OS Migration To SSD Problem

captainfearless · 29 Mar 2023

Recently I reset my sluggish PC with the intention to migrate the OS to an SSD for improved performance. I swapped the cables of my two drives to make the SSD the primary. Reset went smoothly but when trying to install windows 10 on the SSD via bootable USB, it wouldn’t play ball.

So I opted to auto migrate it using Disk Genius, which appeared to work perfectly. I deleted the OS files from my HDD. Then a short while later when my search box had no cursor and my start menu stopped working and also chrome.

Tried a few googled fixes and then decided to migrate the OS back to my HDD. I also swapped the cables back.

I then tried to reset the PC via cloud, locally and bootable USB, but each time it failed. I formatted the original C drive in an attempt to get this working.

What is my next move?

dalchina · 29 Mar 2023

Hi, you are referring to 2 disks in your PC, and also apparently to a clean install.

Recommended- and especially in this case: retry the clean install with only your target disk in place.

You will probably be aware that you don't need to create partitions: these are created for you during the installation process. You must delete and existing O/S partitions near the start of the installation (around step 13/14 of the clean install tutorial.

Your specs say:
Hard Drives: Several external ones connected.

Disconnect all but your Win 10 install disk whilst installing Win 10.

captainfearless · 29 Mar 2023

Sounds promising, I’ll try this, do you think I should persevere with the SSD goal?, or stick with the HDD?

CCL Choice DVD Writer Optical Drive
3 Year Collect & Return warranty
Microsoft Windows 10 Home - 64-Bit DVD (OEM) Antec A30 Dual Heatpipe Cpu Air-Cooler
Intel Core i7 8700 3.2GHz Hexa Core CPU
CCL Choice 8GB (1x 8GB) 2400MHz DDR4 RAM
Cooler Master Silencio 352 Mid Tower Case
Gigabyte B360M HD3 Intel Socket 1151 Motherboard Aero Cool Integrator OEM 500W 80+ Bronze PSU Seagate BarraCuda 2TB SATA III 3.5" Hard Drive
Adata XPG SX8200 Pro 512GB M.2-2280 NVMe PCIe SSD TP-Link Archer T4E 1200Mbps PCI Express WiFi

dalchina · 29 Mar 2023

The primary benefit of a SSD is boot time- e.g. this 8yr old Lenovo laptop cold boots to lock screen in about 8s. Reckon 3.5 mins for a HDD. After that there are benefits for any disk-intensive activity- e.g. disk imaging (MAcrium Reflect or similar).

Try it and see if you run into problems. I assume you've got your PC configured to use UEFI.

Clean Install Windows 10

Megahertz · 29 Mar 2023

Windows can be installed in two ways: Legacy-MBR or UEFI-GPT
To install as Legacy-MBR you must boot the installation drive as Legacy
To install as UEFI-GPT you must boot the installation drive as UEFI.

As you have a UEFI BIOS, you should install as UEFI-GPT
Detach any other drives (SATA or Power cable) from the MB.

During POST, press F12 to launch the boot menu. You will see two options for the USB drive. USB UEFI (Name) and USB (Name). Select USB UEFI (Name) if you want to install as UEFI-GPT or select USB (name) if you want to install as Legacy-MBR.
Go to install and delete ALL partitions on the main drive till you have one and only one unallocated space and then proceed.
If you don't want to use MS account, don't enable updates or connect to the internet during installation.

NavyLCDR · 29 Mar 2023

captainfearless said:

Adata XPG SX8200 Pro 512GB M.2-2280 NVMe PCIe SSD

I had two Adata SSD's there were bad out of the box (one was intermittent and the other was just plain bad). After the second one was bad (which was a replacement for the first one), I went with Toshiba and had no issues. I'm curious though how did you swap cables between a SATA HDD and an NVMe SSD?

captainfearless · 29 Mar 2023

Thanks to all for the solid advice. The cables were interchangeable, does that suggest it’s not an SSD?

- - - Updated - - -

Megahertz I will follow that to the letter, i naively thought Disk Genius would take care of the heavy lifting!

NavyLCDR · 29 Mar 2023

captainfearless said:

Thanks to all for the solid advice. The cables were interchangeable, does that suggest it’s not an SSD?

Well, this is the Adata XPG SX8200 Pro 512GB M.2-2280 NVMe PCIe SSD and it normally gets mounted into a slot on the motherboard with no cable:

OS Migration To SSD Problem-capture4a.jpg

This is the hard drive which will have a power cable from the PSU and a SATA data cable from the motherboard attached to it:

OS Migration To SSD Problem-capture4b.jpg

My guess is that you are swapping cables between the hard drive and the optical (DVD) drive. Which begs the question as to why you are swapping cables anyway?

The ADATA SSD should be mounted on the motherboard at the location in the red box below:

OS Migration To SSD Problem-capture1.png

captainfearless · 29 Mar 2023

Lol, I know the difference between a disc writer and a hard drive! The hard drives are positioned where CCL put them.

NavyLCDR · 29 Mar 2023

captainfearless said:

Lol, I know the difference between a disc writer and a hard drive! The hard drives are positioned where CCL put them.

So what were you swapping cables between then? Are you still going to stick to your story that you swapped cables between a desktop 3.5" HDD and an NVMe SSD?