Add SSD to EFI boot

[pwolf]

Hello

I just received my Pavillio HPE h8-1320 and a separately shipped SSD disk for the purpose of having OS on the SSD instead of the included HDD.

After some fiddling I managed to install the OS onto my SSD disk - but also want to keep it on the HDD as preinstalled for some time.

Problem is, that I'm not able to get the pc to boot from the SSD without forcing it from BIOS (i.e. setup menu while booting)

I've found the "problem" to be related to the EFI - which is totally new for me

SO question is - how do I add my new SSD disk to to this EFI stuff?

I have read about EFI boot manager, that seems to be an interface for editing - but where is this to be found, if at all?

Regarding UEFI / EFI I'm a newbie, so step-by-step instructions are required...:smileysad:

-pw-

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

Did you try to swap the HDD motherboard sata port connection with the SSD's sata port connection?

[pwolf]

No, I haven' tried this (yet)

But I have some doubts it could be this easy, as the HDD contains a 100mb partition reserved for EFI according to disk tools. This partition, however, is not mapped, and I have therfore not seen the content of it.

My first priority is to find a tool or utility that create/modify EFI settings(?) so it is done properly, instead of semi-good workarounds

Thanks for the proposal, anyway

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

UEFI is only a front end to the bios.  Frankly, I would have used an imaging tool to copy across the entire hard drive to the new SSD.  This would have save you from the apparent headaches you are now experiencing.  You need to consider the imaging process as a viable option.

[pwolf]

Thanks for proposal.

I have tried to clone image - cloning was successful, but booting from new SSD disk was faulty, and I have no OEM  OS DVD to perform a repair, so this was no luck for me.

I decided to unplug the HDD and do a clean Win7-installation from a different OS I have purchased separatly.

To do this I had to change from GPT to MBR system (for which I have no strong opinion)

Installation went good, and I updated system and drivers, and started to install applications. 

Then I wanted to hook up the HDD to wipe it and use it for data. That messed up everything....

Upon reboot after connecting the HDD, the system (EFI?) "sniffed" the original GPT HDD and jumped onto booting from this. After that things godt even worse.

Now I cannot even force boot from SSD - system says disk contains no boot info...

When trying to reinstall OS to SSD, this is not allowed as it is now required that disk is GPT system, not MBR

i become mad of this inconsistent EFI and GPT stuff!

I cannot be The frist person om earth trying to install os on a EFI system? This is SO non user friendly interface!

I have helped myself since MS-DOS days, but here I'm in The dark

Anyone? How do I prep my SSD for OS om EFI system?

[Big_Dave]

Hi,

You can order a set of recovery disks from HP. HP Recovery Disks.

I suspect that your imaging software is not properly "cloning" the SSD.

[pwolf · Accepted solution]

Recovery disks were burned out from recovery partition on original HDD, but these were of no use to me. No one of them are identified as OS disk - they are just labelled 1 to 5 - and I have no idea how to actually recover anything using them. None(?) of recovery DVD's are bootable, meaning I can't utilize them on a fresh SSD (at least I can't figure out how)

Image cloning software used was EasyUS Partition Master Home/Free ver. 9.1.1, which is well spoken of around the internet. EasyUS have served me well earlier when fiddling around with partitions

Anyway: I spent some hours last night in one final(?!) attempt. 

Here is my solution, that appears to work.

Note! This solution require a Win7 bootable DVD 

I started with both my original HDD and my new SSD connected.

Boot from HDD (with functional OS)

Used EasyUS Partition Master to delete all partitions on my SSD, and set disk type to GPT

Shut down PC, disconnect HDD (swapped SATA socket on SSD to where HDD had been (probably not necessary - but I did))

Insert Win7 DVD

Start PC, press ESC to enter menu, Select UEFI DVD-rom as boot alternative (important as non-UEFI will not allow installation on a GPT disk)

Whwn installation ask where to install (which disk) (and give warning that Windows cannot be installed to SSD disk) press SHIFT + F10 for command prompt

Type DISKPART

Type LIST DISK

Type SELECT DISK n (where n is the listed number of the SSD disk)

Type CREATE PARTITION EFI SIZE=102

Type CREATE PARTITION MSR SIZE=32

Type CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY

Type EXIT

Type EXIT

Now You are back to the windows installation, press refresh-button to update disk information, and You will see the new partitions that are created

Select the primary partition for installation of Win7

Complete the Win7 installation as normal

Shut down PC

Connect original HDD to SATA-socket 

Restart PC, and cross fingers for correct OS to start (did OK with me9

(If "old" (HDD) OS boots, shut down PC, restart, press ESC, and select SSD (or most likely) under UEFI boot options)

VOILA - both SSD and HDD are now up and running under UEFI interface

Missing system drivers on SSD OS are found on HDD disk 

When all drivers are migrated, HDD OS partition can be wiped, and HDD can be used for data

For optimized SSD operation, verify that TRIM and Disk Defragmentation are set as they should be (numerous articles on the internet)

Now, finally, I'am a happy camper!

[Big_Dave]

Ah the cloaked expert becomes uncloaked.:smileyvery-happy:

Different UEFI motherboards will have different requirements for booting. Some require mbr formatted disks and some UEFI.

I didn't have your issue with my ASUS UEFI motherboard and didn't run into the issue with the the HP laptop that was also UEFI based that I used for a while.

[Big_Dave]

Hi again,

I did some thinking about your posted procedure and I would say that it is totally unacceptable for most to use when installing a SSD.  I don't know what the issues you had using the the HP recovery disks but they certainly need to get resolved.

BTW,  use the Microsoft USB creation tool to load the W7 installation to an USB stick on a non-UEFI system and then do the same on the UEFI based system. Observe the differences in the root directory. Use at least a 8 GB stick and perhaps a 16 GB stick.  It might also be interesting if the HP recovery image was burned using the HP recovery manager to an USB stick and then attempt the recovery process to SSD.

[jaco1x4]

I have been trying to add a second sata drive and been having the same results.

The system would boot to the new drive and I could not configure the bios boot sequence to boot to the primary drive, so I could set the new drive as data backup.

Do you think your solution will work in my scenario?

The UEFI interface is somewhat confusing and I am really confused. I have googled this problem and have not found a solution at this time.