I wonder if I have several drive...


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1:29 PM
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OS
Windows 10
I just cloned my system drive. I have cloned before but, I found it confusing to identify what drive was the one to choose for the installation. I did know what drive I intended to install the OS. Here is my question. During the first install, I tried to guess and I guessed wrong. If I disconnect all my drives except the one I want for the OS to be installed on. Should make it easier to see that drive in bios it is the only one connected. The first time I chose the wrong drive and it installed Windows on the slowest drive I have (old-school mechanical) drive. With only one drive connected shouldn't Windows make it drive c:? I intend to replace that mechanical drive with an M.2 NVME fast drive. Will I need to change the boot order in bios because of different types of form factors and I will have to
connect it to a different location? Thanks
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 5 3400g
    Motherboard
    MSI - MPG X570 Gaming Plus
    Memory
    VENGEANCE® LPX 32 gigs (4 x 8)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Graphics built into the CPU
    PSU
    EVGA - W1 Series 600W ATX 12V/EPS 12V 80 Plus Power Supply
I have read this post several times, and I am struggling to understand what you are asking.

Post an image of your current system, and tell us what you want to do e.g. clone current system to a new nvme.

Are you wanting to dual boot or use new nvme, and then reuse current OS drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro + others in VHDs
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Vivobook 14
    CPU
    I7
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    N/A
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Optane NVME SSD, 1 TB NVME SSD
    PSU
    Yep, got one
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wired
    Internet Speed
    72 Mb/s :-(
    Browser
    Edge mostly
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0
I am using an MSI motherboard. I know to move the icon in the bios to boot the first position I get confused which icon is represents what drive. I was trying to replace the drive with cloned M.2 nvme drive. So I took my best guess and ended up installing windows to the wrong drive. I was asking if I temporarily disconnect all drives except the one I want the OS to be on (the M.3 NVME) I figured there would no drive available but my target drive and I assume Windows would label it drive C: I would have the OS on the correct drive because there would not be another one available. Then I simply reconnect all the drives afterward. I can change the drive letter if that is an issue. Because I am confused as to which MSI BIOS icon represents my target. I just wanted to know if anyone could validate my plan as I have never done this just to windows. The plan is to disconnect all drives except the one I want the OS installed on. I figure there wouldn't be but one (my target) available. How could I miss it? Then simply reconnect all the drives. I picked a choice and the OS got installed but to an unintended drive. I didn't want it to install to the slow 3.5" old disk spinning platter style 7200 rpm. I had a lot of used drives on hand and I have about 4 installed. The pc is working but terribly slow because of I missed the target when I chose (my fault). I have cloned that to my 4tb NVME. I haven't installed it yet. I just wanted to see if anyone thinks that plan will work. Only one drive is connected so I can't pick the wrong drive if I wanted to. Only one is available. What confuses me is in the bios I see the icons that represent the installed drives. Almost everyone has a USB label on the icons. I have never considered an internal HDD to be usb. Maybe they are. some of the icons have an cd image on the icon and this pc doesn't even have an optical drive. The big question isn't really that big. If only have the drive I want windows to be on connected it force me to have only one choice so I was thinking that would make it impossible to install OS to anything but the one I want it to. Then reconnect all drives. I hope you understand. If not let me know. Thank you for your reply.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 5 3400g
    Motherboard
    MSI - MPG X570 Gaming Plus
    Memory
    VENGEANCE® LPX 32 gigs (4 x 8)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Graphics built into the CPU
    PSU
    EVGA - W1 Series 600W ATX 12V/EPS 12V 80 Plus Power Supply
I am using an MSI motherboard. I know to move the icon in the bios to boot the first position I get confused which icon is represents what drive. I was trying to replace the drive with cloned M.2 nvme drive. So I took my best guess and ended up installing windows to the wrong drive. I was asking if I temporarily disconnect all drives except the one I want the OS to be on (the M.3 NVME) I figured there would no drive available but my target drive and I assume Windows would label it drive C: I would have the OS on the correct drive because there would not be another one available. Then I simply reconnect all the drives afterward. I can change the drive letter if that is an issue. Because I am confused as to which MSI BIOS icon represents my target. I just wanted to know if anyone could validate my plan as I have never done this just to windows. The plan is to disconnect all drives except the one I want the OS installed on. I figure there wouldn't be but one (my target) available. How could I miss it? Then simply reconnect all the drives. I picked a choice and the OS got installed but to an unintended drive. I didn't want it to install to the slow 3.5" old disk spinning platter style 7200 rpm. I had a lot of used drives on hand and I have about 4 installed. The pc is working but terribly slow because of I missed the target when I chose (my fault). I have cloned that to my 4tb NVME. I haven't installed it yet. I just wanted to see if anyone thinks that plan will work. Only one drive is connected so I can't pick the wrong drive if I wanted to. Only one is available. What confuses me is in the bios I see the icons that represent the installed drives. Almost everyone has a USB label on the icons. I have never considered an internal HDD to be usb. Maybe they are. some of the icons have an cd image on the icon and this pc doesn't even have an optical drive. The big question isn't really that big. If only have the drive I want windows to be on connected it force me to have only one choice so I was thinking that would make it impossible to install OS to anything but the one I want it to. Then reconnect all drives. I hope you understand. If not let me know. Thank you for your reply.
It is really difficult to read this without paragraph breaks. I have done below it for others to read.
In my reply, I asked

