Hp Envy SSD Boot

[michael.kaminski2000]

Here's my issue (I'll put my laptop specs in the bottom) :

I bought an HP envy 17 back in 2015. Kept it stock but realized now that HDD's are slow to boot, now that I have experienced an SSD in my desktop. So I wanted to install an SSD into this laptop, transfer windows to the ssd, and boot from the ssd. The laptop originally came with a 1TB HDD but I knew that there had to be space for a second Hard Drive because it was an option. So I bought a Samsung 850 EVO 500gb Sata III SSD. I also bought the HDD cable to connect to the laptop. Here are the exact amazon links from which I bought them from (https/www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OBRE5UE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 & https/www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C66P5EG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
I installed the SSD in the second bay and started my laptop back up and such. After formatting the drive in Disk Management the computer recognized the drive and everything works well. Before copying Windows and all of my system files I decided to double check my BIOS setting to make sure that I would be able to change the boot order to the SSD. When looking through the BIOS Boot menu the SSD doesn't appear anywhere. The original Hard Drive appears as the OS Boot Manager. Does this motherboard not allow for a Boot up process from the second hard drive bay or am I kind of screwed? Any help would be appreciated. I just want my laptop to boot from SSD and utilize the old HDD as a backup and photo/video/random file storage.

Here are my specs:
HP Envy 17
Serial Number: CND53422DD
Product Number: L4R64AV

Summary
Operating System=Windows 10 Home 64-bit
CPU=Intel Core i3/i5/i7 5xxx @ 2.40GHz Broadwell U/ULT 14nm Technology
RAM=8.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 798MHz (11-11-11-28)
Motherboard=Hewlett-Packard 80DE (U3E1)
Graphics=Intel HD Graphics 5500 (HP) & 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce 940M (HP) 48 °C
Storage=931GB Hitachi HGST HTS541010A9E680 (SATA) 33 °C & 465GB Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB (SSD) 26 °C
Optical Drives=hp DVDRW GUB0N
Audio=High Definition Audio Device

 

[robert600]

I can't provide you with any insight as to why the bios doesn't 'see' the ssd but ... since you formatted with Disk Manager ... windows does so for now at least I wouldn't worry too much about that.

The way you are approaching this is not the way I would do it. Often the 2nd hard drive slot is only SATA II supported whereas the original hard drive slot is SATA III. That ssd really wants an SATA III connector to perform to its full potential. Using it as a boot drive in the 2nd hard drive slot would be a waste.

So for me at least, the way forward would to put the ssd in the 2nd hard drive slot, start the laptop ... CLONE (you mentioned copying - that will not work ... you have to clone) your hard drive to the ssd. I use the free version of 'EaseUS to do backup' but I'm sure there's other software equally good.

Anyway when the cloning is complete - shut down the laptop - remove the hdd and the ssd and put the ssd in the drive where the hdd was. Don't install the hdd (yet). Start the laptop - it might take awhile while windows mulls over the new ssd.

Only after I was convinced that 'all was good' with the ssd running windows and your programs etc. would I consider installing the hdd in that 2nd hard drive slot. When eventually I got to that ... the first thing I would do is reformat it - having 2 hard drives with the same OS on it is asking for trouble (windows often seems to go out of it's way to screw itself up).