How to switch what SSD I'm booting from?

[m16ali]

Hi,

 

I got a laptop recently that comes with 2 M.2 slots, one of which was taken up by a 512 GB SSD. Since I already have another SSD in my previous laptop that I'm switching from, I wanted to add that to the newer machine as well. So i swapped the 512 GB SSD to the second slot, and added the one from previous laptop into the primary slot. However, I can't seem to find the original SSD in the BIOS or boot menu anywhere, and so I can't boot from it. I can boot from my old laptop's SSD just fine.

 

What is it that I'm missing? Here are any specs if they are needed:

- HP VICTUS 16 (model 4H2B4EA#ABU)

- 1 TB Intel 660p SSD (from old machine, added to the M.2 slot next to memory modules)

- 512 GB PCIe® NVMe™ TLC M.2 SSD (Sorry, couldn't find any other details on the official site, and couldn't read them myself off of the SSD because of the attached heat-sink).

[Jzan]

When you boot from your old SSD does your new SSD show up?

[m16ali]

2 minutes ago, Jzan said:

When you boot from your old SSD does your new SSD show up?

Where is it supposed to show up? When I boot from the old SSD, I go straight into windows. Aren't I supposed to choose what device I'm booting from before that, by choosing the boot order or something? Trouble is, I don't see anything other than my old SSD in there.

[m16ali]

5 minutes ago, Jzan said:

When you boot from your old SSD does your new SSD show up?

Wait, if you mean in the My PC section of explorer, then no.

[Jzan]

Just now, m16ali said:

Wait, if you mean in the My PC section of explorer, then no.

Yep that’s what I’m wondering. Do you know that the secondary m.2 slot is active at the moment? I’m just wondering since it seems that that drive is not showing up in windows. 

[Silverfields]

Check Windows' Disk Management and make sure the 1TB SSD has usable partitions.

Are you wanting to transfer your OS/files to the 1 TB SSD, or do you just want it as usable storage space?

[m16ali]

1 minute ago, Jzan said:

Yep that’s what I’m wondering. Do you know that the secondary m.2 slot is active at the moment? I’m just wondering since it seems that that drive is not showing up in windows. 

I can recheck in the BIOS but didn't find anything of that sort the first time around. Didn't know they could even come disabled.

[m16ali]

8 minutes ago, m16ali said:

Wait, if you mean in the My PC section of explorer, then no.

Ok, my bad. I can see it in explorer and disk management.

[m16ali]

6 minutes ago, Silverfields said:

Check Windows' Disk Management and make sure the 1TB SSD has usable partitions.

Are you wanting to transfer your OS/files to the 1 TB SSD, or do you just want it as usable storage space?

So what I intend to do is have Ubuntu on one of the drives (512 GB one), and Windows on the other, and select which device to boot from at startup. I went over everything in BIOS again, But I can't boot from the other drive.

[Silverfields]

1 minute ago, m16ali said:

So what I intend to do is have Ubuntu on one of the drives (512 GB one), and Windows on the other, and select which device to boot from at startup. I went over everything in BIOS again, But I can't boot from the other drive.

Have you tried putting the drive with the windows install in slot one and the 1tb SSD in slot 2?

If the new 1TB SSD doesn't show up with the drives set up that way, I'll assume the second slot disabled somehow. There should be an option somewhere in the bios to enable it.

[Jzan]

9 minutes ago, m16ali said:

So what I intend to do is have Ubuntu on one of the drives (512 GB one), and Windows on the other, and select which device to boot from at startup. I went over everything in BIOS again, But I can't boot from the other drive.

Huh so when you are in BIOS you can’t find where to boot order is?

[m16ali]

2 minutes ago, Silverfields said:

Have you tried putting the drive with the windows install in slot one and the 1tb SSD in slot 2?

If the new 1TB SSD doesn't show up with the drives set up that way, I'll assume the second slot disabled somehow. There should be an option somewhere in the bios to enable it.

But then how can I see it in disk management?

[m16ali]

2 minutes ago, Jzan said:

Huh so when you are in BIOS you can’t find where to boot order is?

No, I can find the boot order just fine. I don't have the other SSD listed anywhere there.

[m16ali]

6 minutes ago, Silverfields said:

Have you tried putting the drive with the windows install in slot one and the 1tb SSD in slot 2?

If the new 1TB SSD doesn't show up with the drives set up that way, I'll assume the second slot disabled somehow. There should be an option somewhere in the bios to enable it.

I can post pics of BIOS if you want, but I think I have checked everything that can be configured and there's no option regarding enabling any storage slots.

[Poinkachu]

2 minutes ago, m16ali said:

I can post pics of BIOS if you want, but I think I have checked everything that can be configured and there's no option regarding enabling any storage slots.

That'll be nice, since I have no idea what your laptop BIOS looks like.

[m16ali]

On 1/2/2022 at 11:07 AM, Poinkachu said:

That'll be nice, since I have no idea what your laptop BIOS looks like.

The startup process can be paused by hitting the ESC key. From there, you can choose to go into BIOS, or recovery mode etc.

 

In the boot options menu in BIOS, you can see two options listed under OS boot manager, but they are both from the 1 TB SSD (because I was dual booting on my previous system).

 

You can also just hit F9 and choose the boot order from there, but again, can't see the newer SSD, only the 2 options previously mentioned.

[m16ali]

So any ideas if this might be possible?

[m16ali]

The issue turned out to be a not fully seated drive in the m.2 slot. That's why it would show up some times but not others, and also the reason I couldn't boot from it.