Step-by-Step Clone 64GB eMMC to SSD (easy fast free method)

[Actionable Mango]

This is the easiest, fastest, free method I can think of for cloning eMMC to M.2 SSD for those Chuwi devices with M.2 slot. The procedure requires installing a single, easy-to-use, freeware application in Windows and it should take about 20-30 minutes.

I did this on a Chuwi LapBook 12.3 with a Biwin 120GB SSD.

1. With the laptop off, install a compatible M.2 2242 SATA3 SSD.
2. Boot up Windows. Download and install the AOMEI Backupper freeware.
3. Start Backupper and use the “Clone Disk” function.
4. Select the source drive (the 64GB eMMC) and select the destination drive (your SSD).
5. Mark the checkbox option to “Optimize for SSD”.
6. If your SSD is the same capacity as the eMMC, start the clone now and skip step 7.
7. If your SSD is larger capacity than the 64GB eMMC (for example I installed a 120GB SSD), then use the Edit Partitions function to set “Fit All Partitions to Entire Disk”, then start the clone. This is going to scale the existing partitions to fill up the new drive’s space (* see note below).
8. Cloning took about 10-15 mins. Once finished, you now have two identical, bootable Windows 10 drives.
9. The computer will still boot by default from the eMMC. Strangely enough if you change the boot priority in the EFI/BIOS to the SSD instead of the eMMC, the laptop even then will still boot to the eMMC anyway. Many people complain about this, and I had the same problem too. So go to Control Panel, System and Security, System, Advanced System Settings, Startup and Recovery, and then change the Default Operating System to the “other” Windows 10.
10. Reboot.
11. After you’ve confirmed that you are definitely booting to the SSD, you can now wipe out the partitions on the eMMC and format it to use it for slow storage (I used AOMEI Partition Assistant, but you can probably use Windows built-in Disk Management). Or of course you can just keep the 64GB eMMC as-is for a secondary bootable Windows installation.
12. If you are not yet booting to the SSD, go back to the Default Operating System settings and pick the other Windows 10 that you didn’t pick last time. Reboot and confirm.

 

* Note from step 7 – The above procedure is focused on being easy and fast. Technically you’re going to waste a little bit of space with this method because the EFI partition and the Recovery partition are going to scale up too, just like the Main partition. If you don’t want to waste that space, use step 6 instead of step 7. Then after cloning use AOMEI Partition Assistant to move the Recovery partition to the end of the drive. Then extend the Main partition to use up all available space. If any of this is confusing or scares you, just use step 7.

[Titian]

Great post, but I can’t get through step 9, I can’t see my ssd in the bios nor the “other” windows 10 in the control panel.

Any ideas on how to proceed?

[Actionable Mango]

Titian wrote:

Great post, but I can’t get through step 9, I can’t see my ssd in the bios nor the “other” windows 10 in the control panel. Any ideas on how to proceed?

If the drive isn’t appearing anywhere, not even the BIOS, it sounds like the drive has failed or the M.2 has failed. I can’t think of anything other than trying to reseat the drive in the slot or if you have another computer with M.2 slot, you could test to see if the drive works there. If you don’t, I’d exchange the drive.

 

[Titian]

I can see the ssd in the bios but only in the security section,  i can also use it without any problem in windows; the problem is that I don’t know how to set it as the main memory basically, so that the pc won’t boot from the eMMC.

[Chris G]

Great post, useful info. I use macrium free, but this works just the same.

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[Alex]

I know this may sound silly people as I’m trying to learn, but how can you confirm if the laptop is booting in the SSD or the eMMC?

 

[Actionable Mango]

Titian wrote:

I can see the ssd in the bios but only in the security section, i can also use it without any problem in windows; the problem is that I don’t know how to set it as the main memory basically, so that the pc won’t boot from the eMMC.

I describe how to do this in step 9. You should have two entries there for Windows. That’s where I changed which Windows drive to boot to. If you don’t have two entries there, I don’t know what to say. It just worked for me.

Alex wrote:

I know this may sound silly people as I’m trying to learn, but how can you confirm if the laptop is booting in the SSD or the eMMC?

Objectively, open “Computer Management” and select “Drive Management”. Look at your C: drive.

Subjectively, it is like a zillion times faster to load apps, do Windows updates, etc. So it should be very very noticeably much more peppy.

 

[Alex]

Thanks Mango.

One more question, if someone would help me I would be greatly appreciative of it.

Transcend SSD in cloned and working fine, once every now and then it boots back to the eMMC, is there any way to stop this?

[santi_sc]

Alex wrote:

Thanks Mango. One more question, if someone would help me I would be greatly appreciative of it. Transcend SSD in cloned and working fine, once every now and then it boots back to the eMMC, is there any way to stop this?

In the BOOT tab of the BIOS, has the SSD placed as first preference?

