Inaccessible boot device after cloning HD to SSD

[dermdoc21]

I recently bought the Samsung NVMe SSD 960 EVO and installed it into the M2 slot on my Willow2 motherboard. I was able to clone the drive using the samsung data migration software without a problem. I went into the bios and changed the boot order so that it would boot from the SSD drive but then I got the dreaded blue screen of death and an error that said  "Inaccessible Boot Device". Any ideas on what is wrong?

[old_geekster]

@dermdoc21, welcome to the forum.

You should disconnect the original hard drive from the motherboard and reboot the system to see if that solves your problem.  It may be it is conflicting with the M.2 SSD.

Please click the Thumbs up + button if I have helped you and click Accept as Solution if your problem is solved.

[dermdoc21]

Thank you, that did allow me to boot.

My follow up question is how can I still use that hard drive that came with the system? I would like to use the original hard drive as my data drive for photos, videos, etc. while using the SSD for the OS and programs.

Thanks again!

-david

[old_geekster]

You are welcome, @dermdoc21.

You can set the Boot Order to boot from the SSD.  The HDD should be formatted to remove the OS.  Then, it should work without any interference.  Be certain to make a backup of your personal files before formatting the drive.

[dermdoc21]

This is what got me here to post in the first place. If I try to have both connected at the same time, even with the boot order set to boot from the SSD, I get the "inaccessible boot device". So my conundrum is how do I wipe the drive if I cannot get the system to boot with the drive hooked up? If I hook it up while the system is up and running off the SSD, will the system recognize it as if I plugged in a USB drive or will nothing happen or worse it will cause the system to crash?

[old_geekster]

One thing that I forgot to mention in my last post is, remove the HDD from the 1st SATA port and plug it into the other port.  The first SATA port is for the boot drive.  Try this to see if helps.

[dermdoc21]

So I unplugged the CD rom from the second SATA port and plugged in the hard drive and booted. Same message. Interestingly I went back into the BIOS and found that there was an option to disable a boot device when choosing the boot order. I was so excited when I got past the blue screen and it booted up. Strangely though it booted off the standard hard drive even though I disabled that as an option for a boot device.

Any other ideas? 

[Big_Dave]

@dermdoc21

Let's back up and see if we can solve your issue.

Download the latest W10 version from Microsoft and create a bootable flash drive for UEFI mode.   Be sure that it boots up to a point where you can see the Samsung NVMe m.2 SSD but stop at this point. If W10 can't find the m.2 NVMe SSD then you might have to load the AMD drivers via the F5 custom install process.   Now try the below instructions.

Be sure the BIOS is set for UEFI mode.

Unplug the original HD.

Boot up W10 from the flash drive. See the above tip if AMD drivers are required.

Once W10 is installed then boot up.

[dermdoc21]

Is this to help me be able to wipe the HDD that came with the computer? I'm a little confused as to what the steps mentioned in your reply will help me accomplish.

At this point I can boot to the cloned SSD as long as the OEM hard drive isn't plugged into the motherboard. If I have it plugged into either of the SATA ports I get the inaccessible boot device message. 

What I really want to do now is to try and completely wipe the OEM HDD and see if I can boot from the SSD if the attached HDD is "blank" with no OS.

However, the catch is I cannot get the system to boot up with the HDD attached so that I can wipe it in the first place.

[mdklassen]

> The catch is I cannot get the system to boot up with the HDD attached so that I can wipe it.

Buy an "empty" external disk-drive case (with power-supply, if your disk-drive is a 3.5-inch drive), and mount your disk-drive into that case.  Boot your computer, and then attach the USB cable from the case to your computer.

Or, there is an "adapter", e.g.,

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/startech-com-3-3-usb-3-1-adapter-cable-for-2-5-and-3-5-sata-drives-blac...

that can best be used for a "once-only" connection of a SATA disk-drive to your computer via a USB port.

Hint: there are similar devices that cost about 1/2 of the above adapter.

Once connection, then, carefully, use the 'DISKPART.EXE' command:

DISKPART> help clean

     Removes any and all partition or volume formatting from the disk with focus.

  On master boot record (MBR) disks, only the MBR partitioning information and hidden sector information are overwritten.

On GUID partition table (GPT) disks, the GPT partitioning information, including the Protective MBR, is overwritten.

If the ALL parameter is not used, the first 1MB and the last 1MB of the disk are zeroed.

This erases any disk formatting that had been previously applied to the disk.

The disk's state after cleaning the disk is 'UNINITIALIZED'.

to completely "reset" the disk-drive.