[Solved] Black Screen After Cloning Disk
Cloned hard drive to SSD but black screen when booted
You cloned your OS drive to a new SSD, but it's not booting properly. When you try to boot from the SSD, you get a black screen with a cursor that's constantly loading. You can't get into the BIOS or troubleshoot through Windows unless you unplug the SSD and boot from the old drive. Any ideas on how to get it up and running? I'll do my best to help you troubleshoot the issue. What's your operating system and what's the exact error message you're seeing (if any)?
How to fix black screen after cloning disk
If you encounter a black screen after cloning a disk, you can resolve the issue by following these steps. To fix the problem, you can try to boot from a different disk, such as a USB drive or a CD/DVD, and then use a tool like EaseUS Todo Backup to restore the original disk.
Step 1. To transition to a new hard drive, connect the new drive inside your computer as the boot disk, making it the primary storage device. Meanwhile, connect your original hard drive outside your computer, converting it into an external hard drive where you can still access your files and data. This setup allows you to use your new hard drive for daily operations while keeping your original hard drive as a backup and for storing less frequently used files.
Step 2. To troubleshoot a black screen issue after cloning a hard drive, start by booting your computer to see if it can load from the cloned drive. If you're still experiencing a black screen, try opening the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc. This may help you identify the problem.
- Right-click on Windows Explorer in the Processes tab, select End task.
- To run the Windows Explorer with administrative privileges, go to the top-left corner of the screen and click on the "File" option. From the dropdown menu, select "Run new task". In the new window, type "explorer.exe" and ensure the box next to "Create this task with administrative privileges" is checked.
- Go to File -To resolve the issue, type "explorer.exe" in the Run dialog, click OK, and this should open Windows Explorer.
Step 3. In Windows Explorer, right-click on "My Computer"/"This PC" from the left panel, then select "Manage" -> "Storage" -> "Disk Management" from the menu.
Step 4. To resolve the issue, right-click the drive without the system but assigned drive letter C, select "Change Drive Letter and Paths", and assign a new drive letter to it.
Step 5. To fix the issue, you can try removing the old hard drive and see if the computer boots normally. If it does, then the problem was likely with the old hard drive. If not, you may need to troubleshoot further.
✍ Tips:
1. If your computer still shows a black screen, you can try reconnecting the old hard drive and changing the registry value to resolve the issue.
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
- Click File -To open the Registry Editor, go to the Task Scheduler, create a new task, type "regedit" in the "Action" field, select the option to run the task with administrative privileges, and click OK.
- Go to this location HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices and look for \DosDevices\C:.
- Modify this key to any random letter, for example, \DosDevices\C: to \DosDevices\O:. This change will redirect the system to look for the drive letter 'O' instead of 'C'.
- Shut down your computer, remove the old hard drive, and start your computer from the cloned disk, which should now be successfully booted.
2. If the problem persists and your cloned SSD won't boot, showing a black screen, you may need to reclone the hard drive.
Clone disk with the best disk cloning software - Qiling Disk Master
Qiling Disk Master Professional is the best disk cloning software that can help you clone a disk without encountering the problem of a black screen after cloning. The software offers detailed steps for a seamless cloning process.
Before cloning, you need to know:
- If you're planning to switch from MBR to GPT, ensure your computer's motherboard supports EFI/UEFI, as this will prevent booting issues.
- If you're cloning a GPT disk with more than 4 partitions to an MBR disk, you need to convert the MBR disk to GPT first, otherwise the cloning process may fail.
- If you have a 32-bit version of Windows, it can't be installed on a GPT disk, so you'll need to convert the GPT disk to a Master Boot Record (MBR) disk before cloning.
With the tips provided, you can now start using Qiling Disk Master to clone a disk.
Step 1. To clone a hard drive, connect the new HDD/SSD to your computer and download Qiling Disk Master. Then, select the Clone option and choose Disk Clone.
Step 2. Select your old hard disk as the source disk.
Step 3. Select the new HDD/SSD as the destination disk.
Step 4. When moving to the final window, confirm the entire operation and click "Proceed" to execute it.
Notes:
- You can use "Edit Partitions" to manually adjust partition size on the destination disk during cloning.
- "Sector-The "by-sector clone" process requires the cloned disk to be no smaller than the source disk.
- If the cloned disk is an SSD, check the option "SSD Alignment" to optimize its performance.
After cloning, shut down the computer, replace the old hard drive with the cloned disk, and start the PC. It will work perfectly. Qiling Disk Master helps avoid getting stuck on a black screen after replacing the hard drive.
Final words
Qiling Disk Master is the best disk cloning software, eliminating the black screen issue after cloning. It offers a "System Clone" feature to clone the system and boot files from an old hard drive to a new disk.
Qiling Disk Master is a great backup and restore software that allows you to transfer Windows OS to dissimilar hardware by creating a system image and then restoring it to a new SSD or HDD.
Qiling Disk Master Professional is designed for Windows PC users, while Qiling Disk Master Server is suitable for Windows Server users.
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