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I'm upgrading my SSD on my Lenovo Yoga Pro 2 notebook.

In order to clone the original SSD, I wanted to first clone it to an external device, then boot the computer using the external device and clone it on to the new, now installed, SSD.

I managed to clone the SSD on an external HDD, but this HDD won't boot, blocking the process.

I am first getting a BIOS message saying no windows boot detected/no USB boot detected/no network boot detected. After this I get to manually choose where to boot from, I choose the USB, and it starts but crashes after a while.

Any idea what could be wrong? Is my strategy valid?

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    Why not skip the middle 'extra' drive copy and just copy your current drive directly to the new SSD? There isn't any reason for this extra copy. Also, how did you copy the drive? Bootable CD, drag-drop files from explorer? Mar 18, 2015 at 18:45
  • I imagine copying directly requires some sort of USB to mSata hardware connector, doesn't it? I'm trying to avoid costs. I cloned the drive using Macrium Reflect. Mar 18, 2015 at 18:50
  • Ok, that makes a bit more sense then. What software are you using to clone the drives? You need an offline clone/copy to do this correctly Mar 18, 2015 at 18:54
  • What do you mean? Is the intermediary HDD cloned using Reflect not a perfect clone of my original SSD? Mar 18, 2015 at 18:55
  • Ive never used reflect, but to get a complete copy you need to boot outside of your operating system off of a CD or Thumb drive. You can't properly copy operating system files while they are in use. Clonezilla is a popular tool for this Mar 18, 2015 at 18:59

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After this I get to manually choose where to boot from, I choose the USB, and it starts but crashes after a while.

Any idea what could be wrong?

Windows doesn't like being booted/run from USB... you need extra utilities/work to get it booting and running from USB properly.

See these other SU questions:

Maybe also check out: Installing Windows 8.1 I get "You cannot install Windows on a USB flash drive from Setup"

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  • It shouldn't be necessary to boot from the USB cloned drive. He should be able to use Clonezilla to USB Boot clone it: Original Drive > Temp Drive > Final Drive Mar 18, 2015 at 19:21
  • @LeeHarrison Sure, but (to me anyway) OP was asking why he couldn't boot from the USB drive, not "How do I clone this". ;) If you want to spend time dealing with the cloning problem that isn't being asked, more power to you -- but I'd suggest doing it in chat vs. in comments on this specific question.. Plus there are already MANY "How can I clone my drive?" questions that already cover using Clonezilla and the like. ;) Mar 18, 2015 at 19:26

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