Solved | Samsung Data Migration Not Working or Starting

The Issue: Samsung Data Migration Not Working

Samsung Data Migration (SDM) software is designed for Samsung SSDs. It helps you copy the data stored on your current storage device to a new Samsung SSD quickly and easily. However, some users encounter the issue that Samsung Data Migration not working.

Bought a Samsung 850 EVO SSD and would like to move all data from my old hard drive to the new SSD. Followed the step-by-step guide, plugged it in via SATA-to-USB 3.0 adapter. Ran Samsung Data Migration but it freezes. Restarting several times but I still got Samsung Data Migration not responding issue. How do I fix it and get disk cloning successfully?

Generally, you can clone hard drive to Samsung SSD via Samsung Data Migration. But during the cloning, you may encounter problems such as Samsung Data Migration not responding, stuck at 0%, 99%, or Samsung Data Migration does not even start. If your SDM is not working either, you can refer to the following causes and solutions.

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Why Data Migration Not Working - Causes and Quick Fixes

Here are some common causes that might account for Samsung Data Migration software stuck or not responding. You may check them one by one:

1. Your Samsung SSD is not compatible with SDM.

Not all Samsung SSDs are supported by this software. If you find Samsung Data Migration not starting, please verify that your model is on the list of supported devices. Also, make sure you've installed the latest version of SDM, or you are likely to get Samsung Data Migration not working issue.

2. Transferring large files or partitions to Samsung SSD.

It may be the most common cause for Samsung Migration software not working. Check if there are large files in the selected volume or disk. If yes, try moving it to another place first, and restore it to the Samsung SSD after cloning.

3. SATA port or SATA-to-USB adapter goes wrong.

If the connection goes wrong, the target SSD has a risk of being disconnected, which results in the Samsung Data Migration cloning error. It's also suggested to connect Samsung SSD with computer built.

4. Too much data for the target SSD.

The ideal proportion of the data to be transferred should be 75% of the target disk, with the rest used for SSD Over-Provisioning (OP). For instance, it should works properly to transfer 75 GB data from the source to a 100 GB SSD.

5. SDM is blocked by antivirus software.

Sometimes, security software can interfere with the operation of migration tools, and cause Samsung Data Migration not starting. You may temporarily disable the antivirus/firewall (and some other background apps) to see if that resolves the issue.

6. Hard drive failure.

Hard drive problem is also a potential cause. Check hard drives that are related for errors with chkdsk.exe command for sure. You can run Command Prompt as administrator and execute this command: CHKDSK X: /f (*replace X with the letter of the hard drive your want to clone).

If the problem cannot be fixed after all trying, or you’ve encountered other errors like Samsung Data Migration not starting after cloning, Samsung Data Migration please connect a Samsung SSD, Samsung Data Migration stuck at 0, 100 and so on, it is a wise move to turn to other disk cloning software.

Use Alternative Software of Samsung Data Migration

When Samsung Data Migration not responding or even not installing, you can pick a powerful and easy-to-use alternative such as AOMEI Backupper Professional, which is a dedicated disk cloning tool that can migrate data to Samsung SSD with secure boot.

Not only Samsung disks, it works for all branded HDDs and SSDs that can be detected by Windows. It also helps to avoid problems such as SDM cloning failed or not copying the Recovery Partition.

Cloning methods you can get from the software:

✔ Intelligent Clone: copy only used sectors to the target drive. It supports cloning larger drive to smaller drive.
✔ Sector-by-sector Clone: copy all the sectors no matter used or not. If you have hidden recovery partition on the source drive, this option will ensure it can work on the cloned drive.

Cloning features you can get from the software:

✔ Disk Clone: clone hard drive entirely to the target SSD, including OS, boot-related drives, data partitions, etc.
✔ Partition/Volume Clone: clone a specific partition or dynamic volume to the destination disk.

What's more, this tool allows aligning partitions on SSD disk, aiming at improving its reading and writing speed. And it supports cloning both data disks and systems disks from MBR to MBR/MBR to GPT, or GPT to GPT/GPT to MBR. Optionally, you can also use it to convert the partition style of the target disk to make it the same as the source disk.

Click the button below to download the free trial for this hard drive cloning software:

How to Perforum Samsung Data Migration Successfully

Now, let’s see how to clone hard drive to Samsung SSD (or vice versa) without the "not responding" issue.

Preparations of data migration to Samsung SSD

• Install your Samsung SSD or connect it via an adapter.
• Install the Samsung SSD cloning software on your computer, and launch its main interface.

Step 1. Launch the Samsung Data Migration alternative to start creating cloning task

In the main interface, navigate to Clone tab, and click Disk Clone. If you want to clone only operating system, you can choose System Clone.

Step 2. Select your source drive and target drive in succession

Choose your source hard drive and click Next.

Then select the connected Samsung SSD as the destination, and click Next.

Step 3. Check the operation summary and start the migration

Check the box of SSD Alignment to optimize the target Samsung SSD. Click Start Clone to execute the task, and wait for it to complete.

👉 "Sector by sector clone" clones all sectors when you clone disk to larger disk or at least with the same capacity as original disk. And it will make "Edit Partitions" unavailable.

👉 "Edit Partitions" help you resize partitions as well as convert the disk type of the destination disk if it's different from the source disk. It offers the following features:

• Copy without resizing partitions: It will not resize the partition size.
• Add unused space to all partitions: Reallocate the unallocated space to each partition of the target disk, appropriate for the disk size.
• Manually adjust partition size: Extend unallocated space to any partition on the destination disk you want.
• Convert the destination disk from MBR to GPT: Convert the partition style of the target disk to make it the same as the source disk.

👉 This software is also an M.2 SSD cloner, so you can use it to migrate Windows 10 to M.2 SSD, clone M.2 SSD to M.2 SSD, etc.

Step 4. How to boot from the cloned Samsung drive

When the cloning has been successfully completed, you can shut down your computer, replace your hard drive with Samsung SSD and then boot from the cloned SSD.

If your computer has an extra slot, you can also keep the old hard drive installed as a secondary storage drive. In this case, please press the manufacturer specified key (you can check user manual or search it on Google) at startup to enter BIOS, select the cloned SSD as the first boot option.

✍Notes:

• A frequent cause of failure to boot from a cloned disk is a mismatch between the boot mode and the partition style. The correct match is UEFI/GPT or Legacy/MBR. If your boot mode is incorrect, please change it in BIOS. For troubleshooting more possible errors, you can refer to: cloned SSD won't boot.
• If you have made sure that you can boot from the cloned disk without any problems, you can use the Disk Wipe function of AOMEI Backupper to free up more space on your old hard drive.

Summary

In this article, 6 fixes are provided for Samsung Data Migration not working and cloning failed issue. Apart from them, performing data migration with AOMEI Backupper could be an easy and effective alternative.

Besides disk cloning, you can migrate data to Samsung SSD via backup & restore method - in other words, perform Samsung Data Migration without cable. This method also allows for transferring OS and data to different computer.