Windows 7: Boot Drive changed to D:

Disk 1 normally contains the System Reserve Partition and the C: drive containing the bootable WIN 7 Pro 32 Bit Operating System.

Disk 2 normally contains my D: drive only

Last night I ghosted the whole of C: to D: as a form of backup using NG.

Now on Disk 1 I still have the System Reserve Partition but now D: drive containg the bootable operating system.

Disk 2 is now assigned as C:

Basically C: and D: letter idents seemed to have got swapped over. Everything is working fine but I want my bootable operating system to be assigned C:

Help appreciated.

Hello AjayK47.




Will you please post a snip/screen-shot of the entire disk management drive map so we can see what you have going on.

In the Windows start menu right click computer and click manage, in the left pane of the "Computer Management" window that opens click disk management and post a snip of that, it should look similar to this.

How to Post a Screenshot in Seven Forums

Disk 0 and 1 are the internal hard drives and disk 2 is an external usb hard.

Thank you

Hello again.





What is on "Disk 1 C:" the one in the snip?

Is "Disk 0 D:" the only OS on the system?

In OP you said that you ghosted DISK1 to DISK2, but the screenshot shows that DISK0 is System Reserved and Windows 7 so we have to assume that you ghosted DISK0 OS partition to DISK1 as in the screenshot.

If this is the case, and System Reserved is booting DISK1 as you believe, then unplug DISK1 to see if DISK0 will start as before. Make sure DISK0 is set as first HD to boot in BIOS setup.

If not, boot the Windows 7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD, accept any offered repair, then if it doesn't start boot back in to DVD Recovery Tools list to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times with reboots until Windows 7 starts again on DISK0.

When you plug DISK1 back in you can try booting it via BIOS one-time Boot Menu key but it should not boot as it was using the System Reserved MBR to boot before if it was indeed booting. You did not copy System MBR when you only copied OS partition.

Just before this problem occured I had used the copy hard drive function of Norton Ghost to clone drive C: (which was then on disk 0 and contained the boot) to D:

C: Now contains a copy of the whole operating system and data but no boot.

I suspect however that although it is booting from D: the data on C: is being used.

It's very confusing. If I try and create a system image using the WIN 7 inbuilt untility it insists that the system reserve partion, D: and C: must be imaged for the process to be successful.

When I did the NG clone hard drive I did not tick copy MBR.

What makes you think you are booting the clone instead of the original Windows 7 on DISK0?

There is perfectly normal for Windows 7 backup imaging to includ the 100mb SysReserved partition as it is needed to boot. You should use that method saved to your external or secondary and not clone an unbootable Windows 7 which doesn't have an MBR to clone anyway without the 100mb.

I don't think it is booting from the clone. It's just that what was the C: drive on disk 0 has changed to D: and C: is now on disk 1.
I am now also getiing very random system error messages where Windows 7 asks if I want it to find a solution to the problem. I think I might do a clean install of the whole OS. Any advice so it installs on the correct drives and C: on disk 0 is the boot.

Thanks

I do not know why a clone would take the C letter away unless it booted.

Does the original Windows 7 boot up as C when you unplug clone?.

Repair it's boot if necessary using steps given earlier to get it started on its own.

Use Paragon Rescue CD to correct the original OS drive boot letter in registry. Unplug clone during repair. Moving Win7 Partition to Another Drive

In the future use backup imaging or a cloning program that lets you choose another letter.

I went for completely reinstalling the whole OS so now everything is back to normal.

What would you recommend is the best way to keep backups of both data and the OS.

I have the latest Norton Ghost software but WIN 7 also has it's own backup and restore features.

What combination would anyone suggest is best?

Maybe I should be posting this on a new thread - apologies.