BTW, I added the new disk as a “New Disk” using Acronis and now it shows up (everywhere it can be detected) as Disk (E:) and both Windows and Acronis show it as “GPT”. BUT, when I go to make the clone ACRONIS insists it must make a totally exact clone and will convert the new / target M.2 SSD to MBR.
So, that’s where my post previous to this one comes into play, evidently...
When you open Disk Management by right clicking on the Start button then clicking on Disk Management you can right click on the Disk 0 or the other drives to the left side then go to Properties. Next click on Volumes tab.
Is your original drive MBR or GPT?
Also does your BIOS support UEFI?
How old is the pc?
See: MBR or GPT for SSD, Which Is Better and How to Choose?
https://www.easeus.com/partition-master/mbr-or-gpt-for-ssd.html
How to Convert MBR to GPT or GPT to MBR Without Losing Data in Windows 11/10/8/7
https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager-software/convert-mbr-to-gpt-gpt-to-mbr-using-cmd-without-losing-data.html
My 2TB Samsung ssd is MBR while my 8TB hard drive shows GPT.
My pc is from 2015.