Solved Can't boot from new SSD unless old HDD is plugged in

[lemmiwinks]

Upgraded to a new 120GB SSD (C: ) and a 2TB HDD (D: ) recently.

Installed Win7 on the SSD (did the dumb thing and still had the old 70GB HDD plugged in....)

Transferred all my files over from my 70GB to my SSD, happy with how things are going and decided to retire the old 70GB.

Now I can't boot to Windows unless the 70GB is plugged in. Initially I could boot from the 120GB with the 70GB plugged in - but now I need to boot to the 70GB for the 120GB's OS to come up.... Which is very confusing.

Disk 2 missing System Partition?


At first I got a "DISK BOOT FAILURE - INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER" - but when I put the Win7 disk in, it doesn't pick it up.

I've ran through various 'fixes' - ensuring boot order, marking the SSD as active, and trying to run Startup Repair off my Win7 disk. I've ran Startup Repair 4 times, regardless that I can't see any disks/OS's to choose from.

Now I'm getting "BOOTMGR.EXE IS MISSING".

When I run Startup Repair off my Win7 disk, it can't see any disks or OS's. BUT, when I browse for drivers it comes up that my 2TB is C: and my 120GB is D:, which should be the other way around.....


So I guess my question is, is there any way to create a System Partition on my SSD without a clean install of Win7?

 

[GokAy]

You have a couple of different issues:

- Because you didn't remove the HDD while installing OS the boot files remained on the old HDD.
- I guess you can get it corrected if you follow http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/209885-bootmgr-move-c-easybcd.html. However, if you messed the boot for good you can still run startup repair (three times if you need to from what I have read here in forums). http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

Your other problem of no OS seen in System recovery is because your OS drive is not connected to the 1st SATA port. You should start seeing it if you move the SSD to SATA_0 port (check your motherboard manual to see which one is the 1st port). I hope I was clear

 

[lemmiwinks]

I'll give the SATA_0 a go now. Thanks!

 

[lemmiwinks]

Yep, that got it. Repair went through and I'm operating without my old HDD, Cheers mate!