Corrupted OS on multiple drives?

[ex0LL]

I have multiple storage systems on my PC:
[ul]
[li]2TB M.2 (where I keep my OS and install games)[/li][li]250GB SSD (I use it for sensitive data)[/li][li]2TB HDD (I use it for personal media)[/li][/ul]
When some years ago I built a new PC, I purchased the M.2 drive brand new and formatted the old SSD and HDD to recycle them in my new PC as secondary spaces to store my stuff.

For reasons I never really questioned myself about, everytime I turn my PC on, before accessing my M.2 automatically, it always lets me choose which OS to access.
Which is weird as I’m a bit ignorant on the matter, but since the screen lasts literally 1s before it automatically access my M.2 OS, I never really dwelled on it too much.

Lately I’ve been having problems, and a super kind and generous helper ( @phillpower2 , Administrator from the Support Team - he’s extremely helpful and kind ) from this very same forum told me in another thread that there are several installation errors on my PC after analyzing my Speccy data. And since he told me to try and fresh-install my OS on the SSD and keep it there for the OS alone, for the first time after years I tried to access the other two available OS options.

These are the results:

This is the “Choose an operatin system” screen that appears everytime I turn my PC on and lasts approximately 1-2s only ⬇️

[ATTACH type=“full” width=“763px”]13025[/ATTACH]

This happens after trying to access OS n.2 from the list ⬇️

[ATTACH type=“full” width=“767px”]13026[/ATTACH]

And this is what happens after some longer loading for accessing the OS n.3 (which says it resides in Volume 7 and I have no idea what/where that is) ⬇️

[ATTACH type=“full” width=“765px”]13027[/ATTACH]

Needless to say but best to clarify, if I choose to access OS n.1, it just automatically logs into my PC regularly.

Now, can someone tell me what this all means?
I never installed any OS ever on my other disks, yet it seems like I have some corrupted leftovers of Win10 on both of the ones I don’t use for my main OS?

How do I clear the corrupted part without compromising my personal data?

[phillpower2]

I never installed any OS ever on my other disks, yet it seems like I have some corrupted leftovers of Win10 on both of the ones I don’t use for my main OS?

I suspect that you may find that they are partitions on the same drive, lets have a look at an expanded screenshot of Disk Manager.

Access Disk Management via Run.

Press the Windows+R keys to open Run, type diskmgmt.msc in the empty box then press OK.

To capture and post a screenshot;

Click on the ALT key + PRT SCR key..its on the top row..right hand side..now click on start…all programs…accessories…paint…left click in the white area …press CTRL + V…click on file…click on save…save it to your desktop…name it something related to the screen your capturing… BE SURE TO SAVE IT AS A .JPG …otherwise it may be to big to upload… after typing in any response you have… click on Upload a File to add the screenshot.

Screenshot instructions are provided to assist those that may read this topic but are not yet aware of the “how to”.

[ex0LL]

Thanks for the answer Phill, it’s good to have you here!

Here’s the screenshot you asked me to provide:

[ATTACH type=“full”]13029[/ATTACH]

[phillpower2]

You are welcome and as was suspected the three versions if Windows are on the same drive, no idea how this could have come about but it is messy and needs some serious work to correct it.

The reason why it is awkward is because when Windows installs it creates its own partitions, one NTFS or UEFI, a boot partition and the third a recovery partition, the problem that you have is that we have no idea and there is no way of finding out which other two partitions belong to the working version of Windows and in this instance Windows 11.

[ex0LL]

the problem that you have is that we have no idea and there is no way of finding out which other two partitions belong to the working version of Windows and in this instance Windows 11.

Sounds very unhealthy for my PC.

Well, since I wanted to follow your suggestion, format everything and isolate my OS into his own SSD island alone to work properly and peacefully, I guess this is all the more incentive to take two birds with one stone.

Guess what’s left now to correct this mess is:
[ol]
[li]Backup data & format the 250GB SSD;[/li][li]Install Win11 OS in the 250GB SSD;[/li][li]Make sure everything works fine with the new OS now installed in the SSD;[/li][li]Revoke Win11 product key license from M.2 ;[/li][li]Clean format fully the M.2 ;[/li][li]Set up the SSD to be the first to boot in BIOS Utility;[/li][/ol]
This way I should be able to boot my PC with my SSD’s OS that now becomes the C disk automatically and leave it for the OS alone, while better using 2TB M.2 (should be faster?) for games and the 2TB HDD for sensitive data/folders/files etc.

Is that correct? :unsure:

[phillpower2]

Save the chipset, GPU and Windows 10 MSI camera drivers to a small capacity USB flashdrive.

Back up the data on the SSD.

No need to format the SSD as Windows does this as part of the installation process.

Take all but the 250GB SSD offline to avoid any mishaps.

Install Windows 11 and then the chipset, GPU MSI camera drivers to the 250GB SSD, this will now be your C: drive/boot device.

Restart and test to see how the camera behaves, please do not install anything else until further notice.

The Windows product key is stored on the Microsoft database and does not to be re entered, sometime in the future when Windows checks for updates the servers will check that the product key is being used with the MB that it was originally paired with.

[ex0LL]

Hello, Phill!

Concerning this issue, I suppose I just solved everything by back-upping my sensitive data away and just hard formatting every other disk.

I now installed the OS in the 250GB SSD and I followed the whole correct procedure you suggested:
MOBO drivers>Storage Units drivers>GPU drivers>CPU drivers>Windows Updates

We can mark this thread as closed if you’d like, I’ll give you my final response update on the HD Camera issue’s thread.

Thanks for your support!

[phillpower2]

Well done and thank you for letting us know that you no longer require assistance with this (y)

You are welcome btw