SSD and HDD in Aspire E17 - HDD takes over C drive letter

NiteOwl65
NiteOwl65 Member Posts: 5 New User
edited September 2023 in 2019 Archives
Hi all.
I recently tried switching my E17 laptop from using Optane to an M.2 SATA SSD.
I turned off the Optane memory, cloned the HDD to the SSD then set the SSD as the boot drive.
The machine boots but slowly apparently because the HDD is still installed and it forces itself as C: and the SSD is set to A:
If I disconnect the HDD the machine boots quickly and the SDD is assigned C:

I would like to keep the HDD in the machine for storage.  What do I need to do to prevent it from coming up as the C: drive?
I pulled the drive and hooked it up to another machine and reformatted it thinking it's boot record was causing problems but now when it is installed in the laptop it says there is a problem and wants to do a system restore.

Thanks.

Best Answers

  • Deejay_tech
    Deejay_tech Member Posts: 356 Seasoned Practitioner WiFi Icon
    Answer ✓
    There must be some hidden partitions in the hdd from the previous windows install, most probably efi, recovery etc ...
    your formatting the hdd does not delete these hidden partitions.
    since as you say with the hdd attached , your laptop does not boot into windows normally, can you attach this hdd in another machine or do you have any sata to usb connector.?
     we want to confirm the presence of these hidden partitions. if you can attach it to another windows m/c , then go into disk management and check for the presence of these hidden partitions there.
    if they are present then we need to delete these partitions. you can either delete them from disk management or using the "clean" command of diskpart.

    if there are no hidden partitions then also please confirm here. we can use diskpart to properly initialise the hdd then.

    My personal Acer m/c's
    1) Gaming: Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-51
    Config:Core i5 8300H, 16GB, 250GB SSD, 1TB HDD, 1050ti GPU

    2) Daily Use: Acer Aspire A315-53  59GR
    Config: Core i5 8250u, 8GB, 256 SSD, 1TB HDD, IPS FHD 

    3) Linux Learning: Acer Aspire A315-53 P4MY
    Config: Pentium Gold 4417U, 8 GB, 256 SSD, 500GB HDD.
  • NiteOwl65
    NiteOwl65 Member Posts: 5 New User
    Answer ✓
    I am pretty sure there are still the hidden partitions used for the factory recovery.  I can put the drive into another machine to remove the partitions.  I just did not think that they would interfere with drive assignment since the SDD is set as the primary boot device and has the full Windows install.
    I thought it more likely an issue with the drive controller and cable setup in the laptop but I have been out of working with hardware for about 10 years and not familiar with current tech.
    No reason not to kill those partitions though.  I do not need the factory restore.
    I will post my results after I have time to test tomorrow.

    Thanks.

Answers

  • NiteOwl65
    NiteOwl65 Member Posts: 5 New User
    I feel like an *****.  I confused models.  This laptop is not an Acer, it is a Dell.  I apologize for posting in the wrong forum.  I could not find anywhere to delete the post or modify it.
    I suspect this is probably something that occurs commonly when trying to use SSD and HDD though so if anyone has suggestions I would love to hear them.
    If an admin could please change the title to not include the incorrect model it would save people searching specifically for that model from matching this thread.
  • Deejay_tech
    Deejay_tech Member Posts: 356 Seasoned Practitioner WiFi Icon
    when you remove the drive (hdd) it boots normally, and when you attach it (formatted) it gives errors ?
    is that correct ?
    My personal Acer m/c's
    1) Gaming: Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-51
    Config:Core i5 8300H, 16GB, 250GB SSD, 1TB HDD, 1050ti GPU

    2) Daily Use: Acer Aspire A315-53  59GR
    Config: Core i5 8250u, 8GB, 256 SSD, 1TB HDD, IPS FHD 

    3) Linux Learning: Acer Aspire A315-53 P4MY
    Config: Pentium Gold 4417U, 8 GB, 256 SSD, 500GB HDD.
  • NiteOwl65
    NiteOwl65 Member Posts: 5 New User
    Yes.
    Before formatting the HDD if it was in the system when I booted then it seemed to boot off that drive.  When removed it would boot from the SSD.
    After formatting the HDD it would go into recovery mode to restore Windows.
    Everything  I can find on installing an SSD into a laptop talks about removing the HDD afterward, none talk about how to set it up to have the HDD as a secondary drive for storage.  My SSD is only 256GB and the HDD is 1T so I want to use it for storage and installation of apps that do not require higher speed access.
  • Deejay_tech
    Deejay_tech Member Posts: 356 Seasoned Practitioner WiFi Icon
    Answer ✓
    There must be some hidden partitions in the hdd from the previous windows install, most probably efi, recovery etc ...
    your formatting the hdd does not delete these hidden partitions.
    since as you say with the hdd attached , your laptop does not boot into windows normally, can you attach this hdd in another machine or do you have any sata to usb connector.?
     we want to confirm the presence of these hidden partitions. if you can attach it to another windows m/c , then go into disk management and check for the presence of these hidden partitions there.
    if they are present then we need to delete these partitions. you can either delete them from disk management or using the "clean" command of diskpart.

    if there are no hidden partitions then also please confirm here. we can use diskpart to properly initialise the hdd then.

    My personal Acer m/c's
    1) Gaming: Acer Predator Helios 300 PH315-51
    Config:Core i5 8300H, 16GB, 250GB SSD, 1TB HDD, 1050ti GPU

    2) Daily Use: Acer Aspire A315-53  59GR
    Config: Core i5 8250u, 8GB, 256 SSD, 1TB HDD, IPS FHD 

    3) Linux Learning: Acer Aspire A315-53 P4MY
    Config: Pentium Gold 4417U, 8 GB, 256 SSD, 500GB HDD.
  • NiteOwl65
    NiteOwl65 Member Posts: 5 New User
    Answer ✓
    I am pretty sure there are still the hidden partitions used for the factory recovery.  I can put the drive into another machine to remove the partitions.  I just did not think that they would interfere with drive assignment since the SDD is set as the primary boot device and has the full Windows install.
    I thought it more likely an issue with the drive controller and cable setup in the laptop but I have been out of working with hardware for about 10 years and not familiar with current tech.
    No reason not to kill those partitions though.  I do not need the factory restore.
    I will post my results after I have time to test tomorrow.

    Thanks.
  • NiteOwl65
    NiteOwl65 Member Posts: 5 New User
    Connected to a different laptop I was unable to delete the factory recovery partitions in Windows but was able to use diskpart to wipe them and reformat.
    Now the drive is working as expected as drive D: and C: is the SSD.
    I did note that there is a significant difference in boot speed with the HDD installed.
    Running just the SSD it boots in 9 seconds.  With the HDD added it takes 23 seconds.  I assume this is spinup and discovery time for the HDD causing delay but should not be an issue in running performance for the OS or applications installed to the SSD.

    Thanks for the help.
    I mistakenly clicked on my own last post as accepted answer but was able to click on yours as well.  I see no way to remove mine from accepted.