"Post an image of your current system, and tell us what you want to do e.g. clone current system to a new nvme.

Are you wanting to dual boot or use new nvme, and then reuse current OS drive."


It would help us to understand what you are trying to achieve. That is still not clear.

Let's start simple and work from there.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am using an MSI motherboard. I know to move the icon in the bios to boot the first position I get confused which icon is represents what drive. I was trying to replace the drive with cloned M.2 nvme drive.

So I took my best guess and ended up installing windows to the wrong drive. I was asking if I temporarily disconnect all drives except the one I want the OS to be on (the M.3 NVME)

I figured there would no drive available but my target drive and I assume Windows would label it drive C: I would have the OS on the correct drive because there would not be another one available.

Then I simply reconnect all the drives afterward. I can change the drive letter if that is an issue. Because I am confused as to which MSI BIOS icon represents my target. I just wanted to know if anyone could validate my plan as I have never done this just to windows. The plan is to disconnect all drives except the one I want the OS installed on.

I figure there wouldn't be but one (my target) available. How could I miss it? Then simply reconnect all the drives. I picked a choice and the OS got installed but to an unintended drive.

I didn't want it to install to the slow 3.5" old disk spinning platter style 7200 rpm. I had a lot of used drives on hand and I have about 4 installed. The pc is working but terribly slow because of I missed the target when I chose (my fault). I have cloned that to my 4tb NVME. I haven't installed it yet. I just wanted to see if anyone thinks that plan will work.

Only one drive is connected so I can't pick the wrong drive if I wanted to. Only one is available. What confuses me is in the bios I see the icons that represent the installed drives. Almost everyone has a USB label on the icons.

I have never considered an internal HDD to be usb. Maybe they are. some of the icons have an cd image on the icon and this pc doesn't even have an optical drive.

The big question isn't really that big. If only have the drive I want windows to be on connected it force me to have only one choice so I was thinking that would make it impossible to install OS to anything but the one I want it to. Then reconnect all drives.

