Making a 'backup' boot partition?

[martinlest]

I know there is a lot on the forums here about multi-boot and might just be able to go ahead and achieve this without further advice. Or I might just make a mess of it (and I don't want to do that!)...

Basically, I want to have a clone of my boot partition on C on another physical drive, so that if one disc failed, the other is there to take over immediately. The screenshot above shows my current disc setup. I never managed to get the main boot onto Disc 0, it's on Disc 1, but it's been like that for three years with no ill effects. Both of those discs are SSDs.

I simply want to use the partition shown as E as a copy boot drive, for emergency use. I don't necessarily need to see both in a menu at boot, though that might be the most 'reassuring' option, set with a brief timeout. Or I could just use the boot menu as and when necessary. I assume that if I set the boot menu so that one active partition is in first position and the second active partition is in second position, then in the event of a disc failure, the other drive would take over automatically? I that doable in Windows 7?

What about the recovery partition on Disc 1 though, if that disc failed? Does there need to be a copy of that on Disc 0? I am not even sure what is in that partition. Was it created at Windows 7 (x64) setup? Is it needed to boot? Or is it just a 'reset to defaults' thing?

I would appreciate some advice on the best way to go here. The drives are both Evo 850s, pretty reliable (I'm about to install an Evo 860 2TB drive as well), but I can't afford to have this machine down whilst I repair it, should anything go wrong.

Thanks,

Martin

 

[AddRAM]

Are you at least making images of C now ?

Yes the 5.86 GB partition would have to be included in the clone or windows would not boot, as it is marked Active.

You must not have Disk 1 connected to Sata port 1 on the motherboard and that`s why it`s not showing up as Disk 0.

I only use 1 partition for windows, which makes life so much simpler.

 

[martinlest]

Yes, I have images of the boot partitions.

I can't use all my 500GB SSD for Windows - I need it for other stuff too

 

[Megahertz07]

I've only seen a active recovery partition on OEM computers. Did the disk 1 was once used on another computer or with Win 10?

Try this:
- Clone the C: partition on disk 1 to the E: partition on disk 0
- Detach disk 1 from the MB (disconnect power or SATA cable)
- Boot from win 7 installation disk and do a boot repair.

 

[martinlest]

What would that give afterwards, at each boot? Both discs need to be connected after this has been done. Thanks.

 

[Vineet Garg]

Hi All,
Greets,
martinlest : Sir, I would like to go the safest way to achieve what you desire!
1) Obviously, copy the whole data from 'E: Documents'.
2) Its an dual boot of XP & Windows 7, Right ? Detach disk 1 & try booting into XP ( which is on disk 0). You should not be able to do so. Because the initial info,boot entries,etc. lies on the disk 1's 'Active, Recovery partition'. Please report. We are planning to leave the Disk 1 untouched to avoid any damage to the present working condition and cloning the two : Active & C:windows from disk 1 to disk 0 without touching X: & D:
3) What's lying as 'Recovery' component on 'Active' partition ? we don't know & we are going to leave it as it is.
4) Install Macrium Reflect Free in windows 7.
( small guide here : https://www.raymond.cc/blog/how-to-create-full-windows-backup-by-imaging-without-using-norton-ghost/ )
5) Boot in XP & get Disk Management view from there & report.
( For screenshot in xp, you may use 'Shotty' from here : https://www.raymond.cc/blog/easily-capture-screenshot/
Portable option is offered during installation)

Thanks & Regards. ...

 

[martinlest]

Its an dual boot of XP & Windows 7, Right?

Thanks, but no. I want the 'backup' boot partition to be identical to the one I have now, both Win7x64, one a clone of the other.

 

[Megahertz07]

There are two kinds of disks:
- Legacy - MBR
- UEFI - GPT
Your disk 1 seems to be Legacy - MBR as on Boot able GPT disk you must have a UEFI FAT32 partition, that is not on yours.
On a Legacy - MBR all you need is a MBR and a Windows partition. So if you clone the Win 7 partition of disk 1 to E: partition on disk 0 and set MBR with a Boot repair, disk 0 will became boot able.

