Windows 10: Unbootable 1TB SSD. Need Help

Hello all,
I recently ran into a bit of trouble with my MSI GT70 2PC Dominator. Last week I tried to turn it on, but it would only boot to bios, and would not recognize any ports. After a few days of fiddling with the boot order in bios, and changing to Legacy I took the whole thing apart and cleaned it with a can of air and 91% Isopropyl Alcohol. I also replaced the thermal paste while I was in there. After putting it back together, I found that it would recognize an HDD, but not the SSD. I tried the SSD on different computers with a USB to SATA cable but would not show up in Windows or Linux. I lost all of my data (┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻ (T..T) ... Deep breath... and exhale...
After getting Windows reinstalled and running on the HDD, I opened up the SSD from its protective case, removed all the plastic, and placed it in a Pyrex container and blasted it with my heat gun for 10-15 minutes chip side up dispersing the heat evenly and slowly throughout the board of the SSD. This made all the solder connections reflow, and fix any plausible shorts on the drive. After letting it cool for about an hour or two, I connected it to my laptop with the USB to SATA cable, and I am now able to see all the data that was stored on it. I quickly made a backup of all the data I could get my hands on. However, I am left with only one problem that I am trying to solve. (tl;dr): I need the SSD to be bootable again. It will not boot. Somehow during the process of data recovery Windows is not being seen. I would really like to make this drive bootable so that I don't have to buy another version of Windows, and so that I can make a proper clone of it on the HDD.

Thanks in advance,
Tara Nicole Payne

:)

 

Free upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 -- Dual Boot

Put the SSD drive in the computer, temporarily remove the 1Tb drive, install Win7 to the SSD, upgrade to Win10, reinstall the 1Tb drive. Or if you're trying to keep all the programs that were installed on the 1Tb drive, clone it to the SSD using clonezilla
or something, remove the 1Tb drive, and upgrade the SSD to Win10.

 

The "New apps will save to:" option is grayed out under Save Locations (Storage <- Settings)

If you have 1TB SSD D: drive, what is your C: drive? Can you instead use the 1TB SSD as the C: drive?

 

I am impressed you managed to recover the data. You would not have to buy a new licence to reinstall windows 10 on pc.

I cannot say if it is possible to make SSD bootable again - I had one glitch and I could read data, and no matter what I tried everything wiping drive etc, it would never reboot again. I assume something had failed eg in mbr boot sector.

 

Also, I am wondering if it is possible to recover the product key from the SSD.

 

Thank you for your comment. 3 years in an EET (Electrical Engineering Tech) major in College, and a Electronics Technician certificate. Pretty good at reviving hardware. Not so much at software. Still, tho... what I did to revive the drive is the last resort; all or nothing effort. Could I make the drive mountable somehow?

 

Amazing recovery.
Where did you learn those techniques?
Has anyone done that on youtube?

With your digital license if you removed the SSD and replaced it with a HD you should be able to install windows on the HD. How come you need to make the SSD bootable if you have all of the files already backed up?

Does your computer only have a primary bay or does it have a secondary bay? Or is there a way to have the operating system on the SSD and use the HD as a storage drive at the same time? Or vice a versa?

 

Make a bootable USB flash drive of Kyhi's Recovery Tools:
Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums

I believe it has Showkey Plus included:
ShowKeyPlus - Windows 10 Forums

You can use the "Retrieve key from backup" function to get the product key from the Windows installation on the SSD.

Kyhi's Recovery Drive also has Macrium Reflect. Run Reflect and under the restore menu is a utility to Fix Windows boot problems.

 

Most installs of windows have a digital licence tied to mobo id, and upon reintall, it activates automatically,

How did you install windows 10 originally?

 

" Where did you learn those techniques?"

-Valencia Community College
"Has anyone done that on youtube?"

Linus Tech Tips, but he failed because he did not do it the right way."How come you need to make the SSD bootable if you have all of the files already backed up?"

1. I want the version of windows that I upgraded to from 8.1.

2. I want to make sure that I recover 100% of the data, and I only have the 1TB SSD and the 1TB HDD.

If I can make the SSD bootable, then I can accomplish those two objectives, and use the HDD to run a RAID 1 system to ensure this does not happen again.
"Does your computer only have a primary bay or does it have a secondary bay?"

-It has two bays.

"Or is there a way to have the operating system on the SSD and use the HD as a storage drive at the same time? Or vice a versa?"

I can clone the HDD to the SSD, but it would delete all the data on the SSD. I want to bring that back to life.

 

Free upgrade from 8.1

 

Wouldn't a Raid 1 array with an SSD and HDD run at the speed of the HDD, thus negative the speed advantage of the SSD? I would stick with the SSD as the single primary drive and just save regularly scheduled image backups of it to the HDD.

 

Yes, it would create a bottleneck effect in the system. However, my data would be safe. This is only a temp solution until I can afford 2 2TB SATA III SSD's.
Amazon.com: Crucial MX300 2TB SATA 2.5 Inch Internal Solid State Drive - CT2050MX300SSD1: Computers Accessories
I am going to wait until after Black Friday to make the purchase.

 

Somehow the solution has presented itself. I plopped the SSD into the secondary bay and it boots now. Not sure how it happened. Could be one of two or a combo of what I did to it last night. 1. I checked the drive for errors on my desktop. 2. I left it plugged in overnight in the USB port. Who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Going to make a copy with EZ GIG on the HDD and take NavyLCDR's advice and update the backup on the HDD periodically. I don't want to trust this SSD. Getting 2 new SSD's as soon as Black Friday rolls around.

Thanks to all who commented on this post. I valued your input.

-Tara Nicole Payne

 

As stated, you don't want to run the SSD in a RAID unless you are using 2 or more SSD's not mixing it with a HDD which will slow it down.

Did you change the Boot option back to UEFI Bios from Legacy? Do that, and if that doesn't boot the SSD, then Reinstall Windows from USB or DVD using the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool
Since this computer has UEFI Bios, the Windows Product key is stored there so you don't have to retype it in to reinstall.
When Booting to Windows installer, Be sure to Delete all of the previous partitions on the SSD and let Windows create new partitions and format them during the install