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Win 7 won't boot after changing drive's sata connection

Last response: in Windows 7
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I need to move the sata connection for my drive "D" on the motherboard, however after moving it Windows 7 won't boot.

Hi, I am looking for some assistance in resolving this issue, thanks for any help in advance.

Gateway LX6820, 8GB Ram
Windows 7 HOMEPREMIUM 64 bit
Drive "C"- Intel X25V SATA SSD 40GB, has 200MB System Partiton for MBR and the rest is for the OS
Drive "D"- WD Raptor SATA 150GB, has User folders, Program Data, and Programs installed

I have a fresh install of Windows 7 HOMEPREMIUM 64 bit that was done with drive "D" in one of the hotswap bays. All my tweaks, and settings changes are done and Windows operates with no problems. Now I wan't to move the drive to an internal bay. The set up and install was done using sata 4 on the motherboard but due to cable routing I need to use sata 2 for the move.

After the physical move and cable change Windows sees the Raptor as drive "E" not "D", it can't access the user profile and loads a default profile instead. This default profile won't allow access to disk management so I can change the drive letter. I have tried using Diskpart to reassign the drive letters but when I boot into Windows it changes it back to "E" again (must be due to the sata port 2 being assign "E" in an earlier configuration?). I tried using Windows repair but it changes the boot sector to"C", the "C" drive to "D" and the Raptor to "E", had to change the cables to the original locations and do a system restore to fix that one.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to accomplish this?

More about : win boot changing drive sata connection

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Can you get into BIOS, then set boot priority and order there? Once you have the proper order, then you should be able to use Windows Disk management to change the drive letters. Be advised that this could possiply break some of your working programs as the registry thinks they are on a particular drive with a particular letter.

I can get into Bios however this will only set the boot order not change the drive letter. It would seem that Windows is unable to find the user profile when I change the sata connections on the motherboard due to the drive letter being changed. I wonder if I could boot up, let the machine go to sleep then make the physical cable change and then reassign the drive letter? Maybe this is risky to do when the machine is powered up?

Hmmm, I think your saying that your Raptor was once loaded with Win7. And your SSD is loaded with Win7. That would give your 4 disk partitions since windows 7 creates a small MBR & main partition when loading. IF you did not remove the partitions and re-format your Raptor those 2 partitions are still there....

I would: unplug the Raptor. Boot off the SSD... make sure thing are right.

Then assure the BIOS has boot order and priority set to SSD and SSD ONLY.....

Add back the Raptor & reboot.. Now look at the Raptor partitions and see if there are two. If there are use disk management to delete the 200Mb (small one). Then believe your can merge that 200Mb to the existing larger partition (use shrink/grow...)

Once you get rid of that second partition on the Raptor, you won't be "off by one drive letter" when moving your disk around...
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Actually the OS is split up between the 2 drives, only one Win 7 install. During installation I ran a script that moves user folders and Program Data folder to the "D" drive. The reason for this was to save space on the SSD as it is only 40GB. I have resolved the issue and all is good now. What I did was made a copy of everything on the Raptor to a spare drive, changed the cables and then when I booted it could use the user profile from which ever drive it wanted to call "D". Funny thing is after all that it recognized all the drives the way I wanted. I was able to access Disk Management and rename things and make any other drive letter changes I wanted.

Thanks to all that responded.

Cheers
Adrian
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