Sunday night computer questions

Me | 1/8/2023 | Paul R.

[Paul R.]

#1: I am trying to clone the 64 GB eMMC boot drive in a Win 10 Pro Lenovo N22 to a 256 GB SDATA M.2 drive recently installed in it, using Macrium 8 cloning software. I've used Macrium successfully on several machines in the past, from HDD to SSD, and SSD to SSD, but in this case I keep getting an error message: Clone Failed - - VerifyFileSystem Failed. This occurs after the 1st 2 small volumes successfully clone...:

[AppyPappy]

Our mainframe is Linux and our Java Development Platform is a Ubuntu VM. I see more than I want of it although I have been toying taking a job after retirement where I just write bash scripts. The feds use them quite a bit.

[fireman15]

I have to admit that I have too much time invested with photoshop, 3D design programs, video editing programs, and even Microsoft Office to make a full transition away from Windows.

Bash scripts remind me of a return to computing in the 70s and 80s with BASIC and the scripting language that came with Lotus 123 which I helped teach classes in when I had a work study job as a computer lab assistant in college.

[dennisw]

Sounds like you are all set. You have decent computers that run Windows 11.

[Paul R.]

You would need to use actual cloning software like Macrium Reflect Free. SFAIK there is not a way to make it actually work with a simple copy / paste. Otherts can probably explain better than I can.

[Paul R.]

Of course. :-)

[Paul R.]

Sounds like you are all set. You have decent computers that run Windows 11.

Well, only ONE Win 11 Pro machine so far. I'm keeping my eyes open for a refurb SFF desktop with lots of useful ports, and an 8th gen or later i5 or i7 processor and the MotherBoard to support it (those last needed to readily run Win 11 Pro). My guess is that it'll be another year or so* B4 prices drop on those. But, no rush, as Win 10 will be supported until Oct. 2025.

I've found a couple gamers who managed to get HP6300's like mine running incredibly well with "original" MB's and recent gen I-series GPU's, but, the hoops they jumped through, and cost, are waaayyyy beyond me...

*Or maybe another new i-series generation or a dip in the economy [very BAD reason!], etc...

Well, MAYBE that last would be worth it to knock back these disastrous libs for a while. :-(

[Paul R.]

Noted!

I don’t think it is a partitioning problem here, and I can manage the partitions in Macrium (I picked up a couple tricks from You-Tube), as well as in Windows Disk Management, but, EaseUS Todo sounds like it may be worth a try.

Maybe Macrium has a “problem” with M.2 drives? Had you used it successfully in the past for HDD to SSD and SSD to SSD cloning?

I’m also going to try turning off the Win 10 Pro AntiMalware Service (which is also by far the biggest memory hog on this machine.)

Thanks!

[CptnObvious]

I believe the data has to be rewritten

The consensus on the web is to avoid writes on flash drives as much as possible to extend the life. Some early ones could handle only 10,000 writes.

Rewriting Flash drives, such as with defragmentation, is Not recommended at all.

New versions of flash drives will allow for more writes in the future significantly. But until then...

[Paul R.]

Oops, I had this reply started on my other laptop. Well, just to complete it :-) —

The eMMC is soldered to the motherboard. The M.2 SATA drive goes in a slot on the motherboard.

I took a very quick look at Clonezilla. Wow, old school interface... But, I might give it a shot.

Bizarrely, Macrium is also suggesting (as a matter of course) my creating an up to date rescue / repair drive on a USB stick. But, then that fails too. I was so exhausted last night, I don’t even remember the error message. (Eye roll.)

[Paul R.]

Agreed on all that, except that a re-write of the stick every couple years isn’t going to take much of a chunk out of a 10k re-write lifespan. :-)

I note that SLC holds up best, but is hard to find in USB sticks. OTOH, Samsung does make some micro-SD cards with SLC and considerably extended lifetimes for use in dashcams, trail cams, surveillance uses, and such. (Pro Endurance series, IIRC.)

OTOH, rewrites ARE a big factor in my wanting to get a M.2 SSD running as the OS and Programs drive in the N22. I actually have almost all the application programs installed on a 128 GB micro-SD card in the micro-SD card stock, because the eMMC storage C: drive is so limited. All these are fairly low overhead programs, so they actually run reasonably from there. BUT, re-writes with time become a concern, and, I have to use a card reader in one of the USB ports if I want to view files on another micro-SD card or transfer files from another micro-SD card into the N22.

[Paul R.]

OOPS, sorry - was answering the wrong question in my last reply to you.

Yes, for a DATA copy (no actual programs), a straight data copy / paste should work fine.

There are also fairly inexpensive USB 3 to SATA adapters (they carry both data and power) that one can use to make the copy (or do cloning for that matter) to a SSD if your motherboard is out of ports, cables, etc. I’ve used such adapter cables several times, THEN swapped the new drive into the machine.

Hope that helps.

[Paul R.]

Well, getting there, anyway. This dang N22...

