Small problrm on new build

[gdmaclew]

I just finished my new Ryzen Build and I have one small issue...here's the story.

I constructed the new PC in my shop with a spare case, new 1TB HDD and CD/DVD drive. (ASUS TUF X570 Plus and Ryzen 2700X).

I used the Media Creation Tool and copied the latest version of Windows Pro to a USB thumb drive.
During set up I had the HDD connected to SATA port 1 (or 0 if you want) - the first one.

I completed the set up and proceeded to put the new motherboard/HDD in my main case.
The main case has 6 hard drives (3HDDs, 2 SSDs, and one M.2 drive). All but 1 are bootable Win7 or Win10 (cloned Backups for safekeeping along with my regular Backups)


I plugged in the hard drives to whatever SATA ports were closest to the SATA connectors and the new hard drive to the next available SATA connector.

Needless to say I knew that I would have to set the BIOS Boot Drive to that new drive and that the drive letters would be different (except for the boot drive) than they were with the old motherboard running Windows 7.


Anyway, I booted the new Win10 drive and ran EasyBCD.
I set it up with the new boot drive and alternate (M.2 with Windows 10 on it) using the new drive letters currently assigned. But the first entry showed Drive E: like this...

There are a total of 2 entries listed in the bootloader.

Default: Windows 10 Pro TUF 1TB HDD
Timeout: 30 seconds
EasyBCD Boot Device: E:\

Entry #1
Name: Windows 10 Pro TUF 1TB HDD
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe

Entry #2
Name: Windows 10 Pro NVME 1TB
BCD ID: {268e5ebf-2ee7-11ea-b017-9456717883c8}
Drive: I:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe



So obviously because of the random connection of the SATA cables I had used, the previous Win7 boot drive had been assigned the new drive letter (E.


The PC boots just fine and shows me the 2 choices for boot device but it's bothering me that the first entry refers to drive E:.
Can I change it or do I even need to?

I will be keeping it connected for the time-being as a guide to re-installing apps on my new system but will NOT attempt to boot from it., or my Backup Win7 drive.

Thanks.

Doug

 

[Terry60]

That's "EasyBCD boot device" which refers to where EasyBCD has (at some point, maybe now redundant) stored necessary chaining information.
What does it point to if you change "View settings" from "overview" to "detailed" mode? That will tell you the actual location.
(As will Disk Management "system" flag)
Disk Management flags have the following meanings

"boot" = "this is the system you're running"
"system" = "this is where I found the boot files for the currently running system"
"active" (on the first HDD in the BIOS boot sequence) = "this is where I started the search for the boot files"
"active" (on subsequent HDDs in the BIOS boot sequence) ="this is where I will look if I don't find something in the MBR on the first HDD"

 

[gdmaclew]

Here's what is shows on Detailed View...
And the view in Disk Management.
What shows as Disk 2 in the bottom pane of Disk Management is the old Primary Win7 Boot Drive (now drive E

 

[Terry60]

That shows that you're booting from the correct place (Sys Res on disk 0).
If you look on E, you'll probably find some Neosmart files on there from an earlier boot phase.
I have something similar on my UEFI GPT W7/W10 dual boot left over from when W10 Beta was installed as an MBR test OS on a HDD many years ago. (and a apparently mysterious random EasyBCD boot device in overview mode.)

 

[gdmaclew]

Yes there will be some NeoSmart files on E: because that was my previous default boot drive on Windows 7 (prior to yesterday).
Do I have to do anything?
I hate loose ends. LOL

 

[Terry60]

As a proportion of your total disk space, what's redundant isn't worth the effort of the cleanup. It'll probably end up as a few bytes of empty space you'll never use as opposed to a few bytes of occupied space you can't use.
Left alone, it might just provide a future lifeline though, enabling you to boot into a broken PC by a BIOS override to the old HDD.

 

[gdmaclew]

Good point. I never thought of that.


Thanks.