Question [Windows 10 Laptop] How Do I Get the Internal SSD, That Now Only Boots as an External SSD, Back to Being Able to Boot as an Internal SSD?

[Tay Davis]

Device Type: Laptop
Make/Model: Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-54-760S
OS: Windows 10 (formally Windows 11)

Brief Description of Problem: Removed the SSD from the NEW laptop to clone my old laptop onto it but afterwards, once the NEW laptop's SSD was reinstalled to the same exact laptop it came from, the laptop refused to boot from it giving the error message "Inaccessible Boot Device" and automatically restarting from the blue screen. Placed the same SSD into an enclosure and, after selecting it in the UEFI, the laptop boots from it just fine. I need to be able to place this SSD back into the laptop and have it functioning.

Full Description: Hello All and thank you for your time, experience, and expertise.

I purchased a new laptop but wanted to keep everything basically the same from my old one otherwise. One of the problems was that the new system came with Windows 11 pre-installed while my old laptop was Windows 10. Also, I just didn't want Windows 11.

Because it was pre-installed, I couldn't simply roll it back so I did a fresh/full/clean install of Windows 10. Got everything to work again, tested it by restarting and powering off, and after it showed it was working I proceeded to remove the SSD from the Helios laptop.

I placed it in an enclosure and then cloned my old laptop onto it. I placed the new SSD into its original place (still the new laptop) and instead of booting up, I got a blue screen that said the drive was inaccessible (INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE) and it restarted until it got to the troubleshoot screen.

I then placed the drive back into the enclosure and attempted to boot from the drive again. This time it worked perfectly. It's clearly a clone of my old laptop and functions just fine this way.

When the SSD is an internal drive in its original slot, in the UEFI, the laptop seems able to see that it is there and knows exactly the make and model of the SSD

When set up as an external drive, the SSD's full identification shows up under priority and not just Windows Boot Manager

That's all the relevant information I can think of for now. Thank you all again for your time regardless.

 

[USAFRet]

So many issues....

Moving a drive, or a clone, between systems rarely works as well as we want it to. Even less so between laptops.

If you put the NEW laptop back to original configuration, with its original drive...does it work?

What make/model/size are these drives?
What are these two laptops?

 

[Tay Davis]

So many issues....

Moving a drive, or a clone, between systems rarely works as well as we want it to. Even less so between laptops.

If you put the NEW laptop back to original configuration, with its original drive...does it work?

What make/model/size are these drives?
What are these two laptops?

I appreciate you taking the time to respond. While the SSD from the new laptop is a clone of the old laptop's C drive, it is in fact the same SSD being put back into the original system.

If by original configuration, you mean that I remove the cloned information from the new SSD, I will be attempting to avoid that for now especially since it successfully boots from the drive when it is connected externally.

The two drives are the same size and again, the drive is perfectly functional and bootable as an external, just not as an internal drive installed in its original place.

I apologize for any confusion my original post may have caused. Hopefully it will be a bit clearer with some of the edits I've made.

 

[USAFRet]

I appreciate you taking the time to respond. While the SSD from the new laptop is a clone of the old laptop's C drive, it is in fact the same SSD being put back into the original system.

If by original configuration, you mean that I remove the cloned information from the new SSD, I will be attempting to avoid that for now especially since it successfully boots from the drive when it is connected externally.

The two drives are the same size and again, the drive is perfectly functional and bootable as an external, just not as an internal drive installed in its original place.

I apologize for any confusion my original post may have caused. Hopefully it will be a bit clearer with some of the edits I've made.

What are the two laptops?

Make/model.

 

[Tay Davis]

Update: I entered command prompt, using a Windows 10 Media USB, to use the following bootrec commands on the new laptop/SSD (the only one I'm messing with at this point):

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /scanos
bootrec /rebuildbcd

All of them said operation successful except one: bootrec /fixboot. When I tried this one, it said "Access Denied"

The new laptop still won't boot from its own SSD with it installed where it originally was but that same laptop will boot from it if it is connected externally.

EDIT: In diskpart, using "list disk" the SSD doesn't show at all. Only the USB does, so the "Access Denied" might have been the Windows 10 Media USB. Again, the SSD is showing in the UEFI but not here.

 

[Tay Davis]

Update: Seems it may have been hardware related. Exchanged the new laptop for the same exact one, did the process again (cloning and all that), and this time it worked perfectly. Not entirely sure what happened still, but it worked fine this go around.