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Migrate OS to SSD - partitions missing

edited September 2018 in AOMEI Products Support
I plugged the SSD into the laptop via USB.  Followed the Mirgate procedure and got error code 5. So I rebooted to windows to "unlock" the partition as suggested.  Sure enough it shows up in windows, but 3 partitions are missing.

Just to see what would happen I switched out the HDD with the SSD and the laptop boots and runs despite these partitions being missing, but something is clearly not right because I got the error code 5... and 3 partitions are missing.

What causes error code 5?

Why didn't all the partitions get copied?

Perhaps most importantly, how do I do this migration so that all partitions are on the SSD as they should be?

Thanks a lot
Stu

Note that in this screenshot the SSD is now disk1 as I'm running windows on it now... and the original laptop HDD is now disk 2.




Comments

  • edited September 2018
    Not sure what happened but you should be ok with what you have... From tenforums.com 
    "At minimum if you have EFI you need 2 partitions - An ESP containing your boot files as that is where EFI system looks, and your OS partition. MS recommends a 128MB MSR (Microsoft Reserved) partition as well before the OS partition but it will boot and run fine without."
    It appears the 128 mb MSR and the 13.03Gb Recovery partition (which you don't need nor really want unless you want to restore to factory state) were not copied. The 973mb partition appears to be the MS recovery partition, which again, you don't need.  A MS rescue boot disk (USB), if you made one provides the same functions. I don't know why they didn't migrate nor what the error code means but if its working you should be fine. Did you unlock all those partitions? The only one you might want is the 128mb partition if you try the migration again.

  • @Stu777,
    I recently finished building a new PC for my wife. I'm using the old system as a test bed to play around with. And it is a really old system...  built in 2011. Anyway, I took a current System backup of her PC and restored it to a spare SSD in that system. It booted up fine and had 1 partition, the OS partition. A long time ago, a system restore using Ghost 15 deleted the System Reserve partition and Aomei System restore does not restore the Recovery Partition. But I knew all this. This disk was an MBR disk and I wanted to see if Aomei Partition Asst Pro could convert it to GPT. I used it's boot disk to have it start in a Pre Windows Environment. I then selected the disk and selected to convert MBR/GPT. It performed the operation is just a few seconds. I rebooted and it did show a UEFI drive in the BIOS. I selected it as the first to boot and restarted. It booted right up into Win 10 with everything intact. I then looked at the disk structure in disk management. It was GPT and the EFI partition came AFTER the OS partition and there was no MSR partition there either. In any case, what I'm trying to say is that with those 2 partitions everything is working fine and it is a GPT disk.  So as long as what you have is working, I'd be happy and let it be.

    Tomorrow, I may play around and see if I can move the EFI partition in front of the OS partition so it looks like what you have. But in any case, it's working fine for me the way it is and I think it will for you also.
  • Today I'm doing my VM tests when cloning the system with Backupper, it only sees 2 partitions and the other two "Partition Recovery" and "MSR" are forgotten.


  • Another detail I did not mention is that I did not clone, but by note that tudi indicates the disk c: and then the EFI partition would be cloned first.
  • Those 3 partitions will not affect system startup, so they are not migrated.

  • I did not get the process done, but from the photo it looks like the c: disk will be cloned first.

    This is not normal?
  • @vagn_32 I think it's ok.
  • Thanks for your responses.

    I ended up copying the last 2 partitions over from the HDD manually because I wanted to keep the HP support and updates working.   Have not bothered with the other MSR one.. yet... unless it becomes as issue.

    It's just strange because the previous SSD I installed on this laptop was a Samsung 850 Evo and when I used Samsungs migration software that came with it, it did everything perfectly.

    I wanted to use that Samsung SSD for something else, so I decided to swap it for an older SSD I had lying around, but predictably the Samsung migration software only works with their own brand drives.

    So after a look around to see what migration software was getting good reviews... and 50 bucks later to buy this... it doesn't even do what the included FREE Samsung migration software will do.  Which is pretty disappointing.

    Turns out I should probably have got the Backupper software to clone the drive instead, but that is another purchase only option... and given the disappiontment of this software, I'm not left feeling confident that the cloning version of the AOMEI software will do the job properly either.  So I'm certainly not shelling out another 50 when what I have did somewhat work... even though I'm left feeling like it only partly did the job.

    Since we have to pay for the Pro version of the software to get the migration option, it's disappointing that there are not more options in the migration process so that we can choose if we just want a basic migration, or include some/all of the other partitions... regardless if they are essential to windows booting up or not.  Things like the MSR and a Recovery partition are surely well known, common and expected to be there... so why not have the option to include those too and make customers really happy with their purchase?  Seems odd to me that this is not even an option given that we've paid for this aspect of the software... and I then have to fiddle around doing this stuff manually afterwards.

    The whole point of paying for migration software is the convenience of having it all done easily.  I could (and have on a few occasions) done an SSD upgrade using free software.  I just wanted the easy life option to save time and hassle... and it has not turned out to be the case.

    Anyway, thanks a lot for your input and help
  • @Stu777
    I have to agree you. A "clone" should be what it says, a "clone". It should not have to ask you if you want or need it, it should just make the new disk a clone of the original. I don't know if the backupper version would do anything different but I doubt it. 
    The first time I used a SYSTEM restore (testing), I was surprised not see the Recovery Partition copied but after reading the Aomei "help" pages, it states it's not copied to allow you to extend the C partition if going to a larger disk. Again, they are not allowing you the option to copy it if you want. The more I read about that MSR partition, it's just there as a "place holder" for Microsoft in the event they have a need for something later. But that's still no excuse why it's not cloned.  
    Basically, I think what Aomei is doing is "dumbing down" their program to make it as simple as possible for all users. I doubt 95% of users even know what disk management is or how to use it (or know about this forum). That doesn't make it right, but it keeps it functional. There seem to be complaints about all the Backup and Restore programs out there (except for the more expensive ones). All have problems crop up or complaints about some function. I've used the Samsung Migration program and think it's great. But some think it's junk. Nothing is perfect. I'm not defending Aomei, but as long as they keep trying to improve it, I'm willing to stick with it. It has been a decent backup and recovery program for me.


  • Strange that if you clone the entire disk all partitions are cloned. Can anyone confirm this? I say this by testing myself based directly on the interface of the program and I did not do it because I did not have a disk here with me.
  • edited September 2018
    My apologies to Aomei. Once again I misread this whole thing. I don't use PA much. I haven't used the function Stu777 talked about. After reading the help section of PA, the migrate OS to an SSD did what it says. It migrated the OS (and all necessary partitions to boot). It does not say it is a DISK CLONE. I have not used the clone function in Backupper either but there are 2 options. A DISK clone and a SYSTEM clone. I surmise the system clone would do exactly what the migrate OS to SSD function did. Whereas THE DISK CLONE says it will copy ALL partitions. In have no reason to believe it wouldn't and @Stu777, it appears that this is what you really wanted to use. The results of what you got is what would have been expected. Sorry again for criticising Aomei. It seems to have worked as advertised for what you did.
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