Problem using original HDD (replaced by SSD) as 2nd drive

[Langkawi]

Happy Friday folks!

Not sure if this is right place but here's the story.

ACER 8943G, replaced original HDD with an SSD, cloned boot system etc and SSD working fine as main drive for a long time now. Finally got replacement second drive cover that actual allows you to use second drive (curse you ACER for such a stupid design i.e. original second drive cover had two big protuding plastic bits that mean you couldn't put a second drive in the second drive slot - WTF!?!).

So am now trying to install the original HDD as the second drive. I thought this would be like plug and play. But initially the lappy didn't detect the 2nd drive as present. After a google search I used Control Panel>Admin Tools>Computer Management>Disk Management and enabled the second drive. But for some reason it tells me the drive needs formatted and that this will delete any files present.

Q1. Why doesn't it recognise the drive format as the drive was previously attached to the same lappy?

Q2. Is there any way to do this that doesn't involve reformatting and losing the files?

Q3. I was assuming that if my SSD ever failed, I could simply put the original HDD back in and boot from this instead. Was that woefully optimistic on my behalf or is this possible?

Q4. It just occurred to me that I used the system backup and backed up the original HDD to an external HDD a while back. Would it be simpler to reformat the internal HDD and then use the external HDD backup files to reimage the internal?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Alan

 

[das_stig]

Cloning a hdd to ssd is not a good idea, as trim etc will not be setup under Win7, so performance and life of ssd will be effected.

Your better off backing up all your important files and doing a fresh install following this guide for optimal performance on a 2 drive system.

1. Once setup and at the desktop, don't bother doing any customisation, but start up Computer Management via Control Panel\System and Security\Administrative Tools.

2. Local Users And Groups\Users, select Administrator and enable the account.

3. Reboot.

4. Logon as Administrator, no password, go into normal User Account management and delete the account created during setup and any and all files.

5. Startup Regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

6. Change the ProfilesDirectory from %SystemDrive%\Users to for example D:\Users.

7. Close down regedit and reboot.

8. Logon as Administrator and create a user account.

9. Logoff and logon using new account and let system create profile, which is now on your D: drive which of course now the default location for all your personal files.

10. Start up Computer Management via Control Panel\System and Security\Administrative Tools.

11. Local Users And Groups\Users, select Administrator and disable the account. Leaving this enabled is a big security risk !!!

 

[JackNaylorPE]

You can clone a HD to SSD and then use the Windows Repair Tool to enable trim and AHCI

http://sonic-media.dk/?p=103

As for the OP, make sure your BIOS settings are appropriate for the HD. If you have issues, restoring from the external backup is an easy solution.

 

[Langkawi]

Best answer selected by Langkawi.

 

[Langkawi]

Thanks das_stig and JackNaylorPE,

das_stig - I know you were trying to be helpful and appreciate the very detailed answer. But you also kinda fully missed the question I was asking. Don't remember exact method for 'cloning' the SSD but followed guides at the time and it's worked fine for around 9 months. Recall having to do something ore other with TRIM for best performance.

JackNaylorPE / anyone,

How do I check the BIOS settings and what am I looking for there? Will it be obvious what I need to change?

Sorry, we are at the outer limits of my tech know-how here.

Cheers,
Alan