It depends on the cloning software you used.  which one did you use?  Community experience seems to recommend Marcium.

i used Macrium reflect free

Is BIOS SATA Mode set to RAID or AHCI?  Samsung drivers don't play nice when BIOS is set to RAID. But you can't just change that setting in BIOS. You first have to configure Windows so the AHCI driver gets installed. If you just change the BIOS setting Windows won't boot and you might lose all your files.

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

Now, start over: Re-image the existing SSD, swap in the new one and move the new image onto the new SSD.  BTW: you have to take some extra steps when imaging the new SSD so all the extra space gets assigned to the C: partition on the drive. Otherwise, the extra space just goes to waste...

thanks for the info Ron... i wondered about the raid setting, it is raid on

i have some questions on the start over part:

i only have 1 m.2 slot so my cloning is done via external adapter

can i reclone the 980 from the 256 at that point without reimaging? i could then swap the 980 for the 256 and hopefully boot win10

i adjust the partitions on the clone to give the C drive most of the additional space

i would lose all my files if i reimage the 256 and have to restore them from backup

Didn't know you used an external adapter for the imaging. I assumed you just saved an image on external media and swapped in the new SSD and moved the image onto the new drive.

Put the original SSD back inside the case so you can boot the PC. Then change BIOS to AHCI exactly as I indicated above. When that's done and it boots from the internal SSD again, clone it onto the one in the external adapter, adding the extra space to the C: partition.

Then swap the new one into the M.2 slot and boot up. Assuming it gets to the desktop now, install the Samsung drivers for the new SSD. And hang onto the original SSD until you're sure the new one works properly...

one final question before i proceed:

once the bios is changed to AHCI you say clone 256 to 980

my 980 has already been cloned to the 256 previously

can i just shut down, swap in the 980 and boot or

if i have to clone again do i just delete the partitions in macrium and clone again?

You're totally confusing me...

Your OP says: "i need to replace the 256 with a ssd that has more storage. I just purchased a samsung 980 NVME 1 T and successfully cloned the 256 to the 980."  and it also says: "The problem is after installation of the 980 win10 will not load."

Now you're saying "my 980 has already been cloned to the 256 previously". It's the other way around, right...??

If PC won't boot from the 980, you can't just change BIOS to AHCI because Win 10 on the 980 SSD wasn't configured to use AHCI and will never be bootable that way.

Like I said, start over from the very beginning.  Put the 256 SSD back into the M.2 slot. Then configure Windows to use AHCI and change BIOS using the exact process I posted above. When that's done, make certain the PC will boot from the 256 SSD. Don't go further if it won't boot from the 256 after making those changes.

Once you're sure PC boots from the 256 SSD in the M.2 slot with BIOS set to AHCI, clone the 256 onto the 980, deleting all partitions on the 980 and cloning all partitions from the 256 onto the 980 - like this is the very first time you're cloning the 256. And remember to expand the C: partition on the 980 during the cloning. Then swap the 980 into the M.2 slot and confirm PC boots...

hi Ron

i followed your instructions exactly, checked the bios was set to ACHI and everything was fine until i swapped in the 980

i got the dell screen, then a message that PCIe was initializing and then dell assist said it was having trouble starting and ran a hardware test

i repeated the start a few times with the same results

i replaced the 980 with 256 and it booted

If you are still having trouble booting from 980 cloned from 256, the other option would be do a fresh clean install of Windows 10 on the 980 (very easy and smooth).  The inconvenient part is that afterwards you would need to manually reinstall additional programs and transfer old data.  It is advised not to use ssd to store data over long term (data may get corrupted or lost).  better use hdd or cloud to store old data.

@ser1123  Did you image all partitions on the old SSD onto the new one?

How did you expand the C: partition on new driver to use all the extra space?

Could the new SSD be DOA...?