Black screen before windows login

Dana_83

Honorable
Oct 8, 2012
12
0
10,510
ok, here is my problem.. i was trying to ghost my old HDD to my new SSD. So i got my software, turned off my computer and installed my SSD. My computer wouldnt boot off my old HDD so i looked in my BIOS menu for boot order. I seen that my SSD was set for slot 1 and my HDD was slot 2 for sata i thought that might be the problem, i saved and exited. Leaving my computer off i switched the sata cables and started it up again thinking that now my HDD was set for 1. I started up my comp and it started just fine, windows logo popped up and then my screen was black, i still had 1920x1600 resolution and my mouse cursor was there (small mouse cursor). I thought maybe it didnt boot correctly so i turned it off and put in my windows CD. started up again and booted off CD drive. Clicked on install windows, and clicked on Startup repair and let it run for about an hour with nothing really changng. It was getting late and i just wanted to take out the SSD and start fresh tomorrow night ( i only get 1-2 hours a night ) to get things working so i did a hard shutdown and went to bed. Tried it before work and still got a black screen with a movable small mouse cursor, tried it in safe mode with networking and i had 800x600 ( large mouse cursor) and it still wouldnt boot my desktop.

my question is if i made it a slave, would i be able to salvage my important info? so when i get home tonight i have some sort of a game plan.

Thanks, Dana
 

chugot9218

Honorable
Unplug the HDD, install windows onto the SSD with only the SSD plugged in. Once you are back in windows reconnect the HDD and you should have access to your old data through windows explorer. Take what you need and then format it to remove the old OS.