#Fixed: PC Won’t Boot after Adding Second Hard Drive

What to do if PC won’t boot after adding second hard drive? Now, you come to the right place. Here are several effective ways to fix the annoying problem

Sometimes a computer may run out of disk space and you want to add a second hard drive. However, this process is not always smooth. Lots of users reported that their PC won’t boot after adding second hard drive. What causes the problem? According to a survey, the problem mainly occurs if the second hard drive interrupts the boot configurations. Besides, outdated device drivers, loosened connections, corrupt hard drive, and improper installation can trigger the issue too.

Important! Make a Backup of Your Computer Beforehand 

Before fixing the second hard drive won’t boot issue, we highly recommend you make a full backup of your PC. This is because improper operation of your hard drive may lead to unexpected loss. MiniTool Partition Wizard is a professional disk partition software that can migrate only OS, clone hard drives, and back up partitions. Here’s how to use it:

Step 1. Run the MiniTool software to enter its main interface, select the original hard drive from the disk map, and click on Copy Disk from the left panel.

Step 2. Select the target disk that you want to back up and click on Next.

Step 3. Select copy options based on your preference and click on Next. If you are using an MBR disk. you can keep the default options unchanged here.

Step 4. Read the Note information and click the Finish button to confirm the copy. Then click on Apply to execute the operation.

After that, you can start fixing the Windows 10 won’t boot after adding second hard drive without any concerns.

Fix 1. Check the Boot Order in BIOS Settings

If your boot drive is not set as the top boot sequence, your computer won’t boot with second HDD. Follow the guide below to change the boot drive order in BIOS.

Step 1. To boot into BIOS, restart your computer and press and hold the F2 or Delete hotkey before the computer is booted.

Step 2. Go to the Boot tab, select the boot drive, and set it as the top boot order using the arrow keys key.

Step 3. Press the F10 and Enter keys to save and exit the BIOS settings menu.

Fix 2. Update Relevant Device Driver

Sometimes Windows 10 won’t boot after adding second hard drive if your chipset driver or disk driver gets corrupted. In this case, you can try updating them to the latest version.

Step 1. Right-click the Start menu from the bottom of the left corner and select Device Manager.

Step 2. Expand the Disk Drives category, right-click the second hard drive driver, and select Update driver.

Step 3. Select the Search automatically for drivers option and follow the on-screen instructions to install the latest driver. Alternatively, you can search for the latest driver online according to its manufacturer’s website and install it on your PC manually.

Step 4. Update your chipset driver using the same procedure. After updating all relevant drivers, reboot your PC and see if the “second hard drive won’t boot” issue gets fixed.

Fix 3. Run CHKDSK

If the hard drive gets corrupted or broken, your PC won’t boot after adding second hard drive. So, we recommend you check your hard drive for issues using CHKDSK.

Step 1. Press the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box, and then type cmd in it and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys together to open the elevated Command Prompt window.

Step 2. In the pop-up window, type the following command and hit Enter. Then type Y and restart your PC to repair the hard drive errors the next time the system restarts

chkdsk /f /r

Alternatively, you can use MiniTool Partition Wizard to repair the disk errors if the CHKDSK tool doesn’t work. This free partition manager can help you repair file system errors and check bad sections on the hard drive easily.

Fix 4. Run Startup Repair

Some users reported that the “computer won’t boot with second HDD” problem can be solved by running a Startup Repair. To do this work, you can use the Windows installation media tool.

Step 1. Boot your computer using the Windows installation media.

Step 2. Follow the on-screen prompts until your screen is located at Install Now. Then click on Repair Your Computer and you can access the Advanced Settings menu.

Step 3. Select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Repair in order. Then wait for the tool to automatically repair your system for errors. When the process is ended, reboot your PC and check if the problem is gone.

Here comes the end of this post. If you have other solutions to the “PC won’t boot after installing a second hard drive” issues, please share them with us in the following comment area.

Author: Ariel

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