[SOLVED] Setting NVMe SSD to default boot device after clone ?

Jul 6, 2022
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Hello,

So, I'm upgrading my Windows 7 PC to an NVMe SSD from a smaller SSD. It wouldn't recognize the drive at first, but I found and installed the hotfix and got it to work. I was then able to clone with Acronis True Image 2021 successfully.

The weird thing is (and this may be because I'm not on UEFI BIOS), I can't set the NVME drive to automatically boot. The drive doesn't show up as an option in the Boot order.

I CAN select it from the F11 one-time boot device menu, in which case, it works like a charm. But, if I shutdown or restart, the system jumps back to the old SSD.

I'm thinking maybe if I disconnect the old SSD (so the only accessible OS is on the NVME) or possibly change BIOS settings to UEFI instead it might work? But I thought I'd poll the internet first as, at the moment, it's only a minor inconvenience. I'd rather keep my motherboard on Legacy if at all possible as well. I don't absolutely need the old SSD, as it's only a 250 gb, but I thought I might keep it around as a backup for a bit/eventually use as extra program storage. I could also wipe it, but I want to make sure all is hunky dory with the clone first.

Thanks!
 
List full specs of your system.
Motherboard BIOS has to support boot from PCIE device.
If it doesn't, then you have to boot from sata device instead (bootloader on sata drive).
Windows can be on NVME then.

Removing sata drive will make your system unbootable (if BIOS doesn't support boot from PCIE).
 
Jul 6, 2022
5
0
10
List full specs of your system.
Motherboard BIOS has to support boot from PCIE device.
If it doesn't, then you have to boot from sata device instead (bootloader on sata drive).
Windows can be on NVME then.

Removing sata drive will make your system unbootable (if BIOS doesn't support boot from PCIE).

ASRock AB350M Pro4 motherboard (AMD Socket AM4 B350)
AMD Ryzen 5 1600 3.2 GHz
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
8 GB DDR4
Windows 7 Home Premium Service Pack 1
Currently installed drives:
  • 1 TB SATA HDD
  • 1 TB NVME SSD
  • 250 GB SATA SSD

As I said, I can boot to the NVME SSD from the manual boot menu (F11 on my system). In fact, I'm using it right now. It's only the automatic boot I can't control. (And if I do screw it up, I can always plug the drive back in, lol.)

I would also mention that this board was designed for Windows 10, so I'm pretty sure it has support. I had to do some tricks to get Windows 7 to install at all, as the normal install disk didn't recognize my USB devices.
 
Jul 6, 2022
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That is UEFI board and has M.2 slot.
There are no issues for booting from NVME drive.

Your windows 7 usage totally confused things. Thought you had some ancient system with no UEFI and NVME support.

Yes, I figured that. But still, it's all working fine with 7. I'm just trying to figure out how to set the auto boot.

Now that you know the specs, do you think unplugging the old boot drive will do the trick? I'm inclined to think so.
 
Jul 6, 2022
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Can you show screenshots from Disk Management,
BIOS - boot priority settings and
BIOS - HDD BBS settings?
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

Here's the Disk Management screenshot. I'll have to do the BIOS tomorrow as it's a bit late and that's a more involved process. (Can't just Alt-Printscreen!)
[
DiskManagement.jpg
 
Jul 6, 2022
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Can you show screenshots from Disk Management,
BIOS - boot priority settings and
BIOS - HDD BBS settings?
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

Hey, never mind, lol... I solved it.

Your mention of HDD BBS settings led me in the right direction. I feel dumb I didn't check that, I was stuck in the boot priority settings. But yeah, the BBS settings let me choose the NVME drive, and all is well!