Question System and Recovery Partition are on the wrong boot drive ?

[rufussthubbins]

I apologize if this has already been discussed, but I am confused from the posts I've looked at there seem to be more than one answer, and I'm confused- first off- how much of a problem this even is in the first place ?

It seems I have 2 boot sources- 1 on the main NVMe c: drive and 1 on the internal SSD (which contains the efi and system recovery files). first off, I was confused if I was even booting from NVMe at all, because the windows bootloader is on the internal SSD and lists that as first priority in booting up. However, I am not so sure which drive actually ends up booting by default because I did enter bios and select my main NVMe ssd drive in boot override and it booted up all the same.

I've attached a screen shot of my disk mangement to show exactly what is going on. disk 2 is my internal SSD that I thought I only used for backing up. however, I noticed this irregularity and am now wanting to make sure that my C: drive is not only the main source for booting up windows, but also correctly partitioned. Of course, my main issue is performance,m as I want to take advantage of NVMe performance, but as I said, when I choose boot override and select disk 0, everything boots up fine.

I currently do not have an image backup of windows yet, (working on it, ordering an external HDD today) and I am very concerned about losing my data.

Now to the point- is there an easy to move system and recovery partitions to where they belong? (disk 0)? At this juncture im still a bit confused where windows boots from, and yes, I do have another NVMe unallocated (disk 1) that I used to use as a raid0 but no longer feel the need to do that for what I do (audio production mainly) and so I suppose there are cloning options available that could make it easier (for example, cloning both disk 0 and disk 2 to disk 1 target), but as you can probably tell by now, I am no expert and that still wouldn't fix the issue that my partitions are mixed up incorrectly. In fact, I don't really know if any of this is actually a problem but even to my unknowledgeable eyes it looks like a problem that needs fixing. And of course, I am looking for a solution that does not require reformatting. I will do that if I have to, however, once I make an image backup.

any help or even insight as to how this negatively effects my system would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[punkncat]

This happens most often with either re-used drives that weren't reformatted correctly, or by leaving those drives connected as you install Windows.

Back up your information somewhere safe. Use the installer USB from Microsoft to go "advanced options" and delete all those partitions on all three disks and quit the installer before it proceeds. Disconnect the two you don't want Windows on and run the installer onto the drive you left hooked up, presumably your fastest one.

After you get installed and up and running, power down and reconnect the other drives. Use Disk Manager to re-initialize the other two drives and name them as you wish and so forth. Restore your backed up data where you want it and you are good to go.

 

[rufussthubbins]

Thanks for your response. This is technically what I basically assuming I had to do, which is why I just ordered a 1tb external HDD so I could make an image backup of my C: drive (it would be complete devastation if I had to start over and lost all my work within my software) so I guess I was searching for a way to fix this without total reformatting, but this does seem the most straight forward.

I am curious- what type of problems (if any) are typically associated with disk drives set up in this manner? for example, would this perhaps effect utilizing windows recovery environment, or be an underlying cause for any system errors, performance, etc? Regardless, its going to get fixed, but im just curious what type of problems could be associated with this improper setup.

Thanks again🙏

 

[punkncat]

It is very rare for me to consider restoring from a clone or ghost image. I know some situations basically require it, but if you have all the information and keys for the programs being used a clean install is a much better way to go in general. What I mean by backing things up are files, pictures, data and so forth that you want out of these drives, such as downloads/documents/pictures/music (and so forth).

Actually, the system should run just fine as it is so long as all those drives are present for boot. The issue would come if any of those drives were infected, failed, and so forth. It would be best to fix this early on before you have a lot of information in the system.

I have to admit that I am not really sure why Windows does this. I personally don't recall this being a thing years ago, but at the same time I may just not have known and you know "ignorance is bliss". (Lol)

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

it would be complete devastation if I had to start over and lost all my work within my software

you will need to start a backup routine for this data now anyway if it is this important.

drives are constantly failing and/or suffering from data corruption so having data of this type of importance stored in a single location is always a very bad idea.

make sure you determine where exactly this data is being stored.
usually mainly in; 'C:\Users\...' and 'C:\ProgramData\...'
then make backups of all of those locations.

once you have it all secured then you can more easily perform repairs when necessary such as fresh installs, disk restorations, etc.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Back up your information somewhere safe. Use the installer USB from Microsoft to go "advanced options" and delete all those partitions on all three disks and quit the installer before it proceeds. Disconnect the two you don't want Windows on and run the installer onto the drive you left hooked up, presumably your fastest one.

No. Not necessary.

To fix this, you just have to create bootloader on disk 0.
No need for full reinstall for such a minor issue.
Execute from elevated command prompt.
If you get any errors, then stop immediately and show screenshot with command output.

diskpart​

list disk​

select disk 0​

(select 1TB disk with windows OS partition)​

list partition​

select partition x​

(select 931GB partition, x=1 or x=2. Replace x with appropriate number)​

shrink desired=500​

create partition efi size=500​

format fs=fat32 quick​

assign letter=H​

exit​

bcdboot C:\windows /s H: /f UEFI​

Last message should be "Boot files created successfully".
Boot into BIOS and change boot priority to boot from Windows Boot Manager on 1TB drive.

