Want to move my Windows 7 boot partition to a new SSD
Hello, this is my first post. I've just installed a new 100GB SSD on my Dell Studio XPS 7100 running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.
The SSD is currently showing up as drive F: as you can see in the attached image. The RECOVERY partition is the Dell Recovery Partition and currently shows up as the system partition. I want to essentially clone my OS C: partition to the new SSD and then remove or hide the existing C: partition on my original hard drive. I plan to keep the hard drive online, however, as it contains a large data partition.
I have a couple questions:
1) What is the best way to go about this? I've already tried using Norton Ghost 15's Copy Drive feature (selecting the copy MBR and make bootable options), but I wasn't ever able to boot off of the SSD. I've purchased Disk Director 11 and an wondering if the Move Partition feature will work for this. Any gotchas with this approach?
2) Because the RECOVERY partition is the current system partition, I've got the sense that it'll be somewhat difficult to make the new OS partition on the SSD the system partition in addition to the boot partition, at least from what I've read on the net. Is there a good way to do this? Or is it something I have to live with, assuming that having system and boot partitions on different physical drives will work.
Thanks!
Moving the booting files from the RECOVERY partition to the Windows partition on the SSD shouldn't be a problem. The other option is to leave the booting files where they are and just set the BCD to boot to the partition on the SSD. Personally, I'd move the files and have an independent drive.
Do you have a Windows 7 DVD or System Repair Disc (you can create this from Windows 7)?
Dell doesn't ship the Windows 7 disc by default but I requested one today. I do have a System Repair disc.
If I were going to move the booting file from RECOVERY to the SSD, is that the manual process of copying the files and using bcdedit? Or is there a tool for this?
And do you think DD11's move partition will handle my OS move?
Thanks!
The process of copying the booting files is generally pretty easy and can be done in Windows. I think I have a link saved somewhere with the directions.
I think I would copy the partition or image and restore instead of using Move.
Thanks for your help, I appreciate it.
The "move" option was attractive because it seemed to work around the issue of making the new partition on the SSD the C: volume since the original C: volume will still be sitting there on the hard drive. If I go the image restore route, how do I manage the handover of the C: label?
Michael,
The 'c' partition only exists as 'c' in registry, if you recover or copy your existing 'c' from the old drive to the new drive, it will over write your 'c' that is currently on the SSD. You might though, still need to use the Windows 7 repair CD to update the BCD.
Do you have TI 2011? Another option would be to image the Windows partition and restore it to the SSD. TI will take care of fixing the BCD pointers and the drive letter. Just be aware that whichever method you choose, there may still be things that still need to be manually configured.
The main reason that I suggest copying (or imaging and restoring) the partition is because it would leave the existing drive in a functioning state while the SSD is being setup.
To copy the partition:
- Delete the existing F: partition on the SSD. This is because DD will only copy to unallocated space.
- Copy the C: partition to the SSD.
To copy the booting files:
- Using DD (or Disk Management), assign a drive letter to the RECOVERY partition. Also assign a drive letter for the SSD's partition. In this example, I will use X: for the RECOVERY partition and F: for the SSD partition. Use the drive letters that are correct for your system.
- Start an Administrator Command Prompt and run the following commands to copy the booting files (make sure to use the correct drive letters):
reg unload HKLM\BCD00000000
robocopy X:\ F:\ bootmgr
robocopy X:\Boot F:\Boot /s - Still at the Command Prompt, run the following commands to adjust the copied BCD file to point to the new partition (make sure to use the correct drive letters):
bcdedit /store f:\boot\bcd /set {current} device partition=F:
bcdedit /store f:\boot\bcd /set {current} osdevice partition=F:
bcdedit /store f:\boot\bcd /set {bootmgr} device partition=F:
bcdedit /store f:\boot\bcd /set {memdiag} device partition=F: - Use DD to set the F: partition Active (if it's not already).
Make sure the drive letter assignment is correct for the SSD's Windows partition:
- Exit DD and restart it.
- Click the link in the top-right corner of the DD window (to select the Disk layout).
- In the Detected OSs list on the left, there should be two identical Windows 7's listed. The currently selected one (the top one) should be the booted Windows. Select the second one. You may need to resize the window and adjust the columns to display the information. Details for each OS will be displayed, included drive letter assignments. Make sure the SSD's Window 7 OS is selected and click OK.
- The SSD's Windows partition (what was F: in the booted Windows) needs to be set to C:. If C: is showing as assigned to another partition you will need to remove the assignment. Assign C: to the SSD's Windows partition. These operations are done using the Change letter option of DD (accessible by selecting the partition). Remember, you want to change the letter to be correct on the SSD's Windows -- don't make any drive letter changes to the booted Windows.
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Assuming the SSD has an MBR already setup, the drive should now be bootable into Windows.
Thanks for the detailed instructions, MudCrab!
Presumably I get the MBR on the SSD by selecting the appropriate option in TI (or Norton Ghost), correct?
One question about this step:
If C: is showing as assigned to another partition you will need to remove the assignment. Assign C: to the SSD's Windows partition. These operations are done using the Change letter option of DD (accessible by selecting the partition). Remember, you want to change the letter to be correct on the SSD's Windows -- don't make any drive letter changes to the booted Windows.
The first and last sentences seem to conflict with one another. C: is assigned to the booted windows... so I need to remove it, but you say not to make any changes to the booted Windows. ???
The MBR could be restored from a TI image or you could use the Windows 7 DVD/System Repair Disc to fix it. Any other tool that repairs the MBR will probably work too, though it should be one that writes a Windows 7 compatible MBR.
If you want to "clean" the SSD before you start, you can follow the instructions here (just don't create the partition -- stop after you run the "clean" command). The "clean" procedure will write a standard Windows 7 MBR to the drive and remove any existing partitions.
In regards to changing the Windows drive letter... This can be confusing, but it looks worse than it is. DD 11 lets you select which OS to work with. The selected OS is the one that the drive letter changes affect. For example, if you have WinA and WinB installed and you select WinB with DD and change a drive letter, DD will change the assignment in the registry of WinB EVEN if WinB isn't booted.
Using this, you can be booted in the original Windows (on your hard drive) and change the drive letter assignments on the SSD by selecting the Windows OS that resides there.
Thanks again, can't wait to give it a try!
Thanks for your help, MudCrab, just completed the procedure, and I'm booting from the SSD.
I encountered a few kinks but nothing insurmountable:
The "reg unload" command failed... I didn't have the BCD00000000 entry in my registry.
In the bcdedit commands I had to substitute "{default}" for the "{current}" entries.
Had to update the BIOS to change the hard drive boot order.
I really appreciate it your tips. I've been working on this for over a week. You and DD made all the difference!