Win10 Is "Picky" About Moving Hard Drives Around


  1. Posts : 5
    Windows 10
       #1

    Win10 Is "Picky" About Moving Hard Drives Around


    Every few years I add another storage drive to my computer or upgrade the capacity. I have noticed some quirks about Win10 new drives & swapping drives around. These are all SATA 3 drives on a PCI-e motherboard - so what position on a cable or spot they are plugged into the motherboard is not important like it used to be.

    1) Win10 does not like it very much when you swap hard drives around. For example I moved 3 or 4 of my drives to different locations in the computer for better airflow. This meant that I could not always use the same drive cable before I moved it around. So I just used whatever free cable was already plugged into the motherboard. When booting up, Win10 found "errors" on a couple of discs where it did not find "errors" before. I had this same thing happen when I moved a single drive around about 2 yrs ago.
    2) Win10 often does not even like new drives to be installed. A couple of years ago, I installed a new drive in a new spot on the motherboard. When I booted up, Win10 blue screened for about 15 seconds then booted back up just fine.

    Why is Win10 so picky? This is not the days of IDE cables & master/slave drives where if you did not get everything just right, you were screwed. In fact we are at least 3 if not 4 generations into the single connection SATA cables. The kinks should have been worked out by now.
    Last edited by enthusiast; 13 Jun 2021 at 15:42.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 624
    Windows 10 Pro 21H2 x64
       #2

    The "errors" sounds like a poor ATA connection. (or power connection)

    SATA connectors sometimes fit in poorly, in my experience, so I have to unplug and plug the cable in again.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 74
    Windows 10 Pro...... 20H2...2021-05-24
       #3

    I found on my PC some time ago after a certain upgrade, that sometimes if I switch the PC on, it does not boot, it then does a repair, after a few reboot tries(I always try more before giving up).
    Note:This PC is rarely used and mostly switched off.
    Now I dont know what causes this but I found a selution that works. I have a LG sound system with subwoofer connected with it, but that was always there, thejn I have 3 external disc drives connected to USB ports, but they are powered off, rarely used, of the type that has a power supply.
    1-Switch on AC Power.
    2-Wait 1 minute....(I never waited, power on button in fast).
    3-Start PC...It now boots perfect every time, I am used to it now, no problem.
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 8,109
    windows 10
       #4

    Because windows writes a signature to drives so it know what it is and where it is Best practive is still drive c should be disk 0
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 6,320
    Windows 11 Pro - Windows 7 HP - Lubuntu
       #5

    - Every partition has an ID. Drive letters are assigned buy the OS to a partition ID.
    - If you have Fast start enabled, that is a kind of sleep+hibernation, when you switch drive on a SATA connector and start the computer, it will expect to find a drive on the same SATA connector when it hibernate and it doesn't.
    - Try to disable Fast start
    Turn On or Off Fast Startup in Windows 10
      My Computers


 

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