Asus laptop won't boot from SSD

[Jerochy]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to start this off saying I know a fresh install of windows is the proper way to go, not just cloning windows from an HDD to an SSD. I did it on my main PC and just don't feel like doing it on my laptop. I have an Asus fx502vm that came with a 1tb hdd with windows 10 on it. After using it for a year, I decided to snag an SSD for it. I got a samsung evo 960 m.2 250gb SSD from bestbuy. I installed it no problem, loaded up windows, allocated it and windows was recognizing it without any issues. I downloaded samsung's data migration software, transferred everything over, and got the OK to shut down. I shut it down, pressed f2 to get to my BIOS, went into my Boot tab and changed the boot priority from "Windows Boot Manager (P3: HGST)" aka my hard drive to "Samsung ssd 960 evo 250gb." Saved and exitted and an error to saying the laptop could not find a boot device. I then changed the boot priority to "Windows Boot Manager (P1: Samsung SSD EVO 250gb) as first, "Samsung ssd 960 evo 250gb" as second, and "Windows Boot Manager (P3: HGST)" aka my hard drive to third and saved. I booted it back up and it just loaded windows from the hard drive and when I went into my drive, it said my SSD was offline due to conflicts, but showed all the data loaded on it. 

I'm kinda stuck, it seems like if I get rid of the hard drive as a boot option, it says there isn't any boot device. If I leave it in there, it boots from that, not the SSD. Perhaps the cloning didn't work even though it said it was successful? I'm kind of reluctant at this point to clean install onto the SSD as at least for now I can always go back into windows on my hard drive and try again. 

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. The following are some pictures of what I'm dealing with: 

 

[Snipergod87]

And what happens if you physically disconnect the HGST HDD?

[Jerochy]

1 minute ago, Snipergod87 said:

And what happens if you physically disconnect the HGST HDD?

I went in and just disabled the hard drive in the BIOS and it brings me to the "no bootable device found" screen. 

[Jerochy]

23 minutes ago, Keith W said:

The used space on the 1TB drive must be below 200GB for the migration to work

Yes it is, it's around 90gb right now. I tried using the software again, disabling the hard drive from the boot menu, and it's still booting from the hard drive.

[Jerochy]

1 minute ago, Keith W said:

You have selected the correct boot drive in the bios?

Yes, when I select "Samsung ssd 960 evo 250gb" as the first boot device and nothing else, it goes to the "no bootable device found." When I select "Windows Boot Manager (P1: Samsung SSD EVO 250gb)" as the first priority boot device and "Samsung ssd 960 evo 250gb" second, it just boots using the hard drive even though I have it disabled as a boot device right now.

[Godlygamer23]

1 minute ago, Jerochy said:

Yes, when I select "Samsung ssd 960 evo 250gb" as the first boot device and nothing else, it goes to the "no bootable device found." When I select "Windows Boot Manager (P1: Samsung SSD EVO 250gb)" as the first priority boot device and "Samsung ssd 960 evo 250gb" second, it just boots using the hard drive even though I have it disabled as a boot device right now.

Can you force the PC to boot from the SSD?

[Jerochy]

Just now, Godlygamer23 said:

Can you force the PC to boot from the SSD?

If I leave "Samsung ssd 960 evo 250gb" as the only bootable device in the boot priority menu, it says "no bootable device found." I tried mashing f8 as I turned on the laptop because I know in the past I've just chose the device I wanted from that menu, but it didn't come up when I did that. I got a bad feeling I'm just gonna have to fresh install even though it looks like it should be working fine. 

[Godlygamer23]

2 minutes ago, Jerochy said:

If I leave "Samsung ssd 960 evo 250gb" as the only bootable device in the boot priority menu, it says "no bootable device found." I tried mashing f8 as I turned on the laptop because I know in the past I've just chose the device I wanted from that menu, but it didn't come up when I did that. I got a bad feeling I'm just gonna have to fresh install even though it looks like it should be working fine. 

Physically remove the hard drive from the system and try again.

[Jerochy]

8 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Physically remove the hard drive from the system and try again.

well well well, it booted just fine. So how do I wipe the HDD with it in the laptop without it booting to the HDD haha?

 

[Jerochy]

12 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Physically remove the hard drive from the system and try again.

I'm assuming you can't wipe a hard drive that windows is currently running on.

[Godlygamer23]

Just now, Jerochy said:

well well well, it booted just fine. So how do I wipe the HDD with it in the laptop without it booting to the HDD haha?

You can get yourself a SATA to USB adapter which should power the HDD fine - plug the drive into a USB port with the system already live in Windows. You should be able to format it from there.

[Jerochy]

Just now, Godlygamer23 said:

You can get yourself a SATA to USB adapter which should power the HDD fine - plug the drive into a USB port with the system already live in Windows. You should be able to format it from there.

I could probably just install it in my main PC and wipe it there right? I have a ton of extra sata cables. 

[Godlygamer23]

Just now, Jerochy said:

I could probably just install it in my main PC and wipe it there right? I have a ton of extra sata cables. 

You can do that too - hopefully you won't run into the same problem. I'm just trying to avoid that situation as best as possible.

 

Also, to answer your other question...Windows will not let you format the drive that it's stored on. But don't apply that to other OSes. Linux for example will allow you format the drive it's stored on.

[Jerochy]

Just now, Godlygamer23 said:

You can do that too - hopefully you won't run into the same problem. I'm just trying to avoid that situation as best as possible.

 

Also, to answer your other question...Windows will not let you format the drive that it's stored on. But don't apply that to other OSes. Linux for example will allow you format the drive it's stored on.

Alright thanks, I'll try messing around in the BIOS a little more to see if I can find an option that I'm missing. If not, I'll put it in my main PC and wipe it.