Making my HDD drive an emergency boot drive

[RichardDavies99]

Currently my Mini PC boots from the SSD.

I was wondering if it was possible to make the conventional HDD I used as a storage drive into an emergency boot drive, in case the SSD failed.

I've found ways to make external drives a boot drive, but not another internal drive.

Here's the spec:

Case
CiT MTX-007B Mini ITX Case 180W
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i3 Quad Core Processor i3-9100 (3.60GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME H310i PLUS R2.0: Mini-ITX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
Integrated Intel® HD Graphics
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 660p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 1500MB/sR | 1000MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE 7mm SERIAL ATA III 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 128MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Processor Cooling
STANDARD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS-N (300Mbps) 3dBi HIGH GAIN USB ADAPTER
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Firefox™
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® OPTICAL USB MOUSE
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 11 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo

If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

Thanks

Richard

 

[steaky360]

I guess you could install windows onto the second drive and ensure your boot order is selected as such that it boots from the SSD first then looks at the HDD. I figure this might cause a conflict down the line, but I cant think of a reason why it wouldn't work...

But I guess no one else has done this before because its a niche thing, if you don't mind, why do you want to do it? Why not (for example) use an external drive as is more common?

Is the PC mission critical for something and you can't afford to install windows onto the HDD in the event that the SSD fails at the time for example?