Cloning Windows drive (4k sector issue)

[adam.mt]

Anyone encountered this error? It's one I'm currently struggling with.

https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/plugins/servlet/mobile?contentId=3276875#content/view/3276875

This is trying to clone a 120GB SSD to Samsung 500GB model, both connected to SATA headers on the motherboard.

(I even went as far as a manual transfer by using diskpart to establish the new disk structure and DISM but writing the DISM image threw a write error. Maybe the Samsung drive is faulty? But I thought unlikely since new and otherwise works)

I don't want to have to setup afresh due to the custom software on the drive and not having the license details to hand.

Any assistance appreciated.

 

Edited January 17, 2023 by goretsky
edited to fix background and foreground text color

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

I'd give Samsung Magician a try. Hasn't failed me, so far (except a let down on a 32-bit netbook, but it was nothing to do with the cloning).

[Ready2018]

On 16/01/2023 at 14:09, adam.mt said:

Anyone encountered this error? It's one I'm currently struggling with.

https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/plugins/servlet/mobile?contentId=3276875#content/view/3276875

This is trying to clone a 120GB SSD to Samsung 500GB model, both connected to SATA headers on the motherboard.

(I even went as far as a manual transfer by using diskpart to establish the new disk structure and DISM but writing the DISM image threw a write error. Maybe the Samsung drive is faulty? But I thought unlikely since new and otherwise works)

I don't want to have to setup afresh due to the custom software on the drive and not having the license details to hand.

Any assistance appreciated.

Better to use Samsung's own software, they provide a Data migration utility 

https://semiconductor.samsung.com/resources/software-resources/Samsung_Data_Migration_Setup_4.0.0.18.exe

[adam.mt]

That was going to be my next step, thank you for the link. I'll report back.

 

 

 

 

 

[LiLmEgZ]

Quote

"I don't want to have to setup afresh due to the custom software on the drive and not having the license details to hand."

Your activation/license details are stored on your Microsoft Account from OS granted you used one at setup or post setup at some point.

I do believe they started storing all the activation details and such within one's Microsoft Account starting with Windows 8 because since starting with Windows 8 each and every machine built has had its very own unique activation key since the Windows 8 Era. Prior to that era they were using a Mass/Multi Volume OEM licensing method type of some sorts in previous Windows versions that OEMs used with Microsoft for prebuilt systems, hence why each machine back before Win8 came with its own Certificate Of Authenticity label issued to the OEM by Microsoft located somewhere on the machine (here's looking at u Windows XP, Vista and 7!)

So theoretically if you've been on Windows 10 or 11 with the said machine using a Microsoft Account the whole time then your Activation status should be super painless if you absolutely have to reinstall Windows from scratch. Just input same Microsoft Account details at setup and it does the rest

[aioraito]

On 17/01/2023 at 13:49, LiLmEgZ said:

Your activation/license details are stored on your Microsoft Account from OS granted you used one at setup or post setup at some point.

I do believe they started storing all the activation details and such within one's Microsoft Account starting with Windows 8 because since starting with Windows 8 each and every machine built has had its very own unique activation key since the Windows 8 Era. Prior to that era they were using a Mass/Multi Volume OEM licensing method type of some sorts in previous Windows versions that OEMs used with Microsoft for prebuilt systems, hence why each machine back before Win8 came with its own Certificate Of Authenticity label issued to the OEM by Microsoft located somewhere on the machine (here's looking at u Windows XP, Vista and 7!)

So theoretically if you've been on Windows 10 or 11 with the said machine using a Microsoft Account the whole time then your Activation status should be super painless if you absolutely have to reinstall Windows from scratch. Just input same Microsoft Account details at setup and it does the rest

It was clearly mentioned to be license to software other than Windows... I don't see the reason for you to explain about Windows license and activation when that does not seem to be the case...

[aioraito]

On 16/01/2023 at 22:09, adam.mt said:

Anyone encountered this error? It's one I'm currently struggling with.

https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/plugins/servlet/mobile?contentId=3276875#content/view/3276875

This is trying to clone a 120GB SSD to Samsung 500GB model, both connected to SATA headers on the motherboard.

(I even went as far as a manual transfer by using diskpart to establish the new disk structure and DISM but writing the DISM image threw a write error. Maybe the Samsung drive is faulty? But I thought unlikely since new and otherwise works)

I don't want to have to setup afresh due to the custom software on the drive and not having the license details to hand.

Any assistance appreciated.

