Manage sdd & hdd boot options

[guajira]

BRIEFLY: 

I really would like to have the posibility of see both disks in the bios (HDD and M2 SDD) and manage the priority of them as i do between hard drive and usb.

Hello, 

I got this omen laptop and i got this m2 ssd, I cloned the disk as follow:

1.My 500Gb SSD m2 has been physically installed into the laptop.
2. I cloned the default 1TB C: Drive  to my 500Gb SSD using acronis
3. In the bios settings I have enabled Legacy support and have disabled the secure boot.
4. Restarted and i got my new m2 running smoothly.

Now i want to know how can i boot from any of the two disks, i want to be able of going to bios boot options and see them both and choose ssd or hdd.

Funny that i saw this other thread and it seems that this @chiok guy got it without intended.

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Boot-and-Lockup/HP-Omen-15-ax203na-How-to-set-m-2-SSD-as-defa...

but besides the software i used for doing the clonation (i don't think the size of the m2 makes any difference) i don't see any difference in the process we both followed.

If i go into windows i can see the old hdd disk with all the windows partitions and access to it. ¿What do i have to do to see both in the bios boot options and be able of choose any of them?

I appreciate someone help.

This is what i see in the boot options:

[WAWood]

@guajira 

Sorry if some of this is redundant for you, but let's talk about Windows boot processes.

For a PC to boot, you need boot loader files and on OEM PCs, those are installed in a special boot partition -- NOT your C: drive.

IF you only copy the C: drive to another disk, that disk will not boot on its own because it lacks the boot loader files.

If you actually "clone" the original disk to a new one, it WiLL boot because that operation includes copying the boot partition.

So, let's say you did that and have two disks, each with its own boot partition and OS partition.  When your PC starts, it reads only ONE of the boot partitions, not both, and that will links to boot loader files which list the OSs on the PC.  Since each is a Clone of the other, each boot loader set of files sees ONLY one OS, not both.  So, regardless of which boot partition you make the default, you're only going to see ONE OS, not two.

The way around this is to use a utility that ADDS information for the other OS to each of the set of boot loader files, and that utility is EasyBCD.  It has an option to migrate the boot loader files from one disk to another but what it actually does is COPY the entries.  So, when you reboot, you can see ALL the OSs on the PC spanning all of the disks.

You can get it for free from NeoSmart Technologies.  I use it all the time, so I know it is safe.

[guajira]

Thank you for replying @WAWood

So you are saying that my hdd the one that i can't see on the bios and the same one that it is the OEM don't have the boot loader files?
That would be strange because it would means the cloning process not just copy but erase those files from source, the OEM hdd. 

I am going to take the m2 sdd out and just keep and start the computer with the original hdd disk to see what hapens.

I'll let you know.

Thank you again for your time.

[WAWood]

@guajira 

NO, am saying that if the Cloning from the HDD to the SSD was done properly, then BOTH the disks would have boot loader files because the HDD had them originally.

But ... I do not know how Acronis works, so I have no way of knowing what partitions it actually copied.

But, as I mentioned if both disk have boot loader partitions, even so, when you boot the PC, you would only boot into one of them and then, you would not see OS entries for the other disk. The utility I mentioned allows you to copy boot entries for both OSs into both boot loader partitions, so when you then reboot, no matter which disk you boot from, the OS menu would then show both OSs.

[guajira]

Hi again @WAWood,

I did it anyway because i'm curious and because i started doing it right after i posted.

I want to share my findings for the record.

1. I took out the m2 sdd and left the hdd. I started and i got this:Before this message there was another similar but i couldn't get the pic of it.

One thing it's interesting it's that just like you @wawood pointed out there was something wrong with the boot.

2. I selected restart and it just started normally, i got into the old win10 from the hdd.

3. I turned off and installed the m2 ssd back.
4. I turned on again and i was in the HDD wind 10.

5. I Restarted, and checked the bios boot options and i got this:

UEFI boot show me the HDD and legacy boot show me the M2, nevertheless it started with the win10 in the HDD.

6.  I turned off and I took hdd out. I restarted and windows in M2 just started normally.

7. I turned off and I put hdd back. I restarted and windows 10 from M2 SDD just started normally.

Summary: I can boot from both, hdd and sdd independently.  It seems that my bios would boot from the one that it finds or from the one that it was instaled first in case i have installed the two of them but i don't have the option of choose or even see them both from the bios.

end of the record.

=====================================================================================

Now, reading your reply i get what you mean and maybe it works, i mean maybe because what i want it's to make some recovery tests, i have this image i created from my m2 sdd, i am going to format my hdd and try to recover this image and deploy it into the hdd, if i succeed and i have already changed the Boot Configuration Data with EasyBCD i don't think that the second entry i would created for the current OS would start my new and recovered SO (maybe it would, they all are copies of the same after all).

I would have to take disks in and out a bunch of times every time i make a new try to check if my recovery is working.

I really would like to have the posibility of see both disks in the bios and manage the priority of them as i do between hard drive and usb.

Is there a way of doing that?

Thank you again, i really appreciate the effort.

[WAWood]

@guajira 

Sorry ... I must have misunderstood what you want.

I thought you wanted to boot into Windows and get an OS selection screen so you could select either the copy on the SSD or the copy on the HDD -- and to do that, you would have to modify the boot loader files.

But in terms of the BIOS screens, I have no idea how to do that, as those are determined by what the microcode in the BIOS firmware sees -- and there is no easy way to modify that.

[guajira · Accepted solution]

I want to share how i'm going to manage this because other things didn't work for me, in this thread i found this solution and i think it's going to work for me since i can access it from the recovery disk even if my windows is damaged, to be honest i haven't tested it this way but it worked selecting between SDD and HDD with my windows working normally, anyway i wanted to share this because it's going to be a long time by the time i have the chance to test it.

this is the best way so far:

Go to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Advanced Start Up > Restart Now > Choose Device

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Boot-and-Lockup/Changing-the-BIOS-settings-to-boot-from-SSD-E...

I already gave the thumbs-up to this good men. 😉

Go to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Advanced Start Up > Restart Now > Choose Device

For the record:

I was following this thread too:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Boot-and-Lockup/HP-Omen-15-ax203na-How-to-set-m-2-SSD-as-defa...

because it's related, in this one @shanshi and @chiok guys say they are able to select the boot device using F9 while starting, this didn't work for me,  this option only listed me  the SSD twice and boot from a file (the image attached.) wich  i selected and throw me into a bunch of complicated choices but finaly i don't want to look for a boot file so i let that choice go.

the third option throw me a black window with the message:  

Reboot and select proper boot device or inset boot media in selected boot device and press a key.

and the first option just go into my SDD drive like normally.

I still wonder how this guys can select the boot device from here, maybe i'll make another thread, maybe i'll ask them in the same thread.