Solved Boot error after removing non boot drive

Hello all

I'm running Win 8 Pro which is installed on my SSD and I need to remove my secondary drive and connect it to another PC. When I do this, I get a boot error. I have no idea why an error shows up especially when it is not a boot drive.

Error and My Disk Management information is attached as an image to this message. C: is the SSD and K: is my PATA drive which I want to move.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Because it's still listed as the system active partition.

It needs to read like your E: Drive only saying primary partition for it not to be needed to boot.

Download easybcd and select bcd backup/repair from the left and choose change boot drive, perform action and choose your c: drive that should fix everything and when you reboot active and system should get removed from K:

It looks like part of you System Partition is on K instead of being in System Reserved. I also noticed that your System Reserved partition is missing the System identifier and is only 100mb whereas I normally see 350mb there. Did you do an install without a reformat or is this the results of an upgrade? See mine for a comparison:

Just a reminder that your targeted "new" system partition is only 100mb and that sizing appears to be left over from a previous OS. Given that mine was created (and sized) by Win 8 during a clean install, and currently uses 159mbs, yours is only 100mb, so who knows what complications might arise from that under-sizing... maybe none (I hope). Good luck.

Physically disconnect the Disk 0 & 1 HD Drive.
Make the Windows 8 SSD, disk0 & first HD boot in BIOS.Also connected to the first Sata port on the MOBO.
Than do a Auto Repair first,

How to do a Auto Repair:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2843-automatic-repair-run-windows-8-a.html
Note: You may need to do startup repair 3 to 4 times.
Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times - Windows 7 Support Forums

theog said:

Physically disconnect the Disk 0 & 1 HD Drive.
Make the Windows 8 SSD, disk0 & first HD boot in BIOS.Also connected to the first Sata port on the MOBO.
Than do a Auto Repair first,

How to do a Auto Repair:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2843-automatic-repair-run-windows-8-a.html
Note: You may need to do startup repair 3 to 4 times.
Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times - Windows 7 Support Forums

Click to expand...

This worked. Thank you. However when my old PATA drive is connected it shows up as Active Primary Partition. Is this a probem?

norepli said:

It looks like part of you System Partition is on K instead of being in System Reserved. I also noticed that your System Reserved partition is missing the System identifier and is only 100mb whereas I normally see 350mb there. Did you do an install without a reformat or is this the results of an upgrade? See mine for a comparison:

View attachment 17065View attachment 17065

Click to expand...

Yes I upgraded from Win 7 Pro to Win 8 Pro using the upgrade disks from MS. What system identifier are you referring to? My disks look the same like yours except that you have a 350MB partition instead of a 100MB partition.

wildgoat said:

theog said:

Physically disconnect the Disk 0 & 1 HD Drive.
Make the Windows 8 SSD, disk0 & first HD boot in BIOS.Also connected to the first Sata port on the MOBO.
Than do a Auto Repair first,

How to do a Auto Repair:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2843-automatic-repair-run-windows-8-a.html
Note: You may need to do startup repair 3 to 4 times.
Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times - Windows 7 Support Forums

Click to expand...

This worked. Thank you. However when my old PATA drive is connected it shows up as Active Primary Partition. Is this a probem?

Click to expand...

make sure you mark the HD Drive INACTIVE:
Partition - Mark as Inactive - Windows 7 Support Forums

theog said:

wildgoat said:

theog said:

Physically disconnect the Disk 0 & 1 HD Drive.
Make the Windows 8 SSD, disk0 & first HD boot in BIOS.Also connected to the first Sata port on the MOBO.
Than do a Auto Repair first,

How to do a Auto Repair:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2843-automatic-repair-run-windows-8-a.html
Note: You may need to do startup repair 3 to 4 times.
Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times - Windows 7 Support Forums

Click to expand...

This worked. Thank you. However when my old PATA drive is connected it shows up as Active Primary Partition. Is this a probem?

Click to expand...

make sure you mark the HD Drive INACTIVE:
Partition - Mark as Inactive - Windows 7 Support Forums

Click to expand...

Done. Thank you!