I accidentally installed a program (SQL Server) to my second hard drive that I also use to backup my c:\ drive as a system image called, "windowsimagebackup".
I removed the SQL Server software, reformatted the second hard drive, and when I clicked on Create a System Image, it recognized my second hard drive…… until I rebooted. I was back to square one.
What I came to learn was that during a reboot, if your system finds any lingering entries in the registry that are services that point to the second hard drive, it will again flag the drive as a system disk before the login screen appears.
Here is what I did to fix the problem.
1) Remove any programs and services that are using the second hard drive.
2) Run the registry editor in CCleaner and get rid of any pointers to the second hard drive.
Run Computer Management by type Computer Management in the search bar.
1) Under Storage, click Disk Management.
2) Right click the second hard drive and click Delete Volume.
3) Right click on the second drive and make sure it is MBR.
4) Right click and click New Simple Volume (creates a partition).
Reboot.
The system should not flag your second hard drive as a system disk, and it should now be recognized as a drive for creating system images.