Question SSD & HDD are unable to work separately ?

[Ricobaston]

Hi,

I have a Samsung 860 Pro 256GB SSD and a Western Digital Ultrastar 4TB HDD installed on one of my PCs which I named it as PC1

The issue that I’m facing is that when I tried to replace either one of them to a new exactly same type of SSD/HDD, the PC will display this error: Default boot file missing or boot failed

I tried installing the SSD & HDD from PC1 to any other PC that i have with the exact same specs but it seems like this particular SSD & HDD from PC1 can’t be separated. It’s like they are tied together for some reason which I am unable to figure out.

 

[KingLoki]

Did you install windows with both hdd's connected? If so, it messes with the boot process during installation.

 

[SkyNetRising]

it seems like this particular SSD & HDD from PC1 can’t be separated. It’s like they are tied together for some reason which I am unable to figure out.

Please show screenshot from Disk Management.
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

Most likely bootloader is on one drive and windows installed on the other drive.
Then you can't boot into windows, if one of those drives is missing.

 

[Ricobaston]

Did you install windows with both hdd's connected? If so, it messes with the boot process during installation.

I really can’t recall on that one but if I were to mistakenly do so, will there be any solutions to solve it?

 

[Ricobaston]

Please show screenshot from Disk Management.
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

Most likely bootloader is on one drive and windows installed on the other drive.
Then you can't boot into windows, if one of those drives is missing.

Alright I will upload the screenshot to imgur.com.

 

[Ricobaston]

Please show screenshot from Disk Management.
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

Most likely bootloader is on one drive and windows installed on the other drive.
Then you can't boot into windows, if one of those drives is missing.

Here’s the link

https://imgur.com/a/9dkGhju

View: https://imgur.com/a/9dkGhju

 

[SkyNetRising]

Here’s the link

Bootloader and windows OS partition are located on the same drive - 256GB Samsung 860 Pro.
You should be able to boot into windows with 4TB drive disconnected.

Adding/removing drives can change boot order.
You have to verify boot priority settings in BIOS after drive adding/removal.
Set first boot device to Windows Boot Manager on Samsung 860 Pro.

Make sure, you disable Secure Boot and
disable Fast Boot in BIOS.

 

[Ricobaston]

Bootloader and windows OS partition are located on the same drive - 256GB Samsung 860 Pro.
You should be able to boot into windows with 4TB drive disconnected.

Adding/removing drives can change boot order.
You have to verify boot priority settings in BIOS after drive adding/removal.
Set first boot device to Windows Boot Manager on Samsung 860 Pro.

Make sure, you disable Secure Boot and
disable Fast Boot in BIOS.

Do I need to remove the 4TB drive before proceeding with the steps above?

Can I also know the reason to disable Secure Boot and Fast Boot?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Do I need to remove the 4TB drive before proceeding with the steps above?

What steps? For adjusting BIOS settings?
No. It doesn't matter.

Can I also know the reason to disable Secure Boot and Fast Boot?

Secure boot enabled - will limit ability to boot, when swapping hardware.
Fast boot enabled - can cause file system corruption, when changing/swapping storage devices.
You want those settings turned off.

 

[Ricobaston]

What steps? For adjusting BIOS settings?
No. It doesn't matter.

Secure boot enabled - will limit ability to boot, when swapping hardware.
Fast boot enabled - can cause file system corruption, when changing/swapping storage devices.
You want those settings turned off.

Just to clarify that by doing these settings will separate the Bootloader and windows OS partition from the same drive - 256GB Samsung 860 Pro? Or it is to solve the issue of Boot failed/missing?

And by looking at the image I uploaded, how do we know that the Bootloader and windows OS partition are located on the same drive?

 

[SkyNetRising]

by doing these settings will separate the Bootloader and windows OS partition from the same drive - 256GB Samsung 860 Pro?

What? No.
I already described impact of those settings.
They do not "separate" bootloader.

Or it is to solve the issue of Boot failed/missing?

Will prevent some of possible issues.

And by looking at the image I uploaded, how do we know that the Bootloader and windows OS partition are located on the same drive?

Bootloader partition in Disk Management is shown as small 100MB EFI System partition.
You can clearly see EFI System partition and Windows OS partition ( C: ) - are located on the same drive.