I have eventually cloned my HDD to SSD with Macrium - but encountered several issues . I would be grateful for the Board's advice as to what I did wrong plus I have a couple of questions .
Running Win 10 64 pro on an old Gigabyte motherboard GA-PS55-UD3. 
First  attempt to bare 1TB Western Digital SSD , clone properties set to SSD alignment - Blue screen  SSD failed to boot 0xc000000e error winload.exe file missing . Wouldn't boot to recovery DVD or Macrium Rescue USB from the blue screen (key F8 from memory ) - I didn't try the Rescue USB from the BIOS. Note I always switch drive cables on first reboot after cloning  , leaving the old drive disconnected , so no need to alter boot sequence in BIOS.
Rebooting back to HDD leaving SSD connected on second cable showed the SSD and all of its files - Macrium reported nothing untoward.
Second attempt - deleting SSD partitions within Macrium prior to cloning - properties set to SSD alignment . same result BSOD , same reported error
Third attempt - not setting SSD partitions to delete , letting Delta clone do its thing , not checking Advanced for SSD alignment ( as I assumed as an overwrite it would know ) -  success . WD have an SSD drive tool which showed all OK . However on a subsequent reboot - this tool failed to report drive health . This led me to suspect the SSD alignment . Google suggested running msinfo32  and checking Partition Starting Offset is divisible by 4096 to a whole number - it wasn't . Is this check the only method ? 
Question - Is this why the clone worked as SSD alignment not selected  or is this a coincidence ? 
Question - I couldn't find anything in Macrium to check existing SSD alignment nor any tool to convert alignment , Is this correct  ? Seems odd that's it missed . I had to rely on free interweb stuff to do the deed - which is risky in my view .
Google led me to Minitool partition free software - so I ran its drive alignment . Partition offset now divisible by 4096 ( to 256 ) . A couple of reboots required to autofix some reported drive errors . WD tool now reports SSD health correctly.
Data transfer reported as 3GB/s against a drive capability of 6 GB/s . SATA 3.0  . Question - Is it worth switching to AHCI or is the main issue the age of the motherboard ?. AHCI  not enabled in the BIOS . Google says switching it is not straightforward as registry changes have to be made first .
Thanks for listening !

+x

 

GoofyAC - 6 August 2020 9:03 AM

I have eventually cloned my HDD to SSD with Macrium - but encountered several issues . I would be grateful for the Board's advice as to what I did wrong plus I have a couple of questions .
Running Win 10 64 pro on an old Gigabyte motherboard GA-PS55-UD3. 
First  attempt to bare 1TB Western Digital SSD , clone properties set to SSD alignment - Blue screen  SSD failed to boot 0xc000000e error winload.exe file missing . Wouldn't boot to recovery DVD or Macrium Rescue USB from the blue screen (key F8 from memory ) - I didn't try the Rescue USB from the BIOS. Note I always switch drive cables on first reboot after cloning  , leaving the old drive disconnected , so no need to alter boot sequence in BIOS.
Rebooting back to HDD leaving SSD connected on second cable showed the SSD and all of its files - Macrium reported nothing untoward.
Second attempt - deleting SSD partitions within Macrium prior to cloning - properties set to SSD alignment . same result BSOD , same reported error
Third attempt - not setting SSD partitions to delete , letting Delta clone do its thing , not checking Advanced for SSD alignment ( as I assumed as an overwrite it would know ) -  success . WD have an SSD drive tool which showed all OK . However on a subsequent reboot - this tool failed to report drive health . This led me to suspect the SSD alignment . Google suggested running msinfo32  and checking Partition Starting Offset is divisible by 4096 to a whole number - it wasn't . Is this check the only method ? 
Question - Is this why the clone worked as SSD alignment not selected  or is this a coincidence ? 
Question - I couldn't find anything in Macrium to check existing SSD alignment nor any tool to convert alignment , Is this correct  ? Seems odd that's it missed . I had to rely on free interweb stuff to do the deed - which is risky in my view .
Google led me to Minitool partition free software - so I ran its drive alignment . Partition offset now divisible by 4096 ( to 256 ) . A couple of reboots required to autofix some reported drive errors . WD tool now reports SSD health correctly.
Data transfer reported as 3GB/s against a drive capability of 6 GB/s . SATA 3.0  . Question - Is it worth switching to AHCI or is the main issue the age of the motherboard ?. AHCI  not enabled in the BIOS . Google says switching it is not straightforward as registry changes have to be made first .
Thanks for listening !

Thanks for posting.

Except for Windows XP, which uses Cylinder/Head/Sector (CHS) alignment, all partitions created in Windows are aligned on 1MB/2048 Sector boundaries. As 2048 is divisible by 4096 (4K) all Windows partitions are aligned correctly for SSDs. In the Clone partition dialog, if you selected XP alignment then partitions would be aligned on the reported Cylinder size of the disk (usually 256), and the first partition would be aligned on a track (usually sector 63). This is not correct for SSD alignment. 

