Removing old HDD prevents Windows booting

klbg

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For the past few years I've been using an old WD 250GB SATA HDD, and I decided it was time to go bigger and better. I purchased a WD Caviar Black 500GB drive and installed it, then used HD Copy to migrate all my data to the new drive. I restarted the computer, hoping to select the new drive from the boot menu, and it simply wasn't there. I then disconnected the old drive and the computer automatically booted from the new drive; everything worked perfectly. I reconnected the old HDD to use as storage space for music/pics, but realized I didn't need it, and it was adding a little bit of heat to the case. The problem was, I couldn't boot the PC after disconnecting the old HDD again.

Upon pressing the power button, the computer posts, then gets to the motherboard startup screen (Press DEL to BIOS, F8 to startup, etc.). This is already unusual, as it completely skips the usual Express Gate screen. Then it just stays at the mobo screen, never booting into Windows, and not allowing me to do anything.

So, my computer works, but if I remove the old hard drive, it doesn't boot into Windows. What could be causing this? Windows seems to recognize the new 500GB as the primary C: drive.


additional info:

OS: W7 Ultimate 64bit
MOBO: ASUS M4A88TD-M/USB3
CPU: Phenom II x4 965
RAM: 4GB 2x2 DDR3 G. Skill
GPU: MSI GTX 560
PSU: Corsair 500w





I realize now I probably rushed into this, hoping it would be simpler than it was. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance!
 

klbg

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Excuse me, I used a software called HD Clone, my mistake.
I doubt I'm booting from the old drive, considering I managed to boot from the new initially by itself, and considering I wiped the old drive clean. And considering my C: drive is a 500GB. And considering in my BIOS the boot priority lists the new drive.


I don't know very much about hard drive installation, but I'm about 99.99% sure I'm booting from the new drive.
 

klbg

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I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't understand what you're trying to say. Could you elaborate?
 


Ok, HD clone makes more sense. i was just going off the last sentence in your first paragraph, "The problem was, I couldn't boot the PC after disconnecting the old HDD again. " which is normally a sign that the boot loader is on a different drive.

Have you gone into the bios and changed your boot drive, not the boot order, but the boot drive?
 

klbg

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No, I don't believe I saw anything like that. I'll go check that right now, and edit this post.
 

klbg

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Alright, update, got it to work. I have no idea how this works, but simply disabling Express Gate in the BIOS allowed it to boot up normally. I'm not sure why, maybe it was only installed on the old HDD, or maybe the mobo only read it from the old drive. Regardless, it seems weird that some minuscule problem like that would lock up the system.


Too bad, it was a nifty feature.

Anyways, thanks for all the answers!