Boot problem on cloned dual-boot SSD

@johnhoh
Ok, I’ll try Macrium. Since my Win7 works fine, I would use Macrium to clone only the XP partition, right? If so, I could install Macrium on the SSD under Win7 (drive C:), plug in the original HDD via the SATA-USB adapter (the old XP partition would then appear as drive G:), then clone from G: to D:. Does this sound like the right plan? Or should I do it another way?

No not just the xp partition, the whole disk. I would put your machine back to its original configuration with the HDD as primary and sole drive, boot into win7, download and install macrium, shutdown, connect the SSD however you can (preferably sata but if you have to use the sata-usb adapter I believe macrium will still work - just have not done that myself), then power up and boot the HDD into win7 so it detects your SSD as a secondary drive, then use macrium to clone your ENTIRE HDD onto the SSD (deleting the existing SSD partitions first, which macrium allows you to do). As soon as the clone is done press "close" on macrium, shut down, remove the original HDD and install the SSD in its place as primary sata, then boot the SSD and see if it can load XP, then reboot and see if it boots win7. Do not reconnect the old HDD.

Wow, ok. I’ll try this today and report back.

For the utmost in reliability, I generally image and restore rather than direct cloning, but that's just my personal preference. Nevertheless, to add to johnhoh's advice I would recommend cloning with the partitions exactly the same size as they are on the old disk. You can always move/resize partitions later if you can get it working, but since we haven't been able to identify what's going on with your system it makes sense to limit the number of variables that could trip up the process.

@dg1261
I don’t have enough disk space to do an image and restore, so I am doing a direct clone. But I did what you suggested, keeping all partitions the same sizes and offsets. I note that the XP partition alignment is not on a 1MB boundary (it says “XP (CHS)”. So I will need to move it anyway once I get it to boot.

The cloning is in process now. We’ll see what happens.

The cloning process with Macrium Reflect 7 is done. Here are some screenshots of the progress window (the three pictures are the same window, each one is looking at a different portion of the progress scrolled down from the top):





This is all done with the original HDD installed in the laptop as the souorce, booted on Win7. The target SSD was plugged in with the SATA-USB adapter, with the partitions on it deleted prior to starting Macrium. All partitions were cloned with the same size and locations.

After cloning, I removed the HDD and installed the SSD in its place. I then attempted to boot XP first. It failed again in exactly the same manner as before. I then rebooted into Win7 with success. Here's the regedit screenshot showing the Win7's MountedDevices. No surprises here.



Looking at XP's system hive, it is apparent that Macrium didn't touch anything in it, as it still contains all the old DiskIDs:



I edited XP's DosDevices\C and DosDevices\D entries to match Win7's entries as follows:



An attempt to reboot into XP again failed in the same way.

So using Macrium didn't result in anything different. It looks like XP bailed earlier in the boot process, before it had even looked at the DosDevices entries. What could it be?

Any more ideas?

Thanks @SIW2. I’ll try that when I get back to my laptop later tonight.

@SIW2
I downloaded and installed O&O DiskImage and registered the software as you instructed. For some reason the software doesn't accept the serial number that they sent me via email, so I ran it in trial software mode. I did exactly as you described, then attempted to reboot into XP. The boot splash screen appears as before, but instead of resetting to POST, I now get a BSOD.



Argh. Not sure what to do now. The only hardware change from a working dual-boot Win7/XP setup is the disk drive...