Boot Manager effected by OS partition being moved?

[Coastalguy]

I have Windows 7 dual booted on partitions C: and F: with data partitions D: & E: in between them. I would like to bring the Windows 7 under F: to D: by removing the current D: & E: and extending the size of the C: partition using the space created by the original D: and E: partitions.

My main question is whether the boot manager will be effected by the Windows 7 under F: being moved to D:?

My second question, is with respects to the applications installed on this OS, which are all installed under the Program folder on the same partition of the OS. Will these still work?

I am using Acronis Disk Director 11 to do this.

 

[gregrocker]

Please post back a screenshot of your maximized Disk management drive map and listings, using the Snipping Tool found in Start Menu: Screen Shots

I understand you want to delete D and E and extend C into that space. Do you want to keep Win7 on F or delete it?

 

[Coastalguy]

Change F: to D:

When I remove partitions D: and E: leaving free space, I will then extend C: (partition 1) (Windows 7-1) to use this free space. Windows 7 - 2 (partition 4) currently at F:, will then be the 2nd partition on Disk 1, drive D:.

However, from what I know, the drive letter won't be a factor, just that it will be the 2nd partition on disk 1, and no longer the 4th partition on disk 1.

On XP, you could edit the boot.ini, to change the disk (1 = 0), and partitions 1, 2, 3 etc., however Microsoft in their dim wisdom, removed that easy edit option.

So I no longer know if they use the partition numbers to locate the OS's. They are both on Disk 1. If they do, then changing Win7 (partition 4 to partition 2), would have an effect on Boot Manager finding this OS, I guess.....

 

[gregrocker]

Where is the Disk Management screenshot?

Are you talking to yourself?

 

[Coastalguy]

Boot Manager

Sorry,

I thought I had explained the situation, but here is the Disk Management screen. Also, thanks for telling me about the snippet tool, didn't know it existed.

Anyway, this snap shot is from the OS on F: being loaded, which changed to C:. If I load the OS on C:, this OS is on F:

Also, if it helps, I took a snap shot of the settings via EasyBCD.

Thanks,

 

[gregrocker]

What is it exactly that you want to do?

You'd need to convert C to Primary, mark it Active then run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times to recover the System boot files into it so that it boots on its own without D which is booting it now.

Why do you want two Win7's? If absolutely needed I would put a second one on another HD booted via BIOS boot order or one-time BIOS Boot Manager.

 

[Coastalguy]

2nd Win7

Basically, I want a backup OS with my LAMP, so in case something happened to my working OS, I would have a backup to continue updating my websites.

I had 2 XP's dual booted for this originally. I kept the working XP on C: and installed Win7 over the other XP that was on F:, until I became familiar with it and had everything installed so it could become my working OS. After completing this on my F; drive, I then installed Win7 over my prior working XP, to make it my backup OS.

Now my working Win7, is on F: (the 4th partition of Disk 0), with the new Win7 on C: (the 1st partition of Disk 0).

Once I bring Win7 on C: up to where it can become my working copy, then I will just leave the OS on F: as a backup or remove it.

I do not have the time or resources to install an OS and work on it continually until it can be a working OS. Consequently, this is why I install a 2nd copy to give me time to do this.

Actually, I would still have XP on C:, however after removing Ubuntu, with it being the initial boot and then selecting windows, I could not get past grub2 anymore. Consequently, I installed Win7 over XP, hoping that this install would fix the MBR to boot into windows again, as the initial boot, which it did.

I tried fixing the boot manager using the repair option on the Win7 CD, however it kept telling me that everything was ok. I assumed that it looked as the MBR and saw the Windows dual boot as ok, and did not recognize that grub2 was missing.

Consequently, I now have the new Win7 on the 1st partition and my working Win7 on the 4th.

I really do not have the time to figure the complex boot situation out, so I will just leave it as is......

Thanks anyway,