Cloning HDD to SSD but Windows fails to boot

Question

So I've got a laptop with a 300GB HDD which I want to replace for a 120GB SSD. The 300GB HDD will then act as a secondary hard disk. I've tried cloning my hard disk with EaseUS ToDo Backup and EZ GIG IV however none worked. When I boot from the SSD, The windows 7 logo screen (black background) loads and then a Blue Screen of Death. I've searched and many people claim to have managed cloning the hard disk.

I don't want to do a fresh install of Windows due to the many settings I've changed (and due to the fingerprint reader). The Windows 7 is the one that came pre-installed. Also I've cloned all partitions from my HDD.

Also when I access the start-up repair I'm able to see the ssd however windows can't fix the error automatically.

Solution 1

Ok, so I managed to do this. All I had to do was use my SSD manufacture's cloning software. However I still don't know why the others didn't work.

I posted the same thing to Yahoo Answers and here is the full answer that helped.

Solution 2

Try running three separate startup repairs:

The first step in the process is to mark the desired volume/partition as "Active" so that WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment) will know which volume you want to become "System" when the startup repairs are run.

The second step in this process is to run at least 3 separate startup repairs to create a new set of boot files to the new "Active" volume/partition, be sure to complete all 3 steps of Option One below to complete this entire process.

Also, maybe syspreping the install will help. By running sysprep on it it should become hardware independent.

If none of this work, your best bet seems to be to run a repair reintall or a full reinstall.

EDIT: I just found this

Are you getting a 0x0000007B error when it BSOD's?

Did you load the driver of the storage controller of the new PC onto the old PC before you imaged it? The OS is probably looking for the drivers of the storage controller on the NEW PC, but the image/clone of the old PC won't have those. That often causes a BSOD.

I'm not sure how to do that though. Again, sysprep might be the way to go.

Comments

[Mark Said Camilleri]

tried it but it couldn't do it due to the sizes

[sonjz]

great tips, i'll try them out tonight.