In an earlier investigation, I figured out here that Disk Management tries to figure out what a partition is from the partition identifier byte (partition ID, partition type, file system ID), but things are not entirely standardized. It seems that Dell tags their "system" partitions as 27h and not 07h, and Disk Management reads active 07h as "system", but doesn't extend that same courtesy to active 27h.
DavidE, that's true, I used the standalone dmDskmgr-vd.msc. Using Disk Management, the structure is clearer:
That's way beyond my skill level
I'll bow out and just watch and try to learn.
The best expert i know of (gregro...) that could probably explain this is no longer on this forum
Just saw your last DM screen print.
I can't see all info, fields are not maximized and resized to show all info.
I don't know if/where you have a System partition.
What i would do:
Disconnect Disk 2 while trouble shooting.
Disconnect Disk 1 and see if the PC will boot and Windows will start.
he is using Slartybart's custom view of Disk Management , you can use it too , it is attached in post 2
So the custom view doesn't show all info the normal DM view shows ?
Here is the tutorial explaining how to post a DM screen print:
Disk Management - How to Post a Screenshot of - Windows 10 Forums
I like to start trouble shooting with the most basic, simplest things i can do.
I think I have your disk schema in my head, but ....
Please download an run the complementary Disk Management (Volume & Graphical)
dmDskmgr-vg.zip
Grab a Windowed screenshot as before, and post it - thanks.
I'm going to recommend a Clean install, mainly because it is superior to an upgrade. But also because it's faser and easier for both of us.
A perfect install requires some planning - All of the information is in the tutorial
1) backup your personal data
2) gather your license keys for 3rd party programs that you purchased
Belarc Advisor is what I use
3) Remove all devices that did not come with the machine
If the machine came with 2 HDDs, disconnect the 2nd one
- Only have the one drive you'll install Win10 on connected
4) When you boot the Win10 install media (USB or DVD)
Press Shift+F10 to launch Command
Launch Diskpart and enter the following commands
sel dis 0
clean
exit
Exit Command
Do a Custom install to the currently raw drive
Let Windows Update do it's job - you might want to run it manually
Make an image of the Clean system
Install your favorite programs
--Download new install pkgs if available.
Update the UWP Apps thru the MS store
Check for any flagged devices in Device Manager - visit the OEM for the driver
Make an Image of your Base System
Do your customization
Make a 3rd image if you want.
Now your machine is squeaky clean and you have good images.
What about the 2nd HDD? Your call ... it's a clone of Win??
If it's your previous OS, then let it remain unconnected and serve as a backup.
If it's a clone of Win10 ... well not anymore it isn't. I do not recommend cloning - Macrium Reflect Free images are what I suggest instead and you already made a few images. So that drive can be cleaned, formatted and returned to service as a Data Drive
What about the USB drive?
Now that you Clean installed, see if the problem still exists. If it does, then scrap the 128 MB Reserved part on the USB drive, reboot and see how it operates.
OR.......
You can try it backwards, testign a boot between each
Disk 2 (USB): scrap the 128 MB
Disk 1 (HDD): clean & format
Disk 0 (SSD)
scrap the Part 1 and 2 on Disk 0
Create a System Reserved part size=500 MB
Fix the boot
Expand C:
Those are very terse instructions - somethigns to think about
I take great caution when I manage my machine ... helping members in a forum doesn't allow for but I thought you meant errors.
Don't take any action without conferring with members on this side of your monitor.
Slartybart, thanks for the stand-alone -- W10 seems to want to obscure Disk Management, making it hard to find, and I appreciate having something to click. Here's the screen shot, which gives the same info as in my post 12 (but I un-scrunched the status column):
I will contemplate a clean install, and there is no way I would just go do it. The deal is that re-installing and setting things up from scratch last time took about a month -- every program seems to hide crucial data in some obscure location. I'll see if there are tools that would facilitate the process.
(The second drive, the HDD as opposed to the SSD which is first, is just a data drive, but it is the drive that originally came with the system, and actually I used Macrium to clone the HDD onto the SSD -- unfortunately, I didn't understand that you actually have to use a USB drive attachment as opposed to the internal second drive bay for the process, so there was a minor meltdown when the system found two exactly identical HDs. After that, I took the spinning drive out, stuck it in an enclosure, plugged it in after bootup, and reformatted it to be just a data drive, then re-installed it inside the box. I cannot remember the full details of how I "reformatted" the original drive. But initially, the HDD in the USB enclosure was invisible, rendered offline because of a signature collision. Using Disk Management I made that drive be online and reformatted it, and everything was smooth thereafter).
The partition scheme from disk management is not standard Windows 10 and you are correct that the partition ID is set to 27 which is specific to DELL: an OEM and a Recovery partition containing the original factory image (set to 27). The reason is to allow user to recover the WinOS back to the original state using a function key. However, you've already upgrade to Windows 10, you probably won't need it, beside, you also had a backup copy on the 2nd HD.
A normal Windows 10 partition scheme for MBR disk type is:
- 500MB System Reserved (set to 07) which contains BCD and WinRE.wim
- C drive.
It is easy to fix the problem without re-install Windows and apps. If you wish, I can give you step by step instruction.
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