cloning NVMe express SSD

[posidon]

Hi all
I am trying to clone NVMe express SSD on SATA hard disk for logical recovery. I have ordered pci express adapters for the same which are yet to arrive.
Meantime my 6th gen motherboard is having 4 NVMe ports. I am trying to clone SSD but I am unable to access it.
I have tried HDDSUPER clone latest build but it does not detect SSD and program even does not start on this motherboard.
I have tried to enable legacy mode and disable UFEI but in vain.
Can someone pls. suggest any other software? Will PCI express adapter will solve this issue ?
Which is the Best adapter since there are several of them available.
Thanks a lot

[DRUG]

Probably it will solve it as usually if you have a nvme by default motherboard will either read the nvme first and try to boot it or it will boot other system but wont see the nvme.

Something like this works fine for me.

https://www.amazon.com/SupaHub-Dual-PCI ... B078N7LK61

[maximus]

I believe this person also emailed me about this, so I will give an additional reply here.

First, in Linux the NVMe drives don’t show up as the usual normal devices (such as /dev/sda). They show up with the likes of /dev/nvme0. HDDSuperClone defaults to using SCSI/ATA passthrough, which only works with the normal devices. To see the drive in HDDSuperClone would require switching the mode to “Generic block device”, where it should then list the drive as an available source. Listing all block devices can also be done with the lsblk command.

Second, the email indicated they are using the HDDLiveCD, which is built on the older lubuntu 14.04. It may not have the drivers for NVMe. In this case the solution is to use some newer Linux live version (such as lubuntu 18.04), and install/run HDDSuperClone from within that live environment. There are basic instructions in the user manual for how to do that.

I would think that it should be possible to see the NVMe drive in a modern Linux environment using the motherboard.

[posidon]

Hi maximus
Thanks for your valuable support.
Yes I emailed you separately because as a developer you are the only one who can find solution using hddsuperclone.
I will try using latest linux version and report.
Thanks again

[Tawfeek]

I believe this person also emailed me about this, so I will give an additional reply here.

First, in Linux the NVMe drives don’t show up as the usual normal devices (such as /dev/sda). They show up with the likes of /dev/nvme0. HDDSuperClone defaults to using SCSI/ATA passthrough, which only works with the normal devices. To see the drive in HDDSuperClone would require switching the mode to “Generic block device”, where it should then list the drive as an available source. Listing all block devices can also be done with the lsblk command.

Second, the email indicated they are using the HDDLiveCD, which is built on the older lubuntu 14.04. It may not have the drivers for NVMe. In this case the solution is to use some newer Linux live version (such as lubuntu 18.04), and install/run HDDSuperClone from within that live environment. There are basic instructions in the user manual for how to do that.

I would think that it should be possible to see the NVMe drive in a modern Linux environment using the motherboard.

what about windows 10 environment Mr .maximus ?

[maximus]

I believe this person also emailed me about this, so I will give an additional reply here.

First, in Linux the NVMe drives don’t show up as the usual normal devices (such as /dev/sda). They show up with the likes of /dev/nvme0. HDDSuperClone defaults to using SCSI/ATA passthrough, which only works with the normal devices. To see the drive in HDDSuperClone would require switching the mode to “Generic block device”, where it should then list the drive as an available source. Listing all block devices can also be done with the lsblk command.

Second, the email indicated they are using the HDDLiveCD, which is built on the older lubuntu 14.04. It may not have the drivers for NVMe. In this case the solution is to use some newer Linux live version (such as lubuntu 18.04), and install/run HDDSuperClone from within that live environment. There are basic instructions in the user manual for how to do that.

I would think that it should be possible to see the NVMe drive in a modern Linux environment using the motherboard.

what about windows 10 environment Mr .maximus ?

When it comes to software only tools, I don't consider windows a good platform for any sort of physical data recovery, other than working with perfectly healthy drives that only need logical recovery. Windows does not play well with any sort of failing drive that has issues. Physical cloning/recovery is best done with Linux. If the drive is perfectly healthy, then I would guess it would be okay, but then you would need to install windows 10 on the computer in question on a separate drive. With Linux you can do many things with a live CD.

[posidon]

Hi maximus and friends
Sorry for the mistake. I got more details from engineer who has tried to clone.
As per him program does not start itself on all 6th gen intel motherboards. I thought SSD is not detected but that is not the case. We have all different motherboards but live cd does not start on any 6th gen motherboards. It runs perfectly on older motherboards.

[maximus]

Hi maximus and friends
Sorry for the mistake. I got more details from engineer who has tried to clone.
As per him program does not start itself on all 6th gen intel motherboards. I thought SSD is not detected but that is not the case. We have all different motherboards but live cd does not start on any 6th gen motherboards. It runs perfectly on older motherboards.

Then the second part of my solution still stands. Download some other newer Linux live DVD (such as lubuntu 18.04) and see if that will boot. If it does, then it is possible to install/run HDDSuperClone in that live DVD environment.

[Tawfeek]

When it comes to software only tools, I don't consider windows a good platform for any sort of physical data recovery, other than working with perfectly healthy drives that only need logical recovery. Windows does not play well with any sort of failing drive that has issues. Physical cloning/recovery is best done with Linux. If the drive is perfectly healthy, then I would guess it would be okay, but then you would need to install windows 10 on the computer in question on a separate drive. With Linux you can do many things with a live CD.