You know, though — it occurs to me that I don’t have much in the way of programs installed on the boot drive (the eMMC) in this N22. So, if I can find my full Windows key (IIRC Belarc has a utility for that?) I theoretically COULD attempt to load a fresh copy of the OS to the (presently “D:” SSD) and then update the boot sequence in the Bios. This assumes I can get into BIOS — I still have not figured out what hotkey will interrupt the boot-up to get me in to BIOS. Esc, F1, and F2 didn’t do the trick.

Interestingly, the SATA SSD is now recognized as “Disk 0”. (The machine still boots off “Disk 1”, the eMMC drive.)

I suppose I could also make up a fresh Rescue disk (actually a USB rescue stick) and work from there to install the OS onto the SSD?

[Paul R.]

How much “newer” are we talking, here? :-)

I think I understand what you are saying, but, then how did my several other clonings to SSDs from HDDs or smaller SSD’s on my other Win 10 machines work just fine?

And why do the 1st 2 small EFI partitions seem to clone just fine?

[Paul R.]

BTW, I finally got around to copying a moderate size MP4 file (61 MB) onto the eMMC C: drive, then cutting and pasting that file to the SATA M.2 drive, then opening the file (viewed with Windows Media Player) from the M.2 drive — which worked just fine.

[dennisw]

https://vipoutlet.com/shop/?s=i5++desktop&s-d=0#s=i5%20%20desktop&idx=vip_prod_vo_product_price_basic_asc&p=2&dFR%5Bp_price_codes%5D%5B0%5D=3f1e897fe8&dFR%5Bp_price_codes%5D%5B1%5D=5279d8c010&dFR%5Bp_price_codes%5D%5B2%5D=basic&is_v=1

[dennisw]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Refurbished-HP-Desktop-with-23-8-FHD-Monitor-Bundle-i3-10100-3-6GHz-8GB-RAM-1TB-HDD-Win-10-Home-Black-M01-F1033wb/789083674?athbdg=L1700

24” monitor included. All this needs is a 256gb or 500gb NVME drive. I bought one Christmas 2021 and added an NVME drive

This i3 has 4 cores and 8 threads

[dennisw]

https://vipoutlet.com/product/hp-17-by4059cl-17-3-fhd-i5-1135g7-2-4ghz-intel-iris-xe-graphics-8gb-ram-256gb-ssd-win-10-home-silver/

[Spktyr]

Did some research. Apparently that N22 may be twitchy about what m.2 drives it will work with. The BIOS limits the maximum m.2 drive size to 256gb. Their forums and documentation also list only these drives as being compatible:

128GB LiteonCV3-8D128 M.2 part number 2280128G
128GB Samsung PM871a

5SD0J21066 Liteon CV1-8B128
5SD0H43484 HY HFS128G39MND-3310A M.2
5SD0L07408 Hynix HFS128G39TND-N210A
5SD0H00094 Samsung MZNLN128HCGR M.2
16200609 SS MZNTE128HMGR 128G
5SD0H29265 HY HFS128G38MNB-2200A M.2
5SD0H12051 Ramaxel RTHMB128VBM4EWDL
5SD0L14643 SS MZNTY128HDHP-000L2 128G
5SD0F65755 Liteon L8T-128L9G 128GB M.2
16200483 Liteon LGT-128M6G M.2
16200587 Samsung MZNTD128HAGM 128G
5SD0M61137 Ramxel S121 128GB M.2 2280 SSD
5SD0L82503 RTITF128PCA1MADL 128G M.2 SSD

[Paul R.]

Interesting that those drives listed are all 128 GB, yet Windows Disk Management reports this Samsung 256 GB drive is healthy, reports full capacity, and copy / paste operations to / from it (or opening files on it) work fine.

I’m almost tempted to copy / paste the entire contents of the C: drive over to the M.2 drive just to see if any errors crop up, even though I know the OS won’t boot correctly.

But, if I’m gonna do THAT, I might as well see if I can extract the Windows product key and then try to download & install a new copy of the OS from Microsoft onmto the M.2 drive.

Thanks for the info.!

[CptnObvious]

Excellent find Spktyr. That list is very helpful. Paul R., All the "supported" m.2 SSDs in Spktyr's list are all 128GB, right at the 128GB note in the N22 Specs. And why the list? Just in case the user wants to boot from the m.2 SSD, of course (and a BIOS limitation of 128GB at boot is just about confirmed). But let's just say that Spktyr is right that it will work with the m.2 256GB you have, and it is another basic problem. And I suspect that having very little space on C: you made your Macrium Reflect Image file on D: Then Macrium starts using the same drive which it is reading from to write to - botching the M.2 file system.

So, if you had a Micro SD card with the Image file on it that Macrium Reflect can get to and browse it, then you could try again and ENLARGE THE C: Volume at the same time (else you have the same problem you have with the eMMC).

But to actually work, you have to be able to get into the BIOS first anyway. Try holding down the NOVO key or FN+F2 Solid and powering up. Then be ready to change the BIOS to point to the M.2 first after this whole thing.

I'm also not sure what windows will do if it sees the old OS on the eMMC as I physically remove the old drive in the process (but yours is soldiered in). But one step at a time...