XPS One 2720, replaced SSD, now not bootable?

Here is what I have now:

Whoa!  I just was saving the picture above to the "Pictures" and I'm seeing some folders.  I looked and there was no content.  But a couple moments later I looked and I see content.  I wonder if the "RAID" caching is happening somehow.  I don't think the available space is going down on the SSD, but it is a little early to tell.  This adds another mystery to the puzzle.

… time passes ...

Ah, I see, it is doing some OneDrive stuff.  I'll probably turn that OneDrive off.  In the past, it took forever to decided if there was some mismatch of pictures between what was on OneDrive and the 50,000 pictures on the hard disk and so I turned it off and just copied stuff when I wanted it there.

Because I want to get it back into the original state.  SSD is just for caching and everything else is on the HDD.

But the install didn't allow me to do that.  It couldn't repair and when I tried to install in the partition labeled "Windows", it said it couldn't create or use a partition.

As it is now, SSD is Bootable and has Windows on it, and the other disk is just another disk.

So that means if I start filling up the SSD, I'll have to move things over to the HDD and hope that moving things doesn't break something.

Not sure of exact next steps.

Thanks, I think I understand your situation. I am also not sure what the next step is, but I think I would disconnect the SSD and try to install Windows on the HDD. After Windows is installed and working on the HDD, then I would try connecting the SSD and use Intel Rapid Storage Technology to initiate caching. 

If you have all your data on the HDD backed up and you have a bootable system with the SSD, I think I would reinitialize the HDD before removing the SSD and trying to install Windows. Here is a DiskPart procedure for reinitializing the HDD: https://macrorit.com/partition-magic-manager/initialize-disk-gpt-mbr-from-cmd-diskpart.html

Make sure you use the 'list disk' command to identify the HDD and the 'select disk' command to select the HDD.

OH!  I rebooted and pressed F8, then F2.  The menu had TWO Boot Manager records to choose from.  They looked the same spelling and all, but I used the second one.  It booted me up from the HDD.  It shows the SSD as drive "I:".  It was VERY slow booting, but it is working now.  I'm not sure what it did. And now the 2TB HDD is the BOOT drive (apparently).

IRST shows both drives as normal drives as far as I could tell.

And here is the new Disk Manager showing that the BOOT drive is the HDD!  So I think this is almost what I want. 

Now I need to verify that the SSD is being used as a fast cache and if it isn't, make it so.

This might turn out a lot easier than I thought.  I wasn't familiar with that F2 option.  Of course, it has probably been 20 year since I had to look into this kinds of problems.  I used to use Partition Magic back in the OS/2 days.

… time passes ...

I did a NORMAL Restart and it came back up off the SSD instead of the HDD.  Now I wonder how I make the HDD the DEFAULT.

In the BIOS I managed to disable the Boot Manager for the SSD so now it boots to the HDD "by default"

So now I just need to get that SSD as a caching device.  Any more clues?

You could have selected the boot drive using F12 Boot Options, see the Owner's Manual page 110, 'Changing Boot Sequence'.

To prevent the SSD from being a boot device you may wish to reinitialize the SSD. I am uncertain how the SSD should be set up (partition, format, etc.) to cache the HDD. This post may help: https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-General-Read-Only/SSD-intel-SRT-accelerate-button-missing-caching/td-p/5622053/page/3 The solution links to a step by step procedure for setting up the cache.

Thanks, but the link led to another link and what was described I didn't full test because I didn't want to take the back off (with all of its many screws), pull it out, and then put the back back on, reboot, and then take it apart and then put the drive back in and not be sure if that was going to change anything.

But thanks.  I may do that as a last resort.

Before you go any further, I suggest you run the diagnostics on the HDD from the F12 menu. If that drive is failing, why waste time trying to use now?

Read this about establishing a HDD cache on your 64-GB SSD....

How do I make it EMPTY?  It has partitions from when I managed to get Windows installed on it.  I deleted the volume, but there are other partitions still on there that I could not figure out how to get rid of.  I couldn't format it as that option was disabled.

Got a hint on this part?

=================================

DiskPart clean (be careful). 

Well, when I ran the F12 tests before, I didn't select the "thorough tests" or whatever that checkbox was there.  When I did that for the hard disk, it ran for over 3 hours and then choked.  I didn't expect a problem because when I replaced the SSD card, the original error message on boot went away.  

But it said:

   Error Code 2000-01 42

   Validation 92771

   Msg: Hard Drive 0 - S/N S1E207K2, long test unsuccessful.

I don't know what that all means yet.  Will have to do a web search.

So now I probably have to find out what kind of disk is in there and get a new one.  Then I'll have to wait to get it and tear the case open again and go through the whole laborious setup stuff again.

I suspected the disk was iffy because it is so old.  I got a lot of years out of it with no major problems.  

I also was able to "Empty" the SSD using Powershell and clear-disk with a bunch of options.  I probably won't bother trying to set up the "RAID" caching until I get a new hard disk.

Thanks for re-suggesting the check (sort of ).

Sorry if I was the messenger pointing you at bad news...

PSA/ePSA code 2000-0142 indicates the HDD Self Test was unsuccessful. It could be the HDD, HDD cable, or connector on the motherboard.

Open the PC and reseat HDD SATA data cable at both ends. Close up and run the PSA/ePSA test again. If you get the same error, you should replace the HDD.

It's a 3.5-inch SATA3 HDD.

How did you know it was 3.5 Sata III?

Perhaps because the specifications say Interface: SATA 3.0 and Drives supported: one 3.5-inch hard drive.

@mtiede  - As the saying goes, when all else fails, read the manual (or the specs)...

The Solid State Disk can be:

1. Any brand
2. Any size (over 9GB… so any size).  Intel’s SSD Caching is limited to 64GB so if your SSD is larger than that you can use DISK MANAGEMENT to format and use the balance of the disk as a standard SSD
3. Any type (SATA, M.2, SATA, or M.2 PCIe)

EDIT: And read this from Dell.