Hard Drive Failure

[Barry_S20]

Hi Paul,

Thank you for that thoughtful direction and advice. 

I didn't have any trouble installing Windows on the new SSD and didn't receive the error message you refer to. However, in the end, I decided to take a different approach. My system is a very complicated set up and is the brain behind an automated observatory operating everything inside and including the building with a retractable roof. 

There are many programs involved in running such tasks and all without human intervention. It takes weeks to have all of the settings correct and in the proper order. That wasn't ideal to me and I wasn't looking forward to it. 

Given the problems with Windows Backup, the error messages I couldn't bypass and the lack of Microsoft support, I went in search of another solution. I ended up choosing Macrium based upon all of the positive feedback I found in reading many forum posts and reviews. I took an image of my old and failing SSD and then transferred it to the new SSD in just a few hours. The only trick was being able to size the partitions properly in order to make use of the larger sized drive in the new SSD. It is not intuitive within Macrium to accomplish this. 

My research for a solution to this (without having to reimage the disk) was to use MiniTool Partition Wizard. It fixed the problem within 30 seconds after downloading it. 

Both of these free programs used together, addressed my specific requirements and my system looks and acts as it did before the SSD failure. However now with this new SSD, it is blazingly  fast. I didn't think I would notice, but this SSD is so much faster than the previous one!

Thanks again for your support and direction. 

Barry 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, Barry.

I'm glad you were able to use Macrium Reflect to transfer the contents of the old drive to the new one, saving you a lot of work.

I have nothing complicated like that, so it is easy for me to just clean install Windows.

I did use Macrium Reflect once to clone a drive and agree, it works great and I used the same tool you did to resize the partition.

I do believe on the Macrium forums there is info on how to clone a smaller disk to a larger one and visa versa.

How to clone a disk drive using Macrium reflect and resize the partition - YouTube

There are some settings you change.

Cheers,

Paul