~20 second boot time with NVMe SSD

[rayp]

I always hear my HDD spin up before I see the boot screen, my boot drive is my NVMe SSD, can I make my system boot without using the HDD / without the HDD spinning up?

I'm certain the windows install is on the NVMe SSD. I'm sure this has happened to someone else, if anyone knows a thread with the solution, I'd be very appreciative

[Constantin]

The system doesnt use the HDD, it just start it up without reading anything from it, except if there is a program installed on the HDD that is on the start up.

[kb5zue]

1 minute ago, rayp said:

I always hear my HDD spin up before I see the boot screen, my boot drive is my NVMe SSD, can I make my system boot without using the HDD / without the HDD spinning up?

I'm certain the windows install is on the NVMe SSD. I'm sure this has happened to someone else, if anyone knows a thread with the solution, I'd be very appreciative

When you installed the OS on the SSD, did you make sure that no other drives were connected to the mobo?  When installing the OS, the best thing to do is to do a clean, fresh install while making sure the only drive connected to the mobo is what will be the boot drive.  Ensuring no other drives are connected will make sure that things such as the Windows cache file and other system files are all located on the boot drive.

[rayp]

Just now, kb5zue said:

When you installed the OS on the SSD, did you make sure that no other drives were connected to the mobo?  When installing the OS, the best thing to do is to do a clean, fresh install while making sure the only drive connected to the mobo is what will be the boot drive.  Ensuring no other drives are connected will make sure that things such as the Windows cache file and other system files are all located on the boot drive.

Since my HDD is 8TB I had to have it plugged in at the windows install to format it using the correct file structure or something, otherwise it only showed up at like 2 or 3TB usable for some reason. 

Would doing a re-install with the HDD unplugged cause the same error where windows only recognizes it at a 2-3TB drive?

[kb5zue]

You said the OS was on the SSD.  You do not need to have the 8TB plugged in to the system to install the OS.  I would unplug all the drive(s) with the exception of the SSD boot drive.  Install windows to that SSD, then shut the system down, install the 8TB, and then do what you gotta do.  That will ensure that nothing gets written to the 8TB during the OS install process.  After reinstalling the 8TB, you can do to it whatever you want.  I use AOMEI Partition Magic (free) when I need to partition or format a drive, it works fine.

[rayp]

1 minute ago, kb5zue said:

You said the OS was on the SSD.  You do not need to have the 8TB plugged in to the system to install the OS.  I would unplug all the drive(s) with the exception of the SSD boot drive.  Install windows to that SSD, then shut the system down, install the 8TB, and then do what you gotta do.  That will ensure that nothing gets written to the 8TB during the OS install process.  After reinstalling the 8TB, you can do to it whatever you want.  I use AOMEI Partition Magic (free) when I need to partition or format a drive, it works fine.

May I ask how big your largest drive is?

[Livinloud]

Check your bios make sure you have the SSD are your first boot option. Sounds like you have your HDD if it is spinning up and if it can't find windows it will go to the next one in line.

[rayp]

Just now, Livinloud said:

Check your bios make sure you have the SSD are your first boot option. Sounds like you have your HDD if it is spinning up and if it can't find windows it will go to the next one in line.

It's selected, that's the first thing I checked

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

3 minutes ago, rayp said:

Since my HDD is 8TB I had to have it plugged in at the windows install to format it using the correct file structure or something, otherwise it only showed up at like 2 or 3TB usable for some reason. 

Would doing a re-install with the HDD unplugged cause the same error where windows only recognizes it at a 2-3TB drive?

The HDD size issue is caused by the difference between the MBR and GPT partitioning styles.  Now that yours is using GPT, you shouldn't have that problem anymore unless you manually change it to MBR in diskpart.

 

As for why it's best to install Windows with all drives unplugged : If you install Windows on a PC with more than one drive, the Windows installer has this nasty habit of installing the bootloader on another disk than the one you're installing the OS on.  If the bootloader is indeed on the HDD, that could very well explain slow boot times.

 

That being said, normally the BIOS/UEFI always checks all the detected hardware before it starts loading the operating system.  So that might also explain why you hear the HDD spin up before the OS starts to boot. 

[kb5zue]

Something that could have an impact on the boot time is if he has some sort of software on the 8TB that is in the windows startup folder.

[Livinloud]

1 minute ago, rayp said:

It's selected, that's the first thing I checked

Well I could be wrong but maybe it spins up because it is receiving power and just checking that it works possibly..20sec boot up is pretty fast. All considering when you turn the pc on you see the bios screen and that's about what 5-10sec's,then remaining time is your boot up...but are you timing from when you push the power button and when your computer finally boots up or when you see windows login screen?

