Dual booting the same Windows 7 installation

[zero50]

~Background~

There were some power failures last week which caused some errors on my hdd and I spent 3 days reading this forum, trying to fix my windows 7 boot.

I finally fixed it after running chkdisk through a Windows repair disk after trying various other solutions to no avail. Thankfully, no files were lost (Besides the most important stuff was backed up)

I have an anxiety disorder and I work solely on the PC.
This incident was very hard on my health so I want to make sure that whatever happens I can get to work.

So I had an idea.

~Idea~

A while back I was reading about dual booting and it seemed quite interesting.
So, I've had this idea.

I have a 1 TB HDD.

It has two partitions, "System Reserved" and "C".

I create a new partition called G of let's say 100GB.

I then transfer my music, videos, photos to an external drive.

I uninstall all unnecessary programms/games from C.

I make sure C has about 50-60 GB of used space.

Afterwards, I make a system image using either the Windows 7 built-in tool
or Macrium Reflect/Acronis and transfer all my media back to C.

Could I then restore that system image on the new partition?

The end result I want to achieve is to have a "backup windows 7 installation"
If something happens to my Main installation, I can get to work on the second one.
Of course I backup my work to an external drive everyday.
I don't want to lose any more working days...

A friend of mine suggested a virtual machine but I want to be able to play games
on the second installation and I heard that you can't play 3d intensive games on
a virtual machine (without at least the neccessary hardware).

I know my idea seems a bit weird, but it would really help me if this were possible.
I would buy a new internal drive and make 1:1 clone of the current one but I'm low
on money currently...

Anyway, I hope someone can help me either with this or with another solution.
Thanks!

 

[DavidE]

If you do a dual boot or install Windows in a VM you would need a second license for that install.
You can create system backup images or have a clone drive without needing a second license.
Either of these could recover your system, i only use imaging.

Post a screen print of Disk Management so we can see what you have now.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

I install all my programs on the partition, and store all user data on a different partition. I'm not a gamer, and from what i know they can use a lot of space.

 

[whs]

Suggest you make an image of your system. Then you can easily replace a damaged system with the image. Here is how ==>

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html?ltr=I

 

[zero50]

If you do a dual boot or install Windows in a VM you would need a second license for that install.
You can create system backup images or have a clone drive without needing a second license.
Either of these could recover your system, i only use imaging.

Post a screen print of Disk Management so we can see what you have now.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

I install all my programs on the partition, and store all user data on a different partition. I'm not a gamer, and from what i know they can use a lot of space.[/QUOTE] Here is my current setup. (I have obscured the names of my external drives as they are named after family members) I have made a new partition, seen as :G here. My plan is to free most of the space on :C (make my used space about 30-50GB), make a system image of it, and then boot up my Windows 7 installation disk, and restore the image on the second partition (Seen as :G). What do you think? Would that work? I downloaded Acronis and Macrium Reflect too in case they are better suited to the task.

 

[whs]

Are you willing to buy a second license - because else you will be in trouble.

 

[zero50]

Suggest you make an image of your system. Then you can easily replace a damaged system with the image. Here is how ==>

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html?ltr=I

I could just do that, yes,
but I was wondering if I could create a dual boot environment with the same installation.

 

[zero50]

Are you willing to buy a second license - because else you will be in trouble.

But, essentially it's the same installation...
Would a new license be needed?
It's the same hardware, the same software, just "cloned".
I'm not trying to evade buying a new license, I want to understand
how this stuff works.

 

[mjf]

I wouldn't go down the dual boot approach.
Your best approach longer term IMO given you want a quick return to operation in the event of a major problem would be simply to use Macrium system imaging to an external HDD and make a couple of images and have a spare (internal) 1TB HDD.

However at the moment you have a large amount of data on your OS partition (~700+GB). So in this situation I would recommend you buy a new internal HDD and use Macrium to clone all of your current 1TB HDD to the new one. Note this will take some time. Disconnect the original HDD and make sure the new HDD boots by itself. If it does then disconnect it and go back to the original. If the original HDD fails then just disconnect it and reconnect your cloned standby drive.

In the longer term move your (large) data from the OS partition to a separate data partition. This will then make regular (faster!) system imaging more of an option. BTW I don't know why your smallish third partition is logical. I would be expanding it into C: as you move data off it onto a temporary data backup.

 

[zero50]

I wouldn't go down the dual boot approach.
Your best approach longer term IMO given you want a quick return to operation in the event of a major problem would be simply to use Macrium system imaging to an external HDD and make a couple of images and have a spare (internal) 1TB HDD.

However at the moment you have a large amount of data on your OS partition (~700+GB). So in this situation I would recommend you buy a new internal HDD and use Macrium to clone all of your current 1TB HDD to the new one. Note this will take some time. Disconnect the original HDD and make sure the new HDD boots by itself. If it does then disconnect it and go back to the original. If the original HDD fails then just disconnect it and reconnect your cloned standby drive.

In the longer term move your (large) data from the OS partition to a separate data partition. This will then make regular (faster!) system imaging more of an option. BTW I don't know why your smallish third partition is logical. I would be expanding it into C: as you move data off it onto a temporary data backup.

I see. I was thinking of buying an internal 3TB Toshiba drive that costs about 100$
and a Samsung Pro 500 GB SSD. I'd transfer the windows files over to the SSD for faster booting.
But unfortunately I can't afford this at the moment.

So you 're saying I should move my larger files to another partition?

 

[whs]

Are you willing to buy a second license - because else you will be in trouble.

But, essentially it's the same installation...
Would a new license be needed?
It's the same hardware, the same software, just "cloned".
I'm not trying to evade buying a new license, I want to understand
how this stuff works.

