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restore one system, when several installed

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Hi, I have such question. There are two operating systems installed on my PC now. They are Windows 10 and 8. Only Windows 10 was backuped.I want to install Windows 7 for using old devices, then Windows 8, then install or restore Windows 10 on new drive. Separate partitions for every Windows will be used.  I am interested, if I shall be able to choice, which system to start, after restoration from Acronis backup? I am changing my hard drive because of its S.M.A.R.T  issue. The backup is located on the problem drive.

Regards,

Alexander.

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Alexander, using any Backup & Recovery application with a dual or triple-boot OS system is going to be a challenge if you are using only one boot manager to decide which OS is to be booted!

The recommendation is to always install the oldest OS first, then work forwards, i.e. first install Windows 7, then 8 and finally 10, so that each new OS updates the Windows Boot Manager (BCD) to add its own boot entry.

If you restore a copy of Windows 10 that was created before installing any of the earlier versions of Windows, then it is unlikely that the older versions will boot correctly.

One potential option that may work for you would be to use virtual machines and install your older copies of Windows in separate VM's, then test that you can connect your old devices to the appropriate VM.  This is a lot easier than using and managing a triple-boot environment.

VMware Player 16 can be used by home / non-commercial users for free for this type of purpose.  I personally have VM's using VMware Player that have copies of Windows 7, XP, 2000, ME, 98 & 95 that still work!  The image below was captured before I upgraded to version 16 of the player recently.