Windows 10: Can't boot from SSD with my Windows install without secondary HDD

My PC is a real mix of old and new parts and I currently have a problem where my 2TB mechanical HDD is failing. It is 100% active all the time, but frequently hangs or simply takes forever to browse or transfer any files, so I'm pretty sure it is on the way out. When I remove that HDD however, I can't boot my machine into Windows, even though my current install of Windows 10 Pro is on my 500GB NVME SSD. It works fine in general once I am able to boot into Windows and is super fast, but it can't boot to that SSD directly for some reason.

The 2TB HDD that is failing is from my old setup and still has an installation of Windows 7 on it. So when it is working normally I get given the option of booting into either Windows 7 or 10. Once Windows 10 is selected, booting works fine and is super fast, but without the HDD plugged in, it won't give me any options to boot to the SSD. When I try to use my recovery SSD, the startup repair is unable to do anything and I have tried one round of bootrec fixes to no avail. It seems like the boot record of some kind is actually housed on the mechanical HDD and I really need that to change somehow, preferably without needing to use that HDD as it is painfully slow to complete any task and could die at any minute.

Please help, what can I do in this instance?

:)

 

VirtualBox on SSD or secondary HDD Discussion

It seems UEFI firmware on relatively new computers does not like dual booting on secondary HDD's. So, what are your recommendations? Dual boot on a partition of the SSD, or set up a virtual machine on the secondary HDD?

VirtualBox is the current preference.

<Moved from Windows Insider preview forums>

 

SSD as Boot and Raid as secondary

I've just bought a vertex 2 and have installed windows on it, but am having difficulties setting up a RAID0 with my 2 HDD's that i want to use as my backup/seconday drives. If i set my Sata config to raid it wont let me boot with my SSD. Any suggestions?

 

Laptops can't boot from optical HDD\SSD caddy :-(

Hello
I have been investigating *a lot* and trying to boot a 2015 year HP Pavilion DV7 17-f076no (Serial: J1X05EA#UUW) from a Chinese Ebay optical drive HDD\SSD caddy:
Read multiple forum questions that had the same problem as I: ( Bios can't find a bootable SSD inside optical caddy )
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo...find-caddy-SSD-in-BIOS-boot-list/td-p/3278964
BIOS doesn't recognize the second HDD (hard drive caddy)

Startup:

• Cloned a 1000gb HDD containing 100/1000gb of Windows 10 Home 64-bit to a 500gb SSD with a EZ Gig IV 4.6.2 cloning software and a USB-SATA transfer cable.
• Original 1000gb HDD is still inside the laptop.
• DVD-drive replaced with a 500gb SSD caddy.

So far:

• The SSD (=2018 Samsung 860EVO 500gb) can be used and seen inside Windows 10. ( As a storage only )
• The 2015 Bios F.43 Rev.A American Megatrends Inc. can not see the SSD from the BIOS boot order. Windows Boot Manager sees only the original HDD.
• UEFI Legacy boot-mode is disabled. I don't think enabling it would help since I'm starting up Windows 10.

Solutions:

• Faulty caddy ? Chinese sellers sell many multiple variations of different 9.7mm thick caddys with different micro switches. This one had only a 1 pc of micro switch with 2 position choices.
• Bios is just not flexible enough. Open the 20+pcs of laptop screws and put the SSD to the place of the original HDD.
• UEFI Legacy mode ?
• Modding the caddy. Someone said the caddy is in a "power saving sleep mode" when inside BIOS and it is therefore unseen and shortening some pins would help ? Any experience in soldering the caddy electronics so that it is constantly awake ? This sounds believable ?
• Cloned the HDD twice to minimize errors but no help I doubt it is because of the cloning process and if it is it is because the HDD and SSD were not the same size 1000gb and 1000gb and the partitions don't match or so...?

Laptops are not easy...