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XPS 8700, cloned new SSD but cannot boot from it
HI
I have an XPS 8700 desktop. I have bought a Samsung 1TB SSD 860 EVO to replace the existing MSATA Hynix 250gb which is now almost full.
I succesfully cloned the old SSD with Macrium Reflect.
However I cannot find the option to change the disk to boot from but I can see see all the hard disks that are installed but I cannot see the option to select the particular disk to boot from.
I can get into the BIOS no problem and I can see the boot options - USD CD etc but the "Hard Disk" options says: EUFI Windows Boot Manager.
I have tried F12 as well as F2, Recovery - EUFI Settings no option there either as it always points to Windows Boot Manager.
Please can you help and please let me know if you need any other info about my setup
Thanks
Ray
Ray8700
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January 27th, 2021 14:00
Hi Vic384
Thanks for all your help - I have sorted the issue.
I went into the BIOS again into Boot Tab
Selected "Hard Drives" at bottom right and then this opened another window which said:
"First Boot Device" [Windows Boot Manager]
"2nd Boot Device" [Windows Boot Manager]
If you select one of these and hit enter it changes the sequence - it does not say which drive it is - I dont know why so its a bit of trial and error !! you can also select to disable one - which I did and then saved the changes and rebooted and all was fine Phew!! its taken me most of the day !! But I would not have been able to find it without your help - so thanks very much.
I have attached 2 pics to explain the 2nd pic is the first and then the next window is the first pic
Regards
Ray
Vic384
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January 27th, 2021 09:00
@Ray8700 Did you remove the mSATA drive after you cloned it? If not, you should because mSATA will also have a boot partition. In addition, you should connect your 1TB SSD to SATA 0, the blue colored SATA connector on the motherboard. In the F12 Boot Menu, was there an option to select the boot drive?
Ray8700
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January 27th, 2021 09:00
Hi Vic 384
Thanks very much for the reply... No I left the Msata in place as on previous occasions (but not on this pc) I was able to easily change the boot sequence of the hard drives in the BIOS, planning to leave the old Msata in place and eventually use it as storage after reformatting.
Trying to find where I can chage the boot sequence has been a nightmare ! Tried F2 and F12 I can see the drives but the Boot opion for the hard drives is "UEFI : Windows Boot Manager" I have also tried the recovery option to UEFI tools but I dont get any further than Windows Boot Manager which I have not yet found a way to get into ! Would be easy just to alter boot sequence !
I can probably do what you suggest - but it may be difficult as I installed the New SSD in the front drive bay and I am just wondering if the leads are long enough ! also just worried I may end up with no boot at all - although have made a Macrium rescue disk and I suppose I could just change the connections back.
I can try this though - what do you think ?
Thanks
Ray
Vic384
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January 27th, 2021 10:00
@Ray8700 So is the PC booting up from the mSATA? Have you tried the F12 Boot Menu? The F12 Boot Menu should give you the option of booting up from the 1TB SSD or the mSATA. There is also a section in the Owner's Manual about changing the boot sequence on page 82.
Vic384
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January 27th, 2021 11:00
@Ray8700 The mSATA is not hardwired to the motherboard, it is plugged into the mSATA slot (#11 in the motherboard picture on page 13.
I am not sure why you have a USB Disc Drive as a boot option, do you have a USB drive plugged into one of the USB ports?
When you cloned the mSATA did you clone all the partitions to the 1TB SSD? Look at the 1TB SSD with Disk Management and see if the partitions are the same as those on the mSATA.
Also, look in the BIOS, what are your settings for Boot Mode, 1st Boot, 2nd Boot, etc. see page 80 of the User's Guide. I am not real familiar with this BIOS, I believe it has a combination of UEFI and Legacy BIOS features.
Ray8700
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January 27th, 2021 11:00
Hi
I have checked the hardware. The Msata is hard wired to the motherboard, I can see the edge connectots but these are not being used. I have traced all the cables and they are connected to 2 disc hard drives and the new SSD. The blue cable is disk 0 but that's connected to one of the disc hard drives. Currently I am booting to the old Msata SSD.
F12 yes I have tried and there is no disc specified in the boot menu only options for USB Disc Drive EUFI - Windows Boot Manager, and one other. !!
I will have a look at the manual as you suggest
Thanks
Ray
Vic384
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January 27th, 2021 15:00
@Ray8700 I am happy you solved the problem. In newer PCs with UEFI BIOS there is no 1st Boot, 2nd Boot, etc. just Windows Boot Manager, Onboard NIC (IPV4), Onboard NIC (IPV6), etc. so with the newer UEFI BIOS, you cannot disable booting from multiple devices that have a boot partition; the only thing you can do is select a boot device from the F12 Boot Menu. With a newer UEFI BIOS, if you don't want to boot using the F12 Boot Menu each time you boot you have to disconnect the device you don't want to boot from.
Hopefully, you can still access your mSATA after you boot from the 1TB SSD. If the 1TB SSD is working good for you, you should consider re-initializing (deleting all partitions, creating one large partition, and formating) the mSATA to use as additional storage. You can re-initialize the mSATA using Disk Management.
Ray8700
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January 28th, 2021 07:00
Hi Vic,
Yes, in the boot menu in my bios you do have a choice which is UEFI - windows boot manager, cd drive, usb and a couple other options. If you only have one operating system installed it’s no problem. The problem is windows boot manager options when you have 2 or more because windows boot manager does not specify or indicate the particular drive it’s booting from. You can only find out by trial and error, select and disable to find out, gets worse the more operating systems that you have installed. It always used to be so easy to specify before uefi / win boot manager!
Well I have checked everything by restarting a few times and by completely turning off and restarting and then checking to make sure with the win disk manager and all looks good so far. Yes that’s the plan, I will leave it for a couple weeks and then reformat and claim the space, perhaps use as my backup drive.
Thanks again for your help, all the best.
Ray