How to migrate multiboot images

There can only be one Disk Signature per drive. I'd give it a try with just keeping the signature of the one you know has the most "activated" software on it. If you're keeping your original drives safe, you're free to try it on the new drive. You'll know soon enough if you have a problem.

You will also need to update the BCD file (or do a boot repair) so it points to the correct partition. You may also need to edit the MountedDevices drive letter assignments.

Right now, using the separate drives, is each booted Vista partition assigned C: or does one have C: and one have another letter?

I assume you're using Microsoft's boot manager. If you're using something else, let us know.

Yes, I'm using Microsoft's Boot Manager and I also use easybcd. I'm not really having Bootmgr issues. The problem is with windows licensing. I tried copying a partition without the disk signature on a windows 7 partition and I got a "not genuine" error and Windows Explorer wouldn't load. Is it possible that you just can't move two different windows multiboot partitions on two different drives to a new single multiboot drive because of the single disk signature problem? Should I just look at a different strategy?

Oh almost forgot, all of the Windows partitions uses Windows on drive C. The all share a separate data partition which is labeled "D".

If the new single drive is in the same computer as the original two drives, there shouldn't be any problems if you need to reactivate Windows or rerun the "Genuine" program.

Regarding the Windows 7 problem I was referring to that basically locked me out of Windows Explorer, it was loaded with all the apps but wasn't actually activated yet. It still had a few days left.

In that case, it might have been cross-linking to files on the other partition. Did you check the drive letter assignments? You said they were both C:, so C: should have been assigned to the booted partition. Was it?

Unfortunately since I couldnt even get into explorer it didnt occur to me to check. I could have checked if I had know that was significant. I'm still not seeing how this could make windows think it wasn't genuine? I do know though that when I did the same restore again and included the MBR and disk signature the second time it loaded without problems.

NCguy - I've heard of people having problems with the "genuine" thing when they used "cloned" versions of a HD. It does not appear to be the case if you restore a "backup" to another HD. I have done this myself in Windows 7 many times w/o issue.

It was suggested on another forum the problem may be the "signature" of the disk is handled differently in clones and backups.

Hello NCguy,

Thank you for using [[http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/ | Acronis Products]]

You should select the "Restore Disk Signature" option if you recover the archive of the entire hard drive to a new hard drive. Acronis program changes the signature by default during the recovery, this can lead to a discrepancy in functionality of several programs. For example, Acronis True Image creates scheduled tasks in accordance with the hard disk signature. If you restore the same disk signature, you don't need to re-create or edit the tasks created previously.

"You should select the "Restore Disk Signature" option if you recover the archive of the entire hard drive to a new hard drive." - Dmitry Nikolaev

Yes, Dmitry, but the problem here is that I am dual booting the source system with two different copies of Windows that is actually on two different drives. I am attempting to copy both of these windows partitions to a new dual boot on a single drive this time. You can't copy two disk signatures from two drives to a single drive?

I was most concerned about Windows genuine advantage but scheduled tasks may also be a concern. Does this mess up all the scheduled tasks or just the Acronis scheduled tasks? Windows itself uses massive numbers of scheduled tasks to manage the OS.

" I've heard of people having problems with the "genuine" thing when they used "cloned" versions of a HD. It does not appear to be the case if you restore a "backup" to another HD. I have done this myself in Windows 7 many times w/o issue." - Bchat

Bchat, on the backups that you restored, I'm assuming they contained the whole OS and not just data files. Did you choose to restore the MBR in these cases?

Ok, I have some progress to report.

I tried rebuilding my new single multiboot drive from a multiboot with separate drives. This time it had the following partitions on the source and target computer:

Drive 0: WinXP (System) and W7 RC1 (two partitions)
Drive 1: W7 RTM (one partition)

New Drive 0: W7 RC1 (system), W7 RTM

I copied both OS partitions onto the single new drive. For the Win7 RC1 I copied the MBR, Track 0, and the disk signature. For the W7 RTM I didnt copy anything but the partition.

After I booted I ran the W7 install disk to do a repair install to restore the boot files since neither of the copied partitions originally contained the system partition. I then used easybcd to add the multiboot entry in the bcd for the second OS which was the W7 RTM in this case.

Interestingly, it all seemed to work this time. The only odd thing I've noticed so far is that when I boot into the W7 RTM I get the vista style windows loading screen instead of the new Windows 7 style windows loading screen. When I boot into the W7 RC1 I get the new Windows 7 style windows loading screen like you would expect. I can only figure that somewhere along the line I somehow picked up the Vista bootloader and windows 7 didnt replace it in this process. If anyone else has an idea on this please chime in.

I should also mention that I've been doing all of this on a test platform. I wanted to see just what I would run into before I try something very similar on my production machine with activated operating systems.

"Bchat, on the backups that you restored, I'm assuming they contained the whole OS and not just data files. Did you choose to restore the MBR in these cases?"

I backed up the whole drive and restored the whole drive, including MBR. I have never had an issue doing this. I always make manual backups and restores.

Bchat, do you also restore disk signatures? Do you do it in a separate restore pass?

Seems to me that would be the safest way to go. Unfortunately it also seems that you would be left with (2) drives with identical disk signatures. If you wanted to use the original drive for say an external backup drive you would then have to change the disk signature on the original or you would have a duplicate disk signature. Which leads me to wonder, in Windows 7, just how you would change it? Would you use bootsect.exe in the recovery environment? Does this zero out the disk signature or create a new one? I've never used it.

NCguy, I know nothing about signatures :-(.

I do a manual back up and then a manual restore when needed, very simple.
When I first starting using ATI it was suggested not to do the cloning thing - do the backup thing.
I have been doing manual backups/restores since ATI 8 - never been let down.

JMO - I think sometimes things are made to be a lot more complicated than they really need to be.

"When I first starting using ATI it was suggested not to do the cloning thing - do the backup thing." - Bchat

I am still pretty new to ATI but it is my impression that even when you backup partitions, as opposed to cloning the whole drive, you still have to decide as to whether to restore MBR and the disk signature.

I just went through the Restore Wizard, you are correct, there is a "checkable option" to restore disk signature on the Select Destination Disk page.
I never noticed, or checked, that option. Obviously I dont restore the disk's signature.

I backup and restore the whole drive. I also restore the MBR.

I have 4 separate HDs,
Win7 Professional on C
Win7 Ultimate on D
Win7 Home Premium on E
files and backups on F.

I try to keep it a simple as possible, or as simple as 4 HDs can be.

What I'm doing is very similar with the multiple OS's and separate data partition except I am going to be putting all those partitions on a single 1 TB drive this time. With mutiboot, while I'm doing it now, I'm not crazy about the idea of having part of the boot for any particular OS on a separate drive.