[SOLVED] PC only boots when non-OS HDD is plugged in

Zerohmaru

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Sep 11, 2016
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Hello everyone, I just built my PC and I am having some strange problem.

I have 3 disks:



HDD (1) with only data, games and more

SSD (2) with W10 used on my previous computer

M.2 NVMe (3) with W10 and used as the actual OS drive



So, I want to have the three disks connected and extract the important information to the disk 3 but it is giving me lots of problems



With only disk 3 connected won't boot, it says that I have to insert some disk and press any key to continue

With 2+3 boots only into the old Windows (disk 2)

With 1+3 it boots into Windows perfectly



My plan is end up taking off disk 1 and have only 2+3 but I am unable due to problems I said before. I don't know what to do. I touched different settings in the BIOS but anything worked

My motherboard is a Asus ROG X470-F in case that means something



Thank you all
 
Solution
Well, it sounds like when you did the Windows install on drive 3 it placed the boot information onto drive 1. I don't know why Windows does this, but it is a pain in the rear. So, drive 2 has all the Windows boot info and the OS, Drive 1 has the boot info for drive 3 but no OS, and Drive 3 has an OS but no boot information.

So, I'd unhook all other drives, reinstall Windows onto 3 and make it the primary boot drive, then plug in the other drives. That should solve your problem.

Alternatively you could look into using utilities to write a new boot sector or repair the boot sector on drive 3, but that is a little more complicated.
Well, it sounds like when you did the Windows install on drive 3 it placed the boot information onto drive 1. I don't know why Windows does this, but it is a pain in the rear. So, drive 2 has all the Windows boot info and the OS, Drive 1 has the boot info for drive 3 but no OS, and Drive 3 has an OS but no boot information.

So, I'd unhook all other drives, reinstall Windows onto 3 and make it the primary boot drive, then plug in the other drives. That should solve your problem.

Alternatively you could look into using utilities to write a new boot sector or repair the boot sector on drive 3, but that is a little more complicated.
 
Solution