Trying to install Win8 to external SSD.

Peter Jason wrote:
On Mon, 21 Apr 2014 21:05:57 -0400, Paul
wrote:

Peter Jason wrote:
On Mon, 21 Apr 2014 19:00:25 -0400, Paul
wrote:

Peter Jason wrote:
On Tue, 22 Apr 2014 07:39:53 +1000, The Grinch
wrote:

On Sun, 20 Apr 2014 22:21:58 -0400, Paul
wrote:

Peter Jason wrote:

Thanks. Can I simply copy across the installer
files from the USB thumb drive (that causes the
trouble) to the root of another HDD in the
computer, then remove the thumb drive, and then
boot up from this HDD and then install the Win8?
That depends on what you're doing.

On a "clean install", you're likely to need to boot some
sort of boot media. Be it DVD or USB key. As the install
doesn't expect an OS to be available, to run setup.exe from.

If you're doing a "repair install", that's done from a
running OS. In which case, the location of the files might
be a less demanding detail. I didn't test that here when I had
the chance, and just left the files on my USB key. And it worked.

I don't know if there's a procedure for leaving a file
set on the hard drive, and installing from there. You'd
likely need to at least boot to a WinRE command prompt,
to even try. And that would mean using some sort of media.

Or, if the new SSD is the trouble, can I install
Win8 on to a clean HDD and them transfer the OS
across to the SSD?
That sounds like a possibility. The alignment should
be OK, as Windows will set the partitions up with the
right alignment for an SSD. Even if you use a hard drive.
Then clone across to the SSD.

Do what I do, which is "experiment until you get it working" :-)
There are too many combinations of stuff, to list them all
in nice neat tables. Some experimentation is required.

Paul
I managed to install Win8 by disconnecting all
other drives and booting off the Win8 installation
disk. When I return to Windows7 its Win Explorer
shows the new Win8 SSD as Drive 'I' and also a
drive 'S' (System reserved). Why are these shown
separately in explorer and the top window of 'Disk
Management' but together in the lower window of
'Disk Management'?
aka Peter
You've done a two partition installation of Windows 8.
Your SSD ended up with two partitions on it. The SYSTEM
RESERVED one normally is not given a drive letter, as
it should not be browsed from explorer. By not giving it
a drive letter, the intention is to prevent System Restore
from saving any files on it. On WIndows 7, SYSTEM RESERVED
might be 100MB, and on Windows 8, perhaps 350MB. Just going
from memory. My Windows 8 doesn't have a SYSTEM RESERVED.
There are one-partition and two-partition install types.
The two-partition type supports BitLocker full encryption
of C:, while the one-partition type does not. If you create
a blank partition first, then run a Windows installer, that
helps convince the installer to do a one-partition install.

If this doesn't match your expectations, perhaps you can
take a screen shot of Disk Management, and post the image
on tinypic.com . You can upload a pic there, without
registering.

Paul
Thanks, here's the image
http://tinypic.com/r/2cg1lbm/8
Disk 3 is the SSD Windows 8
Disk 4 is the current Windows 7
Notice at the top there's a separate
'SystemReserved S'

I have Win8pro to take advantage of BitLocker.
Peter
The config for Disk 3 looks good. If I was planning on using
BitLocker in Windows 8, I would probably want that SYSTEM
RESERVED. It's what allows the boot process to work, when
the C: of Windows 8 is encrypted. And that's why it exists,
for bootstrapping.

The only thing I don't like, is the assignment of a drive
letter to it. If a drive letter is assigned, System Restore
may start tracking the drive, and could potentially add
content to System Volume Information. When the partition
doesn't have a drive letter, System Restore stops doing that.
You can also go into the System Restore controls and disable
System Restore on any partition you want, but removing the
drive letter is how it was intended to be in the first place.

You can remove a drive letter this way (article below), but there's
no guarantee it'll stick. And while you could use PTEDIT32 and
change the partition type, I don't know if hiding it that
way is what was intended either. The way the system is
supposed to look, is SYSTEM RESERVED is still visible, but
doesn't have a drive letter.

http://superuser.com/questions/39563...rved-partition

So at the moment, nothing is broken, and this is a cosmetic
issue - until the day arises that you get a complaint that
"S: is full" or something related to System Restore or
to making backups, sees to be broken. And then you might
want to revisit this drive letter issue.

