PC won't boot when hard drive is plugged in

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1expressltd

Prominent
Jan 9, 2018
6
0
510
I have a 2-year old desktop pc that I have assembled myself thru online tutorials and guides. Never had any issues until recently while playing a game on steam, my PC stalled and froze. Forced to restart PC but this time it won't boot. Motherboard (MSI Z97 gaming 5) shows an A2 error that indicates problem with one of my drives. I have a 120gb SSD for my OS and boot drive and a 1tb HDD for my main storage (including my games on steam). I checked the sata and power cables for my drives for loose connections and interchange them but to no avail. Both drives appear in the bios menu though. What is unusual is that when I unplugged my main storage HDD, with only my boot drive connected, PC boots fine. I tried connecting the HDD after boot up but it does not appear under device manager. Has anyone encountered this issue? Appreciate your help.

For reference (PC hardware)
i7 4790k cpu
Z97 msi gaming 5 mobo
8gb (4gb x2) RAM
120gb Samsung SSD
1tb Seagate HDD
Msi gtx960 video card

 
Solution
J
Recovering the data might be a lost cause without going to extreme measures because I think there's a good chance that any system you connect that drive to will give you the same problem.

As far as how it affects your main boot drive...you said your pc boots fine from that drive, so I don't understand that question.

...but in the future I would advise keeping programs and the OS on the same drive in the future so you don't wind up with programs spread out over two drives.

All that being said....if it were me....I'd clean install the OS on the SSD with the programs....and use a mechanical drive for backups.
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1

1expressltd

Prominent
Jan 9, 2018
6
0
510
How do I resolve the hard drive issue (if this is the case) ? I'm hoping to recover some files from the said drive. Also, considering that many of my pc programs are installed at said drive, how will it affect my main boot drive? How do I uninstall and delete their contents? Do I need to reformat and reinstall my OS if I buy a new secondary drive?
 
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J

jay32267

Champion
Mar 16, 2017
10,709
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56,940


 
Upvote 0 Downvote
J

jay32267

Champion
Mar 16, 2017
10,709
1,330
56,940
Recovering the data might be a lost cause without going to extreme measures because I think there's a good chance that any system you connect that drive to will give you the same problem.

As far as how it affects your main boot drive...you said your pc boots fine from that drive, so I don't understand that question.

...but in the future I would advise keeping programs and the OS on the same drive in the future so you don't wind up with programs spread out over two drives.

All that being said....if it were me....I'd clean install the OS on the SSD with the programs....and use a mechanical drive for backups.
 
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