Solved Cloning win7 to new sdd for dual boot

[Tuner]

Hello.

First, thanks to this forum, I have solved many problems over the years on my own. I'm a long time visitor but at my wits end so I decided to join in the hopes of getting my computer running the way I like it.

I was running WIN7 + WIN7 and XP as a multi boot system and everything worked great except now I'd like to migrate away from XP and have only win7.

I have a 500GB SDD which I would like to multi boot with 4 Win7 installations. Trouble is, I hope to do this by cloning my existing WIN7 partition 4 times instead of installing fresh win7 each time.

1) How many OS's (win 7 ) can I setup on a single drive ? Some say you can only have 4 primary partitions. If the boot partition eats up one of those, I'm left with 3.
2) What's the best way to accomplish my goal without installing fresh windows?

I almost got everything setup the way I like it until I cloned to the 4th partition. After that, I could only boot into the first win7 even after trying a dozen different suggestions to fix mbr and bcd. I've since wiped the 500GB drive clean and am ready to start all over.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions

 

[Ztruker]

Post a snapshot of a fullscreen Disk Management:

To open Disk Management, press Windows key+r, type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter or click GO. Make it full screen.

See here: How to Use the Snipping Tool in Vista - Vista Forums (says it's for Vista but also works with Win 7/8).

Once you have the image saved, click on the Paperclip Icon next to the Smiley Icon.
In the Manage Attachments window, click Browse and navigate to where you saved the image and select it.
Click the Upload button.
Close the Manage Attachments window.
Click on the Paperclip Icon again and select the image you uploaded. It will be placed in your post.

 

[whs]

You need only 1 primary partition for the active system partition that houses the bootmgr (that can also be any one of the OS partitions or an independent partition). The (other) non-active OS partitions can be logical partitions.

I think though that you may have another problem - for multiple installations you may need multiple product keys.

Btw: I do not understand why you would want to make such a setup.

 

[Layback Bear]

Please correct me if I'm wrong.
My understanding is that if one wants more than 1 bootable Windows 7 on the same computer on would need a COA key for each.

 

[whs]

Please correct me if I'm wrong.
My understanding is that if one wants more than 1 bootable Windows 7 on the same computer on would need a COA key for each.

That is my understanding too.

 

[Tuner]

Thanks for the input.
Main reason I need set up like this is to avoid conflicts with different programs I use for work. Some newer stuff is recommended to run on 64bit while other stuff on 32.

I used to have 2 hdd which is pretty easy to swap in the toughbook but even easier would be to have single ssd with 4 options at boot menu to choose from depending what programs I need running.

I don't think multible keys are needed since it's all running on the same iron. I did not need 2 keys in the past but even if I do, I'll buy them.

Here is my goal:
1)Clone a working Win7 64bit partition to first partition on new sdd.
2)Clone same working Win7 64bit partition again to second partition on new sdd.
3)Install fresh Win7 32bit to third partition on sdd.
4)Install either XP or Win7 32bit (undecided still) to fourth partition on new sdd.
5) Have all of them bootable from boot menu

Where I'm at:
After cloning and messing around with startup recovery advice found on this site for countless hours I ended up with disk error during boot so in frustration I deleted all partitions on new sdd and I am ready to start from scratch.

 

[gregrocker]

You'll need to get one OS running on the HD by installing, cloning or imaging it from boot Primary Active, including MBR and Track 0, Auto drive letter.

The clones or images applied to other partitions can be be Primary but not Active, should not include the MBR and Track0, but if offered accept Auto drive letter assignment. You can even clone or image them from the original first partition - I use Acronis which works well doing this. Then add them using EasyBCD installed to the first OS. It still may require running Startup Repair to get them booting.

 

[Tuner]

I will begin by installing fresh win7 as my first step rather then cloning.