 

[rayp]

4 minutes ago, kb5zue said:

Something that could have an impact on the boot time is if he has some sort of software on the 8TB that is in the windows startup folder.

I went through all of my autoruns and insured that they were all on the ssd.

Using this: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns

[Spotty]

I'm guessing most of your slow boot time is waiting for the BIOS splash screen to appear? Once you see the Windows Logo it's pretty quick to load in to the desktop?
The motherboard most likely is checking connected SATA devices during the POST process. In layman terms it's poking the HDD asking if it's alive and waiting for a response; which may take a few seconds as the drive needs to spin up first. Doesn't matter if the drives are the boot drives or not, any connected storage drives will be checked.

AFAIK there's not much you can do about it. You can't tell the motherboard to ignore things during POST. The above suggestions of reinstalling windows won't help since it's a delay before the system even tries loading the OS (unless you have accidentally installed windows on to the wrong drive).

[rayp]

2 minutes ago, Livinloud said:

Well I could be wrong but maybe it spins up because it is receiving power and just checking that it works possibly..20sec boot up is pretty fast. All considering when you turn the pc on you see the bios screen and that's about what 5-10sec's,then remaining time is your boot up...but are you timing from when you push the power button and when your computer finally boots up or when you see windows login screen?

 

Taking the boot time from this:

[rayp]

7 minutes ago, Captain Chaos said:

The HDD size issue is caused by the difference between the MBR and GPT partitioning styles.  Now that yours is using GPT, you shouldn't have that problem anymore unless you manually change it to MBR in diskpart.

 

As for why it's best to install Windows with all drives unplugged : If you install Windows on a PC with more than one drive, the Windows installer has this nasty habit of installing the bootloader on another disk than the one you're installing the OS on.  If the bootloader is indeed on the HDD, that could very well explain slow boot times.

 

That being said, normally the BIOS/UEFI always checks all the detected hardware before it starts loading the operating system.  So that might also explain why you hear the HDD spin up before the OS starts to boot. 

Is there a good way for me to check if the bootloader is on my HDD? 

[Livinloud]

1 minute ago, rayp said:

Taking the boot time from this:

Mine is 14.7 and I have a 970 evo..

[rayp]

6 minutes ago, Livinloud said:

Mine is 14.7 and I have a 970 evo..

960 pro 1TB here

[Livinloud]

Just now, rayp said:

960 pro 1TB here

Why are you concerned how long it takes?? I mean If it was a HDD and took a minute then I would be like ya get a SSD. 20's isn't long. Run to the other side of the house or apartment and come back and it will be waiting for you.

[rayp]

2 minutes ago, Livinloud said:

Why are you concerned how long it takes?? I mean If it was a HDD and took a minute then I would be like ya get a SSD. 20's isn't long. Run to the other side of the house or apartment and come back and it will be waiting for you.

I just assumed it could be a lot faster, spent a decent bit because I thought it'd boot super quick :_p 
Guess not. I thought sub 10 second boot times were supposed to be common with NVMe drives?

Could've just made that up.

[Livinloud]

Ya I think 10sec was a little farfetched but they are definitely faster than a HDD. I mean if you wanted to give it a shot load windows on your 8tb and use it for a few days ( don't want you growing old or pulling your hair out) and switch back.

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

4 minutes ago, rayp said:

Is there a good way for me to check if the bootloader is on my HDD? 

Not sure where it is on Windows 10.  On Win7 it's control panel -> administrative tools -> computer management -> disk management.   That will show all connected drives and how they are partitioned. 

 

What you're looking for is the "Boot" flag, as shown below.

(this screenshot is from a virtual machine, hence the single drive.  My actual PC has several drives but an unusual structure on the C drive, so I can't use that as an example)

[rayp]

Just now, Captain Chaos said:

Not sure where it is on Windows 10.  On Win7 it's control panel -> administrative tools -> computer management -> disk management.   That will show all connected drives and how they are partitioned. 

 

What you're looking for is the "Boot" flag, as shown below.

(this screenshot is from a virtual machine, hence the single drive.  My actual PC has several drives but an unusual structure on the C drive, so I can't use that as an example)

[Enderman]

[rayp]

Just did a test to see the boot order, and I noticed that the screen that lets you enter BIOS doesn't come up until the HDD has fully spun up...

[Spotty]

10 minutes ago, rayp said:

I just assumed it could be a lot faster, spent a decent bit because I thought it'd boot super quick :_p 
Guess not. I thought sub 10 second boot times were supposed to be common with NVMe drives?

Could've just made that up.

Shut down, open the side panel, unplug the HDD, and boot the system. See if that makes it boot faster.

 

5 minutes ago, rayp said:

 

Spoiler

 

Hentai (Z:)
Capacity: 7452GB
Free Space: 645GB
% Free: 9%