Cloning a Win 10 drive that won't boot

[Arnold Rimmer]

I know that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen but ......... I've have just ordered a Samsung SSD and I know it comes with migration s/w but since an IT guy has taken a look at the Win 10 hard drive (to be replaced) it hangs on boot. I think the problem is a failing hard drive. So my question is, when I install the SSD and clone the source drive, does the source drive have to be fully booted or does the Samsung clone disc provide a boot option and then clone from the slave source?

Thanks for any advice chaps.

 

[V_R]

Personally I wouldn't clone the drive if you think its failing. I can see it causing issues.

I recently cloned my OS drive as I moved to a bigger SSD.

You need both drives attached to the PC.
You boot from the 'old' drive with the new target disk attached, run the migration software and wait, when its done you can boot from the new drive and remove the old one.
I went into the BIOS and made sure the boot order was as I wanted but that is optional I believe.


Have a flick though the PDF here: http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/support/downloads.html

 

[Arnold Rimmer]

Thank you V_R. Yes it makes perfect sense I know. The PC in question had an issue with just shutting down, no warning whatsoever, but at least it booted. The IT guy did stuff (not sure what) and was convinced it was something on the drive, not a heat or other hardware issue. Now it just hangs on startup. Thanks for your reply though.

 

[V_R]

Have you noticed the drive making any strange noises recently? Clicking etc?

 

[Arnold Rimmer]

No, I must say, I am not convinced it is the HD. It's actually my son's gaming PC, so being a gamer, I naturally thought a heat issue, but it wasn't. The Graphics card is water cooled anyway and we blow dust out of all our computers from time to time, so they're pretty clean inside.

 

[Abarbarian]

I know that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen but ......... I've have just ordered a Samsung SSD and I know it comes with migration s/w but since an IT guy has taken a look at the Win 10 hard drive (to be replaced) it hangs on boot. I think the problem is a failing hard drive. So my question is, when I install the SSD and clone the source drive, does the source drive have to be fully booted or does the Samsung clone disc provide a boot option and then clone from the slave source?

Thanks for any advice chaps.

You should be able to use CloneZilla for your purpose as it runs from a live cd.

 

[Arnold Rimmer]

That's great to know. Thank you Abarbarian.