Question Clean install of Windows on a new SSD (C, M.2 #1)) ; Can now I delete the old "C" which now is on "H" (my SSD #2)? (but keep an image + a copy)

[ArnsteinB]

I have just made a clean install of Windows on a new SSD (C, M.2 #1, disk 3 on the screen dump below));

My two HD's have been with me for at least 5 years. I used to have Windows on at least one of them.

I believe that after all these years, there are now several partitions are "leftovers" that now can be converted/merged?
Which one can I delete/convert, and in which order?

My backups:
I have a fresh image of C (today)
I have an image of the old C. I also have a complete copy of the old "C, as it was, with no compression.
(There is a lot of stuff on the old "C" I surely will need in the coming weeks/months...as usual).

 

[USAFRet]

Please show us your Disk Management window.
It gives a little clearer picture than this does.

 

[dbashlak]

I would suggest you try booting your PC with drive 4 disconnected (physically). It seems like your current system on disk 3 uses bootloader on disk 4. If the system won’t boot without disk 4 connected you may need to recreate efi-partition on disk 3, and only then start making any changes

 

[USAFRet]

I would suggest you try booting your PC with drive 4 disconnected (physically). It seems like your current system on disk 3 uses bootloader on disk 4. If the system won’t boot without disk 4 connected you may need to recreate efi-partition on disk 3, and only then start making any changes

The real test is to have ALL other drives physically disconnected.
That way, there's no confusion about which is which.

 

[ArnsteinB]

Please show us your Disk Management window.
It gives a little clearer picture than this does.

Here it is...in Norwegian.

 

[USAFRet]

Always test before deleting anything.

As above...
Power OFF
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C (Disk 3)
Power on and see if it boots up.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Disk 3 is not bootable.
UEFI bootloader is located on Disk 4. Without Disk 4 it will not boot.

 

[dbashlak]

The real test is to have ALL other drives physically disconnected.
That way, there's no confusion about which is which.

1. With great respect, but it’s not true for this particular case. We can clearly see from the screenshots the current OS is on GPT drive.
2. The only partition it can use to boot is the EFI FAT32 partition on drive 4
3. Removing other drives may affect booting, but not because there’s anything important for the OS, but because of drive numbers change. In any case author seems to be going to keep the drives connected
4. So, the only issue I can see, that may interfere with the author’s wish to adjust Disk 4 here is that the EFI is located on that drive

So, my proposal for this case is to create EFI partition on Disk 3, make sure it boots ok with disk 4 disconnected then go on with adjusting drives/partitions to the desired state. Though “create EFI partition” might be tricky if you’ve never done that before

 

[ArnsteinB]

1. With great respect, but it’s not true for this particular case. We can clearly see from the screenshots the current OS is on GPT drive.
2. The only partition it can use to boot is the EFI FAT32 partition on drive 4
3. Removing other drives may affect booting, but not because there’s anything important for the OS, but because of drive numbers change. In any case author seems to be going to keep the drives connected
4. So, the only issue I can see, that may interfere with the author’s wish to adjust Disk 4 here is that the EFI is located on that drive

I have a tendency to always look for the easiest solution
I see that EaseUS explaining how easy it is to CLONE the partition that contain for example the EFI System partition to another disk, with their Partion Master.
So I will try that first... OK...?
Maybe I need to "tell BIOS" this afterward...?
I should then be able to delete (?)/convert (?) those three small partitions on disk 4..?

UPDATE/EDIT: Stupid idea from me... I have to install Windows +++ again... :-(

 

[USAFRet]

Yes, the boot partition resides on Disk 4 in this case.
Disconnect that, and no boot for you.

The "ALL drives" comment was not just for this thread and system, but for anyone else who reads this in the future.
The best way to test is to have only the one drive connected. Any doubt will be eradicated.

And, having only the one drive connected during the install would have prevented this issue in the first place.

 

[dbashlak]

I have a tendency to always look for the easiest solution
I see that EaseUS explaining how easy it is to CLONE the partition that contain for example the EFI System partition to another disk, with their Partion Master.
So I will try that first... OK...?
Maybe I need to "tell BIOS" this afterward...?
I should then be able to delete (?)/convert (?) those three small partitions on disk 4..?

Sorry I know how to accomplish this manually, but not sure what the result with the Easeus would be. Probably it will work, maybe not 🤔 If you try, make sure to test if it boots with drive 4 disconnected after finished

 

[ArnsteinB]

Sorry I know how to accomplish this manually, but not sure what the result with the Easeus would be. Probably it will work, maybe not 🤔 If you try, make sure to test if it boots with drive 4 disconnected after finished

Thank you very much I will.
If it won't boot (with disk 4 disconnected), I assume I can use tools on Win 10 USB to rebuild the EFI on disk 3.

But, this looks promising:

I need to work a little more today, so maybe I'll try Saturday or Sunday.
I will report back to you/others/and future readers.

 

[SkyNetRising]

EFI system partition doesn't need to be 15.75GB. That's huge waste of space.
350MB to 500MB is plenty (100MB may be too little though).

 

[ArnsteinB]

EFI system partition doesn't need to be 15.75GB. That's huge waste of space.
350MB to 500MB is plenty (100MB may be too little though).

I know I just didn't bother to set the size on this "preliminary view"

 

[ArnsteinB]

It worked flawlessly.
I cloned the EFI-partition from the old M.2 to a new, small (500 MB) partition on the new M.2, with EaseUS Partitition Maaster Pro. Deleted the old EFI after the reboot.