Boot from second m.2 SSD slot of laptop

[Mohammad_Ali]

That's because I was dual booting earlier. The 1 TB drive has windows and Ubuntu installations.

I can reconfigure that drive, sure. I don't want to use it in it's current state anyway, but I want to know that I'd be able to select between the SSDs at boot. Only then would I know if I can keep OS on separate drives or would I need them on one SSD.

[VH2000]

OK. Create a Folder "BCD_Backup" on your C-Partition.

Open cmd (admin) and type:

bcdedit /export "C:\BCD_Backup\BCD Backup1"
bcdboot D:\Windows

bcdedit /set {default} description "Windows 10 2"
bcdedit /set {current} description "Windows 10 1"

bcdedit /displayorder {default} /addlast

Reboot

command to go back: bcdedit /import "C:\BCD_Backup\BCD Backup1"

Select your favourite System in advanced Settings:

[Mohammad_Ali]

Ok, I'll back up and refresh the install and post if I can or cannot switch between the drives.

[Mohammad_Ali]

Sorry for the delay in getting back, I only got the time today to complete all the steps.

I backed up whatever I needed and reformatted the drive. I could then boot fine from the SSD in the second boot slot, but now I seem to be having random blue screens and crashes. After some of those crashes, I would get the error that the OS could not be found at boot, but that message has become persistent now(the error code is harddisk 3F0). It's behaving as if it cannot detect the drive in the second m.2 slot at times. I also performed the storage tests by going into hardware test menu (F2), but it only performed that test for one drive, not both. Is that confirmation that there is something wrong with the m.2 slot and it really can't detect the drive or is there something else that this could be?

[VH2000]

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@Mohammad_Ali wrote:

I backed up whatever I needed and reformatted the drive. I could then boot fine from the SSD in the second boot slot,

You have to be clear! Which drive did you reformat? The 1 TB HDD? I don't want to to guess that!

If you can't identify the disks, you have to unplug/disconnect the 1 TB first and run the test.

Prepare an USB installation disk to run some tests first.

[Mohammad_Ali]

Yes, the 1 TB one that came from the older system and needed formatting.

The original, 512GB drive that came with the system only has windows on it. It came that way from the manufacturer and is no different now, except it's in the second slot.

I have a Windows installation USB available, what would you want me to do with it?

[Mohammad_Ali]

Also, the issue isn't that I can't identify the drive, it's that it only DETECTS one when it should do both.

[VH2000]

OK, boot from the USB-disk and at the first Setup page press

SHIFT + F10

Then in the command prompt type

diskpart

list disk

sel disk 0

list par

list vol

(make a photo by mobile phone and post it here)

exit

exit

[Mohammad_Ali]

Ok, I think it's sorted. It's stupid beyond belief but I think the second SSD wasn't seated in properly in the m.2 slot (how that can be given that it was screwed in is somewhat weird, maybe it was the heatsink covering it up that made me think it was in all the way). I reseated it and have been using it since, no crashes so far.

I'm sorry this was such a waste of time when it a stupid oversight on my part.

Thanks for your help and patience.