XPS15 L501X: Startup Freeze on CLONED SSD with Original HDD in Caddy

So, a month ago I used Crucial's cloning software to clone the HDD HM640JJ onto the SSD 128GB M4, and have placed the SSD into the original location of the HDD and moved the HDD into the caddy.

On startup, everything loads normally until the "Starting Windows" animation, where the animation continues to loop without any stop. There have been other occasions where the screen would pass this, yet just remain black.

This issue was fixed by rebooting the computer (forcibly, 10 second power hold) WITHOUT the HDD caddy inserted.

I don't see what the issue is here, as my Boot Order in the BIOS is set to the M4 as the first option.

Specs below:
i7-740
GT 435M 2GB OC 850/960/1700
8GB 1333
FHD
SSD M4 128GB
HDD Samsung HM640JJ 640GB (In caddy)

Anyone else had this issue/can suggest to me what to do?

Or even if it is possible to turn on the HDD after I put it into the slot after turning on the system (Hot Swap)

Cheers

 

Unless the Laptop supports Hot Swap, I doubt it. What I would do is make a backup of the main HDD onto an external, format it, and try again. I suspect that Windows is looking at that disk and getting confused, because it sees the exact same copy on the second drive. I dont see why it would cause an issue, but if the system boots fine with the formatted drive, then thats the issue.

 

IIRC, it's not a good idea to boot the system with two Windows OS on two bootable drives at the same time. Windows can get more than confused, and this can cause problems.

 

I see.

My problem is that I can't even access it :s

 

You don't say which OS is installed, but that is a common problem when cloning XP and I think the same problem should theoretically exist in Vista and Win7.

Now that you've "fixed it", though, you should be able to power off, reinsert the caddy and boot normally from now on.

 

Nope, it's not the "fix" which I would want. It's a workaround where I can start the laptop but have no media data anymore.

I'm thinking of taking it out and just using a USB3 HDD Hub. Formatting it first of course.

And sorry, Win7.

 

I don't know what you're asking. If you're saying that you need to copy your data files from that drive but you can't boot from it, that's easy. Place the drive into a caddy or external USB enclosure, then connecting to another computer and copy your data.

Or, boot from a recovery disk such as Windows Repair Disk and use command line to copy data from that drive to an external drive.

Or, boot from a drive imager such as Acronis True Image. Boot from Acronis on a CD or USB flash drive, and image the drive or just backup the data files.

 

Well what's happened is that I can't even get to the data in the HDD.

What I've done now is just done a reformat of that drive and replaced the data from my backups now and it is running totally fine now.