SSD in AHCI mode boots very slow if HDD is connected, very fast without HDD

[Dus]

I just installed a Samsung 840 Evo and am running in AHCI mode. Windows 7 boots quickly if only my SSD is connected to the motherboard but if I add my original HDD back the boot time slows down tremendously. Performance of the SSD itself is unaffected after the OS is up.

I've made sure to change my BIOS settings to exclude both the HDD and optical drive from all boot settings such that it sees the SSD alone.

From an old forum post I read that if the HDD still has a partition marked as 'primary partition' then this can cause a slow down and it is recommended to format that partition to resolve the issue. Sure enough, my old C drive is marked as a primary partition on the HDD so I suspect this to the problem.

I'm about to format my OS partition on the HDD now but am a bit wary so I thought of posting here first to see what others think. I've already verified that my OS runs successfully off the SSD alone by disconnecting the HDD and testing.

 

[huilun02]

Just remove all partitions from your HDD, and then format the whole volume as one new drive.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Open disk management in administrative tools>computer management. Right click on the drive you know to be the HDD and delete the partitions until there is no allocated partitions remaining. The right click and select new simple volume. Use the full unallocated space. Then format it and it's ready for use.

 

[Paul NZ]

That can happen if its having probs reading the hdd / or recognizing it / it maybe corrupt or something

 

[Darkbreeze]

That can happen if its having probs reading the hdd / or recognizing it / it maybe corrupt or something

No, it just has the old boot partition on it still and it's being sourced during boot.

 

[Dus]

Thanks everyone for the quick replies. Do I really have to format _all_ the partitions and not just the one with the OS?

I'll have to juggle around a lot of data to and fro if I need to format the entire thing!

 

[huilun02]

At least the system partition has to be removed. If you have stuff sitting in there, you can move them to other partitions/drives before removing it.

 

[Dus]

Thank you, I'll try this and report back!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Actually, you can just go to disk management as outlined above right click on the partitions that relate to the operating system of which there is likely more than one. The core OS files are probably on one partition while the master boot record is probably on a separate one. Right click on them and select delete until they are gone and then you can just right click and grow the partition to incorporate the unallocated space back into one of the remaining partitions on the drive.

 

[Dus]

Thanks everyone for the replies, I've marked darkbreeze's solution.

I've decided to let this issue lie without fixing anything for a few weeks. I realize this is probably harmless, but my PC has been pretty unstable in the last month already and I want to have at least a few weeks of stable use

 

[Darkbreeze]

No worries. Come back when you're ready and I'll prepare an exact step by step on what you need to do so there is no confusion.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Actually, this explains what to do in pretty much full detail.

http://www.howtogeek.com/101862/how-to-manage-partitions-on-windows-without-downloading-any-other-software/

 

[Dus]

Thanks again!

 

[Darkbreeze]

No problem Take care.