"Failed" SSD drive clone

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#310451 20-Oct-2023 13:47

Advice please ...

I recently upgraded my main desktop PC - a 2019 vintage medium-spec Wintel build:

Intel i7 9700 CPU
32GB DDR4 RAM
Gigabyte Z390 mobo
Two NVMe M2 SSDs
Windows 11 latest

The original system drive - a 250GB NVMe M2 - was 90% full, so I cloned it to a new 1TB NVMe M2, using True Image.*

The PC rebooted OK, and showed the new 1TB system drive. All software worked normally.

The problem: the HDD LED indicator light was now flashing rapidly and continuously, like a strobe light. This did not happen with the old drive. Very bright and very distracting. 🙁

The CPU and SSD run cool (low 20s), and with less than 5% HDD activity at idle.
Disconnecting from the Internet makes no difference.
ESET and Malwarebytes scans are negative.

System Properties show no file system errors, but System Properties / Hardware / Events shows:

Device settings for SCSI \ Disk&Ven_NVMe&Prod_Samsung_SSD_990\5&bbd7e95&0&000000 were not migrated from previous OS installation due to partial or ambiguous device match.

I have used True Image for years and have never had this problem.

All expert advice gratefully received. 😐

* I tried both Acronis True Image 2021 and the new Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office, with identical results.

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#3150516 20-Oct-2023 15:43

Do you still have the original 250GB NVME SSD plugged into the motherboard, in the same slot? If you did, I'd remove it and test that you could boot from the new NVME SSD without the old drive installed. Last thing you'd want is to format the old NVME and find out that the boot records weren't cloned over, and your computer doesn't boot.

As for the LED light, can you remove the HDD cables from the front panel connector on the motherboard?

There is this reddit post about the LED light blinking on a Z390 Aorus Pro. Could be a compatibility issue with the NVME SSD and motherboard.

No HDD Activity Light on Z390 Auros Pro : gigabyte (reddit.com)

Gordy7

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#3150517 20-Oct-2023 15:43

Not an expert here... Could it be a Windows indexing issue?

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

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#3150528 20-Oct-2023 16:06

How long have you had it running on the new drive?

Could be Windows checking things etc. and it may stop after it has finished....

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#3150602 20-Oct-2023 19:37

try macrium free clone, i've cloned a lot of ssd <-> nvme drives they just plug and play

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#3150605 20-Oct-2023 19:59

Apologies for my slow reply (via my iPhone). 🙄

I've been "fighting" this PC all day - and losing.

The old SDD appears to be completely dead - I managed to save a little data before it failed, but I now have several days of work ahead of me to reinstall about 20 apps!

The good news is that the PC appears to be working normally with the new SSD and Win 11 re-installed.

Fortunately, I had backed up most of my lost data.

Thank you all for your advice. 🙂

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#3150859 21-Oct-2023 19:46

Progress Report 21 Oct 2023

The good news: I (luckily) found a system drive image created a month ago, and was able to rebuild the "dead" SSD system drive on the new SSD, rescuing all the lost software.

The bad news: The error message persists unchanged, and the HDD LED keeps flashing continuously.

I tried cloning the "flashing" drive using Macrium Reflect as recommended - and got a perfect copy on a second drive - but it still flashes!

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rhy7s

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#3151013 22-Oct-2023 08:08

Do you see the source of the drive activity in Task Manager (Ctrl-Shift-Esc)? I disconnect LED indicators myself.

rhy7s

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#3151015 22-Oct-2023 08:23

(Resource Monitor is under the three dot menu in the Performance tab).

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#3151018 22-Oct-2023 08:54

rhy7s: Do you see the source of the drive activity in Task Manager (Ctrl-Shift-Esc)? I disconnect LED indicators myself.

Task Manager (at idle) :

CPU 2 to 5%, Disk 1 to 2%
No "suspect" activity.
Occasional activity (not continuous): System, Windows Search Indexer, Desktop Windows Manager, Task Manager!

Resource Monitor (at idle):

Disk I/O <1 MB/sec

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huckster

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#3151019 22-Oct-2023 09:05

As mentioned above. Maybe leave it running for a while (overnight) to see if it is a Windows thing that just needs to complete.

Gordy7

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#3151036 22-Oct-2023 12:54

What happens to disk activity if you boot Windows in safe mode?

Gordy

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#3151097 22-Oct-2023 20:26

Thank you for your queries.

Restarting in safe mode made no difference to the rapid flashing.

Leaving the PC running overnight made no difference.

Moving the SSD to another PC with similar specs gave an instant cure - it functioned normally with just occasional flashing. 🙂

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#3151098 22-Oct-2023 20:38

Check for any motherboard Bios updates....

Gordy

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#3151099 22-Oct-2023 20:39

Did you boot from the drive after moving it?

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#3151100 22-Oct-2023 20:54

Do you see a different pattern and disk I/O rate on the different hardware? And as the poster above said, this system is booting into the same install? If you sort disk activity by total, read, or write - are the same processes at the top of the list between systems?