[Inez Cavallaro]

So I had done all of this.  New Windows Boot is listed as priority 1 in BIOS. However in the advanced settings it just shows Windows 10, and no other options.  I can’t delete anything off the old drive.  I’ve changed where everything new saves, but when I try to download a program (like iTunes or Google Chrome) it downloads to the C drive (old drive) or says that this must be installed to a system disk, and asks me to choose one, and the only option is the completely full C drive.  It’s driving me nuts!  I downloaded a partition manager and was able to move the recovery partition and then expand the new D drive. So plenty of room there, but can’t get programs to save there period, and certainly not by default.

[Actionable Mango]

Inez Cavallaro wrote:

So I had done all of this. New Windows Boot is listed as priority 1 in BIOS. However in the advanced settings it just shows Windows 10, and no other options. I can’t delete anything off the old drive. I’ve changed where everything new saves, but when I try to download a program (like iTunes or Google Chrome) it downloads to the C drive (old drive) or says that this must be installed to a system disk, and asks me to choose one, and the only option is the completely full C drive. It’s driving me nuts! I downloaded a partition manager and was able to move the recovery partition and then expand the new D drive. So plenty of room there, but can’t get programs to save there period, and certainly not by default.

 

It seems you are still booting with eMMC as C: drive, and it is normal for some applications to only want to install to the system drive.

The fact that there is only one entry instead of two entries for Default Boot Device tells me that your clone isn’t bootable for some reason. I’d redo the clone. As I said in the instructions, you need to switch the boot drive there–the BIOS setting made no difference in my experience.

[Luca]

I cloned Windows 10 from 64GB to 120 SSD (4 partintion with Recovery as the last) using both EaseUS and M.Reflect then used Minitool Partition Wizard for extending system partition.

HOWEVER it is not possible for me to use eMMC purely as a storage because apparently “system” still uses some information from eMMC <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>even though</span> it boots to SSD alright. That’s why I had to clone twice;) (after wiping eMMC I restored it from back-up image).

After wiping eMMC after the first cloning, I indeed booted to SSD, no problem, but my devices such as WIFI, touchpad and some others didn’t work. Installing drivers did not help as there were drivers already installed. Reinstalling them etc. didn’t help. Something else was wrong and system failed to access them (yellow triangle with exclamation mark under device manager). ALSO: before wiping eMMC I was warned by system (booted to SSD!) that system  is using eMMC and there will be some problems.

Also: having two windows 10 (emmc and ssd) I confirm that there is no such option under System/Advanced setting/ as “Other OS” there is only one “Windows 10”.

And everything would be perfect even with having two windows 10 installed, if not for the problem of restarting the computer, it won’t go. Shutting it down and then starting it works fine. Boots alright to SSD as a main system drive (I changed booting order in BIOS only once after cloning). Also apps and updates and everything uses my SSD as it should. But it is far from being perfect because of restarting failure and probably more issues will come up soon…

 

SO, THE QUESTIONS ARE:

1. Why the problem or impossibility to restart computer? Shutting it down and then starting goes OK.
2. MORE IMPORTANT ONE: What information computer is using from eMMC that you cannot just wipe it after successful cloning???

I would appreciate anyone with expertise to explain this to me and not only to me as there are lots of folks like me who followed the promising route of cloning eMMC to SSD only to be disappointed or not perfectly happy;).

[Nino]

Is there a difference if I make a clean installation with a bootable USB drive or the boot image provided here on the forum for the chuwi lapbook air 14.1″? I cloned the emmc on the SSD, windows booted a few days from the SSD, so I erased the emmc but now there are issues in my network adapter and Bluetooth drivers. There’s a red X near the icon and I want to restore it because now my chuwi is unusable.

[Luca]

Nino, I did a clean install of windows 10 (1809) from USB stick (via windows download tool) after two weeks of trying to solve ‘cloning issues’. Everything went smoothly, all drivers installed themselves during the installation <b>process</b> and actually it was advised to me by Acer support team which I finally decided to call (I’ve just bought Swift 1 laptop).  Finally I have one system, one EFI and a corresponding recovery partition created by Windows (on SSD). And eMMC is only used for storage by me. If I want to restore it to the initial state (which I doubt) I have a system image from two weeks back (eMMC).

 

TIP: During the installation process just delete all partitions shown to you (they will be made as unallocated) and then choose your SSD drive from the remaining eMMC and SSD unallocated disks’ spaces as a destination of OS you are installing. Windows will make EFI partition and then recovery partition on its own (in the order EFI 100MB, OS xMB, Recovery 500MB). After booting to Windows you won’t see your eMMC drive in Windows Explorer as it will be unallocated so you may want to initialize it in Windows’ Disk Manager.

 

At least it all worked for me!

[Constantino]

Hellooooo. Can someone help me?

Got the lapbook pro, and trying to install a m.2 2280 SSD . But even though the slot is for 2242 and 2280, there is an annoying screw in the middle, i Guess is for the 2242 size. But somehow cannot get rid of the screw.

Can someone help me? Thanks

 

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