[SOLVED] Something went wrong with my hard drives

[kristibbs]

Well i have those 2 hard drives 1 have my windows and data in it and 1 is empty If i connect both of them when i turn the pc on its seem like is trying to access a windows on the empty hard drive. And idk what to do. Btw if i have my pc on and then i connect the empty hard drive works but after i restart it is the same problem. I hope is understandable i am not very good at english

 

[Paperdoc]

It is very likely that your BIOS is not set correctly on one item. In BIOS Setup there is always a place where you can specify what device(s) are to be used to boot up. If you have more than one possible, you can set up a priority. For example, I have mine set to try my old floppy disk unit first, then one of my optical drives, then a particular hard disk. Under normal circumstances, the floppy and optical drives have nothing in them and, after a quick check, the system boots from the hard drive. But on rare occasions for troubleshooting I can put a bootable floppy or optical disk in and boot from that before it ever tries the hard drive. But that's just to illustrate that you can have a priority sequence. In your case, OP, you may only want to specify exactly which hard drive to use.

To do this you need to know how to enter BIOS Setup, how to move around in it and use its menus to make choices, and how to save those choices to be used all the time. So, post back here exactly what maker and model number of motherboard you have, and we can look up its manual and show you the details. Also, IF you have the manual yourself, let us know. Otherwise we could show you where to find one on-line to help you.

With that info we can tell you how to set the correct option in your machine so it always boots from the correct HDD.

 

[kristibbs]

This is my motherboard : ASRock AB350M [ AB350M ]

 

[Paperdoc]

Thanks for that. If you don't have the mobo manual, an on-line version is available here

http://asrock.pc.cdn.bitgravity.com/Manual/AB350M.pdf

Install both your hard drives in your system. If possible, note any identifier (like a model number) on the drives, and the SATA port numbers on your mobo to which they are connected. These will help you know which to choose later Then see p. 45 to start. It says to use the "Del" or the "F2" key during the POST process right at starting up to enter BIOS Setup. A simple push may not do it. I am in the habit of holding down the "Del" key until the BIOS Setup opening screen shows up (p. 47). Note the Navigation Keys info on p. 46.

From the top menu bar choose the BOOT tab, which will take you to that set of screens - see p. 61. On the first line, "Boot Option Priorities", hit Enter to get to the sub-screen. There you should find a way to specify a sequence of which devices in your system are to be used, in which order (if more than one). Make sure you set it to boot from the one HDD that has your OS on it - this is why I said to note identifiers on the drives. Also ensure that the other drive (and any other devices NOT to be used for booting) is NOT in the specified sequence. When done, use the "Esc" key to back out and get to the Exit screen (p. 63). Choose the first line option, "Save Changes and Exit". The system will save your new settings and reboot, and it should work smoothly with no confusion about which drive to use.