Problem transferring Win7 to new SDD - Repair CD nearly worked

petergb · 08 Oct 2024

Greetings All -

I normally use Linux nowadays, but at the moment I'm trying to work on an old Windows 7 laptop and would appreciate some expert help.

I am trying to move the Windows 7 installation on an old S710 "lifebook" (laptop) from the original SATA 2.5" HDD (160GB), onto a new SSD (250GB).

So far I have taken the following steps:
1. Used the existing Windows 7 installation to create a Repair Disk (DVD);
2. Verified that I can boot the machine OK from the Repair Disk - yes, it works.
The SSD started off zero-filled; I prepared it as follows using Gparted:
3. Created a partition table MBR style (not GPT);
4. Copied the 105MB "System Reserved" partiton from old HDD to the SSD;
5. Copied the main Windows partition from old HDD to the SSD;
6. Set the boot flag on the 105MB SSD partition (corresponding to the setting on the original HDD);

I then took the old HDD out of the laptop, and replaced it with the SSD.

Booting from the Repair Disk I was offered the option to mend the Win7 installation and accepted it. After this had finished I rebooted, again from the Repair Disk.

Once again, I chose the option to mend the installation. However this time it came back saying that it couldn't find anything that needed fixing. "Great" (I thought), and shutdown getting ready to boot from the SSD...

Unfortunately the machine would boot into Windows. It got through the BIOS screens to the point where Windows should start loading, but I was then left with a black screen.

I tried hitting F8 to see whether I could get into Safe Mode, but F8 didn't do anything and repeated presses after a while just caused a beep for each key press

I tried booting from the Repair Disk again, this time going for the command prompt option. I can see the files which would normally be on drive C: and they look OK, although within the repair environment are they showing up on drive D:

I tried to do chkdsk /f D: which seemed to run OK, but made no change to the overall situation.

Any suggestions, please?

(PS before anybody gets worried, this Win7 machine is not for connecting to the internet; it performs several very useful functions on my local network)

best wishes, Peter.

SIW2 · 08 Oct 2024

Most reliable way is diskgenius os migration function, which is included in the free version. It can be used from within windows or winpe.

DiskGenius Download Center | Free Download DiskGenius

I have been recommending it for a long time. Chris Barnatt has since made a video which is handy for beginners

https://youtu.be/1gTJw8ehkVc?t=344

You could first attempt a fix using the thing wot I made

bcdbootdiskv32x64.zip

Problem transferring Win7 to new SDD - Repair CD *nearly* worked-bcdbootisk-bcdboot-gui1.jpg

Problem transferring Win7 to new SDD - Repair CD *nearly* worked-bcdbootisk-bcdboot-gui2.jpg

Problem transferring Win7 to new SDD - Repair CD *nearly* worked-bcdbootisk-fixosletter.jpg

Problem transferring Win7 to new SDD - Repair CD *nearly* worked-bcdbootisk-fixosletter2.jpg

siliconbeaver · 08 Oct 2024

Thanks for the video. It's helpful.

So, the correct method is "Migration" than "Clone".
I was using "Clone" later repairing boot by MR RE if a boot problem. was wrong (indeed, even in the video, Chris was talking clone, clone, clone, when he was using Migration.)

WINPE solution is better. no need to install DiskGenius on OS.

SIW2 said:

Most reliable way is diskgenius os migration function, which is included in the free version. It can be used from within windows or winpe.

DiskGenius Download Center | Free Download DiskGenius

I have been recommending it for a long time. Chris Barnatt has since made a video which is handy for beginners

https://youtu.be/1gTJw8ehkVc?t=344

petergb · 09 Oct 2024

Hello again -

Thanks for the replies and I'm sorry there's been a bit of a delay in getting back to you, my boiler engineer turned up and I've had bits of boiler all over the kitchen

so now I have a lot of tidying up to do...

Good news - I've solved it!

I read what you suggested with interest; but didn't really want to install anything. It's one thing to run an executable file under Windows; actually installing software is a rather "bigger" deal, I wanted to try to find a solution which would avoid this if at all possible.

I remembered something about fixmbr from back when I was using XP I think, so tried Googling along those lines and found this page:
Redirecting
...go down to the last post on the page by J W Stuart (29 Sep 2012). The process didn't go exactly as indicated on that page , but it was close enough to get a result.
I had very nearly got there already by doing the steps listed in my post above. The extra steps required to complete the process were accomplished by booting from the Repair Disk once again, choosing "Use recovery tools that can help fix problems starting Windows", and from the menu choose Command Prompt.

At the command prompt:
$>bootrec.exe /fixmbr
$>bootrec.exe /fixboot
$>bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd

The first two commands returned a message that they had completed successfully;
The third command, despite saying that it had completed successfully, also said that it had found 0 Windows installations ?! ...which was very odd, because the previous screen of the recovery environment was highlighting an installation saying "Windows 7" so clearly there was one there to find. Puzzling.

Despite this, it seemed to work, because I restarted from the new SSD and it booted into Windows :) Yay!

==

Final notes in case anybody wants to follow the same path:

- I really should have done a chkdsk on the original Windows Drive C: right at the beginning i.e. before doing the partition copy! Attempting to play partition-fu on a broken file system is not clever. A quick chkdsk to start with will ensure the integrity of the file system before you do the big copy.

- When you successfully get to the end of the process and Windows 7 starts up from your new drive (Whoopee!) wait for a minute or so before "doing stuff", in case a little alert box comes up in the middle of your screen telling you that changes have been saved and asking you to reboot to confirm them (and this will happen even if you are logged in as a non-admin user). After you reboot then you are "good to go".

(edit) The business about the Windows files appearing on drive D: turned not to be an issue, as it's only drive D: within the repair environment. As soon as Windows is running "normally" this same partition reappears as drive C: as you would expect.

==

Now I need to work out how to mark the thread as solved (first time forum user). And go clean up my kitchen!

Thanks to all, and very best wishes, Peter.

SIW2 · 09 Oct 2024

I read what you suggested with interest; but didn't really want to install anything.

No Installation required. It is portable.

Problem transferring Win7 to new SDD - Repair CD *nearly* worked-dg-portable.jpg

Any problem with clone\migrate\copy of an os is almost invariably one of the following

1. The copy is corrupt ( the least likely)

2. The bcd store entry hasn't been adjusted to point at the new disk and partition

3. The os letter hasn't been adjusted to alias the new disk and partition.

- - - Updated - - -

(edit) The business about the Windows files appearing on drive D: turned not to be an issue, as it's only drive D: within the repair environment. As soon as Windows is running "normally" this same partition reappears as drive C: as you would expect.

winpe assigns its own drive letters, independent of the letters assigned by any os installed on the disk.

The recovery environment is winpe with the recovery tools included. Microsoft call it winre.wim

Problem transferring Win7 to new SDD - Repair CD *nearly* worked