Thanks mr maximus

[terminator2]

Hello friends .
I have got similar task , I have to only copy data which is present on SSD. I have tried 3-4 pci express cards but all of them ask for drivers.
Unfortunately I am not at all proficient in operating linux . As suggested by maximus I have created lubuntu v18 live cd but I am unable to insall / run hddsuperclone from it.
Has someone created hddsuperclone based on latest version of lubuntu ?Can you pls.share ISO ?
Thank you.
Also if someone could guide which driver to use in windows that will greatly help me.

[maximus]

Hello friends .
I have got similar task , I have to only copy data which is present on SSD. I have tried 3-4 pci express cards but all of them ask for drivers.
Unfortunately I am not at all proficient in operating linux . As suggested by maximus I have created lubuntu v18 live cd but I am unable to insall / run hddsuperclone from it.
Has someone created hddsuperclone based on latest version of lubuntu ?Can you pls.share ISO ?
Thank you.
Also if someone could guide which driver to use in windows that will greatly help me.

There are instructions in the HDDSuperClone user manual for how to use it on a Live CD/DVD. But I will give short basic instructions here for how to do it from a current lubuntu 18.04 live cd.

Download the .deb installer of HDDSuperClone from the website. Make sure to choose the proper version for the live cd, either 32 bit (x86) or 64 bit, depending on which version of the live cd you have. Copy that .deb file to a USB flash drive. Once booted into the live cd, plug in the flash drive, and open it. Double click on the .deb file, and it will prompt to install. Once it is installed, it can be started from the terminal with “sudo hddsuperclone”.

Creating a Live DVD of a newer version of lubuntu (18.04 as of now) is on my to do list, but it is not that easy and so it will be some time before I do have it available.

[posidon]

Hi Thanks Maximus

This information will be helpful for me. By this time lubuntu has released version 19.
I will attempt to create live CD. However I will not be able to run it on terminal as I have never worked on terminal before.
Thanks.

[terminator2]

Hi Maximus )
I have downloaded hddsuperclone v 18.04 (lubuntu-18.04.2-desktop-hddlive.2019_04_27.x64.1.1G)
I have tried different settings but my NVMe SSD is not detected by the program.
Can you pls. suggest anything else I can try.
I cant buy pro version right now but will definately opt for it in future.Thanks

[maximus]

Hi Maximus )
I have downloaded hddsuperclone v 18.04 (lubuntu-18.04.2-desktop-hddlive.2019_04_27.x64.1.1G)
I have tried different settings but my NVMe SSD is not detected by the program.
Can you pls. suggest anything else I can try.
I cant buy pro version right now but will definately opt for it in future.Thanks

Does the drive show up as a device? What is the output of the command lsblk? If it is not llisted, then the driver is likely not in even that version of Linux. But if it does show up...

First, in Linux the NVMe drives don’t show up as the usual normal devices (such as /dev/sda). They show up with the likes of /dev/nvme0. HDDSuperClone defaults to using SCSI/ATA passthrough, which only works with the normal devices. To see the drive in HDDSuperClone would require switching the mode to “Generic block device”, where it should then list the drive as an available source. Listing all block devices can also be done with the lsblk command.

[terminator2]

Hi maximus
In version 18.04 drive appears but not with correct model name / size. When selected program shows 0 mb size and gives read errors.

[maximus]

The first thing I will say is that I don’t have any NVMe drives, nor any computer hardware that can access one, so I have no experience with them.

Second, is the drive thought to be healthy but you are having trouble cloning it? Or is there a potential issue with the drive and that is why you are trying to clone it?

My instinct is that if the drive shows up but as a size of 0, that is an indication that something is wrong with it. Maybe someone else can provide more info or help. In Linux you can check the output of dmesg for clues. The output can be large so to send it to a file use “dmesg > dmesg.log”, that will send the output to a file named dmsg.log so you can examine it and search within it. Also, what is the exact output from the command “sudo lsblk -o name,label,size,fstype,model”?

[pcimage]

Hi maximus
In version 18.04 drive appears but not with correct model name / size. When selected program shows 0 mb size and gives read errors.

There is something wrong with this drive, either FW issue or degraded memory (most likely).

End of the road for DIY [quote="posidon"]

[fzabkar]

There is something wrong with this drive, either FW issue or degraded memory (most likely).

End of the road for DIY

AIUI, there is currently no professional solution. Am I wrong?

If it is a case of degraded NAND, then what do you normally do, encryption notwithstanding? Do you adjust the supply voltage in your jig? If so, then why not do the same in-circuit?

In-circuit recovery of SSDs with "weak" NAND:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=106&t=2740

[pcimage]

There is something wrong with this drive, either FW issue or degraded memory (most likely).

End of the road for DIY

AIUI, there is currently no professional solution. Am I wrong?

If it is a case of degraded NAND, then what do you normally do, encryption notwithstanding? Do you adjust the supply voltage in your jig? If so, then why not do the same in-circuit?

In-circuit recovery of SSDs with "weak" NAND:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=106&t=2740

You’re partly right, there is very limited support in “off the shelf” devices like these. But there are several little tricks we have up our sleeves which can help in some cases and on certain devices.

I wouldn’t say the success rate is great TBH but we can usually recovery 30-40% of these. If we can’t do anything we ship back for free.

[digisupport]

Adjusting supply voltage can help in some cases, not detected Lenovo SSS0l25089 I have had two cases and one intel Pro 2500 where adjusting internal supply made the drive start and clone successfully.