Best path to cloning OEM hard drive to a WD Black Hi-perf NVMe SSD 500 GB ? Acer Spin 5 SP515-51GN

vespadaddy

I recently bought a

Acer Spin 5 SP515-51GN-83YY from Amazon on Prime day. It comes with a 1 TB spinning HD, but I've read that there's a NVMe slot open. I bought a Western Digital Black 500 GB drive 3D NAND, 3400MB/s drive that I want to use as the boot drive. The physical installation of the drive looks pretty easy, but I'm not sure what cloning software I should use to clone the OS to the new SSD.

I'm also wondering what changes I'll need to make in the BIOS to take full advantage of the fast drive I've bought. I know I'll need to go into the BIOS to tell the computer to boot from the new, faster drive, but I'm wondering if I'll need to make any other changes, and what software I should use to clone.

Thanks for any help

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JackE

Should be no need for any BIOS changes. Macrium reflect or AOMEI are decent cloning freeware. Jack E/NJ

vespadaddy

Thanks! So the SPin 5 will just auto-detect that there's an SSD, and will boot from that drive? This is the model that didn't come with any SSD, just a spinning drive, and I'm adding the SSD for fast boot and extra storage, but keeping the spinning drive as well.

JackE

Yes it should auto detect. But you may have to change the BIOS boot order so it's first. Depending on how finicky the BIOS is, you may also have to set a supervisor password to get by its secure boot functionality. Probably best to keep the HDD temporarily disconnected while you're trying to boot from it. Jack E/NJ

vespadaddy

Update: I installed the SSD, and cloned it. When I restarted the computer, it got stuck in a boot loop. (I think). It hangs with the text about preparing a repair, and that status doesn't change. Is this perhaps because I didn't set a supervisor password in the bios? I've since removed the SSD (physically removed it), and now the computer boots up normally. My plan is to go into the BIOS and set a supervisor password, shut the computer down, reinstall the SSD, and hope for the best. Does this sound like a good plan? Thanks!

JackE

OK. You might also have to disable secure boot to change the boot order. Jack E/NJ

vespadaddy

The boot order was auto-changed by the BIOS when I first installed the drive. I've now set a supervisor password, and disabled the secure boot in BIOS. Fingers crossed that I can now reinstall the SSD and that it will boot from it.

JackE

Good luck. Jack E/NJ

vespadaddy

No luck yet, but I did manage to get the machine to boot from the OEM spinning drive. I'm suspicious that I've improperly cloned the drive. I'll attach a screenshot of Macricum. Will someone please let me know if I've made a mistake in the cloning process? What should I clone from the existing OEM drive?
Thanks!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/qd/g3ib4wpqjh3x.jpg

JackE

Since the SSD has less capacity than the HDD, there might be a cloning issue due to the size mismatch. Basically the SSD clone should have 3 partitions labelled something like EFI, C :, and recovery. Jack E/NJ

vespadaddy

Yes, I couldn't clone the C drive, because it's 930 GB, and the SSD is just 500. But others have managed to add an SSD to this same machine, so does anyone know what I should be cloning? WhenI tried to clone the C drive, it wouldn't/couldn't, as there's a size mismatch, and evidently, even unused space matters.

JackE

The AOMEI freeware outlines the process to clone a larger HDD to a smaller SSD. https://www.backup-utility.com/clone/clone-large-hdd-to-smaller-ssd-4348.html . Macrium reflect should behave similarly. Western Digital also has their own WD-flavored version of the Acronis cloner https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?lang=en&i

Jack E/NJ

vespadaddy

I'm still failing. Ugh. I cloned the drive using the free AOMEI tool, and it said it was successfully cloned. But, it still won't biot from the SSD. I've disabled secure boot, and set a supervisor password, and it still won't boot.
Is my SSD compatible? It is 500 GB Western Digital Black, 3400 MB/S 3D NAND
Should I reset the computer back to stock, using the Windows utility, and start over? Any ideas? I had to physically remove the drive to get it to boot from the OEM spinning drive.
Tips welcome. I'm really frustrated.

JackE

Wait!!! Do you have both drives connected at the same time and/or have you set the SSD to be first in the boot order in the Boot tab? Try disconnecting the HDD first. Jack E/NJ

vespadaddy

Yes, both drives installed/connected. SSD has been set as the boot drive (the BIOS does this automatically). I'm assuming I'll need to take out the mounting screws for the HD and pull it back to disconnect? Should I take out the HDD, then boot the machine with the SSD, then, if successful, can I shut it down, reinstall the spinning HDD and reboot?

