OS on hdd and ssd at the same time

[Djfreshboy]

Hardware in dispute:
HDD: Western digital black 1 tb
SSD: Intel 730 240gb
OS on HDD: Windows 10
OS on SSD: Windows 8
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Formula

■ I just recently bought an ssd to improve my computers start up times. My main goal was to transfer my Windows 10 OS from my HDD to my new SSD. In order to do this I chose to use Intels software to copy all of my files from my HDD onto my SSD. During the process it canceled and said that the SSD did not have enough storage capacity to continue. This was an obvious mishap on my part but I thought nothing of it. I put my computer to sleep at this point since I was busy elsewhere.
■ When I returned and tried to wake my computer back up it gave me a blue screen stating that the system 32 file was either deleted or corrupted. I was obviously surprised by this as I would never intentionally mess with my system 32 file. I tried to click on the recovery options but the computer would not recognize both my mouse and keyboard inputs. So I restarted my computer and entered the bios where my mouse did work. I could not find a solution there.
■ After some research I decided to completely reformat my SSD and install my original Windows 8 software onto it. I took my HDD out and solely kept my new and now completely formated SSD plugged in. I installed Windows 8 and everything so far has been working. I turned off my computer and plugged back in my HDD.
■ Now I am at a complete loss at what to do. How can I get the Windows 10 OS from my HDD to be my once again main OS? How do I reinstall/access all of my files from my HDD? One of the main issues I am currently having is that I am not able to access the Internet due to me not have the correctly installed drivers. Though I know they are on my HDD just waiting to be used. (I am plugged directly into router)

 

[Colif]

fun fact is its the bios that controls which drive to boot from and I would guess the windows boot manager is first item in boot order and it wouldn't know the hdd exists as when win 8 was installed there was only 1 drive. You may need to reset the bios to defaults before it recognises both installs are there.

UEFI boot differently to legacy BIOS, they can boot from any drive in PC that has right boot files on them. I think your BIOS currently only set to see the SSD, why you need to reset it before it will see win 10 again.

long term, you need win 10 only 1 drive, having it this way is a pain as the win 10 boot loader may not see the in 8 install the way you did it.

 

[Djfreshboy]

fun fact is its the bios that controls which drive to boot from and I would guess the windows boot manager is first item in boot order and it wouldn't know the hdd exists as when win 8 was installed there was only 1 drive. You may need to reset the bios to defaults before it recognises both installs are there.

UEFI boot differently to legacy BIOS, they can boot from any drive in PC that has right boot files on them. I think your BIOS currently only set to see the SSD, why you need to reset it before it will see win 10 again.

long term, you need win 10 only 1 drive, having it this way is a pain as the win 10 boot loader may not see the in 8 install the way you did it.

Since I've posted I've continued to try and fix the problem. SO I've gotten to the point where it recognizes my HDD as my E drive. I am able to see all my files within it. I just found my network drivers and re-installed them, and I am now able to access the internet. I guess the only thing that's left is how to I use Windows 10 instead of my now current Windows 8.

 

[Colif]

What else is on hdd except win 10?

I would download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB
remove hdd from the system,
do a fresh install of win 10 onto ssd instead of trying to clone the other drive across.

Once you know it boots, reattach hdd and edit EUFI boot order so the hdd isn't in it.
Boot win 10 and copy anything off hdd you want on ssd like documents, etc

at some stage you will probably want to wipe hdd as having 2 installs on win 10 on PC is not necessary, waste of space.

 

[Djfreshboy]

To answer your first question I have literally all my information on the HDD. Games, drivers, etc. As of right now everything is working. My computer is now recognizing my games and I am able to go online for updates etc. I just want to be able to use Windows 10 instead of Windows 8. I will do what you suggested and let you know how it turns out. Thanks

 

[Djfreshboy]

Really quickly, am I able to simply delete Windows 10 off of my HDD? It would make it a lot simpler as I would just have to upgrade my Windows 8 on my SSD.

 

[Colif]

Can you show me a screen shot of disk management with both attached?

 

[Djfreshboy]

Here the link:
http://imgur.com/a/zdVRh

Disk 0: SSD
Disk 1: HDD

 

[Djfreshboy]

So should I just upgrade to Windows 10 Using the media creation tool, and worry about uninstalling the OS on my HDD later?

 

[Colif]

That looks like it will work as your 2 drives don't appear to be formatted as GPT anyway.

There is a way to delete the old win 10 install off the hdd but i have to find it. It involves taking ownership of the folders so don't do it until you have updated win 8 as it will break win 10 on that hdd. See: http://www.windowscentral.com/how-take-ownership-files-and-folders-windows-10

 

[Djfreshboy]

Awesome, Thanks

 

[bobmanuk]

why has no one suggested pressing f12, f10, ESC... the boot menu key for your motherboard and select the windows 10 partition? it is extremely easy to run multiple hard drives in one pc and just boot off another drive, uefi or not.

 

[Colif]

Because
1. I didn't think of that
2. I thought he only wanted win 10 on PC anyway
3. And dual boot easier to run if Win 10 knows other drive is there and offers the menu at start up.

 

[Djfreshboy]

Yea I would rather not have the Windows 8 OS wasting storage after having Windows 10 as my main. So being able to upgrade the SSD should work out well as long as I can delete the old Windows 10 files on my HDD