SSD laptops
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I have a Dell with SSD, is it correct that the SSD is the boot disk? (Mine is failing to boot, cant find any bootable devices, trying to work out which disk is the culprit)
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I have a Dell with SSD, is it correct that the SSD is the boot disk? (Mine is failing to boot, cant find any bootable devices, trying to work out which disk is the culprit)
Start with the BIOS: https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/enter-bios-dell-18849.html[^] and check the Boot menu - it should list the boot devices in order it checks them. The first HDD should normally be your bootable, and is probably the SSD. Check the disks menu as well and see if all your devices are recognised.
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640 Never throw anything away, Griff Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Start with the BIOS: https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/enter-bios-dell-18849.html[^] and check the Boot menu - it should list the boot devices in order it checks them. The first HDD should normally be your bootable, and is probably the SSD. Check the disks menu as well and see if all your devices are recognised.
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640 Never throw anything away, Griff Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
Both disks are shown in the devices section. In the boot section though it says 'ubuntu' as the first device, then IP4 and IP6 as the second and third. (It had windows 10 on it from the factory, I put on Ubuntu as the main boot OS, and put windows 10 and windows 7 in grub) I am running a Dell long diagnostic on it currently, but using the latest Hierens bot CD the SSD didnt show up in disk manager, and in a disk repair tool it was showing as unmounted. I wounder if the SSD has died...
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Both disks are shown in the devices section. In the boot section though it says 'ubuntu' as the first device, then IP4 and IP6 as the second and third. (It had windows 10 on it from the factory, I put on Ubuntu as the main boot OS, and put windows 10 and windows 7 in grub) I am running a Dell long diagnostic on it currently, but using the latest Hierens bot CD the SSD didnt show up in disk manager, and in a disk repair tool it was showing as unmounted. I wounder if the SSD has died...
Settings about legacy? UEFI?
Munchies_Matt wrote:
I wounder if the SSD has died...
Not usual but possible
M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Settings about legacy? UEFI?
Munchies_Matt wrote:
I wounder if the SSD has died...
Not usual but possible
M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
It is on UEFI boot, always has been, so that shouldnt be a problem. About the SDD dying, this is what I am tying to establish. If it is the main boot disk then it is odd that a solid state drive should fail.
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It is on UEFI boot, always has been, so that shouldnt be a problem. About the SDD dying, this is what I am tying to establish. If it is the main boot disk then it is odd that a solid state drive should fail.
To check the drive, buy a 2.5-inch usb drive enclosure and put your ssd in it. Then, plug it into another computer. If you can access the files, at least you know the ssd is okay, and you can turn your attention to your multi-boot setup.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013 -
To check the drive, buy a 2.5-inch usb drive enclosure and put your ssd in it. Then, plug it into another computer. If you can access the files, at least you know the ssd is okay, and you can turn your attention to your multi-boot setup.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013You don't even need an enclosure - you can connect a SSD directly to any desktop that has a spare SATA port and power connector.
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640 Never throw anything away, Griff Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt -
I have a Dell with SSD, is it correct that the SSD is the boot disk? (Mine is failing to boot, cant find any bootable devices, trying to work out which disk is the culprit)
Outside of what has been suggested above, remove the SSD and switch on the laptop to see what happens :~
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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You don't even need an enclosure - you can connect a SSD directly to any desktop that has a spare SATA port and power connector.
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640 Never throw anything away, Griff Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
That depends on the SSD card. Some laptop ones don't use standard SATA connectors, and have to be mounted in the laptop[^].
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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That depends on the SSD card. Some laptop ones don't use standard SATA connectors, and have to be mounted in the laptop[^].
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
Clearly, I don't dismantle enough lappies ... :-O
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640 Never throw anything away, Griff Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I have a Dell with SSD, is it correct that the SSD is the boot disk? (Mine is failing to boot, cant find any bootable devices, trying to work out which disk is the culprit)
I saw a new Dell with a small SSD and a larger spinner. If you have two drives, yes the boot is going to be the ssd. These are very temporary growing pains as I saw a 500gb ssd for 47 bucks on sale. It's the end of the mechanical HD. It's been a good run all the way back to the RK05 but good reddens.
