Changing Windows 7 System Partition

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Insinuator
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Changing Windows 7 System Partition

Post by Insinuator »

Let me begin by stating that I know this probably isn't the best place for this technical of a question. However, I know some people use Windows 7 here and in general, people are friendly.

I had one 300GB hard drive. I installed Win7 Pro. I bought a 2TB hard drive. I wanted to "ghost" my hard drive contents over. I did. Kinda. After much finagling with MBRs & Active Partition shenanigans, I got it running with all my old data on the new drive.

Here is the problem. The old, 300GB drive still has all my old data and Win7 on it. It has a 100MB partition on it listed as the "System, Active, Primary Partition". My new drive's partition (C:), is listed as the "Boot, Page File, Active, Crsh Dump, Primary Partition". I want to remove the old, 300GB drive and give it to a friend.

So here is the question: how do I get the System Partition to my other drive?
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Dugi
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Re: Changing Windows 7 System Partition

Post by Dugi »

I am not sure if this is the best thing, but it was a common method maybe 10 years ago. There is a program named Norton Ghost. You can boot it from an USB drive and use it to copy all the contents of your partitions to the partitions of the new hard drive (it also lets you manage partitions), without changing anything with the data. All you might need to do later is to change the boot order in bios.
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GunChleoc
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Re: Changing Windows 7 System Partition

Post by GunChleoc »

You could also use Acronis.

Or reinstall the system manually, then copy your data over.

I also recommend partitioning the new drive. 200-300 GB should be fine for Windows & loads and tons of software. You could copy your data into a separate partition then, in case the system ever needs a reinstall.
fabi
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Re: Changing Windows 7 System Partition

Post by fabi »

Use Linux :-)

dd if=/dev/sda (your source drive) of=/dev/sdb (the target) bs=8192 (copy some bytes at once)

This will make a 1 to 1 copy, no matter what there is on the drives.
Triple check that you get the devices right (sda and sdb are only examples).
The "lsblk" command will be helpful with this.

If you do not have a Linux installed, you can use a bootable live system (eg Knoppix).

Later you can add more partitions or resize the existing ones.

edit: You can also use dd to *really* delete everything on the 300GB drive before you hand it over:

dd if=/dev/zero ( this virtual device delivers an unlimited amount of zeros) of=/dev/sda (your old 300GB disc) bs=8192
Insinuator
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Re: Changing Windows 7 System Partition

Post by Insinuator »

Perhaps I did not explain myself well enough. I am not interested in copying the contents of one drive to another. I know how Acronis and Norton Ghost work and have used them in the past. The ONLY problem I have is changing the System Partition. And while I admire the technical power of Linux, I will never use it until all the games I want can run on it.

I do know how to fix this now, though, and when I have another moment, I will post the solution for others.
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Crendgrim
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Re: Changing Windows 7 System Partition

Post by Crendgrim »

What fabi meant was "use linux to copy it over". Not "use it forever". ;)
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Insinuator
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Re: Changing Windows 7 System Partition

Post by Insinuator »

Thank you for the clarification, Crendgrim. Even so, I highly doubt it would be able to transfer the System Partition over. I do appreciate the thought, though.

Here is the solution I found, for the miniscule possiblity that some other Wesnothian may have a similar problem in future days (for clarity, my 300GB original drive will be labeled "disk0" and my new 2TB drive will be "disk1"):

1. Create a new, 100MB EFI partition on Disk1.
2. Shut down the computer.
3. Physically remove Disk0.
4. Reboot computer to a Windows 7 disk.
5. Choose the "Repair" button.
6. Do an automatic repair.
7. Reboot to Disk1.

WARNINGS: I have NOT tried this yet. In order to create a new partition, you must have partionable space on Disk1. If you do not, you will have to wipe your drive and somehow get Windows 7 back on there, in which case there isn't much point to these steps. Just do a reinstall on Disk1 (and it might work). This is why I haven't tried yet. I shortsightedly made my entire drive a single partition because I was lazy. But this has worked for others.
fabi
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Re: Changing Windows 7 System Partition

Post by fabi »

Insinuator wrote:Thank you for the clarification, Crendgrim. Even so, I highly doubt it would be able to transfer the System Partition over.
You are very wrong.
The procedure performs a complete one to one copy of the device. (Assuming that your target disk has more capacity than the source one.)
Resulting in a ready to start Windows without any further work.
The "System Partition" is no exception, how should it resist a low level copy?

It is even the fastest way to copy all the data because both actions, reading and writing are performed linearly,
avoiding every seek. edit: Assuming the source disk is full to a certain amount since you also copy empty sections.

I have done that a lot of times, with all kind of operating systems,
including Windows7.
I do appreciate the thought, though.
That is nice.
But there is a difference between a thought and an established procedure.
Here is the solution I found, for the miniscule possiblity that some other Wesnothian may have a similar problem in future days (for clarity, my 300GB original drive will be labeled "disk0" and my new 2TB drive will be "disk1"):

1. Create a new, 100MB EFI partition on Disk1.
2. Shut down the computer.
3. Physically remove Disk0.
4. Reboot computer to a Windows 7 disk.
5. Choose the "Repair" button.
6. Do an automatic repair.
7. Reboot to Disk1.

WARNINGS: I have NOT tried this yet. In order to create a new partition, you must have partionable space on Disk1. If you do not, you will have to wipe your drive and somehow get Windows 7 back on there, in which case there isn't much point to these steps. Just do a reinstall on Disk1 (and it might work). This is why I haven't tried yet. I shortsightedly made my entire drive a single partition because I was lazy. But this has worked for others.
I like to suggest to use the dd tool solution to everyone with a similar goal to archive.
Insinuator
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Re: Changing Windows 7 System Partition

Post by Insinuator »

fabi wrote:Resulting in a ready to start Windows without any further work.
The "System Partition" is no exception, how should it resist a low level copy?
It's not just about copying. How will the MBR be modified to the parameters of the new drive? In my first linear copy , that was the biggest issue. It couldn't adapt itself to the new drive, so I had to manually fix it via the Recovery Console.

Additionally, wouldn't "dd" overwrite any existing partitions on the target disc? Then you run into the same data preservation issue that comes with a reinstall via a Windows 7 disc. It doesn't seem to add any benefit and adds the additional step of obtaining or creating a live bootable Linux kernel.
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