SOLVED New SSD on multi-boot system

[Don911]

I need some help on how to go about installing a new SSD in my PC. It currently have two hard drives in it. The first hard drive (disk 0) has a C: partition and a D: partition. The second hard drive (disk 1) has an F: partition. Windows 10 is installed on C: and Windows 7 on D: and F:.

I now want to add an SSD to my system, and want it to be my new C: drive and main system. I have two choices; 1) clone the old C: to the new one and erase the old C: completely, or 2) simply install Windows 10 from scratch on the new C: and keep the old C: but rename it to G:. It does't matter. Whatever you think is easiest.

What I'm worried about is the multi-boot menu that shows when the computer starts. I don't remember how I did it the last time with Windows 7, but I know I had issues with one or more installed systems not showing up on boot, and I had to mess around with software that could edit the boot.ini file etc, and it took a long time to get it right. So this time I want to make sure that when I clone our install the new system on the SSD, that it will show up together with all the other installation when I boot the computer. Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Don

 

[jmccleary50]

Run a search for Easy BCD by Neosmart Technologies, I used it on a W7/W10 dual boot and it works well.

 

[Don911]

Run a search for Easy BCD by Neosmart Technologies, I used it on a W7/W10 dual boot and it works well.

That was the one I used the last time! However, I'm not sure how it will work if I add the new drive and install Windows again. Does it matter, or will EasyBCD always find all installations and make sure that they end up in the boot menu?

 

[Trouble]

Windows 10 is installed on C: and Windows 7 on D: and F:.

How is it that an OS install is spanning two partitions?
There is likely another unlettered partition that might also be involved.....
The system reserved partition containing the Boot Configuration Data which you may have to take into consideration during any cloning process, wherever that might reside (on which drive).
An image of your disk management utility with the columns appropriately sized to reveal their contents might help someone provide a more in-depth answer.
Personally, I'd disconnect the current drives, install the new drive and Windows 10 on it, then install Easy BCD, connect the drive hosting the other operating system and see what Easy BCD could discover (haven't used it in long time) or what you may possibly have to add manually, using EasyBCD to the boot menu entries.

 

[Don911]

How is it that an OS install is spanning two partitions?

Sorry for the confusion, I meant that I have a full Windows 7 installation on both D: and F: for a total of 3 installations on this machine. That's why I got into trouble last time I think, it seems to get more complicated once you go beyond dual boot. And if I make a clean install on the new drive, I'll have 4 installations.

If I do as you suggested and disconnect the other drives before doing a clean install on the new SSD, how likely is it that EasyBCD will be able to create/repair the boot.ini file etc so that I can boot into any of the 4 installations? I don't want to find myself in a situation where, after connecting the other drives again, I won't be able to boot into them. That'a what happened last time, I think.

 

[Trouble]

First of all, worse case scenario, with the other drives disconnected and a note made of which drive is connected to which controller (SATA 0, SATA 1, etc., etc.,) all you would have to do is put the drive(s) back the way they were, removing the new drive and you should be back where you started.
As to how likely EasyBCD would be to find or discover another boot configuration without you manually pointing to it.....
IDK.... as I said it's been a long time since I used it and when I did use it, it was only to get rid of the system reserved partition and move by Boot Configuration Data to my C drive, but....
As I recall they have a pretty good online how to area as well as a support forum.

 

[Don911]

What do you think will happen once I reconnect the old drives, after the new installation to the new drive? I can see a conflict since there will be a boot.ini on two separate installations (drives). Or do you think this will be easily fixed if I load EasyBCD on the new installation?

 

[Don911]

OK, I disconnected the original two hard drives and installed Windows 10 on the new SSD. Then I reconnected the two hard drives and set the boot order to SSD first in the bios. I then booted to the SSD and installed EasyBCD. Only the SSD installation showed up, so I added the other partitions as well. I then made the SSD the primary.

After booting, I no longer see the boot menu when the bios is loading. Instead, Windows starts, and after a while, I can choose between all four partitions. So it worked out well. I just don't know why the boot menu disappeared from when the bios is loading and to the new Windows boot menu. Loading the Windows boot meny first, before I can choose OS, seems to make the booting take longer than before. Does anyone know why this happened? Perhaps Windows 10 doesn't use boot.ini anymore or something like that?

UPDATE:
It was because I had set EasyBCD to "Wait for user selection" that I got the Metro bootloader instead. After changing to "Count down from", the boot menu appeared with the bios loading instead.

Thanks for the help!