Moving and deleting OS on triple-boot setup

paramaibo · 20 Oct 2016

I have a dual boot 7 with 32bit and 64bit, and unknowingly installed the 32 first and 64 thereafter (on 2 partitions of SSD). I realise now that I want to delete 32bit and cannot format this partition.

I ask because I have a Win 10 partition on my HDD that I eventually want to clone to the SSD and thereafter only have 2 partitions with 64bit 7 & 10, and format the space left on the HDD as a backup location.

Attached are screenshots from disk management.

Can anybody help please?

AddRAM · 20 Oct 2016

You cannot delete D because it`s the Active partition and has the system files on it.

And if you wiped out D you wouldn`t be able to boot from C because it`s on an extended partition, it must be a primary partition, set Active and contain the system files.

You`d have to wipe out C and D in order to reinstall W7 64 bit, and I`m not sure you can do that as C and H are both part of an extended partition.

Why is there a gap between C and H, please post an unedited shot of Disk Management.

paramaibo · 20 Oct 2016

I have come to realise that I screwed up by installing D first.

Short of buying a new SSD and starting from scratch, is there a way to copy/move the system files in order to end up with my desired configuration?

AddRAM · 20 Oct 2016

None that I know of, not without wiping the extended partition.

There is no reason to have Windows 7 and Windows 10 on the same drive, I keep my 2 ssd`s totally separate with 7 and 10 and only pug in one or the other.

An expert may come along with a different solution.

But never install an OS on an extended partition. There`s no reason to.

Install Partition Wizard free on W7 32 bit and see if it will let you make W7 64 bit a Primary partition, but I don`t think you can without wiping it out.

Personally, I would wipe out the entire drive, choose either 7 or 10 and reinstall.

DavidE · 20 Oct 2016

What you should be able to do to fix this
Make a system image backup before making any of these changes.

Use a Minitool Partition Wizard bootable CD to set the C partition as Primary.
Bootable Partition Manager| MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable Edition

Then use EasyBCD to move the Bootmgr to C.
Bootmgr - Move to C:\ with EasyBCD

Boot the PC and make sure C is the System, Active, Boot partition.
If it is, then D shouldn't be needed any more.

paramaibo · 20 Oct 2016

Easeus Partition Master won't let me convert D to a logical partition (contains system/boot files) & similarly it won't let me convert C for the same reason; where D contains system and C contains boot files.

Megahertz07 · 20 Oct 2016

Are C, D and H on the same disk? Where is allocated the remaining disk space? 477-(50+90+90) = 247G

If you know how to use a external bootable Linux USB drive to make a backup of the disk, it is possible to clean all SSD disk, then create the partitions, restore Win 7 and Win 10 and then make it bootable.

DavidE · 20 Oct 2016

Are you running Easeus Partition Master in Windows ?
That's why i suggested a Minitool Partition Wizard bootable CD, so Windows isn't running when you convert it to Primary.

paramaibo · 20 Oct 2016

DavidE said:

What you should be able to do to fix this
Make a system image backup before making any of these changes.

Use a Minitool Partition Wizard bootable CD to set the C partition as Primary.
Bootable Partition Manager| MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable Edition

Then use EasyBCD to move the Bootmgr to C.
Bootmgr - Move to C:\ with EasyBCD

Boot the PC and make sure C is the System, Active, Boot partition.
If it is, then D shouldn't be needed any more.

I've seen that I can do something with EasyBCD (not sure exactly what), but I want to get the whole process worked out before I embark on piecemeal efforts as this is my only work station.

I'm waiting for delivery of a couple of 8Gb flash drives tomorrow, so that I have a bootable Win 7 64 (it's presently wasting space on a 128Gb flash drive (don't laugh).

DavidE said:

Are you running Easeus Partition Master in Windows ?
That's why i suggested a Minitool Partition Wizard bootable CD, so Windows isn't running when you convert it to Primary.

Ah! Got it, thanks.

A bootable Minitool Partition Wizard on a flash drive should be possible & clear the way then to fiddle outside Windows.

paramaibo · 20 Oct 2016

Megahertz07 said:

Are C, D and H on the same disk? Where is allocated the remaining disk space? 477-(50+90+90) = 247G

If you know how to use a external bootable Linux USB drive to make a backup of the disk, it is possible to clean all SSD disk, then create the partitions, restore Win 7 and Win 10 and then make it bootable.

There are three more partitions on the SSD.