Clone Boot disk ( Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250 GB) to Samsung 970 EVO PLUS

I would like to clone my boot drive(Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250) to a new Samsung 970 EVO PLUS NVMe M.2 1TB Hard drive. The SSD 850 is in Legacy in the BIOS under Storage boot option control.

I want the new M.2 drive to be the new Boot drive.

My understanding is that I must change the Storage Option Control to UEFI for the M.2 drive.

Is there a way to do this by a clone and not reinstall Windows 10?

Thank you in advance

Yes, but you have to do some preparation of the M.2 drive first. However, the first question to answer is whether or not your computer/motherboard supports booting from NVMe or not. We need to know the make and model # of your motherboard or computer to determine that.

The basics of what you will have to do is convert the NVMe SSD to GPT. Then create an EFI System partition on it. Clone only the C: drive partition from the old SSD to the new SSD. Then write boot files from the newly cloned C: drive to the blank EFI System partition on the SSD.

The motherboard is a GA-Z170x-Gaming 7

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Sorry but would you walk me through your answer.
Thank you so much.

So, looking here:
GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 (rev. 1.0) Specification | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global

Be sure to put the NVMe drive in the correct slot in order to keep all of your PCIe slots working. Make sure you put it in the M2D_32G slot.

Then after the NVMe is installed you will want to open a command prompt with admin privileges or a powershell with admin privileges in Windows and run:

Code:

reagentc /disable <-copies the contents of your recovery partition to a hidden folder on C: drive
diskpart <- enters diskpart
list disk <- lists all the physical disks (drives) installed in the computer
select disk # <-replace # with the actual number for the NVMe SSD
clean <- this will erase the disk selected above, make sure it is the NVMe SSD!
convert gpt <- initialize the SSD as GPT
select part 1 <- this will select the MSR partition created by the convert gpt command
delete part override <- delete the MSR partition created by the convert gpt command
create part EFI size=100 <- create a 100 MB EFI System Partition
format fs=fat32 quick <- format the EFI System Partition as FAT32
assign letter=y <- give the new EFI System Partition drive letter Y:
create part MSR size=16 <- create a 16 MB MSR partition (standard on GPT drives)
exit <- Exit disk part
exit <- Exit Command Prompt or Powershell

Then using whatever disk cloning program you like, I prefer Macrium Reflect Free, but MiniTool Partition Wizard Free would also be an excellent choice, clone/copy your existing C: drive partition ONLY to the remaining unallocated space on the NVMe SSD. Your cloning/copying software should let you assign a drive letter to the cloned partition, give it Z:. On your NVMe SSD you should now have an EFI System Partition with drive letter Y: followed by an MSR partition with no drive letter (which is hidden in Windows Disk Management), followed by a partition containing Windows with drive letter Z:.

Now open a command prompt with admin or powershell with admin again and run:

Code:

bcdboot Z:\Windows /s Y: /f UEFI <- this will write the boot files to the EFI System Partition needed to boot in UEFI mode

Reboot your computer, get into your UEFI (BIOS) settings, make sure UEFI booting is enabled and set Windows Boot Manager from your NVMe SSD as the first boot priority. The computer should now boot from the NVMe SSD into the Windows partition on the NVMe SSD. Once you are booted into the new Windows on the NVMe SSD, then open a command prompt with admin or powershell with admin and run:

Code:

reagentc /enable <- this will re-enable the Windows Recovery Environment but it will not be in a recovery partition, it will stay on the new C: drive
reagentc /info <- this will show you where the Windows Recovery Environment is

Thank you so much. I will give it a shot tomorrow.

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"Then using whatever disk cloning program you like, I prefer Macrium Reflect Free, but MiniTool Partition Wizard Free would also be an excellent choice, clone/copy your existing C: drive partition ONLY to the remaining unallocated space on the NVMe SSD. Your cloning/copying software should let you assign a drive letter to the cloned partition, give it Z:. On your NVMe SSD you should now have an EFI System Partition with drive letter Y: followed by an MSR partition with no drive letter (which is hidden in Windows Disk Management), followed by a partition containing Windows with drive letter Z:."

NavyLCDR,
I have followed your post, and so far so good. I installed Macrium Reflect Free. This is where I am stopped. With MRF, I can select the source C:\ NTFS Primary. However the destination unallocated space with no drive letter assigned is grayed out, and I have not been able to select this as a destination. How do I clone the C:\ to the unallocated on the NVMe M.2?
Thanks in advance.

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This is as far as I have gone. I do not see a way to add a drive letter to the M.
2 unallocated space

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I actually think I have it figured. I did drag the proper C:\ partition to the NVMe M.2, then assigned a Z:| drive letter, then maximum size to use all the unallocated space. I started the Backup.
I will continue after that to complete. I will let you know how it goes.
Thank you

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I cloned the C:\ partition, but not the entire C :\ drive to the NVMe M.2 drive, then rebooted the PC, went into the BIOS, changed the BOOT OPTION CONTROL to UEFI. Then I made the NVMe M.2 as 1st Boot Priority.
The PC could not boot into windows.

Should I have cloned the entire C:\ (IE SSD) to the NVMe M.2 drive instead of only the C:\ leaving the Recovery and EFI partitions off?
Disk Management shows the Z drive as Healthy. EFI partition is also present

Did you run the bcdboot command after cloning the C: drive partition?

Yes I did.

Well, your first post is in error. You stated, "I would like to clone my boot drive(Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250) to a new Samsung 970 EVO PLUS NVMe M.2 1TB Hard drive. The SSD 850 is in Legacy in the BIOS under Storage boot option control."

And yet your disk 4 in post #5 is a GPT drive. It is literally impossible to boot a GPT drive in legacy BIOS mode. GPT drives must be booted in UEFI mode. Legacy BIOS (CSM mode) has never and never will boot from a GPT drive because it requires a partition marked as active to boot from and you cannot mark a partition active on a GPT drive.

So, yes, just try cloning the entire drive (all partitions) from disk 4 to disk 5. My original steps were posted to enable you to go from and MBR drive booting in legacy BIOS mode to a GPT drive booting in UEFI mode.

To clarify, this is the present BIOS. The Storage Boot Option Control is "Legacy", and the system boots from the Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250 GB fine.


Above is what presently shows up when I load Macrium.

If I understand you correctly, use Macrium to clone the entirety of Disk 4 (SSD 850) to Disk 5 (970 EVO). Set DISK 5 as the Z:\ drive. The clone from DISK 4 to DISK 5 should wipe the prior data during the clone.

Then when I reboot, set the boot order to DISK 5 or Z:\ (970 EVO).

Last two questions:
When in the BIOS during reboot, should the STORAGE BOOT OPTION CONTROL be set to UEFI?

Do I skip or follow the last step:
Code:
reagentc /enable <- this will re-enable the Windows Recovery Environment but it will not be in a recovery partition, it will stay on the new C: drive
reagentc /info <- this will show you where the Windows Recovery Environment is

Thank you so much NavyLCDR!!!

Storage Boot Control refers to booting from USB flash drives, not your internal drives.

You will need to delete all the partitions on disk 5, then do the clone. I think Macrium will give you the option to erase existing data. You still need to do all the steps with the reagentc command as you will be moving the recovery environment to a different drive.

Do not do the bcdboot command.