It's rare, but we have seen manufacturers providing system disks for Windows 10 that look like they were prepared for XP and aligned on CHS. If such partitions are simply copied to an SSD without checking alignment then they will be misaligned. If you had to manually select SSD Alignment in the Clone dialog then this implies that the source disk is aligned for XP.

Partitions incorrectly aligned on an SSD shouldn't cause a BSOD. Alignment is simply a requirement to optimize the longevity of the SSD by reducing the number of SSD blocks written. I suspect that the BSOD you saw on the first boot wasn't related to partition alignment at all but that the system was 'cross booting' due to having both disks attached. This would probably have been resolved by removing the original disk, booting into the rescue media and taking the 'Fix Windows Boot Problems' option. 

If you select the fist partition on the HDD (not the SSD) in Reflect, what does the Info panel show for the start sector?



Kind Regards

Nick - Macrium Support

+x

 

Nick - 6 August 2020 9:54 AM

+x

 

GoofyAC - 6 August 2020 9:03 AM

I have eventually cloned my HDD to SSD with Macrium - but encountered several issues . I would be grateful for the Board's advice as to what I did wrong plus I have a couple of questions .
Running Win 10 64 pro on an old Gigabyte motherboard GA-PS55-UD3. 
First  attempt to bare 1TB Western Digital SSD , clone properties set to SSD alignment - Blue screen  SSD failed to boot 0xc000000e error winload.exe file missing . Wouldn't boot to recovery DVD or Macrium Rescue USB from the blue screen (key F8 from memory ) - I didn't try the Rescue USB from the BIOS. Note I always switch drive cables on first reboot after cloning  , leaving the old drive disconnected , so no need to alter boot sequence in BIOS.
Rebooting back to HDD leaving SSD connected on second cable showed the SSD and all of its files - Macrium reported nothing untoward.
Second attempt - deleting SSD partitions within Macrium prior to cloning - properties set to SSD alignment . same result BSOD , same reported error
Third attempt - not setting SSD partitions to delete , letting Delta clone do its thing , not checking Advanced for SSD alignment ( as I assumed as an overwrite it would know ) -  success . WD have an SSD drive tool which showed all OK . However on a subsequent reboot - this tool failed to report drive health . This led me to suspect the SSD alignment . Google suggested running msinfo32  and checking Partition Starting Offset is divisible by 4096 to a whole number - it wasn't . Is this check the only method ? 
Question - Is this why the clone worked as SSD alignment not selected  or is this a coincidence ? 
Question - I couldn't find anything in Macrium to check existing SSD alignment nor any tool to convert alignment , Is this correct  ? Seems odd that's it missed . I had to rely on free interweb stuff to do the deed - which is risky in my view .
Google led me to Minitool partition free software - so I ran its drive alignment . Partition offset now divisible by 4096 ( to 256 ) . A couple of reboots required to autofix some reported drive errors . WD tool now reports SSD health correctly.
Data transfer reported as 3GB/s against a drive capability of 6 GB/s . SATA 3.0  . Question - Is it worth switching to AHCI or is the main issue the age of the motherboard ?. AHCI  not enabled in the BIOS . Google says switching it is not straightforward as registry changes have to be made first .
Thanks for listening !

Thanks for posting.

Except for Windows XP, which uses Cylinder/Head/Sector (CHS) alignment, all partitions created in Windows are aligned on 1MB/2048 Sector boundaries. As 2048 is divisible by 4096 (4K) all Windows partitions are aligned correctly for SSDs. In the Clone partition dialog, if you selected XP alignment then partitions would be aligned on the reported Cylinder size of the disk (usually 256), and the first partition would be aligned on a track (usually sector 63). This is not correct for SSD alignment. 

It's rare, but we have seen manufacturers providing system disks for Windows 10 that look like they were prepared for XP and aligned on CHS. If such partitions are simply copied to an SSD without checking alignment then they will be misaligned. If you had to manually select SSD Alignment in the Clone dialog then this implies that the source disk is aligned for XP.

Partitions incorrectly aligned on an SSD shouldn't cause a BSOD. Alignment is simply a requirement to optimize the longevity of the SSD by reducing the number of SSD blocks written. I suspect that the BSOD you saw on the first boot wasn't related to partition alignment at all but that the system was 'cross booting' due to having both disks attached. This would probably have been resolved by removing the original disk, booting into the rescue media and taking the 'Fix Windows Boot Problems' option. 

If you select the fist partition on the HDD (not the SSD) in Reflect, what does the Info panel show for the start sector?

Nick , Thanks for the response . I'll get back to you on the HDD info . Perhaps I wasn't clear - after the clone completed in all 3 attempts , I disconnect the source drive completely and swap the SATA cable over so the SSD uses the previous booting connection . I always do this when cloning - to force the PC to read the clone without ambiguity - also no BIOS changes needed . However during troubleshooting I did try leaving both connected and trying to alter the boot sequence - this failed even before BSOD, the PC shut down completely . I have to confess all of this is touch beyond my level of competence  - a little knowledge is a dangerous thing etc . 