Yes, if you have 2 systems installed you need 2 licenses. There is no escape. But you can avoid that with the imaging approach that Michael suggested.

PS - and don't finagle anything. You may lose the license you currently have in the process.

 

[zero50]

Are you willing to buy a second license - because else you will be in trouble.

But, essentially it's the same installation...
Would a new license be needed?
It's the same hardware, the same software, just "cloned".
I'm not trying to evade buying a new license, I want to understand
how this stuff works.

Yes, if you have 2 systems installed you need 2 licenses. There is no escape. But you can avoid that with the imaging approach that Michael suggested.

PS - and don't finagle anything. You may lose the license you currently have in the process.

I see.
You guys seem more experienced so I'll take your advice.
I may dual boot Ubuntu and figure out how Wine works to use my programms somewhere down the line.

By the way, I just saw that support for Windows 7 will cease in 4 years... Didn't know that!
And it's my favourite OS...

 

[mjf]

I see. I was thinking of buying an internal 3TB Toshiba drive that costs about 100$
and a Samsung Pro 500 GB SSD. I'd transfer the windows files over to the SSD for faster booting.
But unfortunately I can't afford this at the moment.

So you 're saying I should move my larger files to another partition?

I think you are MBR booting which is fine (I do) so I would choose a HDD no greater than 2TB otherwise you need to change your booting to UEFI/GPT - I wouldn't be doing this at this stage. Also you want a performance 7200 rpm drive.
Here are a couple of links to making your copy. The first is for Macrium 5 but is much the same as Macrium 6 and provides some guidance if you have booting problems. The second is a Macrium KB for V6.
How to Upgrade Your Existing Hard Drive in Under an Hour
It's going to take more than an hour.
Cloning a disk - KnowledgeBase - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

Yes I am suggesting you move your larger files to another partition. I actually store my large data on separate internal HDDs since my OS drive is an SSD.

 

[zero50]

I see. I was thinking of buying an internal 3TB Toshiba drive that costs about 100$
and a Samsung Pro 500 GB SSD. I'd transfer the windows files over to the SSD for faster booting.
But unfortunately I can't afford this at the moment.

So you 're saying I should move my larger files to another partition?

I think you are MBR booting which is fine (I do) so I would choose a HDD no greater than 2TB otherwise you need to change your booting to UEFI/GPT - I wouldn't be doing this at this stage. Also you want a performance 7200 rpm drive.
Here are a couple of links to making your copy. The first is for Macrium 5 but is much the same as Macrium 6 and provides some guidance if you have booting problems. The second is a Macrium KB for V6.
How to Upgrade Your Existing Hard Drive in Under an Hour
It's going to take more than an hour.
Cloning a disk - KnowledgeBase - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

So, to use an SSD for booting I would need to change settings?
Is that difficult? I was planning on getting the SSD soon.

 

[whs]

Nah, moving to an SSD is a piece of cake. We'll help you - for starters have a look at this:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/149969-ssd-install-transfer-operating-system.html

 

[zero50]

Nah, moving to an SSD is a piece of cake. We'll help you - for starters have a look at this:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/149969-ssd-install-transfer-operating-system.html

I see so the problem is just with drives bigger than 2TB.
Didn't know that!
Is there anything I can read about MBR/UEFI/GPT?
How do I change from one to another?
I just want to know the proccess to see if I can do it or not and plan which drive to get accordingly.
That Toshiba drive seems like a bargain!

 

[whs]

Here is some reading that may help


http://www.howtogeek.com/193669/whats-the-difference-between-gpt-and-mbr-when-partitioning-a-drive/


https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php?title=Some_basics_of_MBR_v/s_GPT_and_BIOS_v/s_UEFI


https://www.maketecheasier.com/differences-between-mbr-and-gpt/

 

[zero50]

Here is some reading that may help


http://www.howtogeek.com/193669/whats-the-difference-between-gpt-and-mbr-when-partitioning-a-drive/


https://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php?title=Some_basics_of_MBR_v/s_GPT_and_BIOS_v/s_UEFI


https://www.maketecheasier.com/differences-between-mbr-and-gpt/

Nice! Thanks for the links! You guys saved me from buying the 3TB and losing my mind over not being able to use it. I'll study the material you gave me.

I see now that changing Bios to Uefi risks losing data and making the Os unbootable.
Would a system image help in this case?

 

[mjf]

Is there anything I can read about MBR/UEFI/GPT?
How do I change from one to another?

Your motherboard is getting older now and it appears some people may have had problems upgrading their BIOS. You need to do your own google research. Given your motherboard and CPU in your specs I see no significant advantage in moving from MBR/legacy boot while you stick with Windows 7 only potential headaches. I'd focus on your original concern.

 

[whs]

Frequent system images are recommended because it allows you to always backpaddle. And why frequent - because if you have to go back to an image of last year because that is the only one you have, then you lose a lot of the work you have done in the meantime.

 

[zero50]

Is there anything I can read about MBR/UEFI/GPT?
How do I change from one to another?

Your motherboard is getting older now and it appears some people may have had problems upgrading their BIOS. You need to do your own google research. Given your motherboard and CPU in your specs I see no significant advantage in moving from MBR/legacy boot while you stick with Windows 7 only potential headaches. I'd focus on your original concern.

I see. I guess I have to get a new computer sooner than I expected.
For now I'll look for a 1-2TB internal drive, maybe a 2TB one so I can use half of it as storage for system images and another half as data storage.

My current hard drive seems to be the weakest link in my system (Every component get a Windows score of 7.5 except the drive which gets 5.9) so I really want to get an SSD too.

When it's time to let go of this PC, I'll sell the old mobo,cpu and gpu and keep the same drives.
Anyway, I'm cleaning up a bit to reduce the used size on :C. I'll try making a system image using Macrium and see how it goes.