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Install System Reserved files on a separate first hard drive to boot second hard drive

I have an ultraportable laptop.  I have an SSD that is on the PCI-E, but my BIOS does not have the option ROM feature in order to boot from it.  It WORKS and everything is fine in OS, the computer just won't boot from it.  I will have a second, bootable hard drive in the system.  If i want to direct;y install indow 8 on the drive, it happily sees the drive (even by itself) but says it can;t install because this device is not bootable in BIOS.

For clarity, these are my drives
  1. PCI-E SSD (Supertalent Corestore MV) <--this is what i want to load my windows 8 system files on
  2. SATA 750gb Spinning disk  <-- this holds every other OS and all the bootloaders
  3. ONLY FOR TESTING AND SETUP, SATA SSD <--this drive will be replaced with the 750GB spinning disk.  It's just faster to install and clone on.

I have tried this sequence with some minor variations
  1. installing the system on the first drive (another SSD to maximize compatibility and cloning speed), 
  2. cloning the system partition
  3. running a repair on MBR and rebuild the bootsect, where it scans all the disks (and the second windows 8 volume shows up)
  4. make sure it points to a drive (sometimes it says "unknown").  
My greatest progression was the error screen that "winload.exe is not found".  It sees the volume.  It tries to boot it, it just can't find winload...and maybe other stuff.

I have also tried using GRUB with the UUID of the drive.  it, of course can't see the device as the BIOS can't see the device due to no option rom.  It requires an OS level driver i'm guessing.

This was using the rebuilt boot manager on the system reserved of the first hard drive, which boots fine if i select its system partition instead of the one on the PCI-E SSD.

My intended (hopeful) boot process is this:
  1. Boot to spinning disk on SATA
  2. Use GRUB to navigate to Windows 8 boot manager and loader on the spinning disk
  3. Load boot and have it point to the PCI-E SSD with the system files on it.
  4. Have system files boot and let everything be happiness.
So what should i try to do to accomplish this task?

I also am looking at this forum and i don't know what "script" he uses in the 5th post.  Could this potentially be what i'm missing?  I should load the drivers for the sata controller into the registry as the "boot bus extender"? How do i go about doing that?  Should i do it on the SATA SSD or is there a way to modify the Windows registry without booting into windows?


Thank you so much for any of your invaluable help!!!!!

Hey,

 

Try suggetions in this thread they can be really helpfull..

 

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/system-reserved-partition-on-a-different-drive/5903c8be-7c71-44dc-80b7-f878c5dd7f00

 

 

Hope they help!

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Thank you for your reply.  However, this is very similar to several of the steps i tried to do.  I also moved my bootmgr and boot files to my C drive to see if that would help too (successfully as i test everything on the SSD--- this is how i figured out the issue with GRUB not seeing it as the bIos doesn't see it).  I know his is bad as they were supposed to to be in a hidden partition, but i was just trying things at that moment.

My intended disk does not have its option rom expanded into BIOS to be bootable, or else i would have just installed (or cloned) windows 8 onto it and it would have just worked.  The issue is how do i get windows 8 to boot onto a non BIOS bootable hard drive?  Maybe i should made that my question, as that is what i trying to do, so my apologies :).  that is why i am so interested in that link that i posted.  That guy got windows 7 on an SD card without WinPE.  I would love to do hat, and i wonder if i need to put in the marvell controllers into the registry or something.  I figure, t this point, i have to put something in...

I'm now also reading this.

Fear the Engineer

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Below is my restored BCD...note how in option 2 of the Boot Loader, the device is "unknown", which is the device i want.  I have set it to the correct drive before.  Still no dice.  Is this a drivers issue?  What should i (CAN i) do in my registry if it is?

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.2.9200]
(c) 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {bootmgr}
device                  partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1
path                    \bootmgr
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
integrityservices       Enable
default                 {current}
displayorder            {current}
                        {xxx}
timeout                 5

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {current}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 8 Pro with Media Center
locale                  en-US
recoverysequence        {xxx}
integrityservices       Enable
recoveryenabled         Yes
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {xxx}
bootmenupolicy          Standard

Windows Boot Loader (THIS IS THE MESSED UP DRIVE, see how it says "unknown"?  How do i enable so that its drivers are started at boot loader or in the boot manager?)
-------------------
identifier              {xxx}
device                  unknown <--Should I set this to partition= C: as that is the working boot loader
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 8 Pro with Media Center
locale                  en-US
recoverysequence        {xxx}
recoveryenabled         Yes
osdevice                unknown <-- Should i set this to the drive E: (letter partition of the drive)
systemroot              \Windows
nx                      OptIn
pae                     Default
bootmenupolicy          Standard
sos                     No
debug                   No

C:\Windows\system32>
Fear the Engineer

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Ok, i'm getting closer i think.  I made the changes i highlighted above and it found winload.exe, but not the kernel on E:.  How can i get winload.exe to include the drivers for my marvell controller at boot?
Fear the Engineer

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Hey. I have gote exactly the same problem with Windows 7. Do you get a solution already? I would be happy if I get an answer from you. 

Thank you. :)

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Last updated March 24, 2018 Views 427 Applies to: