SSD Boot Drive

Hey all I just received my new replacement m17x r4. On my previous r4 I installed a Samsung 830 256gb SSD and installed win7 ultimate on there. I have now installed that exact same SSD into my new r4 and changed the boot drive to "Second Hard Drive" but it keeps booting from the stock HDD with win7 home premium.

Any ideas what's going on here?

I would like to not have to format the SSD and go through the process of reinstalling everything. Shouldn't it be as simple as plug and go since I already had this installed on my previous r4 and working?

 

Are you sure it's in the secondary slot? Have you tried removing the original HDD and just leaving in your SSD?

 

I'm sure it's in there, but I will try to remove the HDD and see what happens next. Updates soon, thanks!

 

I second that. It's what I had to do initially. Once I got my SSD up & running, I deleted the Windows folder/files from my old HDD and reinstalled it. I had to set my SSD to the primary in the BIOS again after I put the HDD back into the secondary slot.

 

I took out the HDD and when I tried to boot I got a screen saying no bootable drive was recognized, however when the HDD was installed I could access my SSD files. Should I reinstall windows to the SSD then?

 

Is the BIOS SATA mode the same in the new R4 as it was in the old R4 when Win 7 was installed on the 830 (AHCI v Raid)? Sounds like they may be different so that the new R4 cannot read the old SSD.

 

Yeah I'm pretty sure I set it up on my old r4 as AHCI And I've done that to this r4 as well. Will switch it up and see if maye that fixes it.

Tried on AHCI, ATA, and RAID. Nothing. So I'm thinking I'll just copy and paste all program files and drivers to HDD and reinstall as AHCI.

 

That's the safest course, but hard to understand why it's not a plug-n-play proposition.

 

Yea I know. It's bugging me now! Ah well fresh install never hurts.

I have a quick question: would transferring over my programs be as easy as copying and pasting the "program files" folder from the HDD to the SSD? Or do I have to reinstall them?

EDIT: Nevermind, I will have to reinstall the programs from scratch. Too bad the SSD was acting a little strange. Thanks for everyone's help!

 

Yeah, I'm hoping MS will one day fix that shortcoming...

I will say though, I've had several games run after doing a copy/paste without reinstalling. Some of them:

SWTOR
Diablo 3
WOW
Anything on Steam - if you copy the Steam folder, you will not have to redownload and install them. (Just install Steam, of course)

 

I have ordered the laptop in my sig along with the exact same SSD as the OP. I have read a lot of threads here but cannot figure out for sure if Raid or AHCI is preferred for the Samsung 830.

I've read some posts that some brands require one or the other. Can anyone chime in so I get it right the first time when mine arrives next week?

 

I second that request!

Finally ordered my M17x R4 and it's due for arrival on the 13th July.

Also ordered a Samsung 830 256GB SSD - I intend to do a fresh install of Win7 on this drive, using it as my primary in the primary drive bay, moving the 'as supplied' HDD to the secondary bay.

...can someone provide a numbered order of steps for this config? e.g.

1. Open bottom compartment
2. remove HDD, relocate to bay 2
3. Install SSD in bay 1
4. Boot into bios change boot order to DVD
5. Reboot with Win7 DVD in slot and install on SSD
6. Change registry settings for AHCI enable
7. Reboot into BIOS and set AHCI there
etc.etc.

...am I close?