Paul

I am using the Win8 on the SSD and I hoped that by
configuring the boot menu to start from the SSD
(Win8) and then sequentially the HDD (Win7) if the
SSD is disconnected.

But this does not work, presumably because the
boot sequence is scrapped when the SSD is
detached.

Also, a problem arises when booting up from the
SSD in that the startup runs thru a CHKDSK every
time for one unrelated (IDE) HDD, and the SSD too.
And though no problems are detected I suspect
there is something not right.

What I need is an automatic bootup to the HDD
(Win7) if the SSD is detached, and an automatic
bootup to the SSD if this is plugged in.
Peter


You can't automate it fully like that.

What you can do, is use the BIOS popup boot menu,
to select the drive to boot from.

The BIOS does have a "boot order priority", but when
you connect and disconnect drives, the BIOS does whatever
it feels like. And the result, hardly works as you expected.
I just bypass that, by using "F8" key at startup.
My laptop uses "F11" for the same function, and you
have to check the documentation, to see what the popup
boot key is.

I try to put one OS per disk, as that prevents
the sharing of the boot menu on that drive, by
multiple of the OSes.

And when I install one OS per drive, I only have
that drive connected to the computer during the
installation. That's to guarantee that no files
for the install, are associated with any other
hard drive. Later, I can unplug the drive, and
no other OS drive cares what I have done.

As for the CHKDSK, there is an interaction
between the various Windows OSes. One changes something,
that the other one doesn't like. I cured mine with
the disabling of some hibernation setting, but some
of the other posters here had other settings to fix that.
I don't see a CHKDSK now, unless things like
partitioning utilities have fooled around and
broke something (like, GParted). So you can
fix the CHKDSK issue, with enough research. I
did mine a while ago, and have forgotten the details.

Paul

..

Paul
Thanks, here's the image
http://tinypic.com/r/2cg1lbm/8
Disk 3 is the SSD Windows 8
Disk 4 is the current Windows 7
Notice at the top there's a separate
'SystemReserved S'

I have Win8pro to take advantage of BitLocker.
Peter
The config for Disk 3 looks good. If I was planning on using
BitLocker in Windows 8, I would probably want that SYSTEM
RESERVED. It's what allows the boot process to work, when
the C: of Windows 8 is encrypted. And that's why it exists,
for bootstrapping.

The only thing I don't like, is the assignment of a drive
letter to it. If a drive letter is assigned, System Restore
may start tracking the drive, and could potentially add
content to System Volume Information. When the partition
doesn't have a drive letter, System Restore stops doing that.
You can also go into the System Restore controls and disable
System Restore on any partition you want, but removing the
drive letter is how it was intended to be in the first place.

You can remove a drive letter this way (article below), but there's
no guarantee it'll stick. And while you could use PTEDIT32 and
change the partition type, I don't know if hiding it that
way is what was intended either. The way the system is
supposed to look, is SYSTEM RESERVED is still visible, but
doesn't have a drive letter.

http://superuser.com/questions/39563...rved-partition

So at the moment, nothing is broken, and this is a cosmetic
issue - until the day arises that you get a complaint that
"S: is full" or something related to System Restore or
to making backups, sees to be broken. And then you might
want to revisit this drive letter issue.

Paul

I am using the Win8 on the SSD and I hoped that by
configuring the boot menu to start from the SSD
(Win8) and then sequentially the HDD (Win7) if the
SSD is disconnected.

But this does not work, presumably because the
boot sequence is scrapped when the SSD is
detached.

Also, a problem arises when booting up from the
SSD in that the startup runs thru a CHKDSK every
time for one unrelated (IDE) HDD, and the SSD too.
And though no problems are detected I suspect
there is something not right.

What I need is an automatic bootup to the HDD
(Win7) if the SSD is detached, and an automatic
bootup to the SSD if this is plugged in.
Peter


You can't automate it fully like that.

What you can do, is use the BIOS popup boot menu,
to select the drive to boot from.

The BIOS does have a "boot order priority", but when
you connect and disconnect drives, the BIOS does whatever
it feels like. And the result, hardly works as you expected.
I just bypass that, by using "F8" key at startup.
My laptop uses "F11" for the same function, and you
have to check the documentation, to see what the popup
boot key is.

I try to put one OS per disk, as that prevents
the sharing of the boot menu on that drive, by
multiple of the OSes.

