How to boot new drive

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RFSndrs
Posts: 106
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 2:42 pm

How to boot new drive

Post by RFSndrs »

I got an NVMe drive for my wife's laptop computer as it had an unused slot. I installed the drive and copied the HDD OS's to the new drive. I'm now trying to figure out how to make BIU recognize the new drive and then will delete the OS's (and BIU) from the HDD and use it strictly as a DATA drive. My computer doesn't offer the new drive as a bootable solution. Is this an easy fix? BTW, it had a 1 TB HDD before and now it has a 500GB NVMe and the HDD.
TeraByte Support
Posts: 3598
Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 10:37 pm

Re: How to boot new drive

Post by TeraByte Support »

well, obviously the drive needs to be able to be supported/bootable by the BIOS. Perhaps look up the manual for that mobo and see what it says and/or see if a firmware update is available to add the support needed.
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: How to boot new drive

Post by Brian K »

Bob,

How did you copy the OS onto the NVMe drive? In BIU Partition Work? Did it create a Boot Item.
Which partitions did you copy?
RFSndrs
Posts: 106
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 2:42 pm

Re: How to boot new drive

Post by RFSndrs »

Brian, I copied the OS's onto the NVMe with BIU Partition Work. I don't remember if it was the HDD BIU or my flash drive BIU. I copied all partitions except for a DATA partition. I don't know if it created a Boot Item. On my HDD I have a MS 16MB partition, SYSTEM partition, Windows partition, /(root) partition, /home partition, DATA partition, WIN_RE partition, and LSwap partition. On my NVMe I have copied all but the DATA partition in the same order as the HDD. The / and /home being Ubuntu 20.04, if you recall a few days ago. The HDD has been booting fine since I got it square away.
Last edited by RFSndrs on Tue Mar 01, 2022 9:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: How to boot new drive

Post by Brian K »

Bob, you shouldn't have copied the ESP. Only one ESP should be present in the computer.
I'd delete the ESP on the NVMe. Make sure you have an image of the ESP on the HD.
Have a look at Boot Edit. Do you have a single item for Win10 or two items? If it's a single item you will need to do a BCD Edit pointing the edit to the Win10 on the NVMe drive. That should make Win10 boot from the NVMe drive.

Getting Linux to boot from the NVMe drive is more complex.
.
RFSndrs
Posts: 106
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 2:42 pm

Re: How to boot new drive

Post by RFSndrs »

Brian, When you say ESP I assume you mean EFI System Partition. I copied all of the above-mentioned partitions before doing anything else. I was trying to duplicate the HDD and then get it to boot. So there is only one EFI partition on the NVMe...or do mean *including* the HDD EFI? I *have* been able to boot into the NVMe BIU and tried to boot Ubuntu. It didn't work. But I *could* boot into Windows from there. I have imaged the HDD drive except for DATA. Not too worried about that. I imaged just HDD SYSTEM also. I am trying to get up the nerve to delete SYSTEM from the HDD and see if that will allow me to boot. Perhaps what you're saying is to go ahead and delete it from the HDD.
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: How to boot new drive

Post by Brian K »

Bob, Microsoft recommend only one ESP per computer. Not an ESP on each drive.
You have 2 BIU installs as well. That's why I'm suggesting to delete the ESP on the NVMe and keep the original. For the time being.

Can you boot both Win10?
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: How to boot new drive

Post by Brian K »

Bob, probably a better approach is to remove the HD from the laptop and see if you can get the OS to boot on the NVMe drive. Then reinstall the HD later.
RFSndrs
Posts: 106
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 2:42 pm

Re: How to boot new drive

Post by RFSndrs »

Will do this today. Thanks.
RFSndrs
Posts: 106
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 2:42 pm

Re: How to boot new drive

Post by RFSndrs »

I’m about ready to dump this whole project. It really shouldn’t this big of a problem to copy a drive to another drive and boot from it. Okay, done ranting. First, I copied the DATA to the NVMe as it is also where I store the images. I made images of the HD and stored them on the NVMe DATA partition. Then I removed the HD and couldn’t get anything to boot. So I deleted the SYSTEMS, Windows, and both Ubuntu partitions from the NVMe. I then reinstalled BIU on the NVMe drive. I got it to boot. I re-imaged the Windows to the NVMe and it didn’t have a menu item so I ran fixboot and made a start menu item for Windows. When I booted into Windows, it (Microsoft) couldn’t recognize the computer. I spent a couple of hours trying to troubleshoot this remembering all the time why I ditched Windows. I was not successful. I then re-imaged the Ubuntu partitions on the NVMe and couldn’t get it to boot. I searched the TB website and can’t find anywhere it tells how to restore Windows or Linux. Finally, I deleted all the stuff on the NVMe and put the cover back on the laptop. The Windows on the HD booted normally so my SWMBO can use it again. Basically, I’m back at scratch with a HD working and an empty, but installed, NVMe. I’m retired, so time is not an issue...any ideas for tomorrow? Thanks.
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