Cloned my 512GB SSD to a 1TB SSD and I have "Unallocated Space".

Hello. I have a Dell Precision 5510 laptop and was running out of space on my 512GB SSD. I'm running Windows 10 Professional. I bought a 1TB SSD from Dell to replace the 512GB drive and I just successfully finished cloning the 512GB drive to the 1TB drive. This was the first time I have ever done this so I'm a complete rookie with this task. I have the 1TB drive in a USB SSD enclosure and intend to remove it from the enclosure and install it in my laptop, thereby replacing the 512GB drive. One piece of info that might have bearing on my questions is that I selected "Sector by Sector" cloning and now I'm wondering if I should have done that.

I am using EaseUS Todo Backup (paid home version). Please see the attached screenshot of the Disk Management window on my computer. I looked on the web for how to deal with this. I want to extend my big 465GB data partition, but if I am understanding correctly what I have read in a couple of tutorials, it sounds like the unallocated space must be directly next to the partition I want to extend in order for me to combine the two spaces. In my attached screenshot, I have a 10GB "recovery partition" directly next to my 477GB of unallocated space, so I presume I should NOT be extending that 10GB "recovery partition". The command to extend the partition is available for the 10GB recovery partition but is greyed out in the 465GB data partition.

QUESTION #1: Is there any way to extend the 465GB data partition to include the 477GB unallocated space shown in the screenshot, with the 465GB partition being to the left of the 477GB unallocated space, but not directly adjacent to it?

QUESTION #2: If I cannot combine those 2 spaces, and I create a new partition out of the 477GB of unallocated space, will my computer just automatically start storing data in that new 477GB partition when it runs out of space in the 465GB partition or is there something else I need to do in order for the computer to start storing data in the that 477GB space?

QUESTION #3: With the way I did the clone (with the Sector by Sector selection), If there is no way to utilize the 477GB of unallocated space for data storage, is my only other option to redo the cloning and do not select the Sector by Sector option?

Thank you.

Thanks steve 108 and SIW2. I installed DiskGenius and when it opens, the window shows that the ESP partition is damaged (even though EaseUS Todo says it is fine), so I guess I need to wipe the drive and re-do the clone. As I said, I've never done this before and I'm pretty much flying blind and trying to understand the directions correctly. It seems hard for those writing the instructions to get down to a rudimentary enough level for a beginner with this stuff to do it correctly. When I did the clone originally with EaseUS Todo Backup, I followed the instructions precisely. The instructions were simple and I've attached them. The clone started fine and ran for about 30 minutes and then a window popped up and said something about the EFI partition, which I guess is the partition that allows the computer to boot up, and that that part of the cloning was done and now the computer had to reboot and the cloning would continue. None of this is in the instructions. The computer rebooted but did not automatically launch Easus Todo and nothing else happened. Then I had to go through some other stuff including unplugging and replugging in the new SSD USB enclosure to get the process to resume. I started the whole cloning process over 3 times and this window popping up after 30 minutes happened each time. I wiped the drive each time I had to start over before I got the right combination of reboots and plugging and unplugging of the new drive to get the clone to run through completion. When it was finally completed, EaseUS said the clone was successful, but now DiskGenius says it's damaged. I don't know that any of that's important to solving my problems here, but the bottom line is the instructions were completely inadequate and did not describe at all accurately what occurred when the cloning app was running. Can you recommend a cloning program with clear, simple instructions, that are accurate, that a doofus like me can run correctly so I can clone my damn hard drive? I've been screwing around with this for 3 days and am still at square one. I do have a clean system and data backup that I did with Easus, which I did before starting this cloning fiasco, but I cannot get a clean, simple clone done with the extra space on my 1TB drive available as part of my data partition. Is there a free program that is clear and simple that I can use to do this? I only have to do it this one time. Thanks.

You might be able to repair that esp partition which would avoid all that additional writing to your new disk that cloning again would entail.

I would try this first.

1. use diskgenius to rt click and delete the esp. Click Save all at top rt.

2. then rt click the unallocated space where the esp used to be and select "create esp/msr"
accept the defaults and click ok ( it will probably suggest 300mb esp and 16mb msr - thats fine just ok it)

3. Click Save All at top right.
it will ask to format the esp immediately - say yes.

The above takes only a few seconds.

Now you need to populate the esp partition with the boot files:

select the newly created esp partition and rt click the device path - select copy



Then open an admin command prompt and type : (using your cloned windows drive letter which is D in your screenshot . And the device path for the esp you just copied.( you can paste in the device path you just copied )

bcdboot D:\windows /s \Device\HarddiskVolume1 /f all

Thanks very much. I will give it a shot.

SIW2, Thank you so much for the instructions and link to DiskGenius. The cloning went smoothly and quickly. I will install try out the new drive in my computer tomorrow and if I have any problems, I might be back with questions, but I expect it to work correctly. I really appreciate your taking the time to help me.

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cereberus said:

It is much easier to clone SSD using Macrium Reflect Free version 8. It will aitomatically resize the C drive for you.

Cereberus, thanks very much for that info. I will check it out.

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SIW2 said:

You might be able to repair that esp partition which would avoid all that additional writing to your new disk that cloning again would entail.

I would try this first.

1. use diskgenius to rt click and delete the esp. Click Save all at top rt.

2. then rt click the unallocated space where the esp used to be and select "create esp/msr"
accept the defaults and click ok ( it will probably suggest 300mb esp and 16mb msr - thats fine just ok it)

3. Click Save All at top right.
it will ask to format the esp immediately - say yes.

The above takes only a few seconds.

Now you need to populate the esp partition with the boot files:

select the newly created esp partition and rt click the device path - select copy



Then open an admin command prompt and type : (using your cloned windows drive letter which is D in your screenshot . And the device path for the esp you just copied.( you can paste in the device path you just copied )

bcdboot D:\windows /s \Device\HarddiskVolume1 /f all

SIW2, Thank you very very much for your help! I actually reformatted the 1TB drive (did a full reformat) and went through the cloning just as you instructed and the clone went smoothly. I just finished installing the new SSD in my computer and it booted up perfectly and you'd never know I had changed out the drive other than the increased capacity. I really appreciate your help!