My OS on my SSD went back to being the OS for my old HDD (keeping all SSD files intact EXCEPT the OS)

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Malaxus

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Jan 13, 2017
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I dont know what happened, but about a year ago, I successfully migrated HDD to SSD, all went well, etc (SSD was the C drive. However, today, I installed a new motherboard, changed some boot options so it would boot, and everything worked.

My SSD was my C drive, which was not a concern. However, I went unplugged my HDD (old C drive), turned on my PC and went into BIOS and decided to boot up my PC with only the SSD.

However, as I do that, Windows Boot Manager pops up saying that there are no Windows OS within the disks. I plug my HDD in, and instead of booting up from SSD, it boots up from my HDD (which now holds the C main OS for some reason), whilst the SSD has all the files EXCEPT the OS. How the hell did this happen and how can I fix it without deleting/erasing any [strike]memory[/strike] data from my SSD?

Can someone please help, truly.
 
Solution
SkyNetRising
Oh boy. Such a mess there.
You have 3 drives with bootloaders in the system.
  • 2TB drive (disk 0)- with UEFI bootloader,
    1TB old HDD (disk 1) - with legacy bootloader,
    1TB new SSD, cloned from HDD (disk 2) - with legacy bootloader.
To fix bootloader on disk 2 (so you can boot from it), execute bcdboot command from elevated command prompt:
  • bcdboot h:\windows /s g:
After this you should be able to boot from 1TB SSD alone. Test it.
If this is successful, then delete unneeded bootloader partitions - 100MB partition on disk 0, 100MB partition on disk 1 (Disk Management will not allow this, you'll have to use diskpart instead).

44e21880bd1a957ebc186e4a3c5e8cd4.png
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Does the computer boot from the hdd without the ssd attached ? Are the windows applications, those listed on the start menu, also present within the OS on the HDD ? What data on the ssd are you concerned about, files, application s? Can they be copied to the hdd ?
 
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Computer boots with HDD fine w/o SSD, but why is the Windows OS now in that hard drive rather than my SSD? It has been working fine for over a year, having the OS on my SSD, even when it is a sole storage device in the PC.

All the SSD files, such as Program x86, Users, Windows, etc, as if the Windows OS was actually there, but doesnt contain the System reserved files. Basically all files are intact in the SSD, etc, except for the physically booting of Windows (when I try to boot with SSD alone, it would say that there is no OS discovered with the device).

Its like the physical presence of the windows OS switched from the SSD to the HDD, but keeping all files intact for both drives.
 
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When you migrated from the HDD to the SSD, that does not automatically remove it from the old HDD.
It is still there, waiting to rear its old slow head.

The new motherboard seemingly borked up the boot partition on the SSD.
So it didn't boot from that. Instead, it dropped down to the next choice in the list, the old HDD.


Sound about right?


Also, I'm thinking the original migration operation was not quite right.
The boot partition on the HDD was still being used, in conjunction with the OS on the SSD.
Remove the HDD, and poof...no boot for you.
 
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At the end of these clone/migration operations, its not enough to just change the boot order and proceed on.
You must physically disconnect the old drive and allow the system to boot up from the new drive.

That's all water under the bridge, though.
 
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The thing is, when I installed the new mobo, the SSD ran perfectly and was the C: for the system. However, it wouldn’t shut down so I decided to unplug the old hdd and put the boot options to UEFI, if that did anything. After that, bam, windows boot manager for SSD.

Also, the migration was successful before, I could easily take out the SSD, alone, and plug it into another PC without the old HDD I migrated it from.

Lastly, how do I fix this? How do I make my C: become my SSD, when literally all the same files/windows files are in it, just no boot. My SSD has 920 gb out of 1000 and my HDD has 500 gb, so If I did clone again, I would basically lose half of my data.
 
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Right.
The SSD is/was the C drive. That's where Windows lives.
That does not automatically mean the System Reserved partition (contains the boot partition) is also on that SSD.

And...moving OS drives between systems is strongly not recommended.
Sometimes it boots up perfectly.
Sometimes, the new system is trying to make changes strong enough to make it not boot when you put it back in the original system.
Yes, seriously.

So don't do that anymore.


On to the actual problem here.

It FAILS to boot up with only the SSD. Correct?
It WILL boot up with both drives connected. Correct?
It WILL boot up with only the HDD. Correct?
 
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Yes, only the SSD alone fails to boot. I can access it’s files when I connect hdd and SSD. HDD also Boots fine
 
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OK.

Disk 1, HDD:
The System Reserved partition is the boot info.
And that should not have a drive letter I.

During your original clone process, that partition apparently never made it to the SSD.

Windows may have existed on the SSD, but the boot partition was still on the HDD.
Take that out, and no boot for you.

Disk 2, the SSD:
That 500MB partition should not have a drive letter...currently G.
 
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Could I just do a partition clone with amoei, cloning the system reserved from this hdd into the SSD? And will that erase my data on my SSD in the process or?
 
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That is a 100% maybe.
And I wouldn't do it without a full backup of the SSD first.


Another option:

Disconnect ALL drives except for the SSD.
Boot from your OS install USB, and find the Repair function.
That may fix it as well.
 
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USB as in have the OS on the USB?

I got Windows 10 via electronic download
 
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Also, is the G: of any importance in the SSD? I can easily overwrite that with the System reserved without touching other partitions.
 
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You say you " put the boot options to UEFI, if that did anything ,then bam, windows boot manager for SSD."

What precisely do you mean by "windows boot manager for SSD" ?

What are the boot drive descriptions in UEFI ?

What are the partition styles for the HDD and SSD ?
When you change to UEFI only GPT drives will boot.
So is the HDD a GPT and the SSD an MBR disk ?
If so, then you could switch back to the way it were.
But you should do as suggested and delete drive letter "I"
 
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I duplicated Reserve partition, now do I disable the I: driver?
 
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The I drive letter?
In Disk Management, right click on that space.
There should be an option to "Change drive letter or path"
In there is an option to remove a drive letter.
 
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Didn’t boot up to windows, instead it said (only the SSD was plugged in) insert media with proper boot, etc
 
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