EFI Partition Removal & Device Recognition in Windows

[rotflcopter]

My Alienware 17r4 came with a 256 GB M.2 NVME SSD. I was trying to restore using a Windows 10 installer USB and screwed up somewhere. Now the drive isn't detected in Windows. I installed an M.2 SATA drive for the OS and I'm back up and running, but I want to get the original drive back into the system. The original SSD is recognized in BIOS, but windows doesn't detect it unless I boot using unsecured legacy mode. Even if I get the OS to detect the drive, it won't remove the partitions or fully format it via disk management. When I boot into the USB installer, this drive isn't on the list of available drives. I can't figure out what to do to fix the OS detecting the drive, or how to remove the EFI and recovery partitions and format the drive.

Other thoughts - I bought a 960 EVO 1 TB for $350 on a second hand site. (Hoping I don't get burned for that, but everything seems legit). I had wanted to RAID two 1 TB drives, but I have been lead to think it won't change much in the real world performance (just benchmarks). If I get the 2nd 1TB drive, that would take the place of the 256, but it's just a size upgrade if the performance isn't there. I can't figure if it's worth the money/trouble anymore

 

[drtweak]

1) Make sure the Windows 10 install is setup as a uEFI boot. You can only install to a NVMe Driver if it is uEFI.
2) Make sure it is the latest version. You can download the Windows 10 Media Creatation tool and create a new bootable thumb drive
3) It might be good to find the NVMe drivers for your laptop on the dell website and toss them on the Windows 10 USB drive as well since you may need to install them at the hard drive screen
4) make sure only 1 drive is installed when installing windows as well. add any other driver AFTER the install.

 

[Calvin7]

NVMe Secure Erase of your NVMe SDD
https://partedmagic.com/nvme-secure-erase/

See downloads for purchasing information.

NVME SSDs do not appear within the BIOS until Windows creates the system partition with the EFI Boot Sector. Your M.2 SSD contains UEFI driver information within the firmware. By disabling the CSM module Windows will read and utilize the M.2-specific UEFI driver.

How to create a bootable UEFI USB drive with Windows 10 Setup
https://winaero.com/blog/how-to-create-a-bootable-uefi-usb-drive-with-windows-10-setup/