X1 tablet gen 3 won't boot after SSD replacement

[babblefish]

I have a X1 tablet gen 3 that came with a 256Gb SSD which I quickly filled. Research what type of SSD the gen 3 uses, I came up with M.2 NVMe 2280, so I bought a Corsair 1Tb stick. I then used Macrium Reflect to clone the original SSD while expanding the partition size to make use of the new Corsair. Unfortunately, when I opened up the X1, I found it had a SATA M.2 SSD in it (two key slots) instead of the NVMe it was suppose to have. Well, I installed the new NVMe anyway and buttoned her up. Now it won't boot and gives a boot device error.

I can only think of two issues here. One, Macrium screwed up the clone job, or two, my X1 gen 3 doesn't like NVMe drives. I'd like someone else's opinion before I go out and buy another expensive SSD in a SATA format.

[dcfbf]

So it turns on but it doesn't boot into the drive?
Can the X1 Tablet see the SSD in bios? If it doesn't or even if it does, try finding a setting in the X1 Tablet's BIOS that switches between SATA and NVMe in that slot. You can also try to reseat the SSD.
If the SSD is being seen, you can also try Macrium Reflect again. Pay attention to any errors that may pop up.
Another thing you can do is try to see if the 1TB drive will boot on any other computer. Any drive, if it works properly, should still boot on another computer.

According to the psref the X1T3 can come with a 256gb SATA drive but it also accepts NVMe drives.

[babblefish]

Yes, the BIOS sees the drive. I also checked to make sure the BIOS was set for UEFI boot mode, although it doesn't appear to even have SATA (legacy) boot mode available. Checked to make sure it was seated correctly into it's socket and it was fine. I haven't tried booting the SSD on another computer, but it is recognized with all of it's files when I plug it into another computer via a M.2 NVMe to USB adapter.

In Lenovo's own X1 tablet maintenance videos, they show a NVMe M.2 SSD being removed and installed.

I just reinstalled the original SATA SSD and it boots up fine on that. I just checked the current prices for name brand SATA 1Tb SSD's and they've gone through the roof. No-name versions from China are much cheaper, but the reviews seem to indicate they might have reliability issues and get returned (to Amazon) often. Sigh.
I might have to settle for getting a 512Gb NVMe because they're more affordable.

One thing I haven't tried is to reset (by pressing the hidden reset button) the tablet with the NVMe installed. I hate opening the tablet so many times because I'm afraid of damaging the display.

[RealBlackStuff]

Apparently that model is very picky about NVMe SSDs.
One that will work is the WD Black, read this, especially posts #6 and #7.

NVMe enclosures warn about this:

NOTICE

✔ To make this enclosure a bootable drive, please use your OS tools to make it. For example MediaCreationTool for WIN 10, Disk Utility for Mac OS

✔If your NVMe M.2 SSD is not recognized correctly and not useful, please rebuild the SSD partition table by "diskpart" command under windows, and "Disk Utility" under Mac OS

✔To make a clone of your previous NVMe SSD, please beware that the Physical Sector Size might be different. And your cloning software might not be able to accept this conflict of physical sector difference and cause unsuccessful clone. You need to try different cloning software or use your NVMe SSD tool to change the physical sector size. For example Intel SSD Data Center Tool for intel NVMe SSD

[babblefish]

Not sure if this is useful information or not, but I made a clone of my X1 tablet gen 1's 256Gb SATA M.2 SSD onto a 1Tb SATA M.2 SSD using Macrium Reflex and it worked perfectly. Of course, I was going from SATA to SATA so that may have made a difference.

Just for fun I made an image of my X1 gen 3's SSD in case I need it. Now I have a clone and an image of my old drive.

I would love to get a WD Black M.2 NVMe SSD, but a 1Tb stick is now a little over US$200. I can't afford that right now.
And the sector sizes for both original SATA SSD and new NVMe SSD are the same.

[babblefish]

One other thing. With my X1 running the original SATA SSD, I can plug-in the new Crucial 1Tb NVMe via USB C port and the system sees and can access the drive. This tells me the X1 is perfectly happy with the formatting and file structure of the new drive.

[axur-delmeria]

This tells me the X1 is perfectly happy with the formatting and file structure of the new drive.

This tells you that the X1 is happy reading the new SSD through the controller chip on the USB-C enclosure.

I've encountered lots of stories about cloned HDDs and SSDs not booting because they were connected via USB during the cloning process. The solution to those issues was to install the new drive on the laptop and put the old drive in the USB enclosure. I usually boot from a USB disk (either Linux or Hirens BootCD PE which is Windows-based) and clone from there.

Though TBH , your issue could also stem from SATA --> NVMe transition during cloning. I've never tried doing that, and most documentation online I've encountered recommend a fresh install.

[babblefish]

I'll try those two suggestions. Thanks. And like you said, if worst comes to worst, I'll just do a fresh install, but I'll probably be installing Win10. I really didn't want to do a fresh install because then I'll have to track down all of the Lenovo X1 tablet specific software too. I did install and run the Lenovo Vantage app just so I could run their update checker. Unfortunately, it didn't find any firmware or any other updates for my X1. On my gen 1 X1, it found all kinds of updates, including a BIOS firmware update and installed it. Didn't notice any difference in operation or performance afterwards though. Oh well.