How to make a hard drive bootable (Page 2): You are not answering the question that was your initial problem and my subsequent responses. Last time: If the new computer WOULD NOT BOOT...

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

You are not answering the question that was your initial problem and my subsequent responses. Last time:
If the new computer WOULD NOT BOOT with the drive from the old computer, how did you get it to where Microsoft could activate Windows on the NEW computer?

Did you change ANYTHING in the BIOS of the new computer? Please satisfy my curiosity.

But when all is said and done, if the new computer is now working, and Windows is activated, magically or whatever, there is nothing to "work around", is there?

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

nadelewitz wrote:

You are not answering the question that was your i... (show quote)

It was activated in the old machine, not the new one.

I changed nothing in the new box's BIOS.

The new machine works with the new but slower HHD.

The question how to get the SSD to boot the new machine. I hope my answers address your questions.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Questions: does the new machine attempt to boot windows and fails, or does it not start the boot process at all? Secondly, are the SSD and HD both attached to the new platform, or just the SSD?

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

TriX wrote:

Questions: does the new machine attempt to boot windows and fails, or does it not start the boot process at all? Secondly, are the SSD and HD both attached to the new platform, or just the SSD?

The new machine works perfectly with the HDD that came with it. When I remove the HDD and connect the SSD to the same power and data cables, the boot fails at POST and the machine gives me an error message saying it does not have a bootable drive.

If I attach the SSD to another data cable, the new machine sees the SSD perfectly well.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

abc1234 wrote:

The new machine works perfectly with the HDD that came with it. When I remove the HDD and connect the SSD to the same power and data cables, the boot fails at POST and the machine gives me an error message saying it does not have a bootable drive.

If I attach the SSD to another data cable, the new machine sees the SSD perfectly well.

So if the machine fails at post, it can't find the MBR and Windows. Go into the BIOS before it fails with the SSD connected and check the drive section. Is the SSD now shown as the C: drive, is the drive type and size and other details correct for an SSD, and is the boot sequence set to begin with C:?

If all that is correct (and saved on exit) and you still get the same error, then here are some further thoughts:

First, when you change platforms (different CPU, MB and chip set), it is just pure luck if it boots. There are a hoard of differences that are reflected in the registry and elsewhere. The various migration SW apps (including the Windows migration tool) are designed to move data from an existing drive to a new drive. You could try to migrate the Windows installation from the existing HD to the SSD, but trying to reconfigure the SSD Windows installation to a new CPU/MB/chipset is, as you've found, problematical. You have several choices if after examining/correcting the BIOS you can't get past post to repair the installation. First, if you have the Win 10 DVD or ISO on a memory stick, you can, with the SSD attached, boot from that (after changing the boot sequence in BIOS) and repair the existing windows installation on the SSD. Second, you could, using migration SW, migrate the Windows installation from the HD to the SSD (either overwriting the existing SSD windows installation or deleting the Windows directory first). Of course, that will kill all your apps until you reinstall them. That's almost as painful as starting from scratch.

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

I know moving boot disks can be a crap shoot. I was hoping to avoid reloading the programs which takes so much time. I will play with this more in a few days. I do have the distribution disk so if I have to, I will reformat and reinstall.

With all this time investing in trying to salvage the faster SSD, I wonder if I will ever get it back with its higher speed.

Thanks for the help.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

abc1234 wrote:

I know moving boot disks can be a crap shoot. I was hoping to avoid reloading the programs which takes so much time. I will play with this more in a few days. I do have the distribution disk so if I have to, I will reformat and reinstall.

With all this time investing in trying to salvage the faster SSD, I wonder if I will ever get it back with its higher speed.

Thanks for the help.

Since you have the distribution disk, I would put the SSD in, change the boot order to boot from the CD/DVD drive with the Windows disk in the drive. Start Windows installation, and choose repair an existing installation. And good luck!

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

TriX wrote:

Since you have the distribution disk, I would put the SSD in, change the boot order to boot from the CD/DVD drive with the Windows disk in the drive. Start Windows installation, and choose repair an existing installation. And good luck!

Thanks. I will go that way.

Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

Download Macrium Reflect (Free for home use).
Clone your original HDD to your new SSD using an external docking station (ie Sabrent or similar)
Replace your old HDD with the SSD
Open "THIS PC" - then open Manage, and select 'Disk Management'
On your Primary HDD - Expand the primary partition to use ALL of the new drive space.
Reboot. Done.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Merlin1300 wrote:

Download Macrium Reflect (Free for home use).
Clone your original HDD to your new SSD using an external docking station (ie Sabrent or similar)
Replace your old HDD with the SSD
Open "THIS PC" - then open Manage, and select 'Disk Management'
On your Primary HDD - Expand the primary partition to use ALL of the new drive space.
Reboot. Done.

The SSD IS the original disk and already has the OS he wants to use. The issue is that it won’t boot on the new HW.

Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

TriX wrote:

The SSD IS the original disk and already has the OS he wants to use. The issue is that it won’t boot on the new HW.

Ahhh - - there may not be any easy way to do what he wants.
With his OLD HDD in an external HD dock - he might try to transfer the programs using Windows Easy Transfer; EaseUS Todo PCTrans Pro; Zinstall WinWin; LapLink PCMover, or similar.
http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-3607085-13251981?sid=ct211256
My old company computer was recently 'upgraded' from Win7 to Win10 using PCMover.
Perfect.