Remind me what your current system looks like. Maybe you can post a disk mamagement picture telling me which OS is in which partition and what your plans for each OS are. Then I will have a better picture what could be the best course of action.
PS: you probably do not want to clone the drive because you do not want another drive from which to boot - I think. But we'll see.
Here is my current layout. I'm currently booted off my big hdd C partition.
Disk 0
HP (D: ) - original factory HP Build Win7
New Volume (E: ) - this is where I relocated my user data folders (pictures, downloads, favorites, etc)
(C: ) - new test Win7 image - non HP build, where I'm booted from right now
FACTORY_IMAGE (G: ) - HP build Factory Image
Disk 1
HP (I: ) - SSD drive where I initially cloned my HP factory build using Paragon
Disk 2
Denis 1TB (N: ) - USB 1TB drive being used for my backups
You realize you installed on a Logical partition, correct?
I would use Acronis True Image premium cloning/imaging app which comes free with any WD drive in the mix: WD Acronis free cloning app.
The manual is there on the Downloads page and will show you the steps.
There will be a setting where you choose to mark the target partition Primary and Active. You'll then need to repair it once it's Primary since System boot files cannot be written to a Logical partition. Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times
It would have helped if you'd mentioned you intend to image/clone this test install so we could have dealt with this earlier.
I didn't plan on imaging this partition and can definitely go a different route. The install went so well (thanks to yours and WHS excellent help) that I just figured, hey this Win7 install is great, might as well use it.
I can easily do another fresh install of Win7 on the SSD (the same way I did on the logical partition, which I didn't realize was a logical one) if that is recommended.
Then clean up my paritions on the big hdd....?
Hold it guys. There is nothing wrong with an OS in a logical partition as long as it is not the 'active' partition. But since your D is active, that works perfectly well.
As for the imaging part, I would image current C and current D seperately. Just be aware that current C has the bootmgr dependency on current D. But if that partition stays intact, you can also restore current C seperately. The imaging program will treat it like a data partition.
Imaging of the SSD is a completely seperate affair and can be done independent of the HDD partitions. It is so to speak 'stand alone'.
PS: does the SSD boot all by itself (with the HDD disconnected). Since you had problems with that earlier, I just wanted to make sure.
I wasn't aware he wanted to image D over, too.
If you only want C on the SSD then if you image it over choose it to be Primary Active and run the Repairs afterwards until it becomes System as well.
If you want to clean reinstall it might be easier, especially now that you have the practice: Reinstalling Windows 7
Greg, I thought he was done with the SSD. If anything, he should image his current D over or alternatively move the bootmgr from D to C and than move that image.
C must be converted to Primary first to accept the Active flag and System boot files, but there are already max Primaries so he would have to convert D to Logical after removing the Active flag. Then both would boot from C and it would be clone- or image-ready.
But if his cloning or imaging app doesn't allow to set the target to Primary Active then he can convert those afterwards using PW CD, then from Disk tab Rebuild MBR which may preclude the need to run Repairs x3.
Sorry guys for all the confusion, I know I have a lot of different things going on here!
I just rebooted and am up on my SSD with my SATA HDD physically disconnected. I did get an error because my desktop is located on the hdd and it could not be found, as expecte.
I think I have 2 options.
1. Do a brand new FRESH Win7 install on the SSD, then clean up all the partitions on my big hdd.
2. Image my FRESH Win7 install on my big hdd
I'm really confused about this whole bootmgr issue/consideration.
Any link I can read to give me a quick education?
I know I have the 100MB partition on my big HDD and my factory HP build bootmgr was moved from the 100MB partition to the C partition with easyBCD. So I though there was no more bootmgr in the 100MB partition and C was completely independent.
When I did my fresh Win7 install on my big HDD are you saying bootmgr for this installation is in the 100MB partition or in the D partition which is my factory Win7 install?
Again, I really appreciate all the help and patience!
If that option does not bother you, a fresh install on the SSD (with the HDD disconnected) is the easiest option.
Moving the current C to the SSD requires some gymnastics as Greg has explained. Moving your current D would be easier but would still require to clean and align the SSD - just to be on the safe side. But that is apparently not what you would like to do.
But since your current C is brand new too, it should not be very different to make a fresh install on the SSD (updates, etc.). Then you get all the settings and alignment and do not have to worry about that.
PS: If you later want to wipe the HDD, make sure you save your data first.
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