[SOLVED] System uses multiple Drives to boot up

[NileshK]

I managed to install Windows 10 on my system. It should only require one drive to boot up from normally. But instead, it is showing another hard drive in the list of boot priority, rather than the one on which I have actually installed the OS. This was my third attempt. On my first attempt, I had installed the OS on one hard drive, it was booting properly, but my other hard drive was not showing up in the Explorer at all. And if I disconnected that other drive, the system would not boot up. Then I disconnected all the other hard drives and only kept the one on which I wanted to install the OS. It worked and the system is working fine, all the drives are showing up properly, but in the BIOS, under the boot priority list, it is showing another hard drive. this has been bothering me since it looks like I have missed something and done something wrong. Someone please provide me with the proper steps to follow in order to have my system boot normally or how to install the OS without making this mess.
My motherboard is Asus TUF Gaming B550 Plus
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3700X

 

[USAFRet]

Please show us a screencap of your Disk Management window.

Did you do this OS install with more than one drive connected?
This is a fresh install, today?

 

[boju]

Win10 has a bad habit of messing with other drives if connected when installing. Since you reinstalled Windows again with one drive connected, the boot info on the other drive should be redundant and can format it.

 

[NileshK]

Please show us a screencap of your Disk Management window.

Did you do this OS install with more than one drive connected?
This is a fresh install, today?

I don't know how to attach a screenshot image here, I'm sorry.

I did the OS install with more than one drive connected before. That time, the OS was installed on the drive which I had selected, but later the boot itself required another hard drive to be connected along with this one. And once booted, the other hard drive was not visible in the Windows Explorer at all. The hard drive was being detected, though.
Then I tried the install on one hard drive with the other two hard drives disconnected from the board. Then it worked fine. But under the Boot Priority list in the BIOS where you can drag and drop to choose which drive you want the system to boot from, it shows a different hard drive as bootable instead of the one that is actually bootable. 😵
I just decided to use it as is since it doesn't really affect me. But I will be installing a M.2 NVMe SSD soon. I will be installing my OS on that one so it will be a fresh install. So the reason I am asking this is because these things which happened before will most likely happen again. I want to know the solution that will enable allow me to have all the hard drive connected while making this fresh install on the SSD and not mess things up like it did the first time.

P.S. Sorry for the long post.

 

[NileshK]

Win10 has a bad habit of messing with other drives if connected when installing. Since you reinstalled Windows again with one drive connected, the boot info on the other drive should be redundant and can format it.

But this wasn't a problem on my older system when I had a micro ATX motherboard from Gigabyte (I forgot the model name, but it supported my old 3rd Gen intel i7). Back then, it wouldn't make mess like this. It would just boot from the drive which I would install the OS on. I never had to disconnect the other hard drives whenever I would install Windows.

 

[USAFRet]

For your pics, upload them to imgur, and post the link here.

 

[NileshK]

For your pics, upload them to imgur, and post the link here.

Oh. Alright. Here you go. Disk Management screenshot

 

[USAFRet]

Oh. Alright. Here you go. Disk Management screenshot

So if you physically disconnect Disk 1 and DIsisk 2, does the system boot up?

 

[NileshK]

So if you physically disconnect Disk 1 and DIsisk 2, does the system boot up?

It does. Since that is how I had to finally install the OS on my desired hard drive; by disconnecting the other two drives. I did that, then booted the system from only that one hard drive. That way I was certain that the system is finally taking only once hard drive to boot. Then I connected the other two hard drives to the board again. It took me two attempts at installing the OS to come to this half assed solution.

 

[USAFRet]

It does. Since that is how I had to finally install the OS on my desired hard drive; by disconnecting the other two drives. I did that, then booted the system from only that one hard drive. That way I was certain that the system is finally taking only once hard drive to boot. Then I connected the other two hard drives to the board again. It took me two attempts at installing the OS to come to this half assed solution.

Then all is OK with the current setup.

For the future NVMe drive, have only ONE drive connected when you install.

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[NileshK]

Then all is OK with the current setup.

For the future NVMe drive, have only ONE drive connected when you install.

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

Okay. Then you have my thanks.