+x

 

GoofyAC - 6 August 2020 2:59 PM

+x

 

Nick - 6 August 2020 9:54 AM

+x

 

GoofyAC - 6 August 2020 9:03 AM

I have eventually cloned my HDD to SSD with Macrium - but encountered several issues . I would be grateful for the Board's advice as to what I did wrong plus I have a couple of questions .
Running Win 10 64 pro on an old Gigabyte motherboard GA-PS55-UD3. 
First  attempt to bare 1TB Western Digital SSD , clone properties set to SSD alignment - Blue screen  SSD failed to boot 0xc000000e error winload.exe file missing . Wouldn't boot to recovery DVD or Macrium Rescue USB from the blue screen (key F8 from memory ) - I didn't try the Rescue USB from the BIOS. Note I always switch drive cables on first reboot after cloning  , leaving the old drive disconnected , so no need to alter boot sequence in BIOS.
Rebooting back to HDD leaving SSD connected on second cable showed the SSD and all of its files - Macrium reported nothing untoward.
Second attempt - deleting SSD partitions within Macrium prior to cloning - properties set to SSD alignment . same result BSOD , same reported error
Third attempt - not setting SSD partitions to delete , letting Delta clone do its thing , not checking Advanced for SSD alignment ( as I assumed as an overwrite it would know ) -  success . WD have an SSD drive tool which showed all OK . However on a subsequent reboot - this tool failed to report drive health . This led me to suspect the SSD alignment . Google suggested running msinfo32  and checking Partition Starting Offset is divisible by 4096 to a whole number - it wasn't . Is this check the only method ? 
Question - Is this why the clone worked as SSD alignment not selected  or is this a coincidence ? 
Question - I couldn't find anything in Macrium to check existing SSD alignment nor any tool to convert alignment , Is this correct  ? Seems odd that's it missed . I had to rely on free interweb stuff to do the deed - which is risky in my view .
Google led me to Minitool partition free software - so I ran its drive alignment . Partition offset now divisible by 4096 ( to 256 ) . A couple of reboots required to autofix some reported drive errors . WD tool now reports SSD health correctly.
Data transfer reported as 3GB/s against a drive capability of 6 GB/s . SATA 3.0  . Question - Is it worth switching to AHCI or is the main issue the age of the motherboard ?. AHCI  not enabled in the BIOS . Google says switching it is not straightforward as registry changes have to be made first .
Thanks for listening !

Thanks for posting.

Except for Windows XP, which uses Cylinder/Head/Sector (CHS) alignment, all partitions created in Windows are aligned on 1MB/2048 Sector boundaries. As 2048 is divisible by 4096 (4K) all Windows partitions are aligned correctly for SSDs. In the Clone partition dialog, if you selected XP alignment then partitions would be aligned on the reported Cylinder size of the disk (usually 256), and the first partition would be aligned on a track (usually sector 63). This is not correct for SSD alignment. 

It's rare, but we have seen manufacturers providing system disks for Windows 10 that look like they were prepared for XP and aligned on CHS. If such partitions are simply copied to an SSD without checking alignment then they will be misaligned. If you had to manually select SSD Alignment in the Clone dialog then this implies that the source disk is aligned for XP.

Partitions incorrectly aligned on an SSD shouldn't cause a BSOD. Alignment is simply a requirement to optimize the longevity of the SSD by reducing the number of SSD blocks written. I suspect that the BSOD you saw on the first boot wasn't related to partition alignment at all but that the system was 'cross booting' due to having both disks attached. This would probably have been resolved by removing the original disk, booting into the rescue media and taking the 'Fix Windows Boot Problems' option. 

If you select the fist partition on the HDD (not the SSD) in Reflect, what does the Info panel show for the start sector?

Nick , Thanks for the response . I'll get back to you on the HDD info . Perhaps I wasn't clear - after the clone completed in all 3 attempts , I disconnect the source drive completely and swap the SATA cable over so the SSD uses the previous booting connection . I always do this when cloning - to force the PC to read the clone without ambiguity - also no BIOS changes needed . However during troubleshooting I did try leaving both connected and trying to alter the boot sequence - this failed even before BSOD, the PC shut down completely . I have to confess all of this is touch beyond my level of competence  - a little knowledge is a dangerous thing etc . 

Nick , As you suspected  , the source HDD was CHS aligned . The Win 10 is actually an downloaded upgrade of Win 7 pro 64bit - the 7 itself came from Microsoft  install disks - although that  install was to a HDD previously running 7 32bit  and XP prior to that as I recall .  The SSD has start sector 2048 . However I am still not sure why it took 3 attempts to clone - however its done now .