Open disk management (C:\Windows\System32\diskmgmt.msc) and on View (top menu) - Top - Disk List. There you can see the disk types. I would say that only disk 2 is a GPT disk.
Please take a snapshot of disk type and post here as an attachment.

Always backup your data to an external disk before playing with disk tools.

 

[martinlest]

Like this? Thanks.

 

[Megahertz07]

As you can see, both disk 0 & 1 are Legacy - MBR.
From the picture of your post#1, fist partition on disk 1 is RAW (not formatted) and is 100% free. There is nothing on it, but it is active (has a MBR set).

Try my suggestion from post #4. To clone C: partition (disk 1) to E: partition (disk 0) use Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free or other software.

Instead of cloning the C: drive, why don't you make an image of the C: partition and store it on the LaCie drive? It will take less space, and it is easy to update.

 

[martinlest]

I do have a Macrium image, but I have found in the past (including Macrium) then when it comes time to make use of the image (fortunately, very rarely), the process fails, or the image is pronounced as 'invalid' (even though it was validated after it was created), and then I have in any case to reinstall Windows from scratch and start again. I don't have a lot of confidence in these programmes to be honest (though I know some people totally disagree).

I am installing a new 2TB internal SSD later today.. I wonder whether to make a partition on it big enough for the Windows installation (but what about the smaller 'recovery partition'?).

As I say, I would want both boot drives to be easily available. I can't permanently unplug one of the SSDs in any case because of data on the other (non-Windows) partition.

I did successfully make a dual boot (Win7/XP) on my other PC, which is encouraging!, but I am very 'iffy' about tampering with boot repairs and so on on this PC, in practice I have had things go 'wrong' too many times in the past. Maybe I should stick with images (I keep one Macrium image, and one made with Windows 7 own image tool. I used to use all sorts of other image backup software too, but ended up removing all of them when they proved less than 100% reliable).

Thanks.

 

[Vineet Garg]

Hi All,
Greets,

martinlest : Sir,

1. Macrium is 100% reliable & sufficient alone, unless we make a mistake !

2. What's that pagefile on X: ?

I am installing a new 2TB internal SSD later today.. I wonder whether to make a partition on it big enough for the Windows installation (but what about the smaller 'recovery partition'?).
3.
(a) Are you planning to install windows 7 or other os on the new drive ? make sure to detach other drives before starting the installation.
(b) You are planning to go again with ''MBR + Legacy Bios''. You may need to convert the ssd from GPT to MBR. Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk - Windows 7 Help Forums
(c) It is recommended that make a 100gb partition first for the installation and after installation you can expand it and/or create other partitions ! SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation - Windows 7 Help Forums
(d) If you prefer a small System Reserved Partiton configuration, consider making it 200 mb. (above link)
(e) On MBR you can make 4 primary partitions or 3 primary partitions + multiple logical drives. Primary partitions are recommended for OS installations. (If you prefer small System Reserved Partition (I do), you would be using one primary partition for that and one for the main installation)

As I say, I would want both boot drives to be easily available. I can't permanently unplug one of the SSDs in any case because of data on the other (non-Windows) partition
4. you need not to unplug permanently ! It would be just a cushion.

To be Contd...

 

[martinlest]

1. Macrium is 100% reliable & sufficient alone, unless we make a mistake !

With respect, nothing is 100% reliable, and I have had Macrium refuse to recognise an image that it made. There's not really a lot of room for mistakes. You just select the restore operation and point to the image file.

Thank you very much for the information, but in the end (amazingly) I needed all the available space on the 2TB SSD - there's no room for another partition! I may buy another 1TB SSD at some stage in the not too distant future and use that for this purpose.

