[SOLVED] Windows booting from new SSD but still defaulting to old C drive

[Boeing100]

Hi All

Sorry in advance for the long explanation but would like to be as clear as possible in the hopes someone might be generous enough to help.

I purchased a new Samsung EVO SSD which I successfully installed to my PC. I cloned the old HDD drive to it using the Samsung software, and have amended the boot priority in my BIOS to the new drive.

I can tell that it is indeed booting up from the SSD (known as E: drive) as it now takes less than 6 seconds to boot which is fantastic. I can see the E: drive in file explorer and have no problems accessing any files, so far so good.

Here's my problem though: I now have one old (still valid) installation of windows on my C drive, and a new one on my E drive. There are some files I want to keep on my old C drive but overall I'm happy to delete the windows installation on it. The real problem is that I can see that the desktop screen is still from the C drive (if I download a new file to C: it will appear, whereas it I download to E: it will not). Strange in my opinion as I can see that the system is overall a lot more responsive since the SSD was installed, yet it still seems to be using the old HDD windows installation.

I checked MSConfig and under the startup tab, it does say "C:\Windows".

How can I safely delete the old C drive windows and make sure that everything is picked up from the E drive installation going forward?

Many thanks

 

[lolnole]

Here is what I think happened. By cloning the drive, you have an exact copy of the HDD on the SSD including settings and configurations. I am assuming that the Windows installation on your HDD was always the C: drive since that is Windows' default assignment. Therefore, the SSD will have settings and configurations that are pointing to the C: drive locations. Cloning does not change the paths automatically. All it does is make an exact copy.

I suggest removing the HDD from the system. Hopefully, the SSD will be reassigned as the C: drive. I am pretty sure it will. This will fix all the path issues.

 

[Boeing100]

Here is what I think happened. By cloning the drive, you have an exact copy of the HDD on the SSD including settings and configurations. I am assuming that the Windows installation on your HDD was always the C: drive since that is Windows' default assignment. Therefore, the SSD will have settings and configurations that are pointing to the C: drive locations. Cloning does not change the paths automatically. All it does is make an exact copy.

I suggest removing the HDD from the system. Hopefully, the SSD will be reassigned as the C: drive. I am pretty sure it will. This will fix all the path issues.

Thanks for your suggestion, so you think that by physically unplugging the C drive, windows will automatically reassign paths to the E drive (SSD)? just want to make sure I understand correctly.

 

[lolnole]

To be honest, I am not sure. One mistake people do is install Windows on a new drive without removing the old one. The new drive is assigned as E: drive. If the person wants to change it to C:, they can't unless they reinstall Windows. Your situation is different because you did a clone. Because you ran the cloned drives simultaneously, Windows had a conflict with the drive letter assignment. They can't both be C:. I don't know if Windows permanently changed the settings and configurations on the SSD to switch it to E: drive.

Basically, if this does not work, I suggest you do the clone again and ensure that only the SSD is in the system on the next reboot. That will guarantee it will remain as the C: drive. Afterwards, it should be safe to connect the HDD if you decide to reformat it and make it a storage drive.

Does your system ask you which Windows do you want to boot into at startup?

 

[Boeing100]

To be honest, I am not sure. One mistake people do is install Windows on a new drive without removing the old one. The new drive is assigned as E: drive. If the person wants to change it to C:, they can't unless they reinstall Windows. Your situation is different because you did a clone. Because you ran the cloned drives simultaneously, Windows had a conflict with the drive letter assignment. They can't both be C:. I don't know if Windows permanently changed the settings and configurations on the SSD to switch it to E: drive.

Basically, if this does not work, I suggest you do the clone again and ensure that only the SSD is in the system on the next reboot. That will guarantee it will remain as the C: drive. Afterwards, it should be safe to connect the HDD if you decide to reformat it and make it a storage drive.

Does your system ask you which Windows do you want to boot into at startup?

No it doesn't asks, just boots. But at the speed at which it boots, i'm 100% certain it's booting from the E drive.

 

[Solandri]

My guess as to what's happening is your computer is still booting off your HDD. The boot sector of the HDD is instructing the computer to load the OS off the SSD. But because the HDD is the boot drive, it is being assigned the letter C:. Because you cloned the HDD to the SSD, the installation on the SSD says all your user directories (Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music, Video, etc) are on the C: drive. So it's getting them from the HDD instead of the SSD.

I can think of several reasons why the computer might still be booting off the HDD. I'd start by removing the HDD and seeing if it will boot with only the SSD installed. If it doesn't, then you only cloned the OS partition, not the entire drive. The SSD has no boot sector, so the computer is trying to boot off of it, failing, and booting off the next device on the list which is the HDD. You need to clone the entire drive to get the boot sector (and sometimes boot partition) copied. You should be able to fix it by (with only the SSD installed) booting off a Win 10 install USB drive, and running a repair. No need to clone it again.

If the SSD does boot by itself, then despite what you think you did in the BIOS, the computer is still booting off the HDD. You're gonna have to figure it out why it's not trying to boot off the SSD first. The simplest way is to wipe the HDD - delete all partitions, create a new partition, format it, and restore you data from a backup. But your writeup implies this isn't an option. In which case you're gonna have to fiddle with the BIOS and possible SATA cables (try swapping the connector the SSD and HDD are plugged into).

 

[USAFRet]

One of the prime steps usually missed during a clone procedure is not removing the old drive as soon as the operation is finished.

You're getting confused with the drive letters. If the system is booting from the 'new drive', that cannot be the E drive letter.

Doing a Repair function from a Win 10 install might work.
Do this with only the SSD connected.

If not, then redo this clone operation:
Verify the system boots up with the new drive physically disconnected...that it works fromt he old drive by itself.

Then, 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 as necessary.
Delete the 450MB Recovery Partition, here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/4f1b84ac-b193-40e3-943a-f45d52e23685/cant-delete-extra-healthy-recovery-partitions-and-healthy-efi-system-partition?forum=w8itproinstall

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

 

[Boeing100]

thanks all for your suggestions, I will give this a try!