And when I install one OS per drive, I only have
that drive connected to the computer during the
installation. That's to guarantee that no files
for the install, are associated with any other
hard drive. Later, I can unplug the drive, and
no other OS drive cares what I have done.

As for the CHKDSK, there is an interaction
between the various Windows OSes. One changes something,
that the other one doesn't like. I cured mine with
the disabling of some hibernation setting, but some
of the other posters here had other settings to fix that.
I don't see a CHKDSK now, unless things like
partitioning utilities have fooled around and
broke something (like, GParted). So you can
fix the CHKDSK issue, with enough research. I
did mine a while ago, and have forgotten the details.

Paul

Thanks, I have another problem in that there's no
sound at all when Win8 is started. There's
plenty from Win7.

Peter Jason wrote:
.
Paul
Thanks, here's the image
http://tinypic.com/r/2cg1lbm/8
Disk 3 is the SSD Windows 8
Disk 4 is the current Windows 7
Notice at the top there's a separate
'SystemReserved S'

I have Win8pro to take advantage of BitLocker.
Peter
The config for Disk 3 looks good. If I was planning on using
BitLocker in Windows 8, I would probably want that SYSTEM
RESERVED. It's what allows the boot process to work, when
the C: of Windows 8 is encrypted. And that's why it exists,
for bootstrapping.

The only thing I don't like, is the assignment of a drive
letter to it. If a drive letter is assigned, System Restore
may start tracking the drive, and could potentially add
content to System Volume Information. When the partition
doesn't have a drive letter, System Restore stops doing that.
You can also go into the System Restore controls and disable
System Restore on any partition you want, but removing the
drive letter is how it was intended to be in the first place.

You can remove a drive letter this way (article below), but there's
no guarantee it'll stick. And while you could use PTEDIT32 and
change the partition type, I don't know if hiding it that
way is what was intended either. The way the system is
supposed to look, is SYSTEM RESERVED is still visible, but
doesn't have a drive letter.

http://superuser.com/questions/39563...rved-partition

So at the moment, nothing is broken, and this is a cosmetic
issue - until the day arises that you get a complaint that
"S: is full" or something related to System Restore or
to making backups, sees to be broken. And then you might
want to revisit this drive letter issue.

Paul
I am using the Win8 on the SSD and I hoped that by
configuring the boot menu to start from the SSD
(Win8) and then sequentially the HDD (Win7) if the
SSD is disconnected.

But this does not work, presumably because the
boot sequence is scrapped when the SSD is
detached.

Also, a problem arises when booting up from the
SSD in that the startup runs thru a CHKDSK every
time for one unrelated (IDE) HDD, and the SSD too.
And though no problems are detected I suspect
there is something not right.

What I need is an automatic bootup to the HDD
(Win7) if the SSD is detached, and an automatic
bootup to the SSD if this is plugged in.
Peter

You can't automate it fully like that.

What you can do, is use the BIOS popup boot menu,
to select the drive to boot from.

The BIOS does have a "boot order priority", but when
you connect and disconnect drives, the BIOS does whatever
it feels like. And the result, hardly works as you expected.
I just bypass that, by using "F8" key at startup.
My laptop uses "F11" for the same function, and you
have to check the documentation, to see what the popup
boot key is.

I try to put one OS per disk, as that prevents
the sharing of the boot menu on that drive, by
multiple of the OSes.

And when I install one OS per drive, I only have
that drive connected to the computer during the
installation. That's to guarantee that no files
for the install, are associated with any other
hard drive. Later, I can unplug the drive, and
no other OS drive cares what I have done.

As for the CHKDSK, there is an interaction
between the various Windows OSes. One changes something,
that the other one doesn't like. I cured mine with
the disabling of some hibernation setting, but some
of the other posters here had other settings to fix that.
I don't see a CHKDSK now, unless things like
partitioning utilities have fooled around and
broke something (like, GParted). So you can
fix the CHKDSK issue, with enough research. I
did mine a while ago, and have forgotten the details.

Paul

Thanks, I have another problem in that there's no
sound at all when Win8 is started. There's
plenty from Win7.

Have you checked Device Manager (devmgmt.msc) ?

Paul

On Fri, 25 Apr 2014 00:48:08 -0400, Paul
wrote:

Peter Jason wrote:
.
Paul
Thanks, here's the image
http://tinypic.com/r/2cg1lbm/8
Disk 3 is the SSD Windows 8
Disk 4 is the current Windows 7
Notice at the top there's a separate
'SystemReserved S'

I have Win8pro to take advantage of BitLocker.
Peter
The config for Disk 3 looks good. If I was planning on using
BitLocker in Windows 8, I would probably want that SYSTEM
RESERVED. It's what allows the boot process to work, when
the C: of Windows 8 is encrypted. And that's why it exists,
for bootstrapping.

