Unable to boot linux from seconds SSD on Acer Nitro v 15, recovery drive also unusable

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I cant even use the recovery drive I made if something goes wrong. So there's no Linux even on a second m2 ssd I just tried. Using windows 11 boot options doesn't present anything but USB options but nothing is visible in setup or f12, even with admin password set and secure boot off and cleared. I'm assuming thunderbolt booting wouldn't work then either and I'm not ready to spend that kind of money on a thunderbolt m2 dock to find out. I'm afraid I may have to return this otherwise nice laptop. Is there another firmware I could use? Why would a usb dvd work but not a second internal ssd? thanks in advance! Namaste /\ 253-227-6347

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Is external thunderbolt scsi? Maybe that would work; or new firmware update that can see and allow second ssd installed internally or thunderbolt to be bootable . It's flagged for it. Maybe the advance startup options in windows 11 should allow to point to another disk especially if I make a recovery disk out of internal ssd. I would think external thunderbolt ssd should also? Thanks in advance. Namaste /\

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