I hope you understand. If not let me know. Thank you for your reply.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro + others in VHDs
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Vivobook 14
    CPU
    I7
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    N/A
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Optane NVME SSD, 1 TB NVME SSD
    PSU
    Yep, got one
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wired
    Internet Speed
    72 Mb/s :-(
    Browser
    Edge mostly
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0
The best practice if you are installing or cloning OS is to disconnect all the other drives to avoid boot problems.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
    Motherboard
    MSI MPG Gaming Edge Wifi (X570)
    Memory
    32GB Adata XPG DDR4
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS GTX 1070 8GB ROG
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG Ultrawide 34"
    Screen Resolution
    3440x1440
    Hard Drives
    Main Boot Drive : 512GB Adata XPG RGB Gen3x4 NVMe M.2 SSD
    PSU
    EVGA 600 Watts Gold
    Case
    Deepcool Genome II
    Cooling
    Deepcool Fryzen
    Internet Speed
    1Gbps
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    "Moderna"
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i7-4790K
    Motherboard
    ASRock Xtreme6 Z97
    Memory
    16GB Corsair Vengeance Pro
    Graphics card(s)
    MSI R9 290
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG Ultrawide 34"
    Screen Resolution
    3440x1440
    Hard Drives
    Samsung M.2
    PSU
    Thermaltake 475 Watts 80 Bronze
    Case
    Thermaltake Commander I Snow Edition
    Cooling
    Deep Cool Archer Air Cooler
    Mouse
    Logitech G402
    Keyboard
    Armageddon MKA-5R RGB-Hornet
    Internet Speed
    1Gbps
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Moderna :)
Thank you for your reply BadRobot!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 5 3400g
    Motherboard
    MSI - MPG X570 Gaming Plus
    Memory
    VENGEANCE® LPX 32 gigs (4 x 8)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Graphics built into the CPU
    PSU
    EVGA - W1 Series 600W ATX 12V/EPS 12V 80 Plus Power Supply
What program do you use for cloning?
Shut down, disconnect the Power Supply from the wall outlet.
- Open the case and install the NVMe drive.
- Boot into Win 11 using the actual (source) drive. Windows may install a NVMe driver.
- Run your cloning program.
- Select the current drive as Source
- Select the NVMe drive as Target
- Adjust the C: partition size on the Target. The other partitions should remain the same size.
- When finished, shutdown and disconnect the source drive (power or SATA cable).
- Enter BIOS and select the NVMe as primary boot drive.
- Boot the computer from the NVMe drive.
- Everything should be working.
- If you want to use the old drive don't forget to clean the drive (deleting ALL partitions on the drive). Don't just format as it can give you problems.
 
Last edited:

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 7 HP 64 - Windows 11 Pro - Lubuntu
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    custom build
    CPU
    i5 6600K - 800MHz to 4400MHz
    Motherboard
    GA-Z170-HD3P
    Memory
    4+4G GSkill DDR4 3000
    Graphics Card(s)
    IG - Intel 530
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 226BW
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    (1) -1 SM951 – 128GB M.2 AHCI PCIe SSD drive for Win 11
    (2) -1 WD SATA 3 - 1T for Data
    (3) -1 WD SATA 3 - 1T for backup
    (4) -1 BX500 SSD - 128G for Windows 7 and Lubuntu
    PSU
    Thermaltake 450W TR2 gold
    Keyboard
    Old and good Chicony mechanical keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech mX performance - 9 buttons (had to disable some)
    Internet Speed
    500 Mb/s
    Browser
    Firefox 64
  • Operating System
    Windows 7 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Asus Q550LF
    CPU
    i7-4500U 800- 3000MHz
    Motherboard
    Asus Q550LF
    Memory
    (4+4)G DDR3 1600
    Graphics card(s)
    IG intel 4400 + NVIDIA GeForce GT 745M
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG Display LP156WF4-SPH1
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    BX500 120G SSD for Windows and programs
    & 1T HDD for data
    Internet Speed
    350 Mb/s
    Browser
    Firefox 64
If you have a SD Card reader, disconnect it also
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Intel NUC 10i5FNH - Lenovo A510 desktop -- Lenovo Laptop -- Acer laptop
    CPU
    i510210u
    Motherboard
    Intel
    Memory
    16g - 16g - 8g -8g
    Graphics Card(s)
    CPU
    Monitor(s) Displays
    acer 21 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    500g ssd
    500g spinner
    Keyboard
    cheap from Walmart
    Mouse
    cheap from Walmart
    Internet Speed
    109mbs
    Browser
    Chrome + FireFox+Waterfox+Brave+Edge
    Antivirus
    Emsisoft + Malwarebytes
  • Operating System
    Win 10 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo 510
    CPU
    I5
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    16g
    Graphics card(s)
    cpu
    Monitor(s) Displays
    20 inch
    Hard Drives
    SSD
    Internet Speed
    109mbs
    Antivirus
    Emsisoft + Malwarebytes Free

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