Windows 10: How to Make New SDD Boot Drive

I'm looking for some help after installing a new SDD. I have a Lenovo S340. It originally had an HDD, and I installed a new SDD to replace it.I went through the process of doing a clean install of Windows 11 -- I thought properly on the SDD.It booted up and operated like a champ. I copied over a few files from the old HHD before removing it. I then removed the HDD, starting the machine up, and it did not see the SDD as a boot device.I reinstalled the HDD - booted up just fine. When I go into the BIOS, I can see the SDD on the information page. NVME SDD. When I move over to the boot sectio

:)

 

Existing disks not recognised / booting of old SDD


My nice new SDD arrived, I installed it into the PC and disconnected the other SATA drives bar the DVD, spun up my W10 DVD and fairly quickly had a new activated install of W10.

Great!

So I plugged in the old SDD (it has the old C: on it) and the HDDs and it booted off the old SDD. *Sad

Unplugged the old SDD, plugged in the new one plus the HDDs, it wouldn't boot.

Went back to just the new SDD installed, boots fine, hot-plugged the HDDs and it wouldn't see them.

Argh! So right now I'm back where I was with the old SDD and the two HDDs which are mirrored.

 

Boot/SDD cloning

Hi,

I would suggest making a bootable CD or Flash Drive of the Macrium... Even the free version should have that ability... Possibly the Samsung as well..

That way there is no running process interfering...

It would be even better if you created an Image of the old drive, and then restored it to the new one... You would also then have a backup image...

When doing this from bootable media, be sure to do a RESTART, not a Shutdown and boot... There is a feature called Fast Startup that may interfere with the process when you try to boot with the new drive.

 

Can't boot from new drive

Thanks for the reply, but I'm not following you...

• What are you suggesting I unplug? Other USB devices? Done, but made no difference. (Ethernet? Monitors? Don't think that'll help.)
  
• Not sure I understand your partitioning advice?
  
• Also unclear about SSD drivers; if there was a driver issue, wouldn't it had failed to work at all? (As mentioned, I am able to boot Windows from the new drive as long as the old one is still plugged in...and it works just fine as a secondary drive.)