Boot drive?

Hello:

To make a long story short, I installed a new SSD (old died), installed a backed-up image (from died SSD) on it, and started computer ... fine. However, when I turn off the computer, connect my old regular HDD with data (non-boot) drives on it, and start up the computer, the computer tries to boot from the "data" drive (not good). When I go into BOOT in this situation, only the "data" drives show up, but not the SSD boot drive.

Would anyone know what I need to do to get the SSD to show up after connecting the "data" drive?

Thank you!

Hans L

Most PC's have a way to set the preferred SSD as Primary, usually in BIOS setup under Storage or SATA drives. If not then check under BIOS Boot Priority settings to see if you can set the SSD first to boot.

If in doubt report back the settings choices that might relate to this. Taking pictures which you upload using the paper clip in reply box is helpful.

Another method would be to change the SATA port on mobo so the SSD is plugged into the one which is presently booting first. But you want to make sure you're utilizing the fastest SATA port for your SSD, so if in doubt consult your Manual on the SUpport Downloads webpage for your mobo or PC model.

Greg, I will try these options.

Regards,

Hans L

gregrocker said:

Most PC's have a way to set the preferred SSD as Primary, usually in BIOS setup under Storage or SATA drives. If not then check under BIOS Boot Priority settings to see if you can set the SSD first to boot.

If in doubt report back the settings choices that might relate to this. Taking pictures which you upload using the paper clip in reply box is helpful.

Another method would be to change the SATA port on mobo so the SSD is plugged into the one which is presently booting first. But you want to make sure you're utilizing the fastest SATA port for your SSD, so if in doubt consult your Manual on the SUpport Downloads webpage for your mobo or PC model.

Greg, the SSD and HDD were plugged into the correct ports on the mobo – SSD to boot port and HDD to slave port.

I had boot order set to "Hard drive" first. So, when only the SSD was connected, booting went okay. However, when I connected the HDD also, the computer tried to boot from it. I had to change the order of the hard drives in BIOS/BOOT, and then, it worked. So, BIOS did not respect the SATA ports on the mobo, which seems to me to be a little glitch.

Thank you for your tips above, which made me look in the right place.

Hans L

Hans, we should probably see a screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image to make sure the SSD is not being booted by the HD when it's plugged in - a common problem if the HD was still plugged in during install to SSD.

Otherwise it sounds like you were able to change which HD/SSD was primary.

To clarify: BIOS Boot Priority order will often show only a generic "Hard Drive" listing, in which case the next place to look is under SATA/Storage for a setting to specify which drive is Primary.

It will normally be one or the other. But sometimes there is no way to change the order in BIOS for which HD is to boot first, in which case I would try to change SATA ports.

gregrocker said:

Hans, we should probably see a screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image to make sure the SSD is not being booted by the HD when it's plugged in - a common problem if the HD was still plugged in during install to SSD.

Otherwise it sounds like you were able to change which HD/SSD was primary.

Okay, Greg, here is a (cropped) screenshot.

Regards/
Hans L

AddRAM said:

The sata ports can easily be over ruled by the bios hard drive order.

This is why Greg told you to set the ssd as first in boot priority :)

Understand. I did not know that the SATA ports could be overruled. Had not been ito BIOS for a long time.

Regards/Hans L

Hans, there are several errors that can affect performance and give you more drive space if needed.

First, System Reserved partition was cut out when somehow the System boot files were moved to C as signified by the System flag showing which partition is booting the OS, and Active flag pointing to intended System partition. You can delete System Reserved partition in Disk Mgmt or ignore it though it likely has as duplicate set of boot files on it which can be viewed by temporarily assigning it a letter in Disk Mgmt.

There are two other partitions E and L which are marked Active which should not be and will confuse the BIOS, since Active flag as mentioned should only point to the intended System partition. Mark them Inactive now using How to Set Active/Inactive partition -Partition Wizard Video Help.

You'll want Partition Wizard since it can add the Unallocated space you're wasting to any of the partitions on the same drive that need the space, even if they're not adjacent, using the very cool How to extend partition easily with Partition Wizard - video help. Just right click any partition needing more space to Extend, then borrow as much available space as you want from any Unallocated Space or other partition with space to spare.

Note that you may have 4 Primary partitions total on an MBR disk, or 3 Primary and unlimited adjacent Logicals.