Cant boot windows 10 from SSD with old HDD plugged in.

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Lee_47

Commendable
Aug 15, 2016
3
0
1,510
Several months ago I upgraded my motherboard/CPU and also bought an SSD drive to install windows 10 on.
IIRC at the time I didnt know about changing to ACHI or needing to install with other HDDs disconnected, so I installed Windows 10 to my new SSD with both of my old HDDs connected.

Everything has been working fine until last week when it just wouldn't boot and would give various infinite loading screens, automatic repair screens or just plain old black screens. I could only get it to start by disconnecting the old HDDs.

Today I have reinstalled windows from a USB after booting/logging into windows, with only the SSD connected, but it has made no difference. If I try to reconnect either of the old HDDs I just get the infinite loading/repair.
I have an ASUS MOBO so ive been unable to boot in safe mode (Damned F8 boot menu...), and ive also been unable to find an option to switch to ACHI, presumably because windows is already installed.

Preferably I would like to get it running with both the old HDDs intact, but mostly I just want to save a load of data that was stored on one of them.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
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Colif

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Jun 12, 2015
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why do you want safe mode?

I think problem is your UEFI boot order (or boot priority list if there is one). as it is the thing that sets what drive to boot off. Its oddly looking at the hdd instead of the ssd first. Depending on age of motherboard, think top in line should be "Windows Boot Manager" followed by ssd and you could probably remove the two hdd from list if they are there.

did either hdd ever have windows on it? Seems odd it errors as soon as you add one

I mean, you could attach both drives and then try this out (but then you need to make sure its trying to repair the ssd and not another hdd)
boot from installer
on screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install
follow this from step 2: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/repair-master-boot-record-mbr-windows until they reach how to make a repair tool.

but I am not sure it is windows as SSD wouldn't know those two drives are there, its the UEFI running the show until it hands control to win 10.

Which Asus motherboard do you have and I look in manual.
 
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D_Know_WD

D_Know_WD

Judicious
Jul 30, 2014
6,633
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Hi there Lee_47,

Most probably, both your drives are failing. As your system can't boot when they are attached, you should either:
- Use a data recovery tool for DOS mode. You can check the Ubuntu Live CD approach out: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/267999-32-recover-data-mode
- Attach the drives externally, once the system has booted. If the drives are 3.5'', you will need a SATA to USB adapter + power cord. If you can't access the drives right away, you will need to use some data recovery tools.

Once you've recovered your data, you can test the drives with a tool that can provide SMART data. This will show the overall health status of the drive.

Cheers,
D_Know_WD :)
 
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Lee_47

Commendable
Aug 15, 2016
3
0
1,510


I figured If i could start in safe mode id at least be able to grab the files I want :)

The HDD I wanted the data from had windows 7 installed on it, and I never uninstalled it, so maybe that messed up my win 10 installation somehow?

I had tried a bunch of different boot orders but even with the old HDDs disabled in the bios it wouldnt start. Ive managed to get it working by plugging in the HDD with windows running and restarting the PC (I dont know why that worked, but it did :-/ ), so im currently pulling all the data from it now. Obviously thats only a temporary fix though.

The board is an ASUS B150-pro D3.
Thanks!
 
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Colif

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Jun 12, 2015
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Have look in bios at boot method, it should be set to UEFI. If your win 7 install is 32bit then the UEFI boot method shouldn't even see your Win 7 drive at start up and just use the ssd instead. It might be set to auto in which case it can swap between old and new boot methods

You should have used the Ubuntu disc idea above, plugging drive in while pc is on is not good for them at all.

your motherboard manual is no help: http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/B150-PRO_D3/E10757_B150-PRO-D3_B150-PLUS-D3_UM_WEB.pdf
 
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L

Lee_47

Commendable
Aug 15, 2016
3
0
1,510


For the record the HDD was already connected to the power supply before I booted up, it was only the Sata cable I connected :)

Anyway I've already got a new external HDD and I managed to retrieve the data, so I'm going to call this a win for now and maybe try getting the other HDDs working again when I've finished moving into my new house and have a bit more room to work!

Thanks again to you both! :)

 
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