Cloned hard drive won't boot? Make cloned HDD bootable with 3 fixes

This page explains why a cloned hard drive or SSD won't boot and offers practical fixes to help you easily make the cloned drive bootable on Windows 10/8/7, etc.

These methods also apply to fixing issues like cloned Windows 10 hard drive won't boot, cloned SSD won't boot, cloned m.2 SSD won't boot, Samsung SSD clone won't boot, or Windows 7 won't boot after cloning. Follow the steps below to check the causes and easily solve such problems on your computer.

Rebooting the disk cloning process using a disk cloning tool is the most effective and straightforward way to help you resolve this issue.

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How can I make a cloned hard drive bootable?

"I cloned my 250GB disk to a Seagate 520GB one, hoping that my Windows 10 laptop would run more smoothly with a larger hard drive. The cloning process was successful, and I could see all the files on the cloned HDD after it finished. However, when I inserted the hard drive into my laptop, Windows failed to boot from it. I have no idea why the cloned SSD won't boot and how to make the cloned drive bootable. Can anyone help?"

The issue of a cloned hard drive not booting is a common problem that plagues many users. In such scenarios, the question of how to make a cloned hard drive boot becomes a hot topic. To address this issue, it's essential to first identify the possible reasons that could be causing the error.

Here are some reasons why a cloned hard drive or SSD might not boot:

1. The source disk contains bad sectors, resulting in an unbootable cloned disk.
2. The cloning was incomplete (only the system drive was cloned, but the boot drive was not cloned).
3. There's a conflict in disk partition styles, for example, the original disk is MBR while the target disk is GPT.
4. The boot drive was not changed in the BIOS, causing the system to still boot from the old boot drive.
5. Your computer's motherboard does not support UEFI booting from the cloned GPT disk.
6. Your computer lacks the necessary drivers to boot from the cloned SSD, such as an M.2 interface solid-state drive.

If you are not sure what causes the cloned disk unbootable, try the solutions provided below, and you can make your cloned disk boot on computer again.

You may also like: Samsung SSD Clone Not Booting

Preparing for the Solution

Before we begin, here are some suggestions to help you prepare:

#1. Prepare a new disk that is the same size or larger

If the new disk is smaller than the used space on the old disk, the clone might not complete, or only some of the data will be cloned to the new disk.

To create a full disk clone, make sure your new disk is the same size or larger than the original.

#2. Choose a Reliable Disk Cloning Software

To clone a hard drive to a new HDD or SSD without booting issues, the most important thing is to choose a comprehensive disk cloning software to assist you. We recommend using the advanced and flexible Disk Copy tool, which provides 7*24 technical support.

It can help you clone disks and make cloned drives bootable on all Windows OS. Additionally, it enables you to clone a hard drive with bad sectors and migrate the OS from HDD to SSD or SSD to SSD. Most importantly, you can also use it to replace the hard drive in your computer without losing data.

When you're ready, you can try to fix the “cloned drive won't boot” problem yourself, using one of these methods.

Note: Generally, the earlier you use the above solutions, the higher the chance to fix the cloned hard drive won't boot issue.

Read Also: ? How to Clone Hard Drive with Bootable USB

How to Fix Issues with a Cloned Hard Drive Not Booting

Here, we will introduce you to some common methods that can help you fix the problem of a cloned hard drive not booting. Let's delve into it.

Method 1: Reboot the Disk Clone to Make the Clone Bootable

Applies to: Resolving issues where a cloned disk fails to boot due to bad sectors on the disk or an incomplete disk clone.

If the old drive has bad sectors, or if the cloning program performed an incomplete clone (one that copied only the system drive but not the boot drive), Windows won't boot from the cloned disk.

The best way to resolve this issue is to restart the cloning process using reliable disk cloning software. Tool Disk Copy provides a straightforward solution to help you clone a disk to another disk easily and efficiently.

To ensure a smooth cloning process, please activate the software first. Click here to get the activation code immediately:

Method 1: Clone the Disk to a New One

First, you'll need to wipe the drive, leaving it completely empty. Then connect your new hard drive or SSD to the source computer as a second drive, and proceed as follows:

Step 1: Download, install, and run a disk cloning tool on your computer.

Click “Disk Mode,” then select the hard drive you want to copy or clone. Click “Next.”

Step 2: Select the target disk.

Note: If you're copying or cloning a hard drive, the target disk should be the same size or larger than the source disk.

Step 3: Check and edit the disk layout.

If your target disk is an SSD, remember to check the “Target is SSD” option.

If prompted, click OK to erase data from the target disk.

Step 5: Click “Proceed” to begin the cloning process.

2. Create a Bootable Clone Drive

Once the HDD/SSD cloning is done, remember to change the boot order and set your computer to boot from the newly cloned drive:

Step one: Leave the new disk unformatted on your computer.

Step 2: Restart your computer and press F2, F12, or Del to enter BIOS.

Third, go to the “Boot” section and change the order of boot devices so that your computer starts from the cloned hard drive.

Step 4: Save your changes and exit the BIOS, then restart your computer.

Your computer should then boot automatically from the new disk.

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Method 2: Convert the Disk to MBR/GPT and Restart Cloning

Applies to: Solving the issue where a cloned hard drive fails to boot due to MBR and GPT conflicts.

When your source disk is an MBR disk, the computer only supports the traditional BIOS boot mode. However, if your new disk is of the GPT type, the cloned hard drive will fail to boot. This is because a GPT disk requires the UEFI boot mode, which the computer does not support.