The only thing I don't like, is the assignment of a drive
letter to it. If a drive letter is assigned, System Restore
may start tracking the drive, and could potentially add
content to System Volume Information. When the partition
doesn't have a drive letter, System Restore stops doing that.
You can also go into the System Restore controls and disable
System Restore on any partition you want, but removing the
drive letter is how it was intended to be in the first place.

You can remove a drive letter this way (article below), but there's
no guarantee it'll stick. And while you could use PTEDIT32 and
change the partition type, I don't know if hiding it that
way is what was intended either. The way the system is
supposed to look, is SYSTEM RESERVED is still visible, but
doesn't have a drive letter.

http://superuser.com/questions/39563...rved-partition

So at the moment, nothing is broken, and this is a cosmetic
issue - until the day arises that you get a complaint that
"S: is full" or something related to System Restore or
to making backups, sees to be broken. And then you might
want to revisit this drive letter issue.

Paul
I am using the Win8 on the SSD and I hoped that by
configuring the boot menu to start from the SSD
(Win8) and then sequentially the HDD (Win7) if the
SSD is disconnected.

But this does not work, presumably because the
boot sequence is scrapped when the SSD is
detached.

Also, a problem arises when booting up from the
SSD in that the startup runs thru a CHKDSK every
time for one unrelated (IDE) HDD, and the SSD too.
And though no problems are detected I suspect
there is something not right.

What I need is an automatic bootup to the HDD
(Win7) if the SSD is detached, and an automatic
bootup to the SSD if this is plugged in.
Peter

You can't automate it fully like that.

What you can do, is use the BIOS popup boot menu,
to select the drive to boot from.

The BIOS does have a "boot order priority", but when
you connect and disconnect drives, the BIOS does whatever
it feels like. And the result, hardly works as you expected.
I just bypass that, by using "F8" key at startup.
My laptop uses "F11" for the same function, and you
have to check the documentation, to see what the popup
boot key is.

I try to put one OS per disk, as that prevents
the sharing of the boot menu on that drive, by
multiple of the OSes.

And when I install one OS per drive, I only have
that drive connected to the computer during the
installation. That's to guarantee that no files
for the install, are associated with any other
hard drive. Later, I can unplug the drive, and
no other OS drive cares what I have done.

As for the CHKDSK, there is an interaction
between the various Windows OSes. One changes something,
that the other one doesn't like. I cured mine with
the disabling of some hibernation setting, but some
of the other posters here had other settings to fix that.
I don't see a CHKDSK now, unless things like
partitioning utilities have fooled around and
broke something (like, GParted). So you can
fix the CHKDSK issue, with enough research. I
did mine a while ago, and have forgotten the details.

Paul

Thanks, I have another problem in that there's no
sound at all when Win8 is started. There's
plenty from Win7.

Have you checked Device Manager (devmgmt.msc) ?

Paul

I had the speakers plugged into the wrong socket,
though they worked OK in Windows7.

But now I have trouble in Win8 filling in email
fields because the "@" on the keyboard returns as
" and I switched keyboards and downloaded other
layouts from Windows8, and I have checked the
drivers in Win8. but no luck at all. No trouble
in Win7!

Peter Jason wrote:
On Fri, 25 Apr 2014 00:48:08 -0400, Paul
wrote:

Peter Jason wrote:
.
Paul
Thanks, here's the image
http://tinypic.com/r/2cg1lbm/8
Disk 3 is the SSD Windows 8
Disk 4 is the current Windows 7
Notice at the top there's a separate
'SystemReserved S'

I have Win8pro to take advantage of BitLocker.
Peter
The config for Disk 3 looks good. If I was planning on using
BitLocker in Windows 8, I would probably want that SYSTEM
RESERVED. It's what allows the boot process to work, when
the C: of Windows 8 is encrypted. And that's why it exists,
for bootstrapping.

The only thing I don't like, is the assignment of a drive
letter to it. If a drive letter is assigned, System Restore
may start tracking the drive, and could potentially add
content to System Volume Information. When the partition
doesn't have a drive letter, System Restore stops doing that.
You can also go into the System Restore controls and disable
System Restore on any partition you want, but removing the
drive letter is how it was intended to be in the first place.

