Optane/SSD Hybrid Gone Sideways After Reset

[infinis]

Some useful background to my problem:
I reset my PC, sold it, and it was returned because the drive was only showing 32GB of storage. Once I got it back I checked it by setting up a user profile and yes indeedy, only 32GB of storage.

Apparently, during the reset, something went sideways and now windows seems to be stuck in the optane portion of the drive (it's now the boot drive???) and the SSD portion was "offline" (an annoyance that was solved by clearing metadata and converting that part of the drive to MBR to remove the "GPT protective partition" problem). Unfortunately now the SSD portion is the D drive instead of the C drive.

Question:

How do I make the SSD portion of this drive to be the boot drive (aka I need to get windows off the optane section and into the SSD portion), and then how do I disable optane so this problem does not repeat itself in the future?

(Note: I don't even know if optane is even enabled right now, because the optane memory and storage management utility says not optane memory ready because "there are no valid disk pairs in your system.")

It's an Intel Optane H10 hybrid thing with 512GB SSD + 32GB Optane, model HBRPEKNX0202AHO

[Echo_Lake]

@infinis

Thank you for posting on the HP Support Community.
 

Don't worry as I'll be glad to help,

If you're changing the optane memory with a storage device, instead? If yes, that may not be an option as optane slots aren't designed for other devices.
 

Disable Intel Optane memory in the Setup Utility:

1. Open the BIOS by restarting the computer and repeatedly pressing F10 to enter Setup.

2. Select Advanced, select System Options, and click Configure Storage Controller for Intel Optane to remove the check.

3. Restart the computer.

For more details: click here
 

Refer to the article: HP PCs - Resolving low disk space issues and errors (Windows 10) | HP® Customer Support

Hope this helps! Keep me posted for further assistance.
Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution. Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

[infinis]

It's an Intel Optane H10 with SSD, so it should definitely be replaceable with another SSD, which is likely a better option at this point.

I did figure out why the reset went wrong, apparently there's a bug or something in windows when, during install if you have more than one drive it'll pick the wrong one, which is how windows ended up on the optane section of this drive. I don't know how or why, because optane isn't supposed to be storage, but here we are nonetheless...best guess is it functions as a dual drive setup.

As for turning off optane, I have no Advanced option in my BIOS. How do I get it to appear?

[Echo_Lake]

@infinis

Thank you for posting back.

• Could please share the picture of the BIOS environment?

Also, perform Windows Update and HP Support Assistant: (do not skip any troubleshooting steps if you feel steps are repeating) 

To check for updates now, select the Start button, and then go to Settings  > Update & security  > Windows Update, and select Check for updates. Install updates from HP Support Assistant: Go to Download HP Support Assistant to install the tool.

1. To open HP Support Assistant, double-click the HP Support Assistant icon .
2. Click My devices in the top menu, and then click Updates in the My PC or My notebook pane.
3. Click Check for updates and messages to scan for new updates.
4. Review the list of updates. Updates with a yellow information icon are recommended. Updates with a blue information icon are optional.
5. Click the update name for a description, version number, and file size.
6. Select the box next to any updates you want to install, and then click Download and install.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted for further assistance.
Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution. Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

[infinis]

@Echo_Lake

https://sta.sh/01zz8fxe8en9 <photo of bios

can't do windows updates because there's not enough space, as I still cannot find a way to move windows out of the optane part of the drive. i'll be trying a clean install of windows today to see if that solves anything.

[Echo_Lake]

@infinis

Thank you for posting back.

That's unfortunate. This requires remote assistance, please reach out to the HP Support in your region for further troubleshooting steps.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted for further assistance.
Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution. Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!