Won't boot from SSD that has OS on it, unless old HDD is connected that also has a different OS license on it

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
A

AmericaMe

Commendable
Nov 2, 2016
7
0
1,510
First, sorry if I am missing anything- this is my first time posting to a forum for help. I read through some other forum threads and haven't found a solution that works for myself.

Build:
Sabertooth 990FX R2.0
AMD FX 8350
NVIDIA GTX 1080
Blackline RAM (16 GB)
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250 GB
WDC WD 10EZRX-00A8LB0 1 TB

The scenario: I have two drives with operating systems on it each with their own license for the Windows software. The HDD is older and has Windows 10 on it now (upgraded recently), and the SSD also now has Windows 10 on it (upgraded today). My HDD is on it's way out so I bought a new HDD (WD Black 1 TB) that I was going to setup the SSD (with OS) and HDD (for storage) combo. My SSD is in slot SATA 0 with boot priority and the HDD is in slot 2.

The problem: When I disconnect the old HDD my PC, it will not boot from the SSD even though it has it's own independent Windows license on it. However, when the old HDD is connected it boots just fine- I get prompted even to choose even though SSD is priority (if no choice is made it defaults to the SSD to boot from). When the old HDD is disconnected, my mobo recognizes the SSD in BIOS, but won't boot. When old HDD is not connect and I try booting I get "reboot and select boot device or Insert Boot Media in Selected Boot Device and press any key" error.

What I have tried thus far:
- Switching cables/ slot plug-ins
- Took out CMOS/ flushed remaining power
- Unplugging everything except SSD drive (with OS on it), mouse, and keyboard
- Made sure BIOS is set to UEFI
- Made sure BIOS is set to AHCI
- Fast Boot Disabled


Thanks in advance for any help and ideas!
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Colif

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Jun 12, 2015
65,176
6,430
168,090
The cause is this, when you installed win 10 on ssd, the old hdd was in case, correct? What win 10 did was see the EFI partition on the hdd and think. I don't need to make one on the SSD, there is one on hdd I can use. This works fine unless you need to replace the hdd and suddenly ssd won't work.

There is a way to create an efi partition on the ssd without needing a fresh install, i just can't find it now and the one forum that would have answer is currently offline (tenforums.com) which is annoying.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
6,758
3
45,960
Welcome to the community, @AmericaMe!

Did you clean install Windows 10 onto the SSD while the secondary HDD and your old drive were still connected to the motherboard? If you did, then you are most probably encountering an OS confusion. In order to properly boot from the SSD, you need to unplug the secondary drives and clean install Windows 10 onto it from the installation media (without having other SATA devices connected).
You should also check how it appears in Disk Management in Windows beforehand and make sure that it has all the necessary partitions configured on the SSD. Whenever you tamper with the storage configuration, make sure you back up all important data elsewhere (off-site).
I'd also advise you use this step-by-step guide on Windows Install & Optimization with SSDs & HDDs.

Let us know how it goes.
SuperSoph_WD :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

AmericaMe

Commendable
Nov 2, 2016
7
0
1,510


Thanks for the suggestion, here is the image you requested http://. I believe I found a thread from the forum site you referenced that shows how to create the partition you mentioned (http://www.tenforums.com/installation-setup/52837-moving-recreating-efi-partition.html). I am trying this as soon as I finish posting this.

Yes, I originally installed Windows 7 on the SSD while the old HDD (which also had Windows 7 at the time) was connected.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Colif

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Jun 12, 2015
65,176
6,430
168,090
Since you had win 7 on drive, it never had an efi partition. Your drives are set up in the format prior to the EFI partition being used, it has an MBR and its on the HDD still.

looking at the image, the install put the page file on the hard drive in partition D and the 100mb System reserved partition is the boot sector. Since it did it this way, the PC with no hdd would 1) not boot and 2) have memory issues if it did boot as it would have no page file.

Now you can move the page file doing this: http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-move-page-file-in-windows-10-to-another-disk/
this is how to possibly create an MBR on ssd: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/repair-master-boot-record-mbr-windows
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A

AmericaMe

Commendable
Nov 2, 2016
7
0
1,510


Hey, thanks so much for your help! I moved the page file and attempted to create an MBR like the link you provided showed, however it did not work for me. I did find a solution that worked for myself thanks to the one of the links you sent me.

My solution:
1) Partitoned enough space on Disk 0 (SSD w/OS) to hold system System Reserve
2) Downloaded https://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html (suggested from a forum on tenforums.com)
3) In Partition Wizard I:
a) copied *:System Reserved partition from Disk 1 (old HDD w/OS) to Disk 0 (SSD w/OS), and
b) right clicked on Disk 1 (SSD) -> Convert MBR Disk to GPT Disk -> Apply
+ Note, I had a USB with Windows Installation media as back up if it failed
4) Turned off PC, unplugged old HDD and booted
5) Success!!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
SuperSoph_WD

SuperSoph_WD

Glorious
Jul 30, 2014
6,758
3
45,960
Hey there again, @AmericaMe!

I'm glad you were able to resolve the issue! Great job with the troubleshooting! :)
My last recommendation would be to always make sure you backup your files somewhere off-site as well. Always remember that "backup" means that you have your data stored in at least two (2) locations. Moving data from your system drive to an external or another internal hard drive is not a backup, unless there is already a duplicate of the file on a different drive!

Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom