Unable to boot into Ubuntu after cloning NVME drive with Macrium Reflect

[vw16v]

Hello, I did a quick search and I believe this is the same or similar issue that I'm having after cloning my NVME 512 GB drive to a new 1 TB NVME.

I used Macrium Reflect to clone it and it seemed to work fine. I included a screen shot of my Disk Manager. The 161 GB partition is where my Ubuntu 24.04 resides. I cloned the NVME within Windows 11. I assumed that it would work based on some quick searches for Macrium Reflect dual boot. The Macrium Reflect software also saw this partition and cloned it. However, after I installed the replacement NVME it booted right to Windows. I confirmed that the BIOS boot order showed Ubuntu as the first OS. So, I used my USB thumb drive to boot to boot-repair tool. I ran the boot repair and it said it repaired the Dual boot but also came up with this message below.
https://imgur.com/w5LdMKY

https://imgur.com/C5a2e8q
Screen shot of Macrium Reflect showing all partitions including the 161 GB partition where Ubuntu is installed.
https://imgur.com/qk550gV
Screenshot of disk manager after clone was completed. Looks identical to Original NVME.
https://imgur.com/U4bdI4N


Based on my search results I believe I should attempt to boot off a Ubuntu Live CD and do what is mentioned in the linked post above?
Either do this:
1. Type sudo grub. Should get text of which last line is grub>
2. Type "find /boot/grub/stage1". You'll get a response like "(hd0,4)".
Use whatever your computer spits out for the following lines.
3. Type "root (hd0,4)",
4. Type "setup (hd0)", to install GRUB to MBR
5. Quit grub by typing "quit".
6. Reboot and remove the bootable CD.

Or boot off Live CD and restore GRUB via.

sudo grub-install /dev/sda

Thanks for any ideas!

[tea for one]

I wouldn't follow your link from 2011, which refers to an old legacy installation.
You have Windows in UEFI mode and hopefully Ubuntu is also.

Can you boot into Windows10/11?
If so, can you boot into a “Try Ubuntu” live session and download the boot-repair utility.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair
2nd option – Create boot-repair summary and post the pastebin link to the report in this thread before attempting any repair.

[vw16v]

I wouldn't follow your link from 2011, which refers to an old legacy installation.
You have Windows in UEFI mode and hopefully Ubuntu is also.

Can you boot into Windows10/11?
If so, can you boot into a “Try Ubuntu” live session and download the boot-repair utility.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair
2nd option – Create boot-repair summary and post the pastebin link to the report in this thread before attempting any repair.

Hi, thanks for your response. Yes, I can boot to Windows 11 fine. That's all I could boot to using the cloned NVME. Even when I manually select Ubuntu using F12 it boots right to Windows. I noticed that was an old thread after I posted this. I'm definitely using UEFI/GPT so that post probably does not apply as you mentioned.

Just to confirm, I'll need to run Try Ubuntu from a USB thumb Drive correct? The boot repair utility was run off a Linux PEN drive that has multiple Distros on the thumb drive. The boot-repair utility I ran said it saved the results to /var/log/boot-repair/DATE/Boot-info_Date
However, I wasn't sure how I could access this since I can't boot to Ubuntu? I should have emailed that output when I had the Clone installed but I wasn't connected to my network at the time. I probably could have saved it to a text file on my USB drive as well.

I'm tempted to create a Live Ubuntu USB and then trying to install GRUB that way. I'm still researching this but I want to make sure it will still boot Windows. I just want to be careful since my Original NVME drive is still working correctly and allows me to dual boot. Thanks for any additional ideas! I'm also tempted to try to clone the drive again using Clonezilla since it runs from a USB thumb drive and would clone the NVME when not in Windows.

[tea for one]

Yes, I can boot to Windows 11 fine

That's good news

Just to confirm, I'll need to run Try Ubuntu from a USB thumb Drive correct? The boot repair utility was run off a Linux PEN drive that has multiple Distros on the thumb drive. The boot-repair utility I ran said it saved the results to /var/log/boot-repair/DATE/Boot-info_Date

That destination /var/log/boot-repair/DATE/Boot-info_Date is the live session not your non-booting installed Ubuntu OS

Thanks for any additional ideas! I'm also tempted to try to clone the drive again using Clonezilla since it runs from a USB thumb drive and would clone the NVME when not in Windows.

I wouldn't use Clonezilla to clone Windows because you can already boot there successfully.

Here's a procedure I use to clone Ubuntu
You will need your source disk and target disk attached
Boot into a "Try Ubuntu" live session
Open Gparted
Right click your source Ubuntu partition
Copy to your target Ubuntu partition

Then double check that your ESP contains the Ubuntu folder (the Microsoft folder must be there because you can boot Windows 11)

Happiness will follow......

