Question Windows 10 Boot Drive

[YoungFL]

I just unboxed a Dell Inspiron 7777 on Thursday. I added 8 GB of memory on Friday. I added a 500 GB Crucial SSD on Saturday (today) and cloned the original HD to it using Acronis. It is my intention to use the SSD for the Windows 10 OS and applications and the OEM 1 TB spinner for data. Crucial's only answer for making your system default to their SSD is to physically remove the HDD from the system. That's nuts. Having said that, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get this system to default to the SSD on boot any other way. I have accessed the bios and their are no drives listed there. Option One is Windows Boot Manager. I feel like an idiot but have already wasted hours trying to figure this out for myself. Please help!

 

[Obakasama]

Physically removing the HDD is as simple as disconnecting the SATA cable from the HDD. Allow Windows Boot Manager to do its thing. Once things seem fine with the SSD; shut down and reconnect the HDD.

 

[USAFRet]

Assuming the system still works with the original drive, redo the clone operation.
Exactly like this:

-----------------------------
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------

 

[YoungFL]

Thanks to both of you. In my case, the original HDD is a 1TB SATA and the SSD is a 500 GB Crucial m.2. In my bumbling around, I believe I deleted Windows Boot Manager from the start-up preferences but I did make a recovery drive before I did that.

At this point, I am going to yank the original drive, boot her up and see what happens. One thing I am unclear about is what keeps my computer from reverting back to the original HD when I put it back in? On a related topic, I am guessing that, because it was originally a system drive, it is probably going to be protected somehow that keeps me from simply reformatting it for data only use. I have already been through the process of returning a 256 GB flash drive to it;s original state after it became a 32GB recovery drive so I am not completely unfamiliar with that process.

 

[YoungFL]

It booted up just fine. Now what to do to get the original 1TB 2½" HD back in the system and useful for data?

 

[USAFRet]

It booted up just fine. Now what to do to get the original 1TB 2½" HD back in the system and useful for data?

Power OFF
Reconnect the old drive
Boot up, and verify that it is actually booting from the SSD.

Then, wipe the drive completely.
Commandline function diskpart, and the clean switch.

How to Diskpart Erase/Clean a Drive Through the Command Prompt | Support Seagate US

This article explains the Microsoft Diskpart Erase utility. The command that erases the drive during this process is "Clean". In this article "Clean" and erase are used interchangeably. Cleaning or erasing a storage device removes all data and partitions from the drive.

www.seagate.com

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-clean-and-format-storage-drive-using-diskpart-windows-10

Using Diskpart to create, delete, clean or extend disk partitions | TechTarget

Learn how to perform a successful diskpart delete partition operation among other disk-related jobs administrators should know with this Windows utility.

searchwindowsserver.techtarget.com

Just "formatting" it does not remove the original boot partition.
Wipe the entire drive.
And be very very careful as to which drive you are accessing. Clean is a very powerful command.

 

[YoungFL]

Power OFF
Reconnect the old drive
Boot up, and verify that it is actually booting from the SSD.

Then, wipe the drive completely.
Commandline function diskpart, and the clean switch.

How to Diskpart Erase/Clean a Drive Through the Command Prompt | Support Seagate US

This article explains the Microsoft Diskpart Erase utility. The command that erases the drive during this process is "Clean". In this article "Clean" and erase are used interchangeably. Cleaning or erasing a storage device removes all data and partitions from the drive.

www.seagate.com

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-clean-and-format-storage-drive-using-diskpart-windows-10

Using Diskpart to create, delete, clean or extend disk partitions | TechTarget

Learn how to perform a successful diskpart delete partition operation among other disk-related jobs administrators should know with this Windows utility.

searchwindowsserver.techtarget.com

Just "formatting" it does not remove the original boot partition.
Wipe the entire drive.
And be very very careful as to which drive you are accessing. Clean is a very powerful command.

Understand but I'm a little uncomfortable with being sure that the SSD has become the boot drive since the two are functionally identical at the moment. If I run Disk Manager after boot and the smaller ssd drive reports as drive 0, is that the proof I am after that it is, indeed the boot drive?

 

[USAFRet]

Boot up.
Is the "C" drive a 500GB or a 1TB?

If 500GB, that is the current boot and OS drive, the SSD.

 

[YoungFL]

Boot up.
Is the "C" drive a 500GB or a 1TB?

If 500GB, that is the current boot and OS drive, the SSD.

The 1TB showed up as Drive 0. I took a chance and cleaned, partitioned, formatted and named it. Rebooted. Worked like a charm! Thanks again!

 

[USAFRet]

"Drive 0" relates to what SATA port is it connected to, not whether it is the boot drive or not.