You can remove a drive letter this way (article below), but there's
no guarantee it'll stick. And while you could use PTEDIT32 and
change the partition type, I don't know if hiding it that
way is what was intended either. The way the system is
supposed to look, is SYSTEM RESERVED is still visible, but
doesn't have a drive letter.

http://superuser.com/questions/39563...rved-partition

So at the moment, nothing is broken, and this is a cosmetic
issue - until the day arises that you get a complaint that
"S: is full" or something related to System Restore or
to making backups, sees to be broken. And then you might
want to revisit this drive letter issue.

Paul
I am using the Win8 on the SSD and I hoped that by
configuring the boot menu to start from the SSD
(Win8) and then sequentially the HDD (Win7) if the
SSD is disconnected.

But this does not work, presumably because the
boot sequence is scrapped when the SSD is
detached.

Also, a problem arises when booting up from the
SSD in that the startup runs thru a CHKDSK every
time for one unrelated (IDE) HDD, and the SSD too.
And though no problems are detected I suspect
there is something not right.

What I need is an automatic bootup to the HDD
(Win7) if the SSD is detached, and an automatic
bootup to the SSD if this is plugged in.
Peter

You can't automate it fully like that.

What you can do, is use the BIOS popup boot menu,
to select the drive to boot from.

The BIOS does have a "boot order priority", but when
you connect and disconnect drives, the BIOS does whatever
it feels like. And the result, hardly works as you expected.
I just bypass that, by using "F8" key at startup.
My laptop uses "F11" for the same function, and you
have to check the documentation, to see what the popup
boot key is.

I try to put one OS per disk, as that prevents
the sharing of the boot menu on that drive, by
multiple of the OSes.

And when I install one OS per drive, I only have
that drive connected to the computer during the
installation. That's to guarantee that no files
for the install, are associated with any other
hard drive. Later, I can unplug the drive, and
no other OS drive cares what I have done.

As for the CHKDSK, there is an interaction
between the various Windows OSes. One changes something,
that the other one doesn't like. I cured mine with
the disabling of some hibernation setting, but some
of the other posters here had other settings to fix that.
I don't see a CHKDSK now, unless things like
partitioning utilities have fooled around and
broke something (like, GParted). So you can
fix the CHKDSK issue, with enough research. I
did mine a while ago, and have forgotten the details.

Paul
Thanks, I have another problem in that there's no
sound at all when Win8 is started. There's
plenty from Win7.
Have you checked Device Manager (devmgmt.msc) ?

Paul

I had the speakers plugged into the wrong socket,
though they worked OK in Windows7.

But now I have trouble in Win8 filling in email
fields because the "@" on the keyboard returns as
" and I switched keyboards and downloaded other
layouts from Windows8, and I have checked the
drivers in Win8. but no luck at all. No trouble
in Win7!


So keyboard_type does not match layout in Windows.

On my laptop, this would happen when the OS switched
to French-Canadian, in the middle of a sentence.

Make absolutely sure the keycaps/type of the keyboard
is actually compatible with the keyboard declaration
you've set up. That is my guess as to what is wrong.

You may even have to go back to Windows 7 and carefully
review what files are being used in the working config.

Paul

Peter Jason wrote:
On Wed, 23 Apr 2014 23:30:00 -0400, Paul
nospam@neede
I am using the Win8 on the SSD and I hoped that by
configuring the boot menu to start from the SSD
(Win8) and then sequentially the HDD (Win7) if the
SSD is disconnected.

But this does not work, presumably because the
boot sequence is scrapped when the SSD is
detached.

Also, a problem arises when booting up from the
SSD in that the startup runs thru a CHKDSK every
time for one unrelated (IDE) HDD, and the SSD too.
And though no problems are detected I suspect
there is something not right.

What I need is an automatic bootup to the HDD
(Win7) if the SSD is detached, and an automatic
bootup to the SSD if this is plugged in.
Peter

You can't automate it fully like that.

What you can do, is use the BIOS popup boot menu,
to select the drive to boot from.

The BIOS does have a "boot order priority", but when
you connect and disconnect drives, the BIOS does whatever
it feels like. And the result, hardly works as you expected.
I just bypass that, by using "F8" key at startup.
My laptop uses "F11" for the same function, and you
have to check the documentation, to see what the popup
boot key is.

