Question Just need to point Bootloader to a different partition!

[doublestop1]

Hello..
I have a problem I can't seem to crack! I have more than 2 drives in my PC 3 of them are SSD and a couple of HDD's.
I am running out of space on my 550 GB ssd C drive, so I bought a new Samsung Evo 860 1 TB SSD.

First some specs:
MB = ASUS SabertoothFX990 R2.0
Windows 10 - build 18362
16 GB Ram
BIOS - UEFI


But I want to explain my old configuration because it was a bit screwed up (but somehow worked!).

1) I have my VERY first SSD - a 250 GB Crucial SSD that had the 100 MB System Partition... and it pointed to a partition On another disk where my Windows C: lives.
When I Installed current Windows C drive a few years ago.. I apparently neglected to move the System Partition with it..

2 So my goal is to fix this rat's nest.. So that the System partition and my Windows 10 C Partition live on the same disk as my Windows OS.

3) So this was my stratagy: I cloned the first SSD onto my new 1TB SSD .. so that the System partition is preserved and I Disconnected my old Crucial SSD (for the time being).
Success! My New drive Boots up.. and it's still able to point to my C drive and boot up windows... 1/2 way there!

4) My next step was to Remove the other Partition (not system boot partition) cloned on to my new drive.. Not a problem: (It's all on my disconnected SSD. I can retrieve that later. )

5) Following that.. I cloned my Current Windows C partition to the un-allocated space on my New SSD and extended it ... so Now I have (roughly) 930 total GB .. half of which is filled with my windows C: contents. ( I AM wondering.. 1 TB? where is the other 70 GB's? whatever! )

All well and good... I am sorry it took so long to get to my question: Here it is.

The Bootloader works.. It starts up Windows on my (nearly full) Windows C drive) . HOW do I change the system bootloader it so that it starts up my Cloned Windows partition on the Same New SSD?

I am going to attempt to paste my Disk Management image here for illustration (google drive image - let me know if you can't see it):

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TUdkqXgSyeHNRCizdQ75NZHI4Wl7qb8d

1. Disk 0 - Ignore that.. It's a big HDD split into 3 parts ... Nothing to do with this issue..
2. Disk 1 - A) - My New SSD 1 reserved partition.. (hesistate to remove it), B) - My EFI System partition (which works!) , C) 4th partition - The cloned contents of my C (windows) drive.. .extended to use the rest of the free storage
3. Disk 2 - My (current) C drive ... Almost full (34 GB free) sucessfully boots from my System partition.

You can ignore the other 2 drives. .. just data.

 

[USAFRet]

1. You absolutely need to trim down the consumed space on your C drive.
9% free is not enough free space for an SSD.

2. To create a boot partition on your Disk 2:
diskpart
list disk
select disk 1
list partition
select partition 3
shrink desired=500
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs quick
active
assign letter=H
exit
bcdboot c:\windows /s H:

3. Stop all the cloning until you have a good handle on what you are actually doing, and what needs to be included.,

 

[TerryLaze]

Get the free version of easyBCD that's the easiest way to edit the boot menu and add partitions to it.

1. You absolutely need to trim down the consumed space on your C drive.
9% free is not enough free space for an SSD.

That's why he cloned that to the new disk 1 which already is properly partitioned.

 

[USAFRet]

That's why he cloned that to the new disk 1 which already is properly partitioned.

And still booting from Disk 2.
This is a failed clone operation.

Assuming Disk 1 does have all the required stuff, the system is still booting from Disk 2.
The most often missed step in the clone process, power OFF, disconnect the old drive (all other drives) and allow the system to boot up from the new drive by itself.

 

[doublestop1]

Yes! I am just trying to figure out how to point the boot loader to the new partition!

 

[USAFRet]

Yes! I am just trying to figure out how to point the boot loader to the new partition!

Power off.
Disconnect ALL drives except the new theoretical C drive.
(yes, ALL of them)
Power up
What happens?

 

[doublestop1]

Power off.
Disconnect ALL drives except the new theoretical C drive.
(yes, ALL of them)
Power up
What happens?

Ok.. When I remove ALL drives except for the new one... and then powerup.. (all your steps above) This is what I get:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1GYR9q7-MGMU6-4EjmxtfQSsqP08SrqWv

Which suggests to me that The System Partition is obviously pointing to the wrong drive/C (Windows) partition. I try to see what I can do in UEFI settings in BIOS .. but I don't see a way to affect the drive/partition that the bootloader is pointing to.

Now, just looking at the Disk manager... I DO notice the major difference between the C Partition (the old one) and the one I cloned to my new drive (currently set as "E:"... is that the C Partition says "Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition).

The New partition (the one I would like to point the boot loader to) simply says "Healthy (Primary Partition)"

Is it REALLY that complicated ? What is it that prevents the system boot loader to simply be instructed "Hey! Windows is now over here!!! Go to THIS partition".

 

[USAFRet]

That little partition needs to exist, to boot from.
Ideally, it should live on the same physical drive as where "Windows" is.

Given a proper install to start, and then a proper clone operation, this wouldn't have been a problem.
All would have existed on one drive, and then all cloned to a new drive.

The steps I posted above should create the required things on Disk 1.
Enabling you to remove ALL other drives and have the system boot from Disk 1 by itself.

For future reference:

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

Spoiler: Proper clone steps

-----------------------------
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------

 

[doublestop1]

Yeah.. I am Really hoping to avoid a "Clean install" .. it will take hours upon hours to restore all of the software I have installed on this version of Windows...

