Intel NUC, migrate OS to SSD.

Hrimnir

Hey guys.  I picked my parents up one of the Intel preconfigured NUC kits.  It comes with 32gb of eMMC as the OS drive, 2gb ram, proc, etc.  All preinstalled.  I picked up a cheap 120gb SSD just to essentially use as a system drive as most of the reports i read people were having issues even installing windows updates due to the lack of free space on the "system drive" (the eMMC).

However, i have tried a couple different drive cloning tools, and i can't seem to get it to want to boot.  I was curious if anyone had any particular luck or suggestions because the "normal" methods aren't seeming to work.  I'm not sure if the issue is the current install is on eMMC which isn't particularly common, and if perhaps cloning isn't translating properly to an SSD?

Either way was hoping for some suggesting, i've tried clonezilla, and EaseUS Todo and neither worked.  I am open to any suggestions.

Vrika

Have you removed the eMMC from your computer and replaced it with SSD, or have you installed the SSD as second hard disk alongside the eMMC?

What exactly is the problem when booting? Do you get into BIOS at all, or does it fail when looking for boot record, or give you some kind of error message?

Assuming you've cloned the drive properly, then your problem is likely caused by either:
 a) The BIOS might not look up or not find the boot record from your new SSD, or
 b) You might have only copied the partition with Windows on it from your eMMC, and missed the boot record that's on separate partition. Or even if you have copied the boot partition to your new SSD, the boot record on it might look for Windows installation on in the wrong place.

Solution to problem a) is usually adjusting your BIOS settings. Look your motherboard manual for how you need to adjust your motherboard to boot from your new SSD.

Solution to problem b) is usually rewriting the boot record. If you boot from Windows Installation disc, it has tools for repairing and/or rewriting the boot record. If you don't have Windows Installation disc, you can download it from Windows Product Recovery (google it to find the right Microsoft webpage), and then create a bootable USB stick that works as Windows Installation disc using Windows USB/DVD Download Tool  (http://wudt.codeplex.com/).

EDIT: If you just picked it up, why are you even bothering with cloning drives? Just do a clean reinstall on the new SSD /EDIT

Hrimnir

Vrika said:

Have you removed the eMMC from your computer and replaced it with SSD, or have you installed the SSD as second hard disk alongside the eMMC?

What exactly is the problem when booting? Do you get into BIOS at all, or does it fail when looking for boot record, or give you some kind of error message?

Assuming you've cloned the drive properly, then your problem is likely caused by either:
 a) The BIOS might not look up or not find the boot record from your new SSD, or
 b) You might have only copied the partition with Windows on it from your eMMC, and missed the boot record that's on separate partition. Or even if you have copied the boot partition to your new SSD, the boot record on it might look for Windows installation on in the wrong place.

Solution to problem a) is usually adjusting your BIOS settings. Look your motherboard manual for how you need to adjust your motherboard to boot from your new SSD.

Solution to problem b) is usually rewriting the boot record. If you boot from Windows Installation disc, it has tools for repairing and/or rewriting the boot record. If you don't have Windows Installation disc, you can download it from Windows Product Recovery (google it to find the right Microsoft webpage), and then create a bootable USB stick that works as Windows Installation disc using Windows USB/DVD Download Tool  (http://wudt.codeplex.com/).

EDIT: If you just picked it up, why are you even bothering with cloning drives? Just do a clean reinstall on the new SSD /EDIT

The eMMC is non removable.  I can get into the BIOS, i can assign the drive as the boot drive, i don't remember the exact error but it basically gets past POST and then says to selectable a bootable drive.

I think B. might be the issue.  I noticed there were 2 other small 100mb partitions on the eMMC in the disk manager in windows and i think i may have only copied the windows partition as you said.

Whats weird is the eMMC isn't setup as an MBR, its setup as GPT i believe

Vrika

GPT is newer version of the partitioning system than MBR. I've got no experience trying to clone a GPT drive, but I think you need to:

1. Clone the whole hard disk. If you're using Ease US these instructions will likely help:
http://www.todo-backup.com/products/features/disk-clone-guide.htm

2. Fix the UEFI boot record for it to work. It can be done using recovery options on your Windows installation disc, but I've never done it for UEFI drive so I'm unable to tell you how to do it.

Perhaps someone other here can give you better advice.
 

Ridelynn

GPT yeah needs a special tool to clone the boot record. Windows recovery can do it (Repair Installation I think), GRUB can do it if your ok with command line.

Hrimnir

Cool, there is a recovery option when it posts, maybe ill give that a whirl.