F*CK the SSD M.2 PCI and its aunt

[Piing]

My laptop is giving me the "S.M.A.R.T Status Bad, Backup and Replace. Press F1 to Resume", which means that the SSD is going to die soon.

So I buy a new PCIe SSD M.2 to replace the old one
1- I backup the entire drive to a external USB dive using Aomei Backupper
2- I create a USB bootable media
3- I replace the SSD with the new one at the laptop
4- I restart with the bootable media, but I cannot see neither the new drive or the USB external drive where I have saved the backup file

I search and search, and everywhere it says that you have to use the Clone Disk option to replace a drive. BUT all these instructions are assuming that the destination drive is already connected at your computer. However, my laptop only has one slot to connect one SSD M.2 drive. How can I clone it like that?

So I purchase an external box to connect my new SSD drive to a USB port and clone the disk directly from the laptop to the SSD at the external USB box

But... the new disk doesn't fit into the box. The box has a slot with two gaps, but my SSD drive only has one gap.
Why??? If both are specified as M.2 SSD

What can I do now? Do I have to buy another external box for a M.2 SSD that only has one gap, or is there other way to clone the damned SSD?

 

[James Freeman]

I see only one gap (key) in your box, ignore the silk screen on the pcb.
Flip the m.2 and insert it.

 

[marsonic]

James is right.

The enclosure you bought is apparently made to work with both NVMe and SATA m.2 drives.

 

[Piing]

I see only one gap (key) in your box, ignore the silk screen on the pcb.
Flip the m.2 and insert it.

It doesn't fit by flipping it. The gaps are not symmetric, probably to prevent a wrong connection by accidentally flipping it. The M.2 with two gaps has 5 pins at one side and six at the other side.

Anyway, I think that trying to clone the existing SSD to an external SSD is the wrong approach. If my existing SSD was damaged, I should be able to restore the backup to a new SSD without the need to clone the old SSD. The restore of my existing backup using a rescue bootable USB should work.

So the question is: why my bootable Aomei Backupper USB cannot see neither he new SSD installed at the laptop or the external USB hard drive containing the backup?

 

[mavrick102000]

Or you'll need a proven adapter to convert to the correct pinout. I'm guessing this is for a PC,but I'm only familiar with MAC specs.

 

[Piing]

Or you'll need a proven adapter to convert to the correct pinout. I'm guessing this is for a PC,but I'm only familiar with MAC specs.

It is a PC.

Anyway, I should not be needing to clone the existing SSD to the new SSD on an external adapter. There can be the scenario where my existing SSD was damaged and irrecoverable. Then I should be able to restore my backup to the new SSD by installing it at the laptop and using a bootable rescue USB and my existing backup from a external USB drive. I guess that is what full-drive backups are for.

There are many Google results for "aomei backupper bootable USB cannot detect external usb disk drive"but it seems like the Aomei forum is down. I only get the "We can’t connect to the server at www.aomeitech.com."

 

[AlbertA]

M.2 specifies 3 types of connectors, B, M and B+M

B = 6 pins on the short side upper part
M = 5 pins on the short side lower part
B+M = 5 pins on the bottom, 6 pins on the top

On your first picture:

https://thegearforum.com/attachments/1696949504884-png.11785/

That seems to show an adapter board for M type of connector and your SSD seems to be of type M as well, only that you need to flip it vertically (align the 5 pins to the 5 pins of the connector)


What is the second picture?

https://thegearforum.com/attachments/1696980601667-png.11798/

That shows an SSD with B+M connector

 

[Piing]

I've done some progress. The Bootable Rescue USB from Acronis True Image can recognize both the new SSD installed at the laptop and the external drive containing the Acronis backup. I don't know what is wrong with the Bootable Rescue disk from AOEMI Backupper.

1 - Backup the entire C disk to an external drive using Acronis
2- Replace the disk with the new one
3- Boot with Acronis Rescue Media
4 - Format the partition of the new SSD (that can be made from Acronis Rescue Media)
5 - Restore the backup from the external drive to the new SSD drive

But now that SSD drive is not bootable. The laptop only starts on the BIOS.
The BIOS recognizes the SSD, but it cannot boot

I don't know what to do next.

Forget about the external box for M.2 SSD and its damned pins. Imagine that your SSD was fried, you replace it with a new one, and you have to restore the backup of the entire C drive that you luckily did the day before (with either Aoemi or Acronis).

You have no option to clone the existing SSD to the new SSD on an external USB box, because the existing one is fried. So you have to restore the existing backup.

What steps would you take?




All the instructions I've found point to what I've already done on steps 1-5 above

 

[ᛗᛜᛜᚺDᛜᎶ Ꮤᛨᚳᚴ]

I wish I could be of more assistance, but the only thing I can think of is making sure that External/USB drives are set as bootable from within BIOS. If I think of anything else, I will be sure to type in! Best of luck on what I know can be frustrating. I lost my motherboard in December this last year and although I had 95% of my data backed up, that last 5% is on my RAID array which I created using the motherboard, and I need another MB with same chipset in order to see my RAID array again, which I did not realize when I created the RAID array or when I was trying to recover it.

 

[Piing]

I've got it working!! Now I am writing using the new SSD

Messing with the BIOS (I have a master in Irresponsible Trial-and-Error) I have activated one option a the Boot Config that says "Launch CSM", having no idea of what it was, and after that the new SSD boots normally

Now I am trying to learn WTF is CSM (Compatibility Support Module). It was working with my old SSD without it, and it was identical to the new one and with the same Windows 10. So I do not understand why it is needed now. But I will apply Engineering Rule #1:

Long Live CSM!!

 

[AlbertA]

That sounds like your new SSD partition is not UEFI compatible - i.e. sounds like you used MBR to partition it.

 

[Piing]

That sounds like your new SSD partition is not UEFI compatible - i.e. sounds like you used MBR to partition it.

Maybe. I used the default option without thinking what I was doing. Is there some advantage worth of starting the process again with a new UEFI compatible partition?

 

[AlbertA]

You can turn off CSM, and only use UEFI, which could decrease boottimes (and shutdown times) and you can enable secure boot (and TPM 2 if its supported) for less risk about a rootkit taking over your PC.