I have tried the Entire Clone process.. from both Samsung "Data Migration" (which sucks! It doesn't work!) and then moving on to AOMEI Partition Manager. But see the original problem was that .. Yes.. I was able to clone the Drive that windows is on... but the problem was that my System Partition was ON A DIFFERENT DRIVE!!! So that did not work! Therefore it became clear to me that I needed to address that problem first.
SO: I Cloned the Drive that had the System partition on it. That drive had a second partition .. that is now just Data ... But the important part was that I removed the original drive and am now booting off of my new SSD drive. This is good! This proves that the Clone worked.

The problem I have Now is that the System Partition STILL thinks that the Wiindows Drive is my old Windows drive.... and if I remove that drive.. I'm dead in the water.

So I did a "Partition Clone" (using AOMEI Partition Manager) to copy the contents of my current Windows partition to my new SSD SO THAT IT RESIDES ON THE SAME SSD as the System Partition. That "Partition Clone" completed.. I had no errors.. As far as I can tell That Partition is identical to the one I cloned.. (except for the fact that I extended the partition to use up the rest of the unallocated portion of my new, larger drive.) A simple check with Explorer and an examination of Disk Managment shows that My new partition and the original Windows partition are identical.

This is where I am hoping to get some help from someone familiar with this process: I have tried using EasyBCD 2.4 ... because I see a lot of people referring to using it. And I have tried to get it to "Change boot drive". It gives me no errors.. but when I reboot.. it still points to my old Windows partition.. and if I remove that drive.. I get the blue recovery window.

Now one thing about EasyBCD: It does give me warnings when I open it up that my drive is and "EFI" drive. Here is the warning
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C8S4a_OONJ5y9KsFZBOAZIVvCqgsuDD0/view?usp=sharing

it speaks of certain "Limiations Set by Microsoft" So perhaps that is why EasyBCD is unable to switch the Windows drive.

Jeff

 

[USAFRet]

The easier way would have been to follow the steps I posted above, and created a boot partition on your new theoretical C drive.

 

[USAFRet]

But...
"it will take hours upon hours to restore all of the software "
You're already at least 24 hours into this.

Your initial cloning mistakes just made things much harder to "fix".

There comes a point where it is too screwed up to "fix".

 

[doublestop1]

But...
"it will take hours upon hours to restore all of the software "
You're already at least 24 hours into this.

Your initial cloning mistakes just made things much harder to "fix".

There comes a point where it is too screwed up to "fix".

You obviously don't have an answer to my original question. I think there is a solution to this simple question. which is: "How do I point my System partition to my new Windows partition?"

You just don't have an answer. I did not make "Initial Cloning mistakes". My cloning worked fine. So if you don't have an answer... maybe someone else does.

Jeff

 

[USAFRet]

For the drive you cloned to, you just have to create that bootable partition.
As I posted the steps initially.

And again here:
diskpart
list disk
select disk 1
list partition
select partition 3
shrink desired=500
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs quick
active
assign letter=H
exit
bcdboot c:\windows /s H:


Then:
Power OFF
Disconnect ALL other drives. All of them.
Power up and see if it boots.


Good luck.

 

[doublestop1]

For the drive you cloned to, you just have to create that bootable partition.
As I posted the steps initially.

And again here:
diskpart
list disk
select disk 1
list partition
select partition 3
shrink desired=500
create partition primary
format fs=ntfs quick
active
assign letter=H
exit
bcdboot c:\windows /s H:


Then:
Power OFF
Disconnect ALL other drives. All of them.
Power up and see if it boots.


Good luck.

Ok.. everything went swimingly until I used the "active" command:


****
DISKPART> format fs=ntfs quick

100 percent completed

DiskPart successfully formatted the volume.

DISKPART> active

The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk.
The ACTIVE command can only be used on fixed MBR disks.

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
* Disk 0 Online 931 GB 5120 KB *
Disk 1 Online 476 GB 1024 KB *
Disk 2 Online 14 GB 0 B

DISKPART>
***

So.. after all this.. do I STILL need to convert my UEFI disk to MBR? or should ignore that mesage and proceed with the last two?

P.S. It is a GPT disk.

Jeff

 

[USAFRet]

-----------------
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
* Disk 0 Online 931 GB 5120 KB *
Disk 1 Online 476 GB 1024 KB *
Disk 2 Online 14 GB 0 B
-----------------

Here, you have Disk 0 (1TB) selected.
Your above screencap showed Disk 1 as the 1TB, so that's what that list of steps depicted.
The 'active' command is trying to influence the wrong drive.

UEFI must be GPT, not MBR.

 

[doublestop1]

I did what you directed and removed ALL my drives except for the bare minimum.

Disk0 is now my new SSD. It now contains the System Partition .. (which I had cloned from my old 228GB "crucial" SSD. It's Not showing because I disconnected it.)

Here is what disk0 looks like. You can see the 500 MB Primary drive you had me create and format. Part 4 is my Cloned partition from Disk 1 which I have extended to use all the un-allocated space on the disk (except for the part you had me shrink off)

DISKPART> list part

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Recovery 300 MB 1024 KB
Partition 2 System 99 MB 301 MB
Partition 3 Reserved 128 MB 400 MB
Partition 4 Primary 930 GB 533 MB
Partition 5 Primary 501 MB 931 GB

DISKPART>

The only reason I have Disk 1 showing is because my Disk0 System Part ition (part 2) is pointing to my Windows (C) partition on (C drive) which is.. yeah... still disk 1. Currently, if I don't connect Disk1 I can't start windows.

I WANT to get the System partition to boot up the Paritition I cloned from Disk1 to Disk 0 (Part 4).

Disk 2 is just a thumb drive.. Used in case I need recovery.

 

[doublestop1]

The dilemma seems to be that since my disk is UEFI.... I am not allowed to mark the new volume as "Active".

 

[USAFRet]

Other than starting over from scratch, on the desired drive...I am a t a loss as to how to "fix" this.