USB connected SSD treated differently on different computers

31 views, no nibbles. HMMM.....

As I said, I ran an sfc & had a few repairs but the problem remained. I has also spoken with tech support at Dell and went up to the 2nd level. They seemed to agree I should roll back my OS (Windows 10) to the last known good instance - that was about 11 months ago when I used Macrium to clone an internal HDD to the external SSD using the same closure and cable. I simply cannot/will not roll back 11 months. And doing a re-install of a fresh windows 10 would be a killer. It's actually my wife's computer and she uses it for her job and for her writing.

I'm thinking about trying AOMEI to clone the drive. And recall even a Macrium image didn't work because of a CRC error. Samsung Magician is supposed to fix the bad LDAs but said it could not. But I do need to do some kind of backup.

My daughter has a computer identical to my wife's. I'll do some testing there.

Give us a break! It's a long holiday weekend and people have other things to do.

Sure it's not the SSD enclosure you're using?

What's the purpose of imaging the internal Samsung 870 to the same model SSD in an external enclosure? Is the existing internal SSD failing?

Is BIOS set to RAID or AHCI? Power on and tap F2 to open BIOS setup. Find the SATA Operation setting and see if it's RAID or AHCI. Do NOT change it or you'll make PC unbootable. Just exit setup without changing anything.

Samsung SSDs and software have known issues working properly when BIOS is set to RAID. If it's set to RAID, you may have to change it to AHCI but you have to do it the right way or PC won't boot. We can post the steps and they won't require a reinstall.

If you have an internal HDD in this PC (or an external USB HDD), use Macrium to save an image of the internal SSD on the HDD. Then swap in the new SSD, assuming that's the intention, and move the image from the HDD onto the new SSD...

FWIW: Users have posted problems using AOMEI and ended up using Macrium...

I'm really not impatient. I just figured techs would jump all over this. Enjoy your meal.

I have successfully used the same SSD enclosure and SSD on my 3060 just to test. Works fine. It also works simply as an external drive on the 3670 despite the formatting and Macrium issues on the 3670.

I just want a backup of the 3670. The 870 SSD is performing very well. I figure I might as well clone it. Little extra time or trouble. Tried an image but got a CRC error on verification.

I will check the BIOS setting and enter the results later. I was tempted to switch the 3060 to AHCI but it seemed too risky to be worth it.

By image I presume you mean clone. My understanding is that the clone is bootable but an image is not. Macrium has separate choices for clone and image. In any case, if I can clone the internal SSD to an external HDD then that would point to a problem with the enclosure or the "new" SSD. If I cannot and get the same error, then I have a computer problem. It's moot now since the SSD image is >500GB and the biggest HDD I have is only 500GB. My wife recently converted lots of old videos to digital!

I really like Macrium. I intend to try AOMEI to see if I can get around Macrium's need to do a special format prior to cloning. It doesn't do that with imaging.

Thanks for the reply.

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@Mike639 wrote:

Strange problem. Noticed when I tried using Macrium Reflect 8 to clone my internal Samsung 870 to external 870 in a Sabrent USB3 enclosure on my 3670.

1. Before cloning, Macrium does some kind of special format.

2. It failed (numerous times) & the drive disappears. I could not (re-)format in disk mgmt or anywhere, even diskpart.

3. There are 2 buts - but when I try to format from the 3060 it always works; but when I try to format it twice in a row on 3670 from the context menu it works the 2nd & all subsequent times. Still no go in Macrium.

4. Samsung has a utility called Samsung Magician. When I do a deep analysis of the LBAs on the 3670, I get 5 bad; on the 3060 I get none. Since I have 5 bad LBAs, even though I can actually start an image on the 3670 using Macrium, it ultimately fails on verification because of a CRC error. I haven't tried a clone or an image on the 3060 yet but I think I know the outcome.

5. These 2 computers are behaving quite differently and I have no clue why. (I did run an sfc on the 3670.)

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1. Never seen that.

I use Disk-Management ONCE ... and Initialize as GPT, Partition as one large Simple-Volume, and format as NTFS. All SSDs should be Over-Provisioned by 10% (OP is raw-space at end of drive).

I do know that Macrium Reflect won't clone/image if either disk is broken. But if that is the case, you should be instead fixing the computer . And unless you have a good Image-file previously created ... getting ready for a clean-install anyway (not messing with clones).

2. sounds bad

3. weird

4. sounds worse. You can use Samsung Magician for testing/setup, but Macrium Reflect is best for Imaging.

5. Yeah, well ..

You can use Crystal Disk-Info (or PassMark's Utility) to read the SSD's SMART status. You might want to do this inside a (good, 100% working) computer on real SATA interface. I would likely use same interface for Step#1 items above as well (since you have something weird going-on with that external enclosure).

You should do Full-Backup Images (to a file-set) with Verify After Creation Enabled. You normally include all drives, but it is allowed to only include one drive (like the C-Drive).

After you get all that working, then you can re-introduce the Sabrent USB3 enclosure.

Review - the 3670 is the one I want to clone. 3670 Disk Mgmt does not format the 870 nor does any other approach on the 3670, e.g., context menu or as an option in diskpart. All do work on the 3060. I think this points away from the 870 or enclosure and to the computer be it the OS or the USB ports.

Magician has a SMART test. It fails on the 3670 and passes on the 3060. I will get Crystal disk for fun

I will try to image to an USB3 connected HDD to see what happens.

If all fails and it looks like the OS, I imagine a system recovery is of no help because I will simply be perpetuating the issue with the OS. I guess that means a clean install. Is there an easy way to recover the data - I feel dumb not knowing and will do my own research? I understand I would have to re-install all the apps.

