Clonezilla rescuezilla error

[TheYikes]

I'm trying to clone an 1tb internal ssd to a 2tb external nvme. I'm pretty sure I'm doing something incorrectly. After the cloning process when I attempt to boot from the nvme drive i get the following error: "Busybox v1.36.1 (Ubuntu 1:1.36.1-9ubuntu1) built-in shell (ash) Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands (initramfs)""I'd genuinely appreciate at help i can get

Quick edit. I tried rescuezilla but it gave me the exact same message.

[jlittle]

"External nvme" has me wondering how it is connected. Via USB?

Some details on the hardware might be relevant. If the computer is a bit old it might not have nvme support in the firmware, and grub relies on that IIUC. How is the "internal SSD" connected? On current laptops I would expect the internal SSD is nvme, perhaps soldered in.

The busybox prompt suggests an initramfs without nvme support has been loaded.

Now, what follows is a general consideration about cloning. I'm not sure this is the cause of the immediate problem:

When you boot from the external nvme, is the internal SSD still connected? Being internal, I would presume so. If so, the external drive has the exact same UUIDs as the internal one, so on boot, the boot loader (presumably grub) and the OS can't tell them apart, and confusion is the result.

After cloning, you can set new UUIDs using the partition manager, but that would make the install internally inconsistent. You'd have to edit the UUIDs in /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/grub.cfg, /boot/grub/grub.cfg, and /etc/fstab.

You might try a fresh install to the external drive, just to see if it works. Being careful about the "internal SSD" would be wise; perhaps disconnect it, though that can be difficult with laptops.