I try to put one OS per disk, as that prevents
the sharing of the boot menu on that drive, by
multiple of the OSes.

And when I install one OS per drive, I only have
that drive connected to the computer during the
installation. That's to guarantee that no files
for the install, are associated with any other
hard drive. Later, I can unplug the drive, and
no other OS drive cares what I have done.

As for the CHKDSK, there is an interaction
between the various Windows OSes. One changes something,
that the other one doesn't like. I cured mine with
the disabling of some hibernation setting, but some
of the other posters here had other settings to fix that.
I don't see a CHKDSK now, unless things like
partitioning utilities have fooled around and
broke something (like, GParted). So you can
fix the CHKDSK issue, with enough research. I
did mine a while ago, and have forgotten the details.

Paul


I think I've fixed the CHKDSK problem, by using
this method...
http://www.pagestart.com/win8dbchkdsk121912.html

Curiously though, the SSD does not appear on the
screen when using the F12 booting method,; so I
have to just go to the boot sequence setup via the
DEL key.



Two observations:

1) On my machine, I used "powercfg -h" to turn off both hibernate
and fast start. The CHKDSK seemed to stop after that. I wasn't
seeing CHKDSK on all partitions. And because I was
changing too many settings at the same time, I can't be
sure that was what actually fixed it. Another thing
that happens, is the "Fast Start" hijacks the hibernate bit
in the chipset - in that, I could no longer dual boot and access
the non-Win8 OS, before making that change. I was stuck in
a Win8 boot loop, when Fast Start was still working.

2) Regarding devices missing from popup boot menu - I've seen
this, but only on USB flash keys. Most of the time, Linux
is the one that makes USB flash keys "disappear" in the menu.
Windows is less likely to do it. But I think I saw that
after a Windows 8 shutdown the other day. If I really need
the item to be in the menu, I just pull the USB key and
reinsert it, do a control-alt-delete to restart POST,
and then my USB key becomes visible. Since I don't own an
SSD, I can't comment on potential behavior there. And from a
hardware perspective, I don't even understand how this "disabling"
of devices can occur. It's like some hardware bit is being written,
that can't be cleared by the POST sequence.

HTH,
Paul

On Fri, 25 Apr 2014 01:19:36 -0400, Paul wrote:

Peter Jason wrote:
On Fri, 25 Apr 2014 00:48:08 -0400, Paul
wrote:

Peter Jason wrote:
.
Paul
Thanks, here's the image
http://tinypic.com/r/2cg1lbm/8
Disk 3 is the SSD Windows 8
Disk 4 is the current Windows 7
Notice at the top there's a separate
'SystemReserved S'

I have Win8pro to take advantage of BitLocker.
Peter
The config for Disk 3 looks good. If I was planning on using
BitLocker in Windows 8, I would probably want that SYSTEM
RESERVED. It's what allows the boot process to work, when
the C: of Windows 8 is encrypted. And that's why it exists,
for bootstrapping.

The only thing I don't like, is the assignment of a drive
letter to it. If a drive letter is assigned, System Restore
may start tracking the drive, and could potentially add
content to System Volume Information. When the partition
doesn't have a drive letter, System Restore stops doing that.
You can also go into the System Restore controls and disable
System Restore on any partition you want, but removing the
drive letter is how it was intended to be in the first place.

You can remove a drive letter this way (article below), but there's
no guarantee it'll stick. And while you could use PTEDIT32 and
change the partition type, I don't know if hiding it that
way is what was intended either. The way the system is
supposed to look, is SYSTEM RESERVED is still visible, but
doesn't have a drive letter.

http://superuser.com/questions/39563...rved-partition

So at the moment, nothing is broken, and this is a cosmetic
issue - until the day arises that you get a complaint that
"S: is full" or something related to System Restore or
to making backups, sees to be broken. And then you might
want to revisit this drive letter issue.

Paul
I am using the Win8 on the SSD and I hoped that by
configuring the boot menu to start from the SSD
(Win8) and then sequentially the HDD (Win7) if the
SSD is disconnected.

But this does not work, presumably because the
boot sequence is scrapped when the SSD is
detached.

Also, a problem arises when booting up from the
SSD in that the startup runs thru a CHKDSK every
time for one unrelated (IDE) HDD, and the SSD too.
And though no problems are detected I suspect
there is something not right.

