As an MVP for Acronis, may I suggest the following, assuming the SSD is to=
=20
be an internal drive.

Two things, well three actually, but I'll start with 'cloning'.=20

1. If the OS drive is the one to be cloned, it is advisable to boot from=20
the recovery environment (USB/CD), this way you are either in a Linux or a=
=20
Windows PE environment, from here there is only one reboot which is the=20
reboot at the end of the clone procedure.

It is advisable to select to clone manually, if the new drive is not the=20
same size as the old one, this will allow you to expand/decrease partition=
=20
size as required. Don't touch the 100MB System partition if it exists and=20
if the drive is an EFI setup, don't change the size of the 3 EFI=20
partitions, only the actual OS one.

2. With laptops especially, it is better to 'reverse' clone, that is put=20
the new drive in an external caddy and leave the source drive in the=20
laptop, clone as above.

The reasons for 1 & 2. With the OS drive Windows (if booted) will lock a=20
number of files, this can cause problems when the Windows version of True=20
Image reboots into the on disk Linux environment. =20

Laptops often use non standard drive geometries and seem to have more=20
pernickety BIOS's and UEFI firmware. Reverse cloning fools True Image into=
=20
copying the sectors as they are, taking notice of the BIOS/UEFI disk=20
geometry rather than assuming it is a normal Heinz 57(tm) Pc that is being=
=20
dealt with. This also applies to some desktops - Sony, Dells (some models=20
but not all) and Gateway.

3. I would always recommend making an image and then restoring that image=20
to a new drive.

Some things to note: Some node locked software may complain because the new=
=20
drive will have a different serial number, unless you included the drive=20
Serial Number to be carried over.=20

It is advisable if moving from a spin disk to an SSD that you ensure the=20
spin drive has sectors that end on a cylinder (4096K), there is software=20
around that can do that and TI should do that automatically when seeing an=
=20
SSD, but it is not infallible if the sector alignment is way out in the=20
first place.

Twelve hours is far too long - possible causes - port or external caddy is=
=20
thinking it is USB1.1 instead of 2.0 or 3.0, try a different port. If=20
possible make sure the external caddy is not connected via an external USB=
=20
hub, nor should any finger scanners or other devices of that type. With=20
Laptops as the finger thingy tends to report itself as a USB device, it and=
=20
any others like it should be disabled during an image/clone operation.=20
Other software that can cause problems are Alvira free AV (paid one is OK),=
=20
and other virtual drive utilities such as Drag2Disk and InCD.=20

Colin

PS. I've just discovered AOMEI software, which to me seems suspiciously=20
like TI, but with a different interface and a tweaked cloning/imaging=20
engine - I could be wrong on this.
--
cdb, colin@btech-online.co.uk on 19/08/2014
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This email is to be considered private if addressed to a named  individual=
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or Personnel Department, and public if addressed to a blog,  forum or news=
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article.
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