After my Optiplex 980 m/b died, I tried to install my old ssd running Windows 10 home(build 1909) into a Optiplex 9020 system I bought from a surplus store with no HD's. I can't get it to recognize the drive...In bios, I don't know if should choose legacy boot or uefi boot. How can I still use my SSD? Thanks
You can't do that. All OEM PC....(Dell, HP) use the OEM OS which is specifically tied to the hardware of that PC...it's embedded in the BIOS. Thus making the transferring of an OEM OS impossible.
You'll need to buy another OEM OS or a retail version. I would suggest the retail as you can move it from PC to PC. It cost's twice as much but well worth it IMO.
The 980 was from 2010. I read that it does not have UEFI.
As Plankton remarked, it may have its license code embedded in it BIOS. Whether the license in the 9020 would automatically activate Windows, I have no idea.
None of this explains why the SSD isn't being detected. Are you quite sure that's true? (That's completely aside from being able to boot into Windows from it.)
9020 should have slic 2.1 and win8 pro msdm. So win8/8.1/win10 pro should all be fine in that respectWhether the license in the 9020 would automatically activate Windows, I have no idea.
9020 supports bios and efi boot. The 980 is pretty old, so most likely you were using bios on that. You might need to check the bios settings.
If the ssd is attached correctly to power and sata port, the disk should be detected. Try reattaching the connectors and/or try different sata port.
How well win10 win can adjust itself to the different hardware when booted is a different question.
Dell OptiPlex 7010 MT vs. Dell OptiPlex 9010 MT Comparison | Hardware Corner
https://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/opti...ual2_en-us.pdf
Last edited by SIW2; 24 Oct 2020 at 23:36.
Thanks for the replies. I don't know for sure if the ssd is being detected or not. How do I check since it will not boot to it. I bought the retail version of Win 10 home and installed it on another standard 500 GB drive and it boots fine. I just wanted to use my ssd since I do have many files and programs I need on it.
BTW, SIW2. I attached it on the MB "0" port but will try the other one if I need to
Note that if you have no disk image or clone of your SSD, then you are taking quite a risk with your only copy.
Then there's the question of whether it was somehow corrupted by whatever happened to your old PC of course.
Best see if you can connect it somehow to simply try to read it- and if so, create a backup if you've not got one.
delchina, thanks for reply as well...I make backups regularly on an external usb drive. I do want to clone this ssd and maybe re-format it and restore my prog and docs. what is the correct procedure for this?
You are going to have to go into BIOS (UEFI) settings and disable secure boot and enable CSM (or legacy BIOS) booting modes. The default settings for the new computer are likely to be set for secure boot enabled and UEFI only booting.
Alternatively, you could replace the existing NTFS system reserved partition on the SSD with a FAT32 system partition containing boot files compatible with UEFI, but that would be a very non-standard setup and could cause problems with future Windows updates.
The fact that the OS on the old SSD may be an OEM install has no bearing on booting it. That only affects activating it.
The ssd is an add-on which I bought a Windows 10 license for 2 years ago. It is backed up and all is well with it. If I change the boot to Legacy on the 9020 and disable safe boot do you think it will boot?
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