SSD problem

[nukecad]

I indicated in another thead that I was having issues with a new SSD and cloning my existing HDD to it;
https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/271823-many-are-unaware-that-windows10-is-still-free/?do=findComment&comment=1445849

I'll sure that I'll eventually sort it out but would appreciate any insights from others.

Here it goes:

I bought a new SSD (Kioxia Excieria 480GB, SATA) to replace the HDD in a laptop, Windows 10 20H2.
Macrium Reflect failed to clone the installed drive to the new SSD. (SSD in an external enclosure connected by USB).

So check the SSD - Windows Disc Management could see it, could initialise it, but wouldn't format it.
As I'd just bought it off Amazon I got a next day replacement - exactly the same issues with the new one; MR can't clone, Windows sees it, initilailses it, but can't format it.

So my next thought was maybe the external enclosure chips may be at fault and I should get another enclosure or a SATA to USB cable.

But now the oddity.
I happen to have a friends laptop with Win 10 1909 that I'm fixing a dead pixel screen on.
Win10 1909 can see the new SSD (either of them) in the external enclosure and can quick format either with no problem, once formatted then Win10 20H2 can read and write to the disc(s) as you would expect.

I've not tried cloning the 1909 laptop because obviously that is not what I want, I want to clone the 20H2 laptop and it's installed apps.

PS. I only have one of the SSDs now, I sent the other back.

In the end I may just put the new SSD in the laptop and do a fresh install of Win10 20H2 (or 21H1 if it takes that long to sort out this issue), but I would like to keep/clone the current setup if possible.

Has anybody got any insights as to why 20H2 seems to have problems with these SSD's?

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by nukecad

[David H. Lipman]

If this is a 2.5" drive, I'd try another enclosure or one of those USB to SATA interfaces to perform the Cloniing.

• StarTech.com USB312SAT3CB USB 3.1 (10Gbps) Adapter Cable for 2.5" SATA SSD/HDD Drives - Supports SATA III (6 Gbps) - USB Powered
• Rosewill USB Type C to SATA Adapter Cable for 2.5" SATA SSD HDD, Support SATA III / II / I and UASP

 

I bought an USB 3.0 enclosure and found it had a similar issue but with a spindle drive.  I obtained another enclosure and the problem was solved.

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by David H. Lipman

[Porthos]

1 hour ago, nukecad said:

MR can't clone

I never do a CLONE, I always IMAGE the disk to another external and remove the drive install the replacement and use the Macrium boot USB to restore the image.

 

[Porthos]

2 hours ago, nukecad said:

Kioxia Excieria 480GB

Never heard of the brand but on this side of the pond they are a little pricey.

 

[AdvancedSetup]

I have run into USB issues on one build on Windows 10 where my device would not work correctly and I also ran into a disk that Windows 10 could not complete a disk check on. On the same computer though I had VMware Workstation Pro running with a Windows 7 Pro installation on it. The device worked properly on the virtual system and the disk check also worked from VM.

The issue was resolved for me I believe in the 2004 build of Windows 10.

I have not tried it lately or run into it since, but I wonder if the new 20H build has some driver issue

 

[exile360]

This article indicates that AMD is rolling out BIOS hotfixes for Ryzen systems affected by USB issues in Windows 10, and in the past I know of issues with some of the major Windows 10 releases and several audio chipsets and some network chipsets as well.

I suspect that Microsoft has been making a lot of modifications under the hood to Windows 10 which have impacted a wide variety of hardware/drivers over the years; issues typically seen in a new release of a major OS or service pack (or beta/release candidate for that matter, which is where one would hope such issues would be discovered and addressed prior to the new versions being rolled out to customers/users), and it's not too surprising given that they're pretty much treating each major release as a new version of Windows architecturally since Windows 10 was supposed to be the 'last' version of Windows (rather than doing as they'd done in the past, going from major version, to service pack, to 2nd/3rd/4th etc. service pack, to new major version, all along making hardware compatibility difficult if hardware vendors and OEMs did not keep their drivers up to date for compatibility with each new service pack and major Windows version release).

Edited March 21, 2021 by exile360

[nukecad]

17 hours ago, Porthos said:

Never heard of the brand but on this side of the pond they are a little pricey.

Kioxia is a subsiduary of Toshiba under a different name.
I paid £42.99 GBP for it on Amazon, about $60 USD. More expensive than Kingston etc., much cheaper than Samsung.
Looking on Amazons US site they have it listed at $115.31 plus shipping, almost double what I paid for it - I guess that's taxes as part of your trade war with the Orient?

Thanks all for your replies,

That seems to confirm my thinking that it's either the enclosure, 20H2 (drivers?), or a combination of both.
I may get a new SATA/USB lead or a new enclosure, or just try a clean install.

Both laptops have Intel chips btw. The 20H2 is an Asus, the 1909 a Lenovo.

I'm in no rush so have time to do a bit more 'playing about'.

[Hardhead]

I have a Toshiba too.

Last week I cloned my SATA drive to the new Crucial SDD using a Adapter cable on MS 20H2 with Macrium. The down part about going that way is that you lose about 20 to 30 % of the performance on the SSD, however the best way is to do a clean install that way you lose no performance on the new SSD from what I have read.

I was just lazy and didn't want to take the time to reinstall Windows and all programs again.

Hope this information is helpful..

Edited March 21, 2021 by Hardhead
added Macrium

[nukecad]

8 hours ago, Hardhead said:

I was just lazy and didn't want to take the time to reinstall Windows and all programs again.

Kioxia/Toshiba is just the new SSD, (I'd also looked at a Crucial but went with Kioxia), the 2 laptops are an Asus and a Lenovo.

Yes, the clone vs reinstall is my thinking too.

Windows itself is not that much of a problem for a fresh install (if I can remember all the tweaks to get rid of annoyances, Cortina, OneDrivel, and add a few things to context menus etc. I don't do that when reinstalling Windows for others they get a bog-standard 'how Microsoft want you to have it', but would want the tweaks for myself).
Reinstalling all the rest of my apps, finding activation/licence keys, setting them up how I want them again, etc. etc. could be a bit of a pain in the neck.

As I say I'm in no rush, and playing about helps you learn things.

Edited March 22, 2021 by nukecad

[AdvancedSetup]

Here are some tools, methods to clean up a new install of Windows 10

O&O AppBuster
https://www.oo-software.com/en/ooappbuster

BloatBox
https://github.com/builtbybel/bloatbox

Windows10Debloater
https://github.com/Sycnex/Windows10Debloater

There is also another customization from Chris Titus Tech

https://christitus.com/debloat-windows-10-2020/

https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/win10script