C drive getting full - Acer Aspire GX-785

Acreguy

Hi all, 

I have the Acer Aspire GX-785 with 128GB C drive. It’s almost full and I need to upgrade to a bigger drive. I tried cloning the C drive to a 500GB SSD but it won't boot from this drive because there doesn’t seem to be a way to do it from the BIOS settings. The PC still boots from the C drive that is "welded" to the motherboard. 

My alternative is to upgrade the 128GB drive to a larger one but I would need a special cable for that, correct? I can’t just plug the new drive in. The existing C drive would need to be cloned to the larger drive.

I’d much rather use the new SSD as my C drive for Windows. Does anyone have any thoughts on how I can make this work? Thanks... 

//Edited the content to add model name.

Acreguy

Okay, it worked everyone! I didn't read tttt's original instructions closely enough about using a spare drive (duh!!!), probably as the result of having only one birthday but too many subsequent "birthday parties."

I just finished extending the Primary Partition volume using the Disk Management tool. I had to delete the recovery partition to do it because it was in the way. I found an excellent article on how to recreate the recovery partition but am stuck at the point where I need to re-populate it with the Winre.wim file. I'll deal with that later.

Many thanks for all the help and putting up with my recent rants. For those versed in HTML5,  </rant></thanks>

- Lee

Acreguy

Further to my question, I would like to set the BIOS to boot (or shall I say "bypass") the M.2 NVMe SSD that is attached to the motherboard and use my cloned SSD as my C drive instead. Is there a way to do this or am I stuck using the grossly undersized M.2 NVMe SSD permanently? I sure hope not. This computer cost me $2,400 and to think I only got three years out of it just because Acer only put a 128 GB C drive in is very discouraging. Many thanks.

Leostat

If you pull the m2 does it boot straight to the drive? Im wondering if ithe UEFI is seeing the m2 and choosing it as it's faster 

In the UEFI menu you should have a boot select menu where you can select the sata or m2, does your cloned drive show in there?

brummyfan2

Hi,
You have to remove the M.2 SSD from the slot after cloning it to the new SSD because you can  not have Windows OS in both drives, take out the M.2 SSD by removing the single screw and try booting with the 500GB SSD.
You have to remove the graphics card to access the M.2 SSD.

Acreguy

Thanks for chiming in, guys. 

After a successful clone to the new SSD, I didn’t remove the M.2 SSD. The computer booted okay but both drives showed up in Explorer, as expected. I'm really not sure which Windows version booted. I suspect it was from the M.2 SSD. I then tried removing the M.2 SSD, rebooted, but I couldn’t get passed the blue screen of options. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get Windows to boot from the new SSD, which by the way, is a Samsung 870 EVO 500 GB. 

My BIOS version is R02-A0. I tried looking on the Acer site to see if there was any updates but haven’t had much luck. Any further ideas? I’m able to remove the M.2 SSD but if I can’t get passed the blue screen of options. Suggestions? Thanks...

Lee

EDIT
The only other reason I can see why the cloned drive wouldn't go past the blue screen was perhaps Windows didn't like the clone. I used Lazesoft and told it to maximize the partition sizes. I've also tried Macrium to no avail. Perhaps you guys could give me the exact settings I need to use for a successful clone?  

ttttt

@Acreguy

If cloning software do not work, you can try the Win 10 Create System Image method, but that may require an extra drive, either an internal HDD ( most people will have some old surplus HDD) or external HDD, or external adapter (include M.2 NVMe SSD type) with a drive in it. I think this method is highly reliable.

The concept is to store the system image to a different drive first ( will take an hour), cannot be used with flash drive.
Take out the original boot drive.
Put the new drive in.
Reach the Restore Menu using ALT+F10 or ALT+FN+F10 and go to Advance menu, or use bootable installation flash drive/DVD disc , then select restore from system image.
Will take quite a while, be patience.
When done, go to the Bios and Load Optimized Default (F9 or Fn+F9), then save and exit.
After properly boot up, you can put the original boot drive back and format it as a data drive.

If you need more detailed help, you can post a question again.

Acreguy

Thanks, tttt. I do have three additional SATA ports with which to plug in three other SSDs. So there's no shortage of drives. I thought of trying an image backup instead of a clone but wasn't sure. Therefore, based on your instructions, I can:

1. Shut down the PC.
2. Attach a spare SSD drive to one of the free SATA ports.
3. Use imaging software to create a full image of the M.2 SSD (source) --> a new SSD (target).
4. Carry out the rest of your instructions.

Sound right? I will give your method a try and post back. I really appreciate your help because there is another Windows update sitting there on the Power button cluster, which can't load. Thanks...

ttttt

@Acrebuy

You are basically correct except that I meant to use Win 10 to create the image, not other image software. I would say Win 10 image restore method is highly reliable, but do not know about other image software.

Control Panel-> System and Security->Backup and Restore (Windows 7)
Left side pane, select Create a system Image, then select your newly connected drive as the target.
When done, you will be asked if you want to Create a Repair Disc. This Repair Disc can be used if the ALT+F10 (or ALT+Fn+F10) is not available for some PC.

Acreguy

Hi tttt,

Thanks. I will use the Windows Imaging software. I've used it before and it worked fine. I just formatted the new 870 EVO disk that had the clone on it and am ready to go to work. I'll report back. Thanks again!

Acreguy

Well, I've run into my first snag. 

I tried to create a Recovery disk on a USB drive but I got the error message, "We can't create a recovery drive on this PC. Some required files are missing.” So, I tried just removing the C drive as per your suggestion. I arrived at the blue screen and tried selecting Recovery or some similar name but it just cycled me back to the blue screen. It appears I need that recovery USB drive, but I can’t make one.

