Duplicate copy of Win7 on secondary SSD after restoring old system img

[Jojack]

I have Windows 7. So, the trouble started a couple days ago. I downloaded an update for Avast! Free Antivirus. After updating, it asked to restart the computer - I clicked OK. Upon restarted, Windows 7 wouldn't boot at all. After some experimenting, I determined it was probably a driver issue (I couldn't even start Safe Mode, so it must've been a core driver). I used an old system image stored on an external hard drive to restore my primary SSD. It worked, but now the other SSD that I have also has a mysterious copy of windows that never existed previously. It's taking up a lot of room, and I'm fairly certain it isn't being used at all. I want to delete it to free up space (the secondary SSD is dedicated only to video games) but I don't want to screw anything up. Can I delete the mysterious copy of Win7 from my secondary SSD without any issues? Pictures below:

As you can see, it looks as if Progenitor (the original SSD) is still the drive running the OS (I assume that's what the Windows logo next to it means).

The next two images seem to show that Windows is still fully installed and operational on Progenitor (the original SSD that was restored by the system image on Eddy (the external hard drive)).

This is where I find things get weird. While I distinctly remember the system image restoration saying that it was restoring drive C (Progenitor), a seemingly-full installation of Windows also seems to have been put onto Legacy (the secondary, gaming-dedicated SSD). It's taking up a lot of space, and I don't think that it's actually being used, but I don't want to delete it and screw something up horribly. What possible explanation could there be for this to be happening? I'm absolutely baffled.

I am completely sure that there was never a copy of Windows 7 on Legacy SSD before. Before the restoration to the system image, that disk only ever had two folders: "Steam" and another service, maybe Origin or Uplay, I can't remember. It definitely never had Windows before. I've had Progenitor as my OS SSD for much longer than I've owned Legacy. I cannot possibly fathom why Windows was put onto Legacy, especially since the system image specifically stated that it was restoring Drive C (Progenitor), and everything else is exactly the way I expected it to be (same wallpaper, files, etc from 6 months ago). I want to free up space on Legacy, but fear that by messing with it I might horribly mess something up. What do you think? Any advice?

 

[Mellon Head]

You can probably safely delete the Windows install on Legacy...

But before you do... (with the power off) disconnect Legacy's SATA cable and make sure that you can boot from Progenitor. That will make sure that no files are needed from Legacy in order to boot. Sometimes these restores can cause the boot tables to get messed up between drives, especially when it restored your data to a different drive that what it said it was going to. You never know what might have happened to the BCD tables.

Don't do any deletion until you're positive that you can boot from Progenitor alone.

 

[alphaniner]

There would be a lot involved in duplicating the install to another drive without disturbing or destroying the existing contents. It's hard to believe such a thing could happen by accident. I'm also curious as to why the drive icon for legacy has the little "two people" sub-icon, which if I understand correctly indicates network sharing.

Can you right-click on the icon for Legacy, select Properties, and share screenshots of the General and Hardware tabs? Maybe the Sharing tab too on account of the 'sub-icon'.

 

[DavidE]

For questions like this a screen print of Disk Management is very helpful.
Post a maximized screen print of Disk Management with all fields resized to display all info using these instructions:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

Also, what Program do you use for System Image Backups ?

 

[Jojack]

There would be a lot involved in duplicating the install to another drive without disturbing or destroying the existing contents. It's hard to believe such a thing could happen by accident. I'm also curious as to why the drive icon for legacy has the little "two people" sub-icon, which if I understand correctly indicates network sharing.

Can you right-click on the icon for Legacy, select Properties, and share screenshots of the General and Hardware tabs? Maybe the Sharing tab too on account of the 'sub-icon'.

As requested:

 

[Jojack]

For questions like this a screen print of Disk Management is very helpful.
Post a maximized screen print of Disk Management with all fields resized to display all info using these instructions:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

Also, what Program do you use for System Image Backups ?

I believe this is what you're looking for:

Upon examination, it seems as though, for some reason, a recovery partition was also set up on Legacy, which is also extremely odd. I suppose it explains why it also said that I had 96.6gb total when I knew for a fact that it was a 120gb SSD.

For System Image Backups, I just use the default Windows tool in Control Panel\System and Security\Backup and Restore\Create a System Image

 

[alphaniner]

Oops, I thought the Hardware tab would indicate the disk which holds the partition. DavidE is right, we'll need to see a screenshot of Disk Management.

 

[Jojack]

Oops, I thought the Hardware tab would indicate the disk which holds the partition. DavidE is right, we'll need to see a screenshot of Disk Management.

Posted directly above

It's so strange that it not only put Windows on Legacy, but also set up some sort of Recovery Partition for something on it.

 

[Jojack]

As an update, I have tried booting the computer up without Legacy plugged into anything, and everything seemed to work perfectly fine. I still haven't done anything to Legacy yet, but it seems as though none of the files on it are actually being used except that "E:\Windows\Panther" and "E:\Windows\Logs\PBR" have both been modified as of two days ago, whereas the rest of the files and folders haven't been modified since July 10th, 2015

 

[Jojack]

Also, thank you guys for the responses so far! Learning a lot just from your questions. Thanks for the help thus far!

 

[alphaniner]

LOL, I just googled the Windows\Panther directory. Apparently it's used for logging during install and initial setup or upgrade, can grow to several GB, and is perfectly safe to delete. Seems like that should have been a job for Disk Cleanup...

People gripe about the $ cost of Windows, but I'm much more bothered by the GB cost. Since Vista, MS seems to have a complete disregard for the amount of space Windows requires.

 

[DavidE]

The DM screen print in post #6 shows your Page File is on the [E] drive.
I would move the Page File to the drive, at least temporarily. [url=http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/132201-virtual-memory-paging-file-change.html]Virtual Memory Paging File - Change[/url] Did you intentionally move the Page File to a non-C partition ? Having that file on a different partition than [C] can cause "problems" with the built in Windows Imaging utility. Third party imaging utilities such as Macrium would work better with such a change. To me it looks like Disk 0 is setup for Legacy Bios, there is no EFI partition. To me it looks like Disk 1 is setup for UEFI, there is a EFI partition. I don't know if/how that's possible, for both drives to boot Windows and work correctly.