 

Are both Samsung branded? Then Samsung software should be able to help... Disk cloning usually requires the target disk to be unformatted, no partitions whatsoever... That could be the reason you are getting the error... You might want to try other disk cloning software if that's not the case...

If other software also give the same error, then it could be a hardware issue... You may want to also perform hardware diagnostics...

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

On 17/01/2023 at 06:42, aioraito said:

Are both Samsung branded? Then Samsung software should be able to help... Disk cloning usually requires the target disk to be unformatted, no partitions whatsoever... That could be the reason you are getting the error... You might want to try other disk cloning software if that's not the case...

If other software also give the same error, then it could be a hardware issue... You may want to also perform hardware diagnostics...

They do not have to both be Samsung drives. Not with magician. Just the target disk, but it takes care of alignment, and the whole 9 yards, as they say. Should be hassle free.

[aioraito]

On 17/01/2023 at 22:19, Obi-Wan Kenobi said:

They do not have to both be Samsung drives. Not with magician. Just the target disk, but it takes care of alignment, and the whole 9 yards, as they say. Should be hassle free.

Didn't know that... It refuses to install when it is ran from an external drive... I also do not clone/wipe a drive within Windows... I use a different software...

[Ready2018]

On 17/01/2023 at 15:42, aioraito said:

Didn't know that... It refuses to install when it is ran from an external drive... I also do not clone/wipe a drive within Windows... I use a different software...

You should install it from the main OS drive (boot drive)

[adam.mt]

I'll be testing tomorrow. It's a works PC and no, Windows licence is not a problem, that bit's easy.

It's a mixture of software managed by another party and stuff from the user who's not kept a good record of their software accounts 🙄  Although I have local admin privileges,  I don't have direct access to the domain, I have to jump through multiple hoops.

Only the destination drive is Samsung but that should be sufficient.

I've already tried thoroughly erasing the drive before writing, it made no difference.

I'll be trying Samsung's Magician software and a hardware drive Dock which has clone functionality. Fallback is using both drives but establishing a symbolic link for the C:\Users directory to the second drive (since lack of space is the issue).

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Ready2018]

On 17/01/2023 at 18:13, adam.mt said:

I'll be testing tomorrow. It's a works PC and no, Windows licence is not a problem, that bit's easy.

It's a mixture of software managed by another party and stuff from the user who's not kept a good record of their software accounts 🙄  Although I have local admin privileges,  I don't have direct access to the domain, I have to jump through multiple hoops.

Only the destination drive is Samsung but that should be sufficient.

I've already tried thoroughly erasing the drive before writing, it made no difference.

I'll be trying Samsung's Magician software and a hardware drive Dock which has clone functionality. Fallback is using both drives but establishing a symbolic link for the C:\Users directory to the second drive (since lack of space is the issue).

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

I've found it easier in those circumstances to use a different PC, therefore you don't have any admin issues and connect the drives using a USB to SATA cable. Done 100's of drives using this method due to clients upgrading to a higher capacity drive and not had any issues. 

[Sikh]

On 17/01/2023 at 12:13, adam.mt said:

I'll be testing tomorrow. It's a works PC and no, Windows licence is not a problem, that bit's easy.

It's a mixture of software managed by another party and stuff from the user who's not kept a good record of their software accounts 🙄  Although I have local admin privileges,  I don't have direct access to the domain, I have to jump through multiple hoops.

Only the destination drive is Samsung but that should be sufficient.

I've already tried thoroughly erasing the drive before writing, it made no difference.

I'll be trying Samsung's Magician software and a hardware drive Dock which has clone functionality. Fallback is using both drives but establishing a symbolic link for the C:\Users directory to the second drive (since lack of space is the issue).

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

I would try using Clonezilla. Clonezilla has never failed me and it would resolve any issues you are having. It'll do a drive to drive copy or even a partition to partition copy.

For your case, I would do a partition to partition copy and set up the new drives partition table to match the partitions on the old drive except the main partition would be the full size of the free space left on the new drive. Then using Clonezilla, I would clone each partition to the new drive and you are all set. Sometimes youll have to extend the main partition to fit the free space but thats easy to do with GParted. 

I've done this many times and haven't had any issues. I've gone up and down in size and windows has booted every time.

[adam.mt]

OK, tried Samsung's tool and Acronis True Image 2019 and both are a no go. Some photos attached.

The issue is definitely the 4k sectors on the new SSD, seemingly it identifies as "Storage Spaces" not a regular HDD/SSD.

Hardware solution is next try.

Anyone encountered this before?

