Cloning SSD drive to HDD drive HDD drive would not boot up

trek · March 2023

How to fix the boot problem that keeps on Windows logo spinning without stopping. I received instructions on how to fix this problem by using the windows registry. The instructions I received would not work. I haven't solved this problem yet.

aiArtisan · March 2023

You are saying when you turn your PC on, it begins to boot windows, but it gets stuck at the loading screen, prior to the signin screen?

Could you please help us by replying with the following information.

1) Disk partition table: MBR or GPT

2) Disk mode: basic, Dynamic, RAID

3) Disk encryption: none, Bitlocker

4) Motherboard mode: LegacyBIOS, UEFI-csm, UEFI-noncsm

5) Motherboard brand: Dell Lenovo HP MSI Alienware Acer Asus

6) Type of Windows User Account: Microsoft account user, azure, domain, local.

7) Windows version

8) Screenshot in Partition Assistant USB

9) Hard drive type: HDD, SSD 2.5", SSD M.2 SATA, SSD M.2 NVMe, EMMC

10) Year of motherboard

Thank you for providing that information.

Trek, there are many things that could cause this symptom. It could be bad drivers, Windows update failed, virus, a glitch that needs a Windows update to patch it, hardware failure, or another cause.

If you care about your system and it's files, please use Backupper USB to create a backup image of your entire disk, and put that image onto an external disk, and then disconnect that disk for safety.

Please turn your PC off and disconnect all unnecessary peripherals from your PC such as usb cables, dongles, speakers, cameras, secondary monitors, and also disconnect secondary HDDs. Boot to Windows USB stick to try the easy ways to diagnose or solve this issue. Windows USB stick > startup repair, or safe modes, or restore point. Be careful with Windows Reset, that can cause deeper changes in Windows, use that only as a last resort only, I personally almost never use that.

After trying the gentler solutions above, you could try LazeSoft boot repair, or Hirens.

If none of the above suggestions help, you could consider a Windows Reset, and if that does not work, reinstall Windows, and restore your files from a backup.

Great free tools from Aomei:

Create Backupper WinPE USB:
Please add custom drivers, such as NVMe, if necessary

Create Partition Assistant WinPE USB:
Please add custom drivers, such as NVMe, if necessary

Aomei WinPE Builder 2.0 USB, includes: Partition Assistant, Backupper, Recuva, OSF Mount, CPU-Z, Bootice. Does not support internal NVMe disks.

Great free tools not from Aomei:

Hirens Boot PE - live USB tool suite
To add custom drivers, such as NVMe, simply put them into the “CustomDrivers” folder. Hirens is not recommended in combination with Ventoy USB.

LazeSoft - live USB boot repair

EasyBCD - application

Ventoy - bootable USB Creator

admin · March 2023

@Trek, Please check the following items to check and fix the boot problem.

1. Please first check if the source and target drive are the same disk style (MBR or GPT).

You can press Win+R, then run “diskmgmt.msc” to open Windows Disk Management, then right click the source/target disk, click “Properties”-->”Volumes” to check Partition style.

If the target disk is different with the source one, please delete all partitions on the target disk and convert it to the same form via Windows Disk Management. After that, please run system or disk clone again.

2. Please check the connect way of the target disk when you boot from it. Generally, you need to connect it as an internal drive to boot. You can connect the target disk to the second internal slot, then boot into BIOS to set it to boot. Or, you can remove the source disk and connect target one to here, then boot.

Ps. You need to boot the cloned disk on the same computer. If you want to use the cloned disk on the second computer, please try to use system/disk backup, and universal restore to another computer.

3. Please try to clear the target disk and then clone again.

4. If they are GPT system disk, please boot into BIOS to check if there are multiple boot options. If yes, please try to select every boot option to check if it is able to boot.

5. Please try to use AOMEI Boot Repair tool to repair the cloned disk. Please still boot from the source disk, download AOMEI Boot Repair tool from the link, and then unzip it. Then, run “AOMEI Boot Repair.exe” (select the corresponding x64 or x86 version based on your system version) to fix the cloned system. Then, try to boot it again.

6. If it still can’t boot, please take a photo of the boot error to us.

trek · March 2023

I have Aomei Partition Assistanat 9.4 pro. Having issue with cloning my SSD drive to Hitachi HDD drive. Everything seems to go smoothly at first. I have Asus Republic of Gamers UEFI Bios Utility EZ Mode. It allows me to choose my boot-up priority, boot menu F8. The HDD loads up to a point, then hangs. Arrow with small circle, keeps doing this over and over, never stops. I have to push down on the power off button to stop it. Aomei support replied with cause could be incorrect parameters related to the drive letter in the registry. They gave me information on how to fix registry. I could not follow their instructions, to confusing for me.

admin · March 2023

@Trek, Could you boot from the source disk, and connect the target disk, and then take a screenshot of Partition Assistant so that we check the layout of your disks?
In addition, did you remove the source disk and connect the cloned drive to the same slot to boot? Or, there is a second internal slot to connect the cloned drive?

trek · April 2023

I solved the problem. I had 2 different Aomeii software programs on my desktop. The one that failed me was Partion Assistant 9.4. The one that I used to make a good bootup copy was the Aomei Backupper Professional. Thanks for your time, I have to remember what software I'm using.

Cloning SSD drive to HDD drive HDD drive would not boot up

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