And if I successfully clone the system and test the cloned drive and it does boot, again I will have perpetuated the error. Oh well. Still more tests to do.

Have you checked the health of the OS install on the SSD  (c:) you want to clone?

1. At desktop, open a CMD prompt window, Run as administrator
   
   
2. At the prompt, type in: chkdsk c: /r and press Enter. Accept option to run chkdsk at next boot and reboot. chkdsk will run before Windows loads, so be patient. Note any error messages, and/or look at the chkdsk log file.
   
   
3. Assuming no unfixed errors in #2 , at desktop open a CMD prompt window, Run as administrator
   
   
4. At the prompt, type in: DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth and press Enter. Be sure to include a space in front of each / and note any error messages when that's done.
   
   
5. Assuming no unfixed errors in #4, at the CMD prompt, type in: sfc /scannow and press Enter. Be sure to include a space in front of the / and note any errors when that's done.

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Samsung Magician may not be working properly if BIOS is set to RAID on the 3670, but to AHCI on the 3060. You have to check BIOS on both PCs to see if they're set differently, possibly causing the failure.

If necessary, RAID to AHCI without reinstalling Windows:

1. Open Cmd, Run as administrator
   
   
2. Copy-paste this command, which will start Windows in Safe Mode the next time you reboot: bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal and press Enter
   
   
3. Restart the computer and tap F2 to open BIOS setup
   
   
4. Change SATA Operation mode from RAID to AHCI
   
   
5. Save the change and exit Setup and Windows will boot in Safe Mode
   
   
6. Open Cmd again, as in step #1
   
   
7. Copy-paste this command, which will start Windows in Normal Mode the next time you reboot: bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot and press Enter
   
   
8. Reboot and Windows will automatically start with AHCI drivers enabled

See if things work properly now.

A Macrium clone creates an exact, bootable copy of everything on the source drive on a destination drive, wiping out all existing files on the destination drive.

A Macrium image of the source drive is created on a destination drive that's already formatted by Windows. The image isn't bootable and doesn't wipe out any files already on the destination drive.  Just be sure to Include all partitions that Macrium sees on the source drive in the image saved on the destination drive.

Macrium compresses an image, so 500 GB on the source SSD could be compressed to ~half that size on the destination drive. You can use Macrium's Max Compression setting to reduce the image size as much as is possible. Be sure to set Macrium to validate the image as soon as done.

A Macrium image on the destination drive can be "mounted" as a separate drive with its own drive letter. So files in the image can be opened with whatever app created them, just like any "ordinary" file, and even saved outside the image as an ordinary file, if you need to recover one or a few files.

The compressed Macrium image saved on one drive can also be used to create a bootable copy on another drive. So if necessary, you could use an image to restore everything onto another drive that can then be used to boot the PC (wiping out everything already on the new destination drive). Remember, an image is only up-to-date on the day you created it...

EDIT: To restore an entire Macrium image and make the destination drive bootable, you need to use Macrium to create a bootable USB stick. So be sure to create it. After booting from that USB, select the image file and its destination drive. Macrium will do the rest...

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@Mike639 wrote:

Review - the 3670 is the one I want to clone. 3670 Disk Mgmt does not format the 870 nor does any other approach on the 3670, e.g., context menu or as an option in diskpart. All do work on the 3060. I think this points away from the 870 or enclosure and to the computer be it the OS or the USB ports.

Magician has a SMART test. It fails on the 3670 and passes on the 3060. I will get Crystal disk for fun

I will try to image to an USB3 connected HDD to see what happens.

If all fails and it looks like the OS, I imagine a system recovery is of no help because I will simply be perpetuating the issue with the OS. I guess that means a clean install. Is there an easy way to recover the data - I feel dumb not knowing and will do my own research? I understand I would have to re-install all the apps.

And if I successfully clone the system and test the cloned drive and it does boot, again I will have perpetuated the error. Oh well. Still more tests to do.

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You would not clone and/or image one computer to another different model.
a. You are carrying-over who-knows-what
b. Both machines should have a Windows-license (which you are trying to mess-that-up, lose one).
c. With SecureBoot, Windows should be initially properly installed at least once, and you build upon that.

I told you how to troubleshoot it, but you are welcome to do whatever.

The programs I mentioned are the defacto programs people use for checking SMART.

You restore files from your Macrium-Reflect image. If you are unable to image the system, you copy them over with a flash-drive.

a. I am not cloning from one computer to another. The computer in question is the 3670. I am using the 3060 to test the SSD. 

b. Both computers are properly licensed.

c. I will check SecureBoot.

I am following your advice. Thanks.

Partial response: Early on I ran SFC and it did a few repairs. I did not run DISM but I thought if SFC completed successfully that meant DISM was not necessary.

Both computers are set to RAID.

My understanding of clone and image is as yours. Also the same are the processes and how the cloned drive can be used.

I typically don't compress anything and suffer the added time. Lots of other things to do.

I will get to your other recommendations later today. Thanks.

Update: Internal SSD on 3670 CHKDSK /r no problems. CrystalDiskInfo 99% with no sub-areas highlighted.

Tried to format a different external drive in a different enclosure via disk management. It failed. BUT as with the initial drive in question, it formatted on the 2nd try.

So the 3670 is weird. I'm abandoning cloning and will settle for an image (which failed because of CRC errors).

Look guys, the help has been great. I'm getting tired of pounding on this and will struggle along on my own. If I have a Eureka, I'll post it. Thanks again.

Hi all who helped (and curious onlookers),

Biting the bullet and re-installing Windows 10. Going straight through Dell who suggested this and offered to assist about 2 weeks ago. Backed up media files and about to back up other documents sans media files. Program re-install might be a challenge.

Thanks again

Mike

Good luck with the clean install. Let us know if that solved the problem...