In Progress Need help with boot/hard drive issue

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Marc McDonald

Marc McDonald

PCHF Member
Apr 29, 2025
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I have a Dell XPS 8940 desktop. I have two physical hard drives, a Western Digital NVMe SSD pc SN530 512 GB, M.2 2280, and a Crucial MX500 1TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD.

Originally I had Windows installed on the smaller but faster NVMe drive, and I had my Windows user profile folder mapped to the slower but more spacious SATA drive.

I recently unsuccessfully tried to set up dual boot with Ubuntu. Ubuntu doesn't work with Dell's Intel Rapid Storage Technology, and it pointed me to this tutorial on how to disable it:


Unfortunately, it didn't work, Windows wouldn't boot and I think I may have made things worse with the DOS diskpart command. I've included screenshots of my BIOS and current Disk Management profile. I;'m not concerned about Linux right now, but I want to get my PC back the way it was.

I ended up having to reinstall Windows 11, but the problem is that for some reason, it reinstalled it on my larger but slower SATA drive. I'm not sure why it did this but I'd like to get it back on my NVMe drive.

In BIOS it shows that drive in the boot sequence but can't or won't boot to it. Looking at that drive in File Explorer it still has Windows folders there, so it wasn't wiped. Is there a way I can try to 'force' it to try to boot to that drive instead? I have Acronis True Image 2020. Maybe I should try to image my new current working boot drive and ghost it to that original drive?

Thanks for any guidance you can offer.
 

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When reinstalling Windows, best to only have one drive connected, that way it won't surprise you!
Sounds like you have all your stuff backed up, so for me, I'd be leaving the drive you want Windows on still connected and doing the reinstall again.

Moving forward, instead of dual booting, have you thought about a virtual machine.
Software like Oracle VirtualBox or VMWare Workstation or even Windows built-in Hyper-V (pro versions only).

Also, unless you link those two drives into a RAID, RST is of no value.
 
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Marc McDonald said:
I recently unsuccessfully tried to set up dual boot with Ubuntu
Click to expand...
What method did you use.
Marc McDonald said:
Ubuntu doesn't work with Dell's Intel Rapid Storage Technology
Click to expand...
Are you running raid.
if not before reinstalling windows
To disable Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) on a Dell computer, you'll typically need to modify the BIOS settings. You can do this by entering the BIOS during startup (usually by pressing F2 or Del) and navigating to the storage configuration section, where you can change the storage controller mode from RST to AHCI. Disabling RST and changing the storage mode may require reinstalling the operating system

Have you got all your data backed up?
If yes good if not then copy all data you need of the NVME to an external drive.
Marc McDonald said:
I ended up having to reinstall Windows 11, but the problem is that for some reason, it reinstalled it on my larger but slower SATA drive. I'm not sure why it did this but I'd like to get it back on my NVMe drive.
Click to expand...
It did this as that is what windows does.
As Bruce advised one drive connected only.
After you have your data off the NVME.
unplug the 2nd drive
use windows media creation tool to reinstall without bloatware
OR
Use Dell recovery to reinstall windows on the nvme.
Then connect the other drive after you have all drivers & programs installed.
Since you want your data on the sata drive.
first step.
Use Acronis to create a system image of the nvme.
second reinstall all data to sata
third make a backup of sata.
Marc McDonald said:
Is there a way I can try to 'force' it to try to boot to that drive instead
Click to expand...
NO
When you reinstall windows with more than one drive connected. Windows writes the boot files across drives.

If you want to try ubuntu you can either.
1) Dual boot ubuntu
2) Use a vm like Virtual box to run Ubuntu.
3) Run Ubuntu from a usb stick.
4) Try Ubuntu from the internet.
 
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Bruce said:
I always forget that little nugget - this would be my preferred choice. (y)
PeterOz said:
What method did you use.

Are you running raid.
if not before reinstalling windows
To disable Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) on a Dell computer, you'll typically need to modify the BIOS settings. You can do this by entering the BIOS during startup (usually by pressing F2 or Del) and navigating to the storage configuration section, where you can change the storage controller mode from RST to AHCI. Disabling RST and changing the storage mode may require reinstalling the operating system

Have you got all your data backed up?
If yes good if not then copy all data you need of the NVME to an external drive.

It did this as that is what windows does.
As Bruce advised one drive connected only.
After you have your data off the NVME.
unplug the 2nd drive
use windows media creation tool to reinstall without bloatware
OR
Use Dell recovery to reinstall windows on the nvme.
Then connect the other drive after you have all drivers & programs installed.
Since you want your data on the sata drive.
first step.
Use Acronis to create a system image of the nvme.
second reinstall all data to sata
third make a backup of sata.

NO
When you reinstall windows with more than one drive connected. Windows writes the boot files across drives.

If you want to try ubuntu you can either.
1) Dual boot ubuntu
2) Use a vm like Virtual box to run Ubuntu.
3) Run Ubuntu from a usb stick.
4) Try Ubuntu from the internet.
Click to expand...
I'm not runnig RAID. I did disable RST and switch to AHCI but then it wouldn't boot back into Windows and that's when my trouble started. I think some Dell users on another site said maybe I'd need to reboot once into safe mode so that it would install the needed AHCI drivers? Also I try the VirtualBox route and it 'worked' but people said it would just be better fully installed. I might just look into that that USB stick option though. Thanks! Also I do have my files backed up to an external USB drive.
Click to expand...
 
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