB adapter, ran Acronis again - STILL can't see the internal SSD.

Disk Management sees both disks, so does 'This PC'.

Before someone suggests taking out the OEM SSD - that isn't an option. Laptop is 3 weeks old and the SSD has an anti-tamper sticker on the retaining screw. Removing that would invalidate the laptop's 3 year warranty, which is something I'm not prepared to do.

Any ideas what's going on?

Will try to post images of Disk Management and 'This PC' (once I've resized the images to get over the 680px-wide limitation of the forum).

Laptop is Lenovo IdeaPad S540-12IWL 8GB RAM running Windows 10 Home / 1909 (OS Build 18363.657)

Thanks in advance,

Art

Yep.

As received, laptop had one 256GB SSD drive.

Internally, had 2 m.2 NVMe PCIe sockets. One occupied by the OEM 256GB SSD (in a socket marked 'JSSD1') and the other m.2 socket (marked 'JSSD2') was empty.

Putting a PCIe SSD into this empty socket, laptop can see both and access both.

Run Acronis off a bootable USB and the only options I get for the source disk are the USB flash driive (!) and the empty SSD in the 'JSSD2' socket.

The SSD with the OS/Programs/Data on it doesn't appear.

I'm puzzled to say the least.

Art

Try Macrium Reflect, see if it shows up.

NavyLCDR said:

Try Macrium Reflect, see if it shows up.

Yep. That's my next step.

Will report back in this thread.

Art

Pejole2165 said:

I am a little confused, you said the laptop was a new replacement yet you want to clone the supplied SSD containing OS/Programs/Data, is that SSD from your original laptop? Just asking because otherwise why would you need to clone it (I'm assuming because you have personal data on it).

Please see post #2 this thread.

The machine was replaced so no, the SSD in the new laptop is NOT the 16Gb Optane SSD (which is what I suspect had failed in the old machine seeing as I was able to pull documents/photos etc off the Seagate Barracuda HDD) and nor am I trying to clone the Optane SSD (I no longer have it, it was returned with the faulty machine).

Having got a new laptop with a 256GB SSD drive and spent time getting it set up (getting rid of various M$ crap, installing Office, Acrobat, Chrome, Printers, etc, etc), I would now like to clone this drive so that in future, should the OEM SSD fail, I can swap this for the clone and be up and running in minutes.

Also, as stated in post #2 both m.2 NVMe PCIe slots are compatible with SSDs - indeed the laptop (which I am currently using) has the 256GB OEM SSD with Windows & Programs on it and a second WD 512GB SSD in the originally 'empty' m.2 slot which has been configured for storing documents / music / videos etc.

This picture shows the inside of the laptop with the 256GB OEM m.2 slot (just to the right of the battery at the bottom) and the empty m.2 slot above that and to the right : New Laptop - empty m.2 socket - doesn'r recognise SSD

Art

And, let's not forget, Acronis is not seeing the ORIGINAL SSD installed at the factory that the computer is actually booting from - that's the really weird part.

If the boot UFD does not "see" the NVMe SSD, it is usually because it does not have the needed drivers. They should have been included when the boot medium was created (if it is a Windows-based medium).

It is strange that a SSD cannot be replaced without invalidating the warranty. On Lenovo computers, a SSD is a CRU, or Customer Replaceable Unit. Usually there is a sticker "Warranty void if removed" over the SSD, but this refers to the SSD itself, as I understand it.

Maybe, as this a 2242 SSD, the sticker it too large and it covers the screw. What the CRUs are for a particular computer is usually described in the documentation. The question can also be posted in the Lenovo forum.