 

[Megahertz07]

Unless you have a special use for the computer, you don't need a big SSD.
SSD are very fast but still expensive. On the other side, HDD are cheap but slow.
I have a fast (2052 MB/s) and small (128G) M.2 SSD for Win 7 and programs and a WD Gold HDD for data. The two work together very well. I've moved \Users to D: so all data files are on the HDD.

 

[martinlest]

Unless you have a special use for the computer, you don't need a big SSD.

Yes, this is for specific use (X-Plane Ortho4XP terrain data, to be precise!) On an external HDD there is so much data being read, it causes micro-stutters. I don't have an internal HDD - in this case, the cost of the 2TB Evo860 was well worth the large gain in performance.

Thanks.

 

[Vineet Garg]

Sir,
I needed all the available space on the 2TB SSD - there's no room for another partition!
Referring the thread :
SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation - Windows 7 Help Forums
1.If you go through, the thread says that initially make a 100gb partition for installation. Once the installation is done, you can choose whether to have a single partition all over the disk or have partitions on it. It says that directly installing OS on such big disks was found problematic.
2.To further explain : Actually, you can just leave it to windows installer to make partitions for the installation. In win 7 case, when we choose to install it over an unpartitioned & unallocated drive, it makes two partitions i.e. 100 mb system reserved partition (active) & the rest for main installation.
3.If you follow the thread, you have the choice to select the size of both the partitions. It says to make system reserved partition 200mb If you have a plan to do multiboot on the drive. I think the 200mb size instead of 100mb doesn't cost much !
4. Besides, the thread also gives you a choice/way to not have System reserved active partition at all !
5. I will be back soon ! ...

 

[martinlest]

Hi. Thanks for posting.

But we are at crossed purposes. I know I can make a 100GB partition, but I needed the whole 2TBs for the data (the reason I bought the drive in the first place). I originally thought that I would have enough space to partition the drive and use 100GB or so as a 'backup' Windows 7 boot installation, but having transferred the necessary data files, I hardly have any space left at all on it.

As I say, I have space in the PC for one more SSD and if I see another 2TB Evo860 at a good price, I may get another one. But for now the only option is to use that E partition, but I am very wary now of doing anything 'risky' and am wondering if the advantage of having a backup boot drive is really worth it!

 

[Vineet Garg]

Sorry, some misunderstanding !

Hi,
Sir,

((There was some communication gap & misunderstanding between us ! I thought you wanted to install windows 7 a fresh on the new 2 TB SSD and asking how to initialize & go about it on a disk as big as 2 TB. Further it confused me to understand that you want to dedicate it for the installation & no other partitions i.e. Totally Opposite! Even i was surprised a little about this derailment !))

Let's get back to the task. I understand that you wanted to use the new 2TB ssd for 'clone + data' but now you find that the data is too much that you can't even spare a 100 Gb on it ! Actually, in present situation 78 GB is sufficient/good enough and we have that space on E: !

It would have been better to go with system image but you say you are having problems with it. So, we would go for cloning both the partitions 'system reserved' & The 'C: windows'. And avoid even the boot repair part. You would be able to find its success in less than half an hour ! That's too without touching/harming the present working status.

So, If we want to go easiest & safest, back up/remove any data from E:. You need not touch X:. Make two partitions out of E:. with NTFS format. The first partition 6gb i.e. for cloning System reserved / Recovery. The next partition to clone C: windows. During the cloning drag the partitions from source to destination one by one the two. Then shut down the PC. Detach disk 1 and restart the PC. Now you should have an entry of windows 7 i.e. the cloned one. Boot into it
& just make sure that its working fine and you are done !

Once done you can boot into anyone as required and desired without separating any disks but from one time boot menu OR You can make sure to boot always into one by changing the boot device order.

Anything else ?

Thanks & Regards. ...

 

[martinlest]

OK, that's clear. Many thanks for the replies. It might be a week or so before I can get round to carrying this out, but it should be fairly straight forward.

 

[Vineet Garg]

Hi.
martinlest : Sir, what's the status ?

Thanks & Regards. ...