Windows 10: Can't boot up using C: drive but working on D drive

My Windows 10 PC has two hard drives. After trying to install Outlook 2013 (my husband hates Outlook 365) I can no longer boot up the computer onto the C drive. I've tried all the repair, recovery and refresh options.


I reset the boot order and it's working off the D drive. Once in I can see and use the folders and files in the C drive.


Can I reinstall Windows 10 onto the C drive without affecting the D drive, and how should I do this? I'm nervous about running the media creation tool in case I inadvertently wipe the whole thing - although I have a back up. Is the media creation tool my best option?

:)

 

No C: but D: drive has all the data

Hi Austin,

To help you with your concern regarding the data on the drive C:, you're seeing the drive "C:" as the drive "D:" because you're booting your computer outside Windows. When booting your computer outside Windows, the system is reading the recovery partition
as drive C: and the data in the drive C: \ are listed on the drive D: \. Try to boot your computer and try to check again the data in the drive C: \ and see if the data are listed.

Regards.

 

Change "D" drive to "C" drive.

Hi Bill, you can use a program like the free Macrium reflect to clone your C drive onto your D drive, then swap the drives around on the SATA ports on your Motherboard.

Pull the old C drive out and the other drive should then boot up . . .

 

D drive

Hi,

Based on the details you have provided us, it appears that there might be some corrupted contents on the said partition. We can also consider that this is caused by a virus.

For us to check if a certain virus is hiding your files, kindly follow the steps below:

• Type Command prompt in the search bar.
• Type-in the following command:
  
  attrib -h -r -s /s /d D:\*.*
• Press Enter to execute the command.

If you think that there is nothing important stored in it, then we suggest that you reformat your D drive so that you can use the free space for important files.

You can follow the steps below to start with the process:

• Click on the File Explorer.
• Select This PC.
• Right-click on your D drive, then click on Format.
• Follow the on-screen process to finish formatting the partition.

Let us know how it goes so that we can further assist you.