How to get PC to always boot from SSD after cloning?

[steviewonder87]

So following from this thread - http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3336817/clone-partition-including-windows-hdd-ssd.html - I have just cloned my HDD to my SSD, and everything worked fine. However, I cannot get my PC to boot from my SSD, IF my HDD is connected. If I have ONLY the SSD connected, I can boot Windows from it fine and it will be registered as the C drive (I'm typing this with only my SSD connected). However, if I connect the HDD and the SSD my PC will boot from the HDD every time, and the HDD will always be the C drive and my SSD gets assigned drive G.

I have tried swapping the SATA cables and opening the BIOS and changing the boot order, however when I check the boot priority it only ever shows one drive (Hard Disk something or other, doesn't change if I boot from SSD or HDD), no matter if both are connected, or either of them on their own. The only other options below are USB, CD, etc. How can I force my PC to boot from the SSD every time?

 

[USAFRet]

You seem to have the boot order in the BIOS a bit wrong.
SSD first.

As far as the C...whichever drive it boots will see itself as the C.


At the end of the clone process, you disconnected the HDD and then booted up from the SSD?

 

[steviewonder87]

Yes I know whatever the boot drive is, is assigned C, I simply wanted to make it clear that the SSD does work as a boot drive perfectly fine, it's just overridden by the HDD whenever both are connected.

At the end of the clone process I disconnected the HDD and booted up from the SSD (also swapped the SATA cables), and it booted up fine into Windows. So I then shutdown, reconnected the HDD (expecting it to continue booting from the SSD like before), however it insists on booting from the HDD as long as it's connected.

I cannot seem to find the option to change the boot priority of the hard drives in the BIOS for some reason, although I'm guessing that is the solution for this.

 

[steviewonder87]

You seem to have the boot order in the BIOS a bit wrong.
SSD first.

As far as the C...whichever drive it boots will see itself as the C.


At the end of the clone process, you disconnected the HDD and then booted up from the SSD?

All I can see in the BIOS is the boot priority options, in which the 1st option is 'Hard Drive - Windows Boot Manager', and then USB, CD, etc. Then underneath it says UEFI Hard Disk Drive Properties (the description being 'specifies the boot device priority sequence from available UEFI Hard Disk Drive Options' which sounds like the thing I'm looking for). However when I select that it simply has 2 choices; Windows Boot Manager (what it is currently on) and disabled.

 

[steviewonder87]

Any ideas? Would I be best off formatting my C drive on my HDD so it no longer has Windows on it, thus forcing the PC to boot from the SSD? Or is that a bad idea?

 

[USAFRet]

I would find some definitive way to boot from the SSD, and wipe all the partitions on the HDD.

But only if you are sure it is booted from the SSD.
Maybe use a USB dock for the HDD, and only connect it after the system is booted from the SSD.

 

[steviewonder87]

I would find some definitive way to boot from the SSD, and wipe all the partitions on the HDD.

But only if you are sure it is booted from the SSD.
Maybe use a USB dock for the HDD, and only connect it after the system is booted from the SSD.

Well the problem is that I can't find a way to definitively boot from the SSD while the HDD is connected. It works 100% fine as the boot drive when it is the only drive connected, however as soon as I connect the HDD again the PC automatically uses that as the boot drive no matter what I do. I don't have a USB docking station for the HDD so that isn't really an option, but that would probably work.

I just need a way to change the boot order to let me choose my SSD, I have read that if I set it to Legacy in the BIOS it allows me to change the boot drive manually, whereas now on UEFI it only gives the 'Windows Boot Manager' option, should I change it to that?

 

[USAFRet]

I would find some definitive way to boot from the SSD, and wipe all the partitions on the HDD.

But only if you are sure it is booted from the SSD.
Maybe use a USB dock for the HDD, and only connect it after the system is booted from the SSD.

Well the problem is that I can't find a way to definitively boot from the SSD while the HDD is connected. It works 100% fine as the boot drive when it is the only drive connected, however as soon as I connect the HDD again the PC automatically uses that as the boot drive no matter what I do. I don't have a USB docking station for the HDD so that isn't really an option, but that would probably work.

I just need a way to change the boot order to let me choose my SSD, I have read that if I set it to Legacy in the BIOS it allows me to change the boot drive manually, whereas now on UEFI it only gives the 'Windows Boot Manager' option, should I change it to that?

Yes.

 

[steviewonder87]

I would find some definitive way to boot from the SSD, and wipe all the partitions on the HDD.

But only if you are sure it is booted from the SSD.
Maybe use a USB dock for the HDD, and only connect it after the system is booted from the SSD.

Well the problem is that I can't find a way to definitively boot from the SSD while the HDD is connected. It works 100% fine as the boot drive when it is the only drive connected, however as soon as I connect the HDD again the PC automatically uses that as the boot drive no matter what I do. I don't have a USB docking station for the HDD so that isn't really an option, but that would probably work.

I just need a way to change the boot order to let me choose my SSD, I have read that if I set it to Legacy in the BIOS it allows me to change the boot drive manually, whereas now on UEFI it only gives the 'Windows Boot Manager' option, should I change it to that?

Yes.

The option on my BIOS related to that didn't seem to change anything. I ended up formatting the C drive on the HDD using the command prompt with a Windows Repair USB I made, but now when I boot up with the HDD and SSD connected I get stuck on a infinite loop of 'repairing Windows' which takes me to the repair screen where I can either shutdown or go back to the boot screen where it will repeat the cycle. Connecting just the SSD is fine (as it has been all along).

This is an absolute nightmare, I simply want to remove all traces of Windows in the HDD (including all recovery partitions, etc) and leave one partition alone, so the god damn PC stops booting from the HDD instead of the SSD. This is driving me nuts. Any other suggestions?

Edit: Is it ok to connect the HDD data SATA cable while the computer is on? If so that should force the PC to view it as a secondary drive I guess?

Edit: I got impatient and tried plugging in the data cable for the HDD while the PC was booted on the SSD and it didn't register it at all. I'm completely stuck now, I have no way to access what is on the HDD or do anything with it...

 

[madmatt30]

What motherboard exactly ??

Plugging the sata cable in after boot 'should' work.

You may have to
1. Rescan devices in device manager
2. Import drive in disk management.

 

[steviewonder87]

What motherboard exactly ??

Plugging the sata cable in after boot 'should' work.

You may have to
1. Rescan devices in device manager
2. Import drive in disk management.

This is the mobo - https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135343

I will try what you suggested.

Edit: OK this time it picked it up without me having to do anything (?). Now I just need to delete all traces of Windows and the extra partitions and then finally merge everything into partition (so I keep the data on the partition I made separately) and everything should be perfect.