One forum mentioned that a critical file can go missing as a result of a cloning attempt! I think the critical file is winre.wim. I’m currently researching on how to create the recovery disk because I think this is my only hope.

One other thing I should mention is that when I removed the old C drive and checked the BIOS settings, the only available boot option was the Windows Boot Manager. EUFI wasn’t available, which tells me the FAT 32 partition is missing. Where should I go from here? Thanks.

Here's a screen shot of my Disk Manager page.

brummyfan2

Acreguy said:

Well, I've run into my first snag. 

I tried to create a Recovery disk on a USB drive but I got the error message, "We can't create a recovery drive on this PC. Some required files are missing.” So, I tried just removing the C drive as per your suggestion. I arrived at the blue screen and tried selecting Recovery or some similar name but it just cycled me back to the blue screen. It appears I need that recovery USB drive, but I can’t make one.

One forum mentioned that a critical file can go missing as a result of a cloning attempt! I think the critical file is winre.wim. I’m currently researching on how to create the recovery disk because I think this is my only hope.

One other thing I should mention is that when I removed the old C drive and checked the BIOS settings, the only available boot option was the Windows Boot Manager. EUFI wasn’t available, which tells me the FAT 32 partition is missing. Where should I go from here? Thanks.

Here's a screen shot of my Disk Manager page.

Hi,
You could try using Macrium reflect to create a bootable USB and backup the image of M.2 SSD, insert the HDD and recover the image on to it.
Macrium Software | Reflect Free
How to Create a Full-Disk Backup of Your PC with Macrium Reflect (howtogeek.com)

Acreguy

Hi brummyfan2. I have Macrium installed I'll give it a try. I just read that the USB drive must be at least 4GB and formatted as NTFS. Windows will reformat it as FAT32 but that's the way they want it. Many thanks. I'll report back...

- Lee

brummyfan2

Acreguy said:

Hi brummyfan2. I have Macrium installed I'll give it a try. I just read that the USB drive must be at least 4GB and formatted as NTFS. Windows will reformat it as FAT32 but that's the way they want it. Many thanks. I'll report back...

- Lee

No problem, yes it has to be FAT32.

Acreguy

Okay, it worked! I'm now thinking that I can use tttt's method but leave the USB drive plugged in after I remove the original C drive and during the reboot. That way the recovery disk should boot without having to go through the blue screen nonsense, which to this point has never worked. Agreed? Thanks...

Acreguy

Here’s the verdict. 

I still can’t get the new drive to boot Windows. Since I couldn’t create a recovery USB in Windows, I was forced to create an image backup and recovery USB in Macrium. After that, here’s what I did: 

1. Powered down and removed the old C drive.
2. The new drive with the backup was already connected via a SATA cable.
3. Rebooted and changed the BIOS to boot Macrium from the thumb drive.
4. Macrium came up after rebooting. So far so good.

But after this I get lost. In Macrium, I chose Restore. The C drive information appeared, which was actually the new C drive because the old one was sitting on my desk. I chose the target disk, that being the new 870 EVO containing the Windows image backup. Macrium then displayed a popup box asking for the Macrium image file. It was nowhere to be found! 

I’m completely lost on how to get this new drive to be the one that boots while the old C drive sits on my desk. Please give some more hints and provide the steps with full explanations. Assume I know nothing, please! If it helps, I included a picture of the BIOS screen where I get stuck. The only option that works is the Press Esc for EUFI Firmware Settings. None of the others do anything. This is a real pain and I’m ready to chuck this piece of junk and buy a Dell! There, end of rant. Thanks...

Acreguy

Could my problem be that my image backup and new desired C drive are the same physical drive? It sounds like tttt wnated me to backup on one drive and then restore that drive to my new C drive.

I have two more SSDs. I have a 1TB drive that I could back up to. Then, do I restore Windows to my new C drive 870 EVO from the 1TB drive? Is it that simple? I can install both of these drives at the same time. I have four SATA ports available. Could it be that simple and I'm that dumb?

brummyfan2

You can backup the original image of M.2 SSD to an external HDD, create a bootable recovery USB using Macrium reflect, remove M.2 SSD and install the new 500GB SSD, insert USB recovery disk, connect your external HDD where you have the backup, go to BIOS and make USB as your first boot device, recover the image from the external HDD to the new 500GB SSD.

Acreguy

Okay, it worked everyone! I didn't read tttt's original instructions closely enough about using a spare drive (duh!!!), probably as the result of having only one birthday but too many subsequent "birthday parties."

I just finished extending the Primary Partition volume using the Disk Management tool. I had to delete the recovery partition to do it because it was in the way. I found an excellent article on how to recreate the recovery partition but am stuck at the point where I need to re-populate it with the Winre.wim file. I'll deal with that later.

Many thanks for all the help and putting up with my recent rants. For those versed in HTML5,  </rant></thanks>

- Lee

brummyfan2

You are welcome 

ttttt

@Acreguy

Sorry for replying so late, because I was busy building my 11th gen new PC. Glad that you have finally solved your problem.

Acreguy

No worries, tttt. Thanks again for your help. Next time, I'll read your instructions more carefully. The new Samsung 870 EVO drive is much faster than the original drive that came with my Acer.

My next issue is to get the Windows update to work. There's one update sitting there and I've tried every suggestion on the net to get to to work and it still won't update. Ideas welcome...or perhaps I should start a new topic. I guess it really isn't an Acer forum issue. Thanks again...

- Lee