Transfering Windows 7 to SSD from HDD on new laptop?

gregrocker said:

Do the cables and ports look like the drives could be switched around?

I think until you hear back from hardware experts who think that switching around the drives will work I would carefully put it back together, boot into BIOS and check the SATA controller setting. Is it AHCI? This might make a difference. AHCI : Enable in Windows 7 / Vista - Windows 7 Forums

Also let's make sure if its installed to EFI BIOS or Legacy BIOS. What are the exact settings for Legacy BIOS? What are the devices shown in BIOS Boot Priority order? Is any EFI device listed?

Do you have a Compatibility Settings Modes (CSM), what is chosen and what are the other choices?

Is the SSD formatted as MBR format? To check this look in Disk Mgmt at the map to find the SSD drive, rightclick on the box same as the one outlined in red for Disk1 below, see if the same choice "Convert to GPT Disk" shown in the red box appears but do not click any choice.

I will upload photos of every bios page ether later tonight or early tomorrow morning, I'm using the computer to compose some documents at the moment.

I did however look into how the drives are formatted and found the following, both drives give me the option to "COVERT TO DYNAMIC DISK". I do not get the other option you were referring to.

That's not a choice you'd get if you right clicked on the Disk Mgmt panel shown in the red box in the screenshot. Try again in the correct place.

Britton30 said:

What it appears to me is you have a mSATA SSD and a SATA HDD. The two connectors are not compatible.
Post a snip of Device Manager with Disk Drives and Storage Controllers expanded.

As has been suggested, if you are booting from the SSD OK and have drivers installed, wipe, or Clean the HDD. Don't get too concerned about boot or shut down times of 30 seconds, I'm sure the laptop will perform very fast.

Here is the photo as requested. OS boots from the SSD and the old HDD was wiped clean. I would take the 500GB HDD out all together before loosing the the quick boot/shutdown time (it's hard to pass on it once i've experienced the ultra fast speed).

gregrocker said:

That's not a choice you'd get if you right clicked on the Disk Mgmt panel shown in the red box in the screenshot. Try again in the correct place.

I get this box when right clicking on both of the "disK" harddrive boxes

Britton30 said:

Your snip of Device manager confirms both drives are SATA which I couldn't tell from the pics.

Does this help at all

OK, it seems you have an MBR disk judging by the choice to convert to GPT, although I'm not sure why it's greyed out. This is consistent with you not taking any of the special steps to install to UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums

For some reason I can no longer boot up the laptop, the computer just stalls at the starting windows logo.

Here are the errors I got after launching startup repair... (I can give a detailed "view diagnostic and repair details" if necessary)

Thanks again

Remember how I pleaded with you a dozen times to follow the steps in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 for handling drivers in Win7, how you ignored this and merrily went on to install every driver on the Dell Downloads page, ignoring whether Win7 had delivered another driver it wanted?

Well look at the reason your Startup cannot now be repaired in the last, fatal Problem Signature 7!

Work through these steps which provide everything possible for Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start leading up to if necessary a Clean Reinstall, this time following the steps to get a perfect install. Wipe the SSD first with Diskpart Clean Command; disable the HDD in BIOS if possible.

Or maybe there is a Restore Point to run from System Recovery Options before you did your own thing and wasted our time and yours.

gregrocker said:

Wipe the SSD first with Diskpart Clean Command; disable the HDD in BIOS if possible.

Or maybe there is a Restore Point to run from System Recovery Options before you did your own thing and wasted our time and yours.

I will try the troubleshooting steps in your article.

I read somewhere on the forum that it isn't good to repeatedly wipe SSD's because it makes them more prone to early failure. When should this worry me? I don't want to wipe it repeatedly in the process of trying to achieve a perfect setup. There are multiple ways to get windows 7, I just want to make sure to choose the right one and follow it to a t this time. Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 and UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums as examples