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Clearly, I don't dismantle enough lappies ... :-O
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640 Never throw anything away, Griff Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I saw a new Dell with a small SSD and a larger spinner. If you have two drives, yes the boot is going to be the ssd. These are very temporary growing pains as I saw a 500gb ssd for 47 bucks on sale. It's the end of the mechanical HD. It's been a good run all the way back to the RK05 but good reddens.
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You don't even need an enclosure - you can connect a SSD directly to any desktop that has a spare SATA port and power connector.
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640 Never throw anything away, Griff Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
2.5-inch SATA SSDs all have the same cable interface. For the nVME SSD's you can get an appropriate enclosure for those as well. All you have to do is be mindful of the connection type and what type of drive it is (there are apparantly three types, and two? connector types). I'm assuming that the drive in question is a standard 2.5 inch SATA drive.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
-----
You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013 -
I have a Dell with SSD, is it correct that the SSD is the boot disk? (Mine is failing to boot, cant find any bootable devices, trying to work out which disk is the culprit)
I recently replaced the spinner in my wife's HP all-in-one with a SSD. I was surprised to find a 16GB SSD mounted on the board, apparently only used for cache. I never saw any indication that it helped anything. That 5+ y/o machine was always really slow. The new SSD and fresh Windows made all the difference as it's now < 10 seconds from power on to Google.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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I recently replaced the spinner in my wife's HP all-in-one with a SSD. I was surprised to find a 16GB SSD mounted on the board, apparently only used for cache. I never saw any indication that it helped anything. That 5+ y/o machine was always really slow. The new SSD and fresh Windows made all the difference as it's now < 10 seconds from power on to Google.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
Yeah, this is what I am not sure of, whether the SSD is just cache, or is the actual boot device. It shows, in Hierans boot CD in a disk scan tool as an unmounted device, it does show up in BIOS as a disk device. The terrabyte disk is mounted, but the disk manager shows some odd partitions, it was partitioned up into windows 10, windows 7, data, linux, android, It seems as if the windows 10, what was the original disk boot partition, has lost its MBR. (I later put on an Ubuntu MBR on this disk, and it then booted either Ubuntu, windows 10, or windows 7). All my data is backed up on a terabyte external USB disk, so I might just get the rescue iso off Dell, and reset the system to its original format, booting windows 10, and running ubuntu and android off VMs. Probably easiest. THe Dell hardware check, long version, didnt report any hardware issues, so it looks like the disks are OK, just the MBR got trashed.
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I have a Dell with SSD, is it correct that the SSD is the boot disk? (Mine is failing to boot, cant find any bootable devices, trying to work out which disk is the culprit)
Windows 10 updates will trash MBR's it doesn't understand, here's just one ref: dual boot - Windows 10 update broke my MBR / GRUB - Ask Ubuntu[^] A better way to go would be install ubuntu (dell even do this themselves in some of their laptops) and run win 10 & 7 out of VM's - more stable and less worries that win updates will mess up vm settings / connectivity or even scan and decide it's suspicious.
Message Signature (Click to edit ->)
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Windows 10 updates will trash MBR's it doesn't understand, here's just one ref: dual boot - Windows 10 update broke my MBR / GRUB - Ask Ubuntu[^] A better way to go would be install ubuntu (dell even do this themselves in some of their laptops) and run win 10 & 7 out of VM's - more stable and less worries that win updates will mess up vm settings / connectivity or even scan and decide it's suspicious.
Message Signature (Click to edit ->)
THats a possible. Right now I just need another windows 10 machine on the C drive that I can use for testing some driver dev work.
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2.5-inch SATA SSDs all have the same cable interface. For the nVME SSD's you can get an appropriate enclosure for those as well. All you have to do is be mindful of the connection type and what type of drive it is (there are apparantly three types, and two? connector types). I'm assuming that the drive in question is a standard 2.5 inch SATA drive.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
-----
You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013 -
That's an M.2 device and USB enclosures are available for those too, so you were still correct with your reply OriginalGriff :-)