In addition, if the source operating system disk uses GPT, but the target disk uses MBR, the cloned SSD will not be bootable.

In both cases, the best solution is to convert the target disk to MBR or GPT so that the new disk has the same partition style as the original one (MBR or GPT).

Here is how to begin.

Step 1: Check the partition style of the source and target disks

Step one: Connect the new drive to your computer via SATA data and power cables as a second hard drive.

Step 2: Right-click the source disk and select “Properties” in the Disk Management.

Step 3. Check the partition style of the selected disk.

Step 4. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 to check the partition style of the new disk.

Step 2: Convert the new disk to MBR or GPT

If the old drive used MBR, but the new one uses GPT, you'll need to convert the GPT disk to MBR.

If the source disk uses GPT, but the target disk uses MBR, you need to convert MBR to GPT.

Here, you can try using the Partition Master Free Edition tool, which allows you to flexibly convert a disk to MBR or GPT. Below is the process to convert MBR to GPT:

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If you need to convert GPT to MBR, follow the above steps, right-click the new disk, and choose "Convert to MBR" as the conversion mode.

#3. Erase the new disk

Now, you need to delete everything on the target new disk, including partitions. If you need a quick guide, you can use a Partition Master tool with the "delete all partitions" feature to help.

Make sure the entire disk is unallocated, as shown as “Unallocated” in Disk Management:

Step 4: Repeat the disk cloning process to make the cloned SSD bootable

Now, you can refer to Method 1 and clone disk with a reliable tool – Disk Copy.

Method 3: Use DISM to install drivers so that the cloned drive boots

Applies to: Resolving issues where the cloned SSD/HDD fails to boot due to disk driver problems on the source computer.

When you clone a disk to a specific new one, like cloning a disk to an M.2 SSD, and your computer doesn't have an M.2 SSD drive, the cloned hard drive will not boot. You can use Command Prompt

Step 1: Insert and connect the cloned SSD/HDD to your computer correctly.

Step 2: Open Device Manager, expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers category, right-click on the listed controller, and select Properties.

Step 3. Identify the controller type of your device and then download the appropriate disk driver for cloning the hard drive.

Step 4: Save the downloaded driver to a secure location on your device, and remember where you saved it.

Step Five: Search for “cmd,” right-click to open it, and then select “Run CMD as administrator” on your computer.

Step 6: Type the following command and press Enter:

Add the driver to the image using the following command: Dism /Image:E: /Add-Driver /Driver:"Y:\Z.inf" This will add the driver located at Y:\Z.inf to the target image on drive E:. Make sure to replace "E:" and "Y:\Z.inf" with the actual directory and file path.

< li > Replace E: with the drive letter of your Windows boot partition. < /li > < li > Replace Y: with the location of the disk drive where you downloaded the file. < /li >

Step 7. Close the Command Prompt when you're done.

Then, restart your computer and set it to boot from the newly cloned HDD/SSD. Be patient as Windows boots up and runs from the new drive.

Tip: Avoid Clone Disk Won't Boot Issues

To save your time and prevent the cloned SSD won't boot issue from happening again, we've collected some useful tips. After analyzing all these causes, you can follow the methods below to learn how to make a cloned drive bootable in Windows 10/8/7.

These tips can be used to clone a disk and transfer the operating system to a new hard drive on Windows 10/8/7:

1. Search for a reliable disk cloning software. (Preferably, use a tool like Disk Copy.) 2. Ensure that both the source and target disks are either identical MBR (Master Boot Record) disks or GPT (GUID Partition Table) disks. If not, convert the MBR to GPT or vice versa. 3. If the cloned disk has GPT partitions, make sure your computer supports booting in UEFI mode. 4. Verify that the System Reserved partition has been cloned along with the system partition (C: drive). 5. Set the cloned hard drive as the first boot device in your computer's BIOS settings. 6. Check if the clone was made using an MBR system partition. If so, you must enable CSM (Compatibility Support Module) in the BIOS to allow booting from UEFI and Legacy OPROM devices. 7. Remove the source disk and replace it with the cloned disk.

Conclusions

On this page, we explain the reasons why a cloned hard drive won't boot and provide three practical methods to fix the "cloned hard drive won't boot" issue.

For beginners, we recommend trying Method 1 and using reliable disk cloning software, such as the Disk Copy tool, to clone your disk again.

If the disk partition style conflict prevents you from booting a computer like Windows 10 from the cloned drive, follow Method 2 to convert the target disk to MBR or GPT first. Then, return to Method 1 and repeat the disk cloning process, setting up to boot Windows from the new disk.

Frequently Asked Questions About Cloning an SSD Boot Drive

1. How do I make a clone bootable?

To boot successfully from the cloned SSD, make sure the boot order in your BIOS settings is correct, with the USB SSD appearing before the hard drive. Alternatively, you can copy just the operating system to the SSD and leave the rest of the data on the hard drive.

2. Why can't my computer boot from the cloned SSD?

If your Mac won't start up from the cloned SSD, it might be because of one of these issues:

• The SSD is connected to the PC as an external drive.
• The cloned SSD is not configured as a boot disk.
• The SSD is incompatible with the BIOS legacy boot mode.
• The disk cloning process failed or was interrupted.

3) Does cloning damage the hard drive?

Cloning is very safe and essential for maintaining and protecting your data. By using cloning software, you can clone your hard drive to an SSD in the best way possible.