What Could Cause MY SSD Drive to Disappear from BIOS Boot Sequence?

[target2019]

One component possibly related to computer problems is the BIOS. Sometimes they can be up-dated with a firmware flash, but eventually you will be abandoned, no longer supported. The result can be that a newer device is not fully supported, or an operating flaw emerges.

As someone else mentioned, you may end up trying to get software to play nice with the hardware.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I haven't had boot problems for the last week or so . Apparently the last time I reset BIOS and reset the boot sequence it "stuck".

Nevertheless, I bought a new Crucial MX500 SSD and cloned my SanDisk 240GB SSD, then installed the Crucial and removed the SanDisk. I used the recommended Crucial cloning software which is a lite version of Acronis.

I figure I've covered all the bases now and should be good to go.

...and another weird event. When I cloned the 240GB to the 500GB SSD my Microsoft Outlook contacts did not make the transfer. I discovered this yesterday morning when I went to email someone and their name was not in the address book. In fact, there were no names in the address book!

Hassles, hassles, hassles. Time to rebuild the address book.

I run three business email addresses through Outlook, also an old AOL email account and my Google gmail account. So five email accounts. I figured I'd import the gmail account addresses first since it is the smallest. Went to Google Contacts in my Google account on my PC and exported my contact list to a .csv file. Then went to import the file to Outlook but it would not import the .csv file. Kept getting an error message. I'm about an hour into the process and starting to get mad.

I move on to the three business emails accounts. I made .csv backups of the address books back in March 2021. I had edited deadwood out of the files back then so I imported them directly. It worked, no error messages. I will have to manually add any contacts I'd added to the address book(s) since March 2021, but at least I was back in business.

On to import the AOL account address book and a similar success. Back to the gmail account, and back to the error messages--will not import the .csv file. I look at the contents of the file and everything looks normal to me.

AHHH, yes, the famous quote from the TV show IT Crowd: "have you tried turning it off and on again?" Why no, I hadn't. I restarted my computer and this time the import of the .csv file works.

Googling around I found some that people claim the Acronis cloning software deliberately does not transfer over Outlook's contact files. I find that hard to believe, but it's the only explanation I can think of.

 

[target2019]

Are you using the same exact profile? Check C:\Users?

Outlook may be looking in a different location.

All of your information should be in a .pst, but don't hold me to that. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...tlook Data File (.,contacts, tasks, and notes.

I gave up on outlook many years ago. Got tired of the changes and so on.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Are you using the same exact profile? Check C:\Users?

There's only the folders under C:\Users.

MyUserName, Default, Public.

So I guess I'm using the exact same profile since there is only one active user.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Here's another curious incident. I went to ship some packages using the UPS World Ship software and it required me to re-register my account.

 

[target2019]

Here's another curious incident. I went to ship some packages using the UPS World Ship software and it required me to re-register my account.

Your info was linked to previous HD ID or something like that.

 

[SecondCor521]

Your info was linked to previous HD ID or something like that.

This. Acronis and the like copy the hard drive bit for bit, but one thing that does change is the drive serial number. It's accessible via a SATA command (IDENTIFY I think), and Windows and other operating systems probably make it available via a system call of some kind.

I think a similar thing exists with the CPU serial number, which is in part how Windows prevents you from making bootleg Windows copies. I think.

 

[target2019]

This. Acronis and the like copy the hard drive bit for bit, but one thing that does change is the drive serial number. It's accessible via a SATA command (IDENTIFY I think), and Windows and other operating systems probably make it available via a system call of some kind.

I think a similar thing exists with the CPU serial number, which is in part how Windows prevents you from making bootleg Windows copies. I think.

I had forgotten about the CPU ID number thing. As I recall it was something that was a problem for some, in that they didn't appreciate the privacy aspect. You could trun this on/off in BIOS. Seems like it has the potential to cause problems when cloning. Is it still a feature in modern BIOS's?

 

[SecondCor521]

I had forgotten about the CPU ID number thing. As I recall it was something that was a problem for some, in that they didn't appreciate the privacy aspect. You could trun this on/off in BIOS. Seems like it has the potential to cause problems when cloning. Is it still a feature in modern BIOS's?

Not a BIOS expert, don't really know. It does seem to me as a casual observer that BIOS implementations vary by manufacturer, motherboard, and sometimes even version.

I'd have to guess that Microsoft, as the purveyor of the dominant OS, has a great deal of influence on what they expect or require from BIOS interfaces. If they still want CPU ID in there, then I'd bet it's still in there.

 

[Qs Laptop]

I think you guys are on to something with the info being linked to the HDD serial number. That would explain both my address book disappearing and the UPS software needing to be registered.

As a homebrew computer builder I believe that Microsoft used to tie the license number of Windows to the motherboard and/or CPU so that you couldn't migrate your copy of Windows to another machine. Nowadays though, I think you as a person are the license holder and can upgrade Windows to different machines. I'm not sure, though.