clone drive question ?

Discussion in 'Application Software' started by logicwatch, Feb 15, 2017.

  1. logicwatch

    logicwatch MDL Senior Member

    Jan 26, 2011
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    Hi all
    I am going to clone a colleagues hard drive later today however its not so straight forward.
    Basically he has purchased a pci express ssd and wants the standard drive cloning over to the new ssd on pci express to then use this as the new boot drive with OS.

    my questions are

    1. what favoured software out there would you guys choose for this type of clone ?
    2. if the old drive is GPT do you have to prep this new drive first before cloning or does the cloning software automatically take this into account ?
    3.Cloning to a different hardware hard drive sata > pci express ssd could this affect the licence with W10 ?

    many thanks in advance appreciate any tips :worthy:
     
  2. Joe C

    Joe C MDL Guru

    Jan 12, 2012
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  3. logicwatch

    logicwatch MDL Senior Member

    Jan 26, 2011
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    Its a laptop if that makes any difference to the bootable PCIE SSD
    I had not even thought about this issue !!
    I can try Macrium I did use it once before a while back.
    I was more concerned with W10 licence as we are moving to different hardware and know this can affect activation ?
    But now worried about bootability
    Normally most devices do show up in the bios so I guess we will have to see ?
    will keep you posted
    thanks
     
  4. Joe C

    Joe C MDL Guru

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    Microsoft uses a hardware ID on the motherboard so you should be good if you just switch out your HDD
    Does this laptop have a pcie slot to install that type of drive into?
    Might be much easier and cheaper to pop a SSD sata drive in it
     
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  5. dhjohns

    dhjohns MDL Guru

    Sep 5, 2013
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    When I switched from HDD to SSD there was not the slightest wrinkle in activation.
     
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  6. s1ave77

    s1ave77 Has left at his own request

    Aug 15, 2012
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    For a long time now activation is bound to harware IDs and recognizes and weights hardware changes with a points system. Parts like mainboard and CPU have a higher weighting than GPU or HDD. In case a certain amount of points is reached due to changes, Windows will ask for re-activation. This didn't change with Win 10.
     
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  7. logicwatch

    logicwatch MDL Senior Member

    Jan 26, 2011
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    yes this laptop has a dedicated slot for ssd pcie hard drive
    its the fact that its a different type of hardware ?
     
  8. Joe C

    Joe C MDL Guru

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  9. LatinMcG

    LatinMcG Bios Borker

    Feb 27, 2011
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    if he changes dvd wifi and hdd at same time.. it will likely fail activation
     
  10. s1ave77

    s1ave77 Has left at his own request

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    OK, net adapter changes together with others might trigger de-activation. HDD or GPU only should be no problem according to MS.
     
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  11. Joe C

    Joe C MDL Guru

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  12. logicwatch

    logicwatch MDL Senior Member

    Jan 26, 2011
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    ok have the laptop now
    and boy is it causing me issues
    basically the original installed was also infact a pcie ssd a 512GB I have now replaced it with the new 1TB
    my problems are with GPT I can install w10 on GPT to the new pcie 1TB drive fine but on each reboot after install it just boots back to the bios screen ???
    HELP !!:confused:
    laptop is ASUS G501J
     
  13. logicwatch

    logicwatch MDL Senior Member

    Jan 26, 2011
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    If I replace the original 512GB PCIE card all is back to normal boots fine
    just were am I going wrong the GPT W10 install works perfectly ?
    just keeps bouncing back to the bios screen on reboot so I guess somehow its not then seeing the drive on bootup ?
    I cannot believe the bios does not support a 1TB ssd surely not its a pretty well specified piece of kit !
     
  14. Joe C

    Joe C MDL Guru

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    #14 Joe C, Feb 16, 2017
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2017
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  15. logicwatch

    logicwatch MDL Senior Member

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    just spoken to ASUS tech support the maximum supported PCIE ssd is only 512 GB so the 1 TB is not compatible it seems !!!
     
  16. logicwatch

    logicwatch MDL Senior Member

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    having said that I am not convinced ?
    I don't seem to be able to find out elsewhere if there are any limitations to pcie ssd on this model ?
     
  17. Joe C

    Joe C MDL Guru

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    maybe a bios mod might fix that issue
     
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  18. logicwatch

    logicwatch MDL Senior Member

    Jan 26, 2011
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    I take that back its not showing in the bios !!! DUH question answered !!!!:eek:
     
  19. tonto11

    tonto11 MDL Addicted

    Jun 18, 2012
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    #19 tonto11, Feb 16, 2017
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2017
    Put a 512gb primary partition on the 1T drive
    and see if the bios can recognize that
    it might give you an end run around the problem

    Once I had an old Dell D610 that had a 120gb limit
    It could not see my 320gb drive
    but when I put a 120gb primary partition on it
    the bios was happy and once windows booted it could of course see the rest of the drive

    It seems ridiculous that a 2015 notebook has such a low hdd limit



    ...T
     
  20. logicwatch

    logicwatch MDL Senior Member

    Jan 26, 2011
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    the bios sees nothing ?