Boot to specific partition on second hhd

[natchezjohn]

Have a pc with two hard drives. Have windows 7 on first drive (partition sda1) and have installed another instance of window7 on second drive (partition sdb3). But that sdb3 instance does not appear on the startup menu.

I want to boot directly to sdb3.

 

[bigmck]

Unless you have two Windows Product Keys, you are not supposed to install it twice on a PC. I don't really see why you would want two installs of the same thing. The problem most likely lies with where the boot file is. We are not allowed to give instructions on illegally installed programs. I suggest removing one of the Win 7's and you should not have a problem. If you do, we will help.

 

[MilesAhead]

I don't think you can do it without disconnecting one on the HD. Another approach is to install rails. You can change drives easily by pulling the drive out or sliding it in like a drawer.

You might have better luck getting more suggestions asking in this subforum:
http://www.sevenforums.com/pc-custom-builds-overclocking/

Maybe if you add a post here asking the mod to delete the thread you could just post your question on that subforum. Just explain why you want to move it and I don't think there will be any problem.

 

[natchezjohn]

I'd be happy to uninstall the instance on the first drive as it is only 64 gigs (second drive is 1.6 tb) First drive filled and I copied sdb1 to sdb3

But mbr is on ist drive and I worry about deleting sda1.

 

[natchezjohn]

I'd be happy to uninstall the instance on the first drive as it is only 64 gigs

and send the drive to a charity of your choice.

 

[DavidE]

Post a screen print of Disk Management using instructions in this tutorial so all information is displayed.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

You can't just "copy" an OS partition, it won't work.
You need to create a Backup Image of your working OS partition and then restore that image.

I use Macrium Reflect free for imaging.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html
Macrium Reflect Free

I prefer to download Macrium from MajorGeeks.
Download Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - MajorGeeks

 

[natchezjohn]

David, I tried it out before hand on a ONE disk pc. Using GParted I copied/pasted an instance of Win7, then ran Boot-Repair disc. Worked like a champ. Two instances of Win 7 on startup screen. Both worked fine.

 

[DavidE]

That's interesting.
Then get EasyBCD and add a boot entry for the new SSD OS.
EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies
You don't have to register to download the free version.
See if you can boot to the new SSD OS.

 

[natchezjohn]

David, I'm not at the pc in question. I'll install EasyBCD on it tomorrow morning. QUESTION!! do I install on "C" of the pc?

 

[natchezjohn]

David, I'm not at the pc in question. I'll install EasyBCD on it tomorrow morning. QUESTION!! do I install on "C" of the pc?

By the way the drive I want to boot to shows in "Computer"

 

[DavidE]

Yes, install it on C.
Also, when you can, post the DM screen print i asked for in post #6.
I'm sure you will need to get the Boot Manager copied to the new SSD so you can remove the old SSD.
Without seeing the DM screen print, i'm blindly guessing.

 

[DavidE]

Thinking about it a bit more, I'm not sure what GParted did or how it works.
I don't know if it copied the Boot Manager to the new SSD.
Use the One Time Boot Menu and see if you can boot from the new SSD/OS.
The key you need to use at bootup to get the One Time Boot Menu depends on your specific PC / motherboard.

 

[natchezjohn]

David, Thank you VERY much for your assistance. I'll try all of the above tomorrow and post the results.

John

 

[AddRAM]

Strange you didn`t get a boot screen allowing you to chosse either instance of 7.

But anyway, you should be able to use the one time boot menu key to choose either drive, setting the preferred drive to boot as default.

 

[lehnerus2000]

sudo update-grub?

I notice that you wrote sda and sdb which are Linux-style drive labels.

If you have Linux installed and you are using GRUB, you could try running "update-grub".

WARNING:
Create backup images of your system before running the command below (just in case some weird happens).

sudo update-grub

 

[natchezjohn]

GParted is a linux app so it shows the partitions as stated

 

[lehnerus2000]

GParted is a linux app so it shows the partitions as stated

I've used GParted to do all of my drive partitioning (for ~6 years).

 

[DavidE]

If you're using Linux for the Boot Code ignore my previous suggestion to use EasyBCD to add a boot entry.

 

[natchezjohn]

PC has ONLY windows 7 installed. GParted works on Win.
EasyBCD IS applicable.

 

[natchezjohn]

David, EasyBCD WORKED. Now all I need to do is figure a way to get rid of the Win 7 on disk 1 without losing the boot.

THANK YOU - THANK YOU