Fixed: Samsung Data Migration Cannot Select Target Disk

User Case: SDM Cannot Select Target Disk

Samsung Data Migration is a tool developed to help users migrate all data on their hard disk drives (HDDs), including their current operating system, applications and other data, to their new Samsung SSDs. It supports Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10/11.

Have you ever encountered this trouble while using Samsung Data Migration software for Windows 10 or other operating systems? When you clone HDD to Samsung SSD, Samsung Data Migration cannot select target disk. Why does this happen?

"I planned to use its specific utility Samsung Data Migration to clone one of my old hard drives to a newly purchased Samsung SSD. But when I open Samsung Data Migration to clone the drive, I find that I cannot select the newly purchased SSD. Samsung Data Migration not detecting SSD. Why?"

Why Samsung Data Migration Cannot Select Target Disk?

Why you cannot select target disk SDM? If you read the Samsung Data Migration User Manual carefully, you may find the answer. In that document, Samsung explains very clearly in the "System Requirements" diagram and the "Restrictions" section. Your target disk must be one of the following:

Therefore, if the SSD you want to clone is not one of the above, Samsung Data Migration will pop up a window saying that Samsung SSD is not detected, even though it is normal for SSDs to be detected in Windows Disk Management. If the Samsung Data Migration SSD is not recognized, then you will not be able to select a target disk.

Limitations Of Samsung Data Migration Tool

Samsung Data Migration tool may be useful for Samsung SSD users, but very useless for non-Samsung users. In addition, there are some other conditions that cause Samsung Data Migration to be unresponsive or Samsung Data Migration software clone failure errors, such as:

• Bad sectors on the source disk.
• Dynamic disks.
• Bitlocker encrypted disks.
• Using a Samsung NVMe SSD as the target disk without a Samsung NVMe driver installed.

Some users also reported that their Samsung data migration cannot change source disk, and there are some requirements for the source disk SDM, the Source Disk (HDD or SSD) must contain the operating system installation.

Given all these scenarios, it is highly recommended to turn to other third-party cloning software to avoid the possibility of Samsung data migration cloning failure. Finding reliable hard drive cloning software is essential.

Best Samsung Data Migration Alternative - Works All Brands

The best Samsung data migration alternative I recommend for you - AOMEI Backupper Professional, is a reliable disk cloning software. It can help you copy hard drive to Samsung SSD in simple steps, and it is designed for Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP, including 32-bit and 64-bit.

It has the following features:

🧁 The software allows to change the source disk and select the target disk as you wish, regardless of the disk's usage.
🍳 It allows you to clone system disks and non-system disks.
🍸 It supports all brands of SSDs and HDDs, including Samsung, Western Digital, SanDisk, Intel, Inland, etc.
🍎 By default, all bad sectors on the source disk are skipped when cloning.
🌸 It can clone dynamic disks and Bitlocker encrypted disks.

After knowing the information about this alternative, you can refer to the following illustrated tutorial to clone Samsung SSD. Its user interface is very friendly and the operation is very easy. Even a computer novice can follow the step-by-step instructions to complete it.

Easy Steps to Clone to Samsung SSD

You need to install this software on your computer first. Then connect the target disk to your computer. If you have important data on the target disk, you can also use AOMEI Backupper to create a backup ahead of time. This is because after cloning, the original data on the target disk will be completely deleted.

1. Launch AOMEI Backupper Professional on your computer. Click Clone and then Disk Clone.

2. Select the disk you want to clone as the source disk.

3. Select the Samsung SSD as target disk.

4. Check the box before SSD Alignment to optimize SSD performance. Finally, click Start Clone to perform Samsung SSD data migration.

5. (Optional) Shut down your computer and if you cloned a system disk, replace the old one with a Samsung SSD. You can also change the boot order in the BIOS to boot from the cloned disk.

★Useful Tips:

🚩 Edit Partitions: It allows you to edit partition size on target disk as you wish. Also, it supports converting the disk partition style. Checking “Sector by sector clone” option will make this option unavailable.

• Copy without resizing partitions: It will not resize the partition size.
• Add unused space to all partitions: It will reallocate the unallocated space to each partition of the target disk, appropriate for the disk size.
• Manually adjust partition size: It allows you to extend unallocated space to any partition on the destination disk as you want. 
• Convert the destination disk from MBR (GPT) to GPT (MBR): It helps to convert the partition style of the destination disk if it is different from that of the source disk.

🚩 Sector By Sector Clone: by checking this option, AOMEI Backupper will copy every sector from the source to the target, whether it is used or not. It requires the target disk to be equal to or larger than the source disk.

Summary

Samsung data migration tool can support limited SSDs, so you may encounter the problem that Samsung Data Migration cannot select target disk when migrating data. This tool also has requirements for source disks, it cannot copy disks that do not have an operating system installed. So we suggest turning to another disk cloning software such as AOMEI Backupper. This software also provides backup features such as system backup, disk backup, file backup and live sync to help you protect your newly built computer.