[oldfred]

Do you have unique UUIDs & GUIDs. You cannot boot true clone with both drives connected as duplicates not allowed.
Also since to larger drive, often issue where backup gpt partition table is in middle of drive, You can use gdisk to move to end of drive.

lsblk -e 7 -o name,fstype,size,fsused,label,partlabel,mountpoint ,uuid,partuuid

[ubfan1]

Probably the ...EFI/ubuntu/grub.cfg stub and the maintained /boot/grub/grub.cfg files have the old UUIDs, and the cloaned filesystems got new ones. Start with getting the UUIDs of all partitions by running sudo blkid in a terminal (take a pic for reference?). Identify your Ubuntu root's UUID, and confirm that the EFI/ubuntu/grub.cfg files uses that UUID and has the right partition number in the hints (hd?,gpt?). Edit if necessary to update to the new disk's root UUID. Then check the new /etc/fstab for using the new UUIDs everywhere (root and /boot/efi mount). Then check the /boot/grub/grub.cfg UUIDs and fix (either just the first boot and rerun update-grub after a successful boot to fix everything, or a blanket edit). That should be a solution to a non-booting disk. Macrium Reflect is pretty smart about cloaning, allowing resizing in the process, so I'd expect it would not duplicate UUIDs, but the actual files with the old UUIDs will not be changed.

[vw16v]

Thanks for the info @tea for one and @oldfred. Just to confirm, I removed my original NVME and put in the cloned one in my laptop before trying to dual boot. I can only boot to Windows. I might look into what tea for one just mentioned mentioned but it's not exactly clear. I'm assuming I should boot off the Ubuntu Live USB and run gparted and then copy my 162GB partition from Disk0 to Disk1 overwriting the current 162GB on Disk1?
https://imgur.com/U4bdI4N

I will also look into how to obtain the UUID of my current NVME while I have my original NVME drive installed that allows me to boot to Ubuntu. It should be in /etc/fstab or just running blkid as mentioned. I'm just not sure how I can obtain the UUID of the replacement clone? I'm guessing I can obtain that by re-installing the Cloned NVME and then booting off my Linux Pen drive that has the boot-repair utility installed. Or possibly just booting off a Ubuntu Live CD and trying to obtain the UUID of the cloned NVME that way? Sorry for my confusion but I'm a little rusty. Thanks again for these ideas but it's still not clear to me. I just need to reboot to the Ubuntu I currently have working/installed on my original drive.

[tea for one]

I might look into what tea for one just mentioned mentioned but it's not exactly clear. I'm assuming I should boot off the Ubuntu Live USB and run gparted and then copy my 162GB partition from Disk0 to Disk1 overwriting the current 162GB on Disk1?

Yes, that's it. (Disk 0 = Source and Disk 1 = Target)
Gparted will take care of the UUIDs, you do not have to look for them.
Just make sure that your ESP contains the original Ubuntu folder ( I would doubt that Macrium Reflect has damaged/changed it)
You must not reboot with both nvme disks attached because "UUID Clash"

[vw16v]

Yes, that's it. (Disk 0 = Source and Disk 1 = Target)
Gparted will take care of the UUIDs, you do not have to look for them.
Just make sure that your ESP contains the original Ubuntu folder ( I would doubt that Macrium Reflect has damaged/changed it)
You must not reboot with both nvme disks attached because "UUID Clash"

Ok, so boot off any distro that has gparted installed with my original/dual boot working NVME installed and my Cloned NVME hooked up via my USB-C NVME enclosure and then copy the Linux 162GB on the installed NVME over to the clone NVME on hooked up via USB-C enclosure. Is that correct?
Thanks again!

[vw16v]

Yes, that's it. (Disk 0 = Source and Disk 1 = Target)
Gparted will take care of the UUIDs, you do not have to look for them.
Just make sure that your ESP contains the original Ubuntu folder ( I would doubt that Macrium Reflect has damaged/changed it)
You must not reboot with both nvme disks attached because "UUID Clash"

Hi tea for one, I just booted into a Linux Mint distro and ran gparted. Here's what I show for the installed/original /dev/nvme0n1 on the 162GB partition.
https://imgur.com/2VFEc3R

If I right click on choose copy on nvme0n1p4 and then select the drop down and choose my target/cloned NVME I get this option.
https://imgur.com/MtMzKuX

However, I can't delete the current /dev/sd4 that has Linux installed on the Target NVME/Clone drive. I can only resize or move it when right clicking.
Should I paste the source NVME partition directly to the target/Clone NVME? I'm not sure what to do. Thanks again for any help. I'll be sure to give you beans if possible?