JackE

Yes, unplug the HDD since it's a bootable drive. BIOS may be getting confused with having two identical bootable system drives but with different form factors. Get it to boot from the m.2 SSD by itself, then we'll tackle the HDD. Jack E/NJ

vespadaddy

It won't boot with the SSD installed. It won't boot with the HDD in a USB3 enclosure, either with or without the SSD installed. It won't boot from a USB recovery drive. It shows the error inaccessible boot device, even if the SSD is out and I've got the HDD removed, and installed in a USB3 enclosure and plugged into a USB port.
I've got secure boot turned off, I've reset WIndows, so all the factory bloat is gone (though I did make a recovery backup on a USB stick before I reset Windows and removed bloatware, so I now have 2 USB sticks with recovery on them).
The only way I can get this machine to boot is if I have just the OEM HDD installed, in the bay inside the computer, and the SSD not installed. The SSD does have a cloned image of the hard drive I made using AOMEI. I don't know if I could get the machine to boot up with the SSD installed to try and format it to erase it.
Changes I have made to the BIOS: Set supervisor password, and turned off secure boot. Turned on F12 at startup.
When attempting to boot from USB thumb drive, or from HDD in enclosure, I wait for the boot to fail, (something went wrong, we'll restart your computer message), I hit f12, and when I would select boot from USB3, it fails, and shows the inaccessible boot drive error.

Any chance there is some issue with the BIOS, and if so, is there a way to fix/repair/download and install a new BIOS?

Thanks, I hope my description is complete. I'm really stumped. And really glad the computer will boot and work normally in the stock configuration. That said, I have this new SSD sitting here, and I would sure like to use it.
My end goal is to get it to boot from the SSD, and to keep the HDD in a USB3 enclosure to use as a backup, and only have the SSD installed as internal storage.

Thanks for any help you can offer!
Happy Holidays!

JackE

>>>I've got secure boot turned off, I've reset WIndows, so all the factory bloat is gone >>>

Hold on!!! What do you mean by this --- all the factory bloat is gone? Do you have the generic Win10 version installed on the original HDD or the ACER-flavored Win10 version installed? What did you try to clone? The original ACER Win10 or generic Win10?

The reason I ask is because your BIOS must read a trusted hidden file on a hidden partition on your original HDD that is associated with the original factory ACER-flavored Win10. This trusted file is probably missing on the cloned drives, but not on the originall HDD, and thus cannot boot. Jack E/NJ

vespadaddy

JackE,
First, thanks for all the help you have been providing. I appreciate it.

The SSD was cloned from the Acer-flavored Win10. Since then, I have created a Windows backup USB3 thumb drive using the Win10 feature that lets me make a bootable drive, and then I reset Win10 on the HDD to remove all of the extra programs in an effort to install a 'clean' version of Win 10. I then made a second USB3 thumb drive bootable recovery drive on a second thumb drive.
After this, I removed the HDD and put it in an enclosure, installed the SSD, and tried to boot. No dice. I tried to boot from the USB recovery, No dice. It always starts to boot, then tells me it has run into a problem, and will restart for me. After that, it keeps trying to restart, fails, and gives the error of inaccessible boot drive. I have tried hitting F12 on startup, and it doesn't bring up the full bios settings screen, but does bring up a screen that lets me select a boot device. The computer will boot only from the OEM HDD, when installed.

Since I reset the HDD, Alexa is gone, Dolby Audio, etc etc etc. There was a long list of programs it removed in a file on the desktop. That file is now gone, and I don't recall deleting it.

If I had removed that trusted hidden file on a hidden partition, why did the HDD boot when installed back inside the drive bay?

Thanks again for your help. It has to be tough leading the uninformed (me).

JackE

>>>Since I reset the HDD, Alexa is gone, Dolby Audio, etc etc etc. There was a long list of programs it removed in a file on the desktop. That file is now gone, and I don't recall deleting it. If I had removed that trusted hidden file on a hidden partition, why did the HDD boot when installed back inside the drive bay??>>>

This is where I'm getting confused. Did you clone the ACER-flavored Win10 HDD before or after the reset? And what kind of HDD reset did you do? An ACER Win10 HDD re-set? Or Microsoft Win10 HDD reset? Jack E/NJ

vespadaddy

I cloned the SSD with the full ACER-flavored Win 10. And I used the Win10 feature to make a bootable recovery USB3 thumb drive twice, with 2 different thumb drives, first, with Acer flavored Win10, then I used the Win10 feature to reset Win10 without the extra programs (this removed them from the HDD), then I created another bootable thumb drive after I had reset windows.

To be specific, I do not have any copies of Win10 purchased from outside sources, this is all created from the Spin5HDD.

To recap, I have clean Win10 on the HDD (no Alexa, etc), and this boots only when installed in the drive bay. I have the full ACER Win10 cloned onto the SSD. This won't boot. I have 2 recovery USB thumb drives, one made pre-Win10 reset, one made after.
Let me know if you want me to check for any specific files or file sizes on the thumb drives.

Thanks!

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