[Ready2018]

Now you've posted a screenshot I can see the issue,  you are using the Samsung 870 EVO, they have a design flaw that makes them either unusable or fail very quickly . I use to have the 860 EVO, but they stopped production of those awhile ago and near impossible to get hold of any, most listed for sale on the internet turn out to be the 870 EVO, I guess because retailers and other sellers are finding it difficult to sell their stock of the 870 EVO.

I would return the 870 EVO to whoever you purchased from and get a refund.

[adam.mt]

On 18/01/2023 at 16:14, Ready2018 said:

Now you've posted a screenshot I can see the issue,  you are using the Samsung 870 EVO, they have a design flaw that makes them either unusable or fail very quickly . I use to have the 860 EVO, but they stopped production of those awhile ago and near impossible to get hold of any, most listed for sale on the internet turn out to be the 870 EVO, I guess because retailers and other sellers are finding it difficult to sell their stock of the 870 EVO.

I would return the 870 EVO to whoever you purchased from and get a refund.

Will have to look that up, thanks

 

Update: Do you have any links? Most stuff I've found relates to nVMe version.

Edited January 18, 2023 by adam.mt

[adam.mt]

Update: Gave up and tried a different SSD. Since that has standard (512 bytes) sectors it worked no problem.

Photo shows Cruical (source) as first drive, Kingston (destination) as second.

Out of interest, are all 870 Evos 'faulty by design' or is there a way to get cloning to work on them?

Does this 4k issue only occur on 870 Evos?

 

[Ready2018]

All the 870 EVOs I've had failed, some didn't even work to begin with, others failed within weeks of using them, it wasn't until I searched online and found so many posts from others that I knew it was such an issue. I will never get another 870 EVO.

[aioraito]

Now I'm curious... I have 1 TB 860 EVO SATA, 1 TB 870 EVO SATA, 2 500 GB 870 EVO SATA...

My current boot drive is 1 of the 2 500 GB 870 EVO SATA and I am using the 1 TB 860 EVO SATA which I used as boot drive before...

What is the issue with 870 EVO SATA? The only issue I heard about Samsung SATA drives is installing Linux Mint or other distro on 860 EVO SATA and TRIM not working/may not work...

[Ready2018]

On 18/01/2023 at 23:49, aioraito said:

Now I'm curious... I have 1 TB 860 EVO SATA, 1 TB 870 EVO SATA, 2 500 GB 870 EVO SATA...

My current boot drive is 1 of the 2 500 GB 870 EVO SATA and I am using the 1 TB 860 EVO SATA which I used as boot drive before...

What is the issue with 870 EVO SATA? The only issue I heard about Samsung SATA drives is installing Linux Mint or other distro on 860 EVO SATA and TRIM not working/may not work...

Just do a internet search for 870 evo failure and you will see the hundreds if not thousands of websites that details the fact they just fail so quickly.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

Out of curiosity, did you try wiping the 500GB Samsung 870 EVO SSD before attempting to clone to it?  I am wondering if it being partitioned for use in a Microsoft Storage Space was the problem.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

[adam.mt]

On 20/01/2023 at 01:04, goretsky said:

Hello,

Out of curiosity, did you try wiping the 500GB Samsung 870 EVO SSD before attempting to clone to it?  I am wondering if it being partitioned for use in a Microsoft Storage Space was the problem.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

Yes, my first thought was along those lines so diskpart clean (and also tried partitioning software erase). Neither made a difference.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

That's odd.  I wonder why it kept showing up as part of a Microsoft Storage Spaces after the DiskPart Clean operation?  I have not seen that before, but then again, I haven't used Microsoft Storage Spaces with anything other than hard disk drives.

 

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

I've got an 870 evo 512GB also, but have never had a problem until I plugged it into a 32bit system. Now it's acting....I don't wanna say strange, but not like it's supposed to. Magician update perhaps? It's just a spare anyway, but still.... 🤔

[adam.mt]

On 25/01/2023 at 00:24, goretsky said:

Hello,

That's odd.  I wonder why it kept showing up as part of a Microsoft Storage Spaces after the DiskPart Clean operation?  I have not seen that before, but then again, I haven't used Microsoft Storage Spaces with anything other than hard disk drives.

 

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

Yeah, it doesn't seem to make any sense (and for what it's worth, no attempt was ever made to use Storage Spaces).

Quick Google, found two others with a similar issue but no answers:

Link 1

Link 2

 

Out of curiosity, I might take a further look when I'm next there.

Edited January 26, 2023 by adam.mt