How to make a hard drive bootable: My old Windows 10 pc had a SSD boot drive. It does not boot my new machine. Aside from reformatting the drive, how can I make it bootable?

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

My old Windows 10 pc had a SSD boot drive. It does not boot my new machine. Aside from reformatting the drive, how can I make it bootable?

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

An SSD is no different than a hard drive as far as doing something with it. What are you wanting to do?

Are you putting the SSD CONTAINING Windows into a different computer?

What matters is if the BIOS in the old computer was set for SATA ATA mode, and the new computer is set for SATA AHCI mode, or vice versa. Try changing (in the BIOS) the SATA mode and see if it boots.

If you are just wanting to put the SSD into a different computer and REINSTALL Windows, set the BIOS to AHCI first.. That gives "better" SSD performance.

Write back and report what happens, or give more information. You may have to get a tech-savvy person to help, in person.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

nadelewitz wrote:

An SSD is no different than a hard drive as far as... (show quote)

The SSD does have the OS plus programs. The new machine has a HDD and is noticeably and expectedly slower. Another drive had the data and works properly in the new machine.

I will try your suggestion tonight. Thank you for it. It does make sense. I know the MBR has to be there.

akadeadhead

You do not need to reformat the drive to make it bootable. If you have a Windows 10 disk you can boot from it and go to install. Then select repair an existing Windows application.

But your problems will not end there. Windows is tied to your old machine including all the drivers for devices in that old machine. This means that you will have to fight your way through installing new drivers. At least you won't have to reinstall your software.

Finally, Windows will recognize that this is a new machine and will need to be activated. If you have got this far, you can go online to Microsoft. Start with https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/10738/windows-10-get-help-with-activation-errors.

Note that the issue with activation will probably apply even were you to reformat the drive because the Activation Server at Microsoft will recognize that the activation code has already been used.

aphelps Loc: Central Ohio

You would first need to clone the hd of the new computer to the old SSD. Macrium Reflect can make easy work of that. The SSD must first be installed in and connected to the wiring in the new machine. Macrium manual can guide you through the process. There are other software packages to do this but I have no experience with them. Also, You Tube MAY provide help but some of their posters are not really that good.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

akadeadhead wrote:

You do not need to reformat the drive to make it b... (show quote)

I do not mind updating drivers and reassigning drive letters. However, I forgot about the activation issue. Had this before, called Microsoft and they took care of it immediately and without question.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

aphelps wrote:

You would first need to clone the hd of the new computer to the old SSD. Macrium Reflect can make easy work of that. The SSD must first be installed in and connected to the wiring in the new machine. Macrium manual can guide you through the process. There are other software packages to do this but I have no experience with them. Also, You Tube MAY provide help but some of their posters are not really that good.

Cannot clone it because the new HDD is 1 T while the old SSD is 250 G. You are right about youtube. Watcher beware.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

abc1234 wrote:

The SSD does have the OS plus programs. The new machine has a HDD and is noticeably and expectedly slower. Another drive had the data and works properly in the new machine.

I will try your suggestion tonight. Thank you for it. It does make sense. I know the MBR has to be there.

Does Windows still provide for a "rescue disk"; could you make one from the HDD, then use it on the SSD?

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

abc1234 wrote:

My old Windows 10 pc had a SSD boot drive. It does not boot my new machine. Aside from reformatting the drive, how can I make it bootable?

Laplink has software that enables migrations such as yours - both software and OS to a completely different system, and between different sized drives.

akadeadhead

Assuming the larger drive is less than a quarter full, you can clone it to the SSS. Macrium Reflect does this, as does software from EaseUS, MiniTools and others. Google "clone to a smaller drive" for suggestions/instructions.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

akadeadhead wrote:

Assuming the larger drive is less than a quarter full, you can clone it to the SSS. Macrium Reflect does this, as does software from EaseUS, MiniTools and others. Google "clone to a smaller drive" for suggestions/instructions.

If larger drive has a tad too much on it, I suppose it would be time for some judicious pruning.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

abc1234 wrote:

I do not mind updating drivers and reassigning drive letters. However, I forgot about the activation issue. Had this before, called Microsoft and they took care of it immediately and without question.

So how did you get the new computer to boot with the old hard drive? You had to do that to get Microsoft to activate Windows.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

nadelewitz wrote:

So how did you get the new computer to boot with the old hard drive? You had to do that to get Microsoft to activate Windows.

The POST does recognize the drive. I did not go into the BIOS. that is why I think your earlier post sounds good.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

abc1234 wrote:

The POST does recognize the drive. I did not go into the BIOS. that is why I think your earlier post sounds good.

You still didn't answer my question. Your original post said the new computer would not boot the old hard drive.
The POST, meaning the BIOS, will recognize the hard drive no matter how the SATA operation is set. That's only the beginning of the full boot process.
Windows on the hard drive gets configured for ATA or AHCI operation when installing it. Changing SATA operation in the BIOS will then cause Windows not to boot.

Your initial post said the new computer would not boot. You then said that Microsoft activated Windows in the new computer. This is a whole different issue.
How did you get the new computer to boot the old hard drive into Windows so it could be activated?

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

nadelewitz wrote:

You still didn't answer my question. Your original... (show quote)

Let me answer the easier question first. The Windows in the SSD was activated a few years ago in the old machine.

Now for the first question. I do not remember the Windows installation details so I do not know if it was ATA or AHCI. I still have the machine so I could find out if that would help. The BIOS on the new machine is AHCI. Could I work around this by enabling a legacy device boot?