What I need is an automatic bootup to the HDD
(Win7) if the SSD is detached, and an automatic
bootup to the SSD if this is plugged in.
Peter

You can't automate it fully like that.

What you can do, is use the BIOS popup boot menu,
to select the drive to boot from.

The BIOS does have a "boot order priority", but when
you connect and disconnect drives, the BIOS does whatever
it feels like. And the result, hardly works as you expected.
I just bypass that, by using "F8" key at startup.
My laptop uses "F11" for the same function, and you
have to check the documentation, to see what the popup
boot key is.

I try to put one OS per disk, as that prevents
the sharing of the boot menu on that drive, by
multiple of the OSes.

And when I install one OS per drive, I only have
that drive connected to the computer during the
installation. That's to guarantee that no files
for the install, are associated with any other
hard drive. Later, I can unplug the drive, and
no other OS drive cares what I have done.

As for the CHKDSK, there is an interaction
between the various Windows OSes. One changes something,
that the other one doesn't like. I cured mine with
the disabling of some hibernation setting, but some
of the other posters here had other settings to fix that.
I don't see a CHKDSK now, unless things like
partitioning utilities have fooled around and
broke something (like, GParted). So you can
fix the CHKDSK issue, with enough research. I
did mine a while ago, and have forgotten the details.

Paul
Thanks, I have another problem in that there's no
sound at all when Win8 is started. There's
plenty from Win7.
Have you checked Device Manager (devmgmt.msc) ?

Paul

I had the speakers plugged into the wrong socket,
though they worked OK in Windows7.

But now I have trouble in Win8 filling in email
fields because the "@" on the keyboard returns as
" and I switched keyboards and downloaded other
layouts from Windows8, and I have checked the
drivers in Win8. but no luck at all. No trouble
in Win7!


So keyboard_type does not match layout in Windows.

On my laptop, this would happen when the OS switched
to French-Canadian, in the middle of a sentence.

Make absolutely sure the keycaps/type of the keyboard
is actually compatible with the keyboard declaration
you've set up. That is my guess as to what is wrong.

You may even have to go back to Windows 7 and carefully
review what files are being used in the working config.

Paul

I have changed a few keyboard types, and the location too, and I have
improved the situation in that I can access the @ by using the " key.
And visa versa. Most curious!
This might have to do for now.

On Wed, 23 Apr 2014 23:30:00 -0400, Paul
nospam@neede

I am using the Win8 on the SSD and I hoped that by
configuring the boot menu to start from the SSD
(Win8) and then sequentially the HDD (Win7) if the
SSD is disconnected.

But this does not work, presumably because the
boot sequence is scrapped when the SSD is
detached.

Also, a problem arises when booting up from the
SSD in that the startup runs thru a CHKDSK every
time for one unrelated (IDE) HDD, and the SSD too.
And though no problems are detected I suspect
there is something not right.

What I need is an automatic bootup to the HDD
(Win7) if the SSD is detached, and an automatic
bootup to the SSD if this is plugged in.
Peter


You can't automate it fully like that.

What you can do, is use the BIOS popup boot menu,
to select the drive to boot from.

The BIOS does have a "boot order priority", but when
you connect and disconnect drives, the BIOS does whatever
it feels like. And the result, hardly works as you expected.
I just bypass that, by using "F8" key at startup.
My laptop uses "F11" for the same function, and you
have to check the documentation, to see what the popup
boot key is.

I try to put one OS per disk, as that prevents
the sharing of the boot menu on that drive, by
multiple of the OSes.

And when I install one OS per drive, I only have
that drive connected to the computer during the
installation. That's to guarantee that no files
for the install, are associated with any other
hard drive. Later, I can unplug the drive, and
no other OS drive cares what I have done.

As for the CHKDSK, there is an interaction
between the various Windows OSes. One changes something,
that the other one doesn't like. I cured mine with
the disabling of some hibernation setting, but some
of the other posters here had other settings to fix that.
I don't see a CHKDSK now, unless things like
partitioning utilities have fooled around and
broke something (like, GParted). So you can
fix the CHKDSK issue, with enough research. I
did mine a while ago, and have forgotten the details.

Paul


I think I've fixed the CHKDSK problem, by using
this method...
http://www.pagestart.com/win8dbchkdsk121912.html

Curiously though, the SSD does not appear on the
screen when using the F12 booting method,; so I
have to just go to the boot sequence setup via the
DEL key.