Windows 7 does not boot from second drive

[BNSFMike]

Windows 7 is on both an HDD & an SSD. The boot priority is HDD before SSD.

I press ESC at startup which brings up a boot menu. I selected the SSD but the PC booted up with the HDD, and it corrupted the SSD. I had to use the Win7 disk to repair the SSD.

Tutorials mention that some PCs can bring up a boot menu at startup by pressing a Function key or the ESC key. They then describe installing Win7 on the second drive after it is connected. There is never any mention what to do if Win7 is already on both drives. That makes me think that nothing special has to be done. Yet that did not work in my case.

How do I get Win7 to boot from the second drive?

[WAWood]

@BNSFMike

You will need to create Boot Media using a working PC -- as there is no way to repair this on your current PC.

Macrium Reflect is a free tool that can be used to image and restore PCs, but it also has an option to create Rescue Media (in disk or USB form) that can then be used to Repair your PC.

It is available from here: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

What I recommend is the following:
a) Download and install Macrium Reflect (MR)
b) Use the option to create a boot USB stick or CD
c) Boot your PC from the MR media and select the option to repair the Windows Boot

Good Luck

[BNSFMike]

Using the Windows 7 install disk previously did repair the boot problem on the SSD.

Currently each drive boots & works by itself when they are the only drive connected, just like they did before I tried the dual boot setup using the ESC key to bring up a boot menu. IOW the PC does work with either drive when individually connected.

I can connect both drives & make the boot order HDD before SSD and it will boot to the HDD. I have not tried bringing up the ESC > boot menu & trying to boot from the SSD again. I'm presuming I'll have the same problem as before - it will not work.

If I boot from Macrium Reflect is it supposed to do additional repairs?

[WAWood]

@BNSFMike

Sounds to me like you have boot records on each disk and your PC, when both are connected, automatically boots from the HDD whether you like it or not.

I have a similar situation and my solution was to ensure the disk I wanted to boot from by default was the 0-disk -- the first disk that the BIOS sees.

I did this by swapping SATA cables (1-4) and making note of which disk booted based on the cable connection on the motherboard.

If the SSD cable is connected to the '0' SATA port, and the HDD cable is connected to the '1' SATA port, your PC should boot from the SSD by default.  This works automatically when only one cable is connected because that is then, by default, the '0' SATA port.

[BNSFMike]

In your case, how do you select booting from the other drive? Do you always switch drive cables?

Both of my drives are bootable & have Windows 7 on them. However the PC does not automatically boot from the HDD.

If the BIOS boot priority has the HHD before the SSD, the HDD will boot. If the SSD has priority then it will boot. So that all works properly.

The problem is when I press the ESC key at startup which brings up a boot menu. The HDD had priority over the SSD. That way the HDD would automatically boot at startup. But if I press the ESC key at startup it brings up a boot menu,  & when the SSD was selected it still booted to the HDD. That is the isuue.

From what I understand not all PCs can bring up a boot menu at startup by pressing the ESC key or a Function key. But my HP can. Here is a list of several dozen PCs that can do this, and there are a lot of HPs on this list.
http://www.disk-image.com/faq-bootmenu.htm

The problem is why doesn’t the ESC > boot menu function like it supposed to?

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

@BNSFMike

I boot by default from the '0' drive. When I want to boot from others, I reboot the PC, go into the BIOS and change the device order to move the other device to the "top" of the list, and reboot.  I only do this once a week or so, thus it is not a lot of work.

As to why the boot devices menu does not work right, I don't know because what you are doing SHOULD work.

If you go to the Neosmart Technologies website, you will find a utility known as EasyBCD. You should download and install that (while booting from the SSD). That allows you to set the default boot device -- and that should work.

If it does not. then you need to try the following:

1) Boot from the HDD

2) If this brings up a different instance of Win10 from booting from the SSD, then download and install EasyBCD again.

3) Open BCD and press the button for BCD Backup/Repair

4) Under BCD Management, select Change boot drive -- and change that to the SSD

5) Save the changes and reboot

The PC should now boot by default from the SSD. IF it does not, then change the boot order in the BIOS and try again.

[BNSFMike]

I'll probably do the same thing you do - go into BIOS & change the boot order in order to select a boot drive.

After having to repairs the SSD's boot problem that one time, I'm somewhat apprehensive about messing with a drive's boot record or partition.