Cloned SSD will not boot; Boot Manager missing in BIOS

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I cloned an SSD from a fully functional hard drive. I used Macrium Reflect. Disk Manager showed the SSD partitions and sizes matched the original drive. When I installed the SSD in a new PC, the SSD will not boot; Boot Manager is missing in the BIOS. I re-cloned the old HD to the SSD with the same result.

I’ve tried numerous ideas I’ve found on the web. The most promising was a detailed article on how to repair the EFI Bootloader in Windows. From an install disk, I opened a command prompt and entered diskpart. Diskpart did not see the SSD, so I couldn’t continue.

The old hard drive boots, and Boot Manager is listed in that PC’s BIOS. If cloning is supposed to be a byte-for-byte copy, why is Boot Manager missing from the SSD?

Thanks for any ideas/suggestions.

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Was the old hard drive a mechanical/non SSD drive? I’m assuming you are plugging it into the same cables as was working on the original hard drive?

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Yes, the original hard drive is a mechanical, non-SSD drive.

Thanks for the input!

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Macrium Reflect has a boot repair facility.
Boot the PC on your Macrium Rescue disk/USB and see if running that helps.
If you need instructions, check the Macrium site.

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windbg, foxaroni

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If the old drive was a mechanical spinning disk drive, understand cloning copies it sector by sector so if a sector is corrupt or failing, etc., it will be duplicated on the SSD.  I’ve had this issue with cloning and a resulting non-functional SSD because of it.

The solution was always imaging, not cloning. Suggest you make an image (not a clone) of your source drive and burn the image to the SSD.

I’m also a Macrium user.

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windbg, foxaroni

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I don’t do clones.  I suggest (since The old hard drive boots, and Boot Manager is listed in that PC’s BIOS AND you’re transferring the OS to a new PC) a complete drive image (all partitions) of the HDD and restoring that image to the SSD in the new PC.

That method has never failed me.  If this is a retail version of Windows, that transfer requires that the OS be uninstalled from the old PC per the EULA.  If this is an OEM version, it’s not transferable, per the EULA.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

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Alex5723, foxaroni

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Okay, so the drive was cloned in one PC, then you moved it into another PC, where it will not boot, does not show in the BIOS (which it seems is actually UEFI), and does not show up using diskpart?

It seems to me that the second PC simply does not see the drive.

Is the SSD a M.2? If so, is the M.2 slot turned on in the UEFI/”BIOS” setup?

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Hmmm…yes, it’s an M.2. I don’t remember seeing an option turn on the slot, but I will check.

Thanks for responding.

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Thanks, bbearren and TechTango. Imaging did, indeed, help take care of the problem.

I should add that, prior to imaging, I tried a Windows 10 rescue disk, install disk, clone, new SSD  and even a 500GB hard drive. None of them saw a drive and continually asked for a driver. I never did figure out what the “correct” driver was. Then I downloaded and ran a  Windows 11 install disk. It worked perfectly, saw all the drives and installed without a hitch. After that, I did an image again of the original hard drive and it, too, loaded and ran.

I appreciate all who responded. Thank you!

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windbg, TechTango

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foxaroni wrote:

None of them saw a drive and continually asked for a driver

This is likely for the disk controller. Without a driver for the controller you can’t see any disks.
W11 worked because it has more drivers on the install disk.

When you create a boot disk/USB with the backup software, it adds disk and network drivers to the boot disk so you can always see the disk(s) for recovery.

cheers, Paul

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windbg, TechTango

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