Cloned SSD won’t boot

iDATUS
You don't say what the new drive manufacture is.
If its an Addlink NVME drive it wont work.
Solution is to use the built-in "Create a recovery drive" in Windows.

It is the 1TB Samsung 970 Evoplus. I’m transferring the data/cloning using a USB-C M.2 enclosure.
So if I create a recovery drive from windows does that successfully create a bootable drive without having to reinstall windows and all the drivers?

iDATUS
1st of all you don't need the enclosure which may help you get past the issue.
I have done a video (bit out of date and new one coming soon) that shows the method at least how to do this.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA31rku1BK2rWzOEHRLSWsK0QhPFG49wA
There seems to be issues cloning from the new blades on to some nvme's.
I be a bit surprised if the Samsung is one though.

This comment comes from bimmerboi
Finally found a way to make it work. I used the built-in "Create a recovery drive" in Windows. This prompted me to do a full system backup on a usb flash drive. I then switch drives, did a clean install of Windows, then recovered using the flash drive. It was a long process but it worked.

Thanks for the videos! I’ll get started and let you know how it turns out.

iDATUS
Brill. Best of luck to you.

I noticed on your comments in YouTube you posted:
“You don’t need to use this boot from USB option to replace your internal.
1. Install the backup software.
2. Backup all the images.
3. Create image recovery USB boot from within the backup software.
4. Replace your old SSD with new.
5. Boot up off the recovery USB drive.
6. Recover all the partitions.

So when you recover the partitions from the USB recovery, do you have to worry about installing the drivers for everything? Like WiFi driver, touchpad driver, etc...?

iDATUS
Its in effect a clone of the original drive and you will boot up as normal.
You will have an added partition which you can format as etc.

Why I said it may work better is that when you boot up the bios and interface is exactly as it would be and removes the usb unit from the equation.

When I restore windows from a full image backup onto my new SSD, will that overwrite everything on my new SSD? (I want it to). I did an OS to SSD migration that didn’t work so now I need to wipe the new SSD.

iDATUS
When you do a partition (volume) recovery from an image it destroys what was there.
It does NOT merge like file restores.

I have actually as this comes up quite a bit, ordered a new Addlink 1TB NVMe and an USB C enclosure to try it out myself.

Thanks for all your help! I was able to do the system image recovery on a USB and got it recovered on my new 1TB NVMe. After windows installed, Razer automatically installed all its software. Just had to update and install synapse and cortex. It was much simpler than expected and I don’t know why I didn’t do it in the first place before trying to clone and swap.

I hope you can figure out why cloning won’t work. During my countless hours of reading page after page, I think it’s something to do with the USB-C connection. In the past, I cloned from an HDD to a M.2 in a vacant slot in the motherboard and no issues. Have also cloned from a SATA SSD to a larger SATA SSD in an enclosure via USB connections and no issues. Maybe it was some BIOS setting that I was missing...

iDATUS
Very good news you are up and working, I do like a happy Razer Blade 15 user ;)
If you haven't already check out my other videos on my channel and consider subscribing as it helps a lot and you get to see more Razer Blade 15 content.

Subscribed to my favorite regular razerblade uploader! will definitely recommend your videos when possible