Bios showing HDD in windows bot priority and not SSD?

Hello
I think this is the right section to post this in? if not I apologize

I upgraded to an SSD
Installed windows and some drivers, then reconnected my HDD to format but my pc booted from the HDD and not the SSD.
Sata is in AHCI, HDD was disconnected during windows install on SSD

Long story short; I formatted the HDD and I am booting from SSD, changed bios boot order to do this.
Bios boot order:

1. CD drive
2. SSD
3. HDD
4. Windows boot priority (in brackets it has my HDD model)

I cant help but think somethings not right? because why should my bios display Windows boot priority and have my HDD as the default boot drive? Before I changed the order, the windows boot priority would always be first in boot order.

If it helps, I have included a SS of computer managment

Thanks in advanced

Sorry for the late reply I had to Google what mbr/gpt meant

Just wondering how would I select to mbr or gpt it didn't have me the option when I installed windows on my ssd

kazuya2015 said:

I upgraded to an SSD

I assume this is a 120GB SSD?

Installed windows and some drivers,

Appears perfectly normal successful, with 100MB "system reserved" as "active" in your screenshot.

Everything looks like it should have worked just fine if you were still operating with SSD only (i.e. HDD disconnected temporarily as you indicated).

then reconnected my HDD

This is the original spinner provided when you bought the machine? Pre-loaded with Win7?

And you now really just wanted to delete all partitions including the pre-loaded Windows environment, and re-purpose the drive completely as a "data" drive? Reasonable goal.

to format

by "to format" do you really mean "delete all pre-existing partitions and create one or more new partitions, for data"?

but my pc booted from the HDD and not the SSD.

What makes you think that??

According to your screenshot, the Windows C-partition is on the SSD, not on the HDD. So I'm guessing it is the newly installed SSD version of Win7 which is running.

And this suggests to me that you actually did boot to the "system reserved" partition on the SSD, which then moved on to the Win7 you installed on the second partition of the SSD. And that's how you now show that second partition on SSD as C.

Whatever is on the HDD is not important at the moment, in my opinion. The un-lettered UEFI version of "system reserved" doesn't seem relevant, in my opinion, nor does the "new volume" partition currently showing as E.

So why do you think you have any problem? I don't know how you created "new volume" on the HDD, but I would say you're actually running booting to the "active" system reserved partition on SSD, and then using Win7 from SSD (now appearing as C, as it should).


I would simply re-check your BIOS settings boot sequence. No question you SHOULD have the SSD as 1st in that list of drives. Either remove the HDD entirely from the boot sequence list, or at worst just have it second. But with SSD shown first in your BIOS boot sequence list, there's no question the "system reserved" partition (marked "active") created by your install of Win7 onto the SSD while the HDD was temporarily disconnected is where the BIOS is starting, leading to Win7 in the second partition of the SSD exactly as you want.

Then, just use Partition Wizard to delete the two partitions currently on the HDD (however you got them created or received them). And then use Partition Wizard to create your one or more "data" partitions on the HDD as you planned, if that's what you'd planned.

Incidentally, Partition Wizard will also show whether your drives are partitioned using MBR or GPT, if you're wanting confirmation.

I see no problems, other than the leftover "UEFI system reserved" on the HDD.

TVeblen said:

I believe he is seeing this as the problem:

Bios boot order:

1. CD drive
2. SSD
3. HDD
4. Windows boot priority (in brackets it has my HDD model)

I don't know what item 4 means. But I contend it's not relevant.

The boot sequence is run down in exactly that order: 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., looking for an "active" partition or a bootable removable device (e.g. from a bootable CD/DVD that's inserted at the moment).

It's not going to go to 2 unless there's no bootable CD inserted. And it's not going to go to 3 unless there's no "active" partition found on the SSD... but there is, so booting initiates from that partition (i.e. 100MB "system reserved" from the just newly installed Win7 on the SSD).

Then, only if the SSD actually didn't have an "active" partition would 3 (HDD) be examined looking for an "active" partition. And then only finally, if all three of these earlier items failed to discover something to boot from, would 4 be used. I don't know what "Windows boot priority" means, or how it somehow contains the HDD itself... unless this is something inherent in the new UEFI BIOS logic and factory pre-installs, which I'm not familiar with).

My feeling in any case is that 4 will not even come into the story unless 1, 2 and 3 fail to produce something to boot from, which is NOT GOING TO HAPPEN since the SSD (2) has an "active" partition on it. That's where true booting came from in my opinion, and is further confirmed by the Windows partition on the SSD getting lettered as C. That's exactly what would be expected if the "system reserved" on the SSD was used, to boot the Win7 system partition also on the SSD from this installation-to-SSD process.

I still see nothing wrong, and no concern for item 4. Again, I suspect it's something new that's possible when you have a new UEFI BIOS.

TVeblen said:

We will wait for the OP to confirm. But I think he/she is fully aware of the boot sequencing and I don't believe he is having a problem starting Windows. I believe he just wants to know why the Windows Boot Priority is set to the HDD and not the SSD.

Got any ideas?

I honestly don't know what "Windows boot Priority" is and can't find a clear description of what it is or how it get set/modified. I'm going to guess it is related to the initial Win7 install with UEFI (rather than Legacy) BIOS specified, and the fact that the pre-loaded Windows on HDD came with what is shown as 100MB "EFI system partition". I know, that's just spouting a lot of words, but I honestly am not an expert here.

It may still show the HDD in "windows boot priority" because there's still that EFI system partition on that HDD drive, which still points to the second partition on the HDD as where Windows lives... per that "EFI system partition".

I'm going to speculate that if Partition Wizard is used to simply delete the existing partitions on the HDD (since they're not needed any longer, as the SSD is where the new operational Win7 lives going forward into the future), that this fourth entry in the boot sequence might disappear completely, or maybe it will change to point to the SSD, or maybe not.

I must confess, I honestly don't know much about UEFI BIOS machines, as I have none and my laptop is set to "legacy BIOS" to make Win7 install on it easy and simple.

Perhaps some other expert on UEFI BIOS could explain what "Windows boot priority" is, what created that entry in the BIOS boot sequence list, and how (if at all) a user can modify or delete that fourth entry using what tools or techniques, and if doing so will cause harm or be harmless/corrective? We already know the machine is booting from the SSD, which is 2nd. But I agree, having the mysterious 4th item really should be understood better than we do.

I plead ignorance.