Zombie HDD - Aspire e5-575

kranklebuss

Hi,

I've upgraded to an SDD - cloned my old drive to it, and want to keep the old one in the machine for backup and storage.

However when I start the machine with the old drive in it, it **insists** on starting from the old drive.

I changed the boot order (HDD is now last, 9 on the list!) and the problem persists. I have changed its drive name and GUID and formatted it. But whenever I try and re-mount it my computer tries to start from it - I have no clue what's going on.

Running an outdated BIOS if that matters. If there's no other advice I might try updating it.

brummyfan2

Hi,
Try removing the HDD from the laptop, boot with the cloned SSD few times, once you are happy with the cloning, connect the HDD externally with a SATA to USB cable and  format it before installing it in the HDD bay, if you don't have the SATA to USB cable, you can try installing the HDD and see whether it boots with the new SSD.

kranklebuss

Thank you for helping me once again brummyfan, but I've already done as you suggest and am now stuck!

I could try unticking 'quick format' and trying again but I don't think it would be much different?
Otherwise all I can think to do is update the UEFI.

JackE

>>>However when I start the machine with the old drive in it, it **insists** on starting from the old drive.>>>

Probably too late by now but did you set and save a supervisor password? Then reenter the BIOS with the password to disable secure boot? Jack E/NJ

kranklebuss

Update - I am a wally and didn't force delete the startup and recovery partitions, only the disk as shown in file explorer.

For anyone who struggles with the same thing I needed to use something like the following:

Connect via cable

Powershell admin mode (right click start button to find)

diskpart

list disk

select disk "disk number"

list partition

select partition “partition number”

delete partition override

—
My computer is now booting with the drive mounted. 

JackE, I suspected secure boot for a minute and probably should have looked into it! With the partitions deleted the problem is solved, however, it’s possible that I’m losing a second or two of startup time if UEFI is still checking for startup info on the HDD. I’m not inclined to chase it up unless it’s easy, safe, and beneficial to do so!

JackE

>>>it’s possible that I’m losing a second or two of startup time if UEFI is still checking for startup info on the HDD>>>

@brummyfan2 suggested earlier. Just temporarily disconnect the HDD and see if the SSD boots noticeably faster. Jack E/NJ