Macrium Cloning issue : Error 9 : unable to complete C: cloning

Hi all,

New to this forum! Nice to meet you all here!
Might need some help from all the experts here as I am total computer nerd but trying to replace my old HDD in my laptop (Dell Inspiron 13, Windows 10). I am using the Macrium Reflect Free hoping to clone my failing HDD to a new SSD, so that the new SSD will replace the old drive as boot drive as well.
Before cloning, I noticed that Macrium showed a RED bar in one of the 4 partitions (not big, 502Mb). I ignored it and started the cloning process. But then an error 9 message pops up and process deemed incomplete. Below screen dump:


And then it also shows the following:


It shows C: partition not fully cloned (62.5 GB vs 58.15GB). Also the red bar partition (looks like it is the Recovery Partition based on size) not being cloned.

Can anyone please help me to solve this problem? Will the red bar partition be affecting the cloning process?

Further info is when I use CrystalMark to check the old HDD, it shows below cautions:
- 05 Reallocated Sectors Count
- C5 Current Pending Sector Count
- C6 Uncorrectable Sector Count
Will these warnings also contribute to the unsuccess cloning?

Really appreciate all your help on this, thanks!

dalchina said:

Hi, thanks for the info on the disk.

1. Please run Hard Disk Sentinel (trial - portable version available) - SSDs too to inspect your old disk.
This will give you an instant comprehensible appraisal right on its GUI.
Post a screenshot.

Where Macrium cannot read a partition successfully you cannot image or clone it in the normal way.
As it's only the Recovery partition, that can be regenerated on your new disk one way or the other.

As such, you may have been very very lucky to preserve your O/S intact.

2. How do you guard against this in the future? As I've posted many times now:
a. Use disk imaging routinely and regularly as so often advise here. Failure of imaging indicates probably disk degradation and file corruption - but this is only the used parts of the disk.
b. Run e.g. Crystal Diskinfo set to report degradation against thresholds via alerts or even email for each disk.
That way you get early warning.

Other questions:
Not sure what is - I guess you ran Crystal Diskinfo - people get confused with Crystal DiskMark (performance).


People get confused about this, but it's just the same indication file explorer uses in one view of disks - a red bar when the disk is nearly full. That's all that means. A nearly full partition like a nearly fully charged battery, say.

As to whether C: has been cloned correctly.. you could check the integrity of the old C: partition by running
chkdsk c: /scan
from an admin command or Powershell prompt

However note that a clone is not necessarily a precise clone here: Macrium uses "intelligent sector copy"
Cloning a disk - KnowledgeBase - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase
and this may explain the size difference.
Example shown here in 1st screenshot.
Cloned drive has different size? - Backup, Imaging, and Disk Management Software


Consider getting a licensed version, then you can subscribe to Macrium's forum and ask related questions of their experts rather than fellow users of one particular program. You get addiitonal great features too.

Hi dalchina,

Thanks for the advices! Have performed the Hard Disk Sentinel check, with the following reports:
C: Drive (the old HDD):


New SSD drive as destination drive :


One can see there are quite some issues with the old HDD drive. Is it the reason why I can't clone it to the new SSD? Is there any way I can fix these issues and try cloning again?

I tried the cloning process again and captured the error message with more info as follows:

Tried to image the disk but also not successful.....
Any idea what I should do? Really appreciate your help on this! Thanks!

- - - Updated - - -

Fabler2 said:

First thing I would do is to create an image on another external drive. That should work, then your data will be safe at least. If successful then simply restore the image to the new drive.

Hi Fabler2,

Thanks for the advice! I've tried to image the disk but not successful...... not sure what I can do now...... But thanks for your help!

Is there an option to skip bad sectors?

In your screenshot, it seems to be having difficulty with a shadow copy - is there an option to exclude that in macrium?

Hi dalchina, Fabler2, SIW2,
Thanks for all the valuable advices! Was busy yesterday thereby can only come back to try to fix it today.
Problem SOLVED!!!
As suggested, I ran CHKDSK /r several times, tried to clone again but unsuccessful.
I imaged the disk with the option of ignoring bad sectors checked to a 3rd external drive ---> SUCCESSFUL!
I then restore the image to the destination SSD, and then replaced the old HDD with the new SSD and start the laptop......
It started successfully!!!! So happy on this as I'm a total computer nerd and just so excited that I am able to do this! The laptop is now running so smooth and much faster than before!
Really thankful to all the advices you guys have provided in the last couple of days! Really helped saving my day!!
Hard Drive Sentinel showed that the old HDD is at a health of 4% today, so I am just in time to replace it.
A suggested, I will image / backup the whole drive and O/S as often as possible from now on.
Still monitoring the laptop's performance as I believe that due to ignoring bad sectors there might still be some files or data not being imaged into the new drive? But so far so good!
Thanks for all the help again guys!!!