Windows 10: Want to remove extra hard drive but pc wont boot without it

I have an nvme boot drive and a hard drive for storage. I want to change the hard drive to a larger ssd for more/faster storage. I as far as I can tell, I moved/deleted everything off of the hardrive except for a folder named windowsapps that i cannot access, so i just copied it.When booting up after swaping the storage devices I was greeted with a message about how I need to check my boot device order or something to that effect. When i swap back to the hard drive it boots fine. Keeping the hard drive in my computer is not an option I am too keen on, as i have a small and already somewhat cra

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Extra hard drive is needed to boot the computer

While installing my new SSD, I had my extra internal hard drive still all hooked up. After installing Windows 10 on the new SSD, I tried to remove the extra hard drive, just to find out it wont let me boot without it hooked up.

After looking at this forum post, it almost seems possible. From the Disk Management, my SSD is listed as "Boot", and the extra is listed as "System". But then Googling how to do a repair install, this guide says I already need to be logged in and everything.

Am I misunderstanding something? Is this possible? Will I need to do another fresh install on my computer without the extra hard drive attached?

(Please let me know if I left anything out, or you have any questions.)

 

Extra Devices and drives on This PC (Win 10)

Hi Mike,

Windows 10 has a built-in feature called the Disk Management that allows partitioning to your hard drives. To isolate your concern with extra hard drives, we’d like to know the following:

• The version of your Windows. To know which version of Windows you are using, press
  Windows + R to open run window, type
  winver and press Enter.
• If you are using a desktop computer or laptop.
• Make and model of your computer.
• Error messages that you encounter.
• Troubleshooting steps you’ve done so far.
• The screenshot of your hard drives in the This PC explorer window.
• If you have partitions on your hard drive.
• The number of hard drive installed on your computer.

We’re looking forward to your response.

 

Maxtor Hard Drive Beep

Maxtor drive beeps

Have a similiar situation using a DiamondMax Plus 8, 20GB Mfg Date 4/15/03. Drive used as a second system drive. Drive is recognized in boot menu but not in drive list. Drive is always connected. Computer started locking up for several seconds at a time. Chkdsk on drives and couldn't find that drive. Removed drive from bay to make sure connections were ok and heard the beeping. Shutdown and restart and never got to windows screen. Restarted several times then saw drive in boot menu and Windows loaded but Maxtor not in drive menu. When recognized in boot menu, computer will start but beeps and is not found.

Tried kicking it real hard but no improvement. Any suggestions?