 

[gregrocker]

What imaging app do you prefer? Can you install it to the original installation to clone or image to the other partitions, add with EasyBCD. I have good luck doing it this way with Acronis which has a free premium app when any WD or Seagate HD is involved.. You only need to remember to use a Primary (up to 4 total) partition, not Active, no MBR or Track0 copied, Auto drive letter.

 

[Tuner]

Update: win 7 clean installed on first partition.
Issue: using easus disk copy to try clone working win7 from existing sdd to second partition of new sdd but Disk Copy won't let me choose Disk 1 as source and says THIS IS A DYNAMIC DISK.

Afraid to do more for fear of losing my current working setup. Better image it first.

 

[gregrocker]

Please post back a screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image - Windows 7 Help Forums so we can see what the problem is. If you tried to create too many Primary partitions did you ignore the warning it was converting to Dynamic? You can only have four Primary Partitions, or three Primary and unlimited Logical.

Only your first OS install needs to be Primary so it can be marked Active to boot.

I am not familar with Easeus Drive Copy although the Partition Manager does fail a lot losing data so it is not recommended here. Is that an imaging or cloning suite? Make sure you are using unformatted partitions to clone or apply image onto. If disk has converted to Dynamic use Easeus to convert it back to Basic after removing formatting from target partitions.

 

[Tuner]

Please post back a screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image - Windows 7 Help Forums so we can see what the problem is. If you tried to create too many Primary partitions did you ignore the warning it was converting to Dynamic? You can only have four Primary Partitions, or three Primary and unlimited Logical.

Only your first OS install needs to be Primary so it can be marked Active to boot.

I am not familar with Easeus Drive Copy although the Partition Manager does fail a lot losing data so it is not recommended here. Is that an imaging or cloning suite? Make sure you are using unformatted partitions to clone or apply image onto. If disk has converted to Dynamic use Easeus to convert it back to Basic after removing formatting from target partitions.

Yes, I believe I missed a warning about converting to Dynamic and that's when all my problems began. In any event my problem is now solved. I used Partition Master to convert dynamic disk to basic. That disk then began to boot in all OS's like normal but since I already started this project fresh onto a second SDD, I kept going.

To Recap:
1) Started with empty 500GB SDD and installed clean fresh Win7 32bit. Used a legit key for this install.
2) After install, I shrunk that partition to 80GB
3) Cloned Win7 64 bit from HDD to second SDD partition
4) Cloned Win7 64 bit from HDD to third SDD partition
5) Left last partition alone until I decide if I still need XP installed there or not.
6) Booted from windows repair disk and allowed it to detect os's. It worked like normal.
7) Rebooted and had all OS's listed in boot menu
8) Used EasyBCD to rename and rearrange items on boot menu
9) I'm a happy camper and now my super computer will be a pleasure to use in my daily work WITHOUT needing two laptops or 2 hdds. I can now boot into the OS I need, none of my programs or USB devices conflict with each other. Last step is to image the entire drive so I never have to go through this again.

Cheers to you all who helped out. Not only with this post but I found a lot of useful information all over this forum. I learned things I didn't know I wanted to learn. Have a great weekend!

 

[gregrocker]

Would you post back the requested screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image - Windows 7 Help Forums so we can check over the configuration for you. Even when all is working well about half the time we spot potential problems.

 

[Tuner]

Would you post back the requested screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image - Windows 7 Help Forums so we can check over the configuration for you. Even when all is working well about half the time we spot potential problems.

Sorry for delay. Here is capture as requested. I see one is a logical drive while the rest are primary partitions. Will this be a problem ?

At some point when I have time, I'd like to resize these partitions to something more useful but I won't know what sizes will suit me until all programs are installed to their respective os's.

 

[gregrocker]

It would help to see the drive map so we know the layout, but from just the listings it appears correct.

Logical is always best for data partitions, since it cannot hijack the boot files as any preceding Primary partition can do during Repairs or Reinstall.

If you need help when the time comes for resizing, post back the full screenshot. Otherwise the tool which works best and never fails is free Partition Wizard Bootable CD Resize Partition - Video Help.