Need help moving active partition

[gundamx]

As shown in the screenshot, I have an active partition on Disk 3 (MBR) that I'd like to move to Disk 0 (GPT), but have not been able to do so. None of the partition managers I've found have been able to do anything other mark the partition on Disk 3 as inactive.

I'm trying to do this so I can format Disk 3 and use it as storage. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kegobeer]

You need a drive imaging program do move partitions between drives. You can't use a partition manager to do it. Are you looking to buy a product to do it, or do you need a freeware solution?

 

[gundamx]

Maybe a little more background will help.

I got tired of having such a small C: drive, so I did a clean install (raw and everything) to Disk 0. Windows installed fine, but now I'm stuck with having to select which HDD to boot from at startup. I'd rather it just went straight into the Windows 7 installation on disk 0, but that requires moving the active partition, which seems to currently be impossible.

Would I better off wiping Disk 0, disconnecting both the Sata and power connections to Disk 3 and then doing a clean windows installs on Disk 0?

 

[kegobeer]

When you boot, are you offered two Windows 7 installations to start?

 

[gundamx]

Yep.

It shows both versions of Windows 7 that I have installed.

 

[gregrocker]

Both OS's appear to be booted by the EFI System partition. Unplug Disk3 to see if the OS on Disk0 boots correctly. If so you can delete and format Disk3 after marking it Inactive or wipe with Diskpart Clean Command.

Or did you want to do something else with the Disk3 OS? You will need two licenses.

 

[kegobeer]

You can just edit that so you don't have to choose. Check out this guide.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2676-bcdedit-how-use.html

 

[gundamx]

I deleted the bootmgr entry to the Windows installation on Disk 3 and the machine booted fine. Does that mean that I'm ok to mark the Disk 3 partition as inactive and format it if I like?

 

[kegobeer]

Yes. I'd start by making it inactive and rebooting, just to make sure nothing goes horribly awry. Then you can delete it when you are positive nothing bad has happened.

 

[gundamx]

Alright. Thanks much to you, keg, and Greg for the assistance. Finally done with this headache of a process.

 

[Saltgrass]

UEFI does not use an active partition. If you deleted Disk 3, it looks like you might have deleted your system restore partition, but I have very little experience with OEM installs.