[SOLVED] PC not recognizing boot drive when secondary drive is removed

[paupypaup]

I have a ASUS TUF GAMING X570-PLUS mobo. Initially, I had a 1TB WD_BLACK SN750 NVMe which served as my boot drive and several other SSD/HDDs that served as my extraneous storage. A couple months ago, I got a 2TB Samsung 980 Pro and decided to use it as my boot drive. I installed the Samsung without removing the WD NVMe then did a clean install of Windows on the Samsung and booted out of that without an issue.

Fast forward to today. I decided to remove the WD NVMe so I can use it as a boot drive for another build. However, when I remove the WD, my PC does not recognize my Samsung as the boot drive. When I turn the PC on, it takes me straight to BIOS and does not recognize the drive.

I re-installed the WD and my PC booted up fine just like before. I formatted the WD, ensured that the boot order is correct and then removed the WD once again. Once again, it took me straight to BIOS and did not recognize the Samsung drive.

What's going on here? How do I remove my WD NVMe drive properly?

 

[white.a.drew]

I have a ASUS TUF GAMING X570-PLUS mobo. Initially, I had a 1TB WD_BLACK SN750 NVMe which served as my boot drive and several other SSD/HDDs that served as my extraneous storage. A couple months ago, I got a 2TB Samsung 980 Pro and decided to use it as my boot drive. I installed the Samsung without removing the WD NVMe then did a clean install of Windows on the Samsung and booted out of that without an issue.

Fast forward to today. I decided to remove the WD NVMe so I can use it as a boot drive for another build. However, when I remove the WD, my PC does not recognize my Samsung as the boot drive. When I turn the PC on, it takes me straight to BIOS and does not recognize the drive.

I re-installed the WD and my PC booted up fine just like before. I formatted the WD, ensured that the boot order is correct and then removed the WD once again. Once again, it took me straight to BIOS and did not recognize the Samsung drive.

What's going on here? How do I remove my WD NVMe drive properly?

The issue you are having is like most people who are new to installing os's, you installed windows with the second drive plugged in with the main drive. There for windows decided on it's own to install the boot portion of windows on the secondary drive and the main portion on the SSD I have had this happen several times forgetting I'm going to install the os

 

[white.a.drew]

I have a ASUS TUF GAMING X570-PLUS mobo. Initially, I had a 1TB WD_BLACK SN750 NVMe which served as my boot drive and several other SSD/HDDs that served as my extraneous storage. A couple months ago, I got a 2TB Samsung 980 Pro and decided to use it as my boot drive. I installed the Samsung without removing the WD NVMe then did a clean install of Windows on the Samsung and booted out of that without an issue.

Fast forward to today. I decided to remove the WD NVMe so I can use it as a boot drive for another build. However, when I remove the WD, my PC does not recognize my Samsung as the boot drive. When I turn the PC on, it takes me straight to BIOS and does not recognize the drive.

I re-installed the WD and my PC booted up fine just like before. I formatted the WD, ensured that the boot order is correct and then removed the WD once again. Once again, it took me straight to BIOS and did not recognize the Samsung drive.

What's going on here? How do I remove my WD NVMe drive properly?

https://www.tenforums.com/general-support/137777-i-want-move-windows-boot-manager-hdd-ssd.html

 

[Wolfshadw]

As @white.a.drew states, your OS install is on both drives. You will need to remove all drives save for the one you intend the OS to be installed on and then perform a clean install of Windows.

-Wolf sends