After this you can delete EFI System and Recovery partitions from 250GB drive.

diskpart​

select disk 2​

(select 232GB disk)​

select partition 4​

(select 505MB recovery partition)​

delete partition override​

select partition 1​

(select old bootloader 100MB partition)​

delete partition override​

What is an Elevated Command Prompt?

Computer dictionary definition for what Windows elevated command prompt means including related links, information, and terms.

www.computerhope.com

 

[punkncat]

This is a much more involved process involving many possible snag points and failures related to PEBCAK.

Keep it simple.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I think - instructions are simple enough.
Anyone should be able to understand/follow them.

 

[USAFRet]

I think - instructions are simple enough.
Anyone should be able to understand/follow them.

As we've seen in other threads, even just today...sometimes not.
Depends on the person.

 

[rufussthubbins]

skynetrising- FIrst off thank you VERY much for your response, and in fact it is not at all overwhelming, it makes complete sense- just basically need to shrink the volume and make room for the efi partition, and use those commands to do exactly that so you can successfully move a FAT32 partition and put it in front.

I totally followed you there and will be doing this after i do an actual image backup. I do have most of my work backed up to that very internal ssd drive, which is why theres no room on that drive left. I have my work saved It is not however a complete image and it would be a hassle reinstalling everything, having to explain this to get new registry codes for all my software, etc, all that fun stuff. so hopefully I the process will go as fine and I won't need to utilize the full backup.


cheers and thanks for all the tips

 

[rufussthubbins]

I think - instructions are simple enough.
Anyone should be able to understand/follow them.

Skynet ,Just curious, is there any reason or benefit from me doing all of this from a usb windows bootable media? Or is it perfectly safe to conduct your process straight from my regular C: boot drive?

I found a similiar solution (not as thorough as your solution however) that mentioned to run cmd prompt from a usb boot.

Thanks again!

 

[SkyNetRising]

is there any reason or benefit from me doing all of this from a usb windows bootable media? Or is it perfectly safe to conduct your process straight from my regular C: boot drive?

Yes. You can do all of that from Windows installation media too.
It's always good to have windows installation media ready for emergency situations.

But this time - not really necessary.

 

[zlot2v2]

i have get use to play dual system PC for 20years, when windows 10 cames after its several updates, dual system has start to be not so friend to use.
you set up two win10s on you pc, (one for daily working, one for trouble shotting), but infact they are one, because they share the same boot manager.
accounding window10's rule of installation if your want to intal more windows, sharing one boot manager is a must. in a sense that is not we need. if the boot manager disk corrupt, 2 systems all die.
So there is a way to avoid such stupid rule.
fews years ago, for preventing such boot manager sharing, i real have a way-- just plug only one disk on MOBO to install the first windows, and change another disk to be the only one plug on MOBO to intall secound windows.
After 2 windows installing finished, plug in all disk, and reastr computer, into bios, you will foud two boot manager seperatly belong to 2 deffrent disk. choose one that you want the system boot from. work is done
BUT NOW IT CHANGED
not only from the rule of one boot manager, but also some bios setup to make people get more difficults to play more independent windows on your PC easy.
the way i had metioned above is challenged
after you having got two windows intalled on defferent disk, and you got two defferent boot manager, then choose boot manager A to start your PC, and shut down to start your PC again form boot manager B, you will find trouble comes.
I wonder why MS make such a stupid rule on insist in one boot manager, and even develop to curropt new addon boot manager for maintaining only one boot manager is available can be used.
by now i think you can understand why you have 2 systems but met trouble in back up the right system.
the more stupid is MS is change the rule of back up.
at the begaining of this year you can back up your system disk ( i mean a physcal disk), with win7 mode which can make image files for you to recover, and these files can be save in other onboard disk or move into portabl disk. last week i do such back up but i find it is different from before. after i backed, when i try to recover. it seems a new way of recovery, just like a system reset more than an image recover.
now if i back up in win7 mode, on onboard disk, there is only one folder, and on portable disk there are one folder and two hidden files.
anyway thst is my experience to share you, hope i can help you

 

[rufussthubbins]

Yes. You can do all of that from Windows installation media too.
It's always good to have windows installation media ready for emergency situations.

But this time - not really necessary.

so, great news is that everything worked out! did steps exactly as you laid out, then went ahead and tried booting from the new bootloader and it worked. :😛heww::

however, I do have 1 last question before I go ahead and delete the old bootloader.


as you can see in the image below, The new partition is simply an efi partition of 500mb, also at the end instead of the beginning (not sure if im supposed to move it to the front). but there is no recovery partition on disk 0 Is this a problem? or do I need to created a recovery partition as well?

thanks!

EDIT: I have done some searching on what it takes to create a recovery partition, and while there seems like a cpl different routes can be taken, I should be able to manage though. it looks like it involves some searching for winre.wim, which should exist somewhere.

 

[SkyNetRising]

there is no recovery partition on disk 0 Is this a problem? or do I need to created a recovery partition as well?

No. Not necessary.
Recovery partition will be recreated after next major windows update.