why do I have all Windows 10 twice on my ssd on 2 separate partitions? 2017

[irie0for0all]

Somehow I've 2 Windows 10 on my 512 GB SSD!
It has 2 partitions & is there on both.
I tried deleting the 2nd 1 but am unable to, Windows won't allow it.
My PC seems to work correctly but I should like to save space, both have all the same files.

Any ideas please?

 

[Colif]

can you show us a screen shot of disk management?

Right click this pc on desktop
choose manage from drop down list
in next window, choose disk management in the left column
expand the window so you can show the hard drives and take a screen shot like

and upload it on a image sharing site and share link here

 

[irie0for0all]

https://ibb.co/album/cd2Vaa

 

[USAFRet]

https://ibb.co/album/cd2Vaa

That shows an absolutely normal installation.
What leads you to believe Win 10 is on that 500GB drive (Disk 0) twice?

And the two partitions on Disk 0? That second is supposed to be there, and is required. It is only 450MB (not GB).

 

[Colif]

not sure why 1st partition on hdd is labelled as the ssd but everything else looks like 1 install only

 

[irie0for0all]

https://ibb.co/album/cd2Vaa

That shows an absolutely normal installation.
What leads you to believe Win 10 is on that 500GB drive (Disk 0) twice?

And the two partitions on Disk 0? That second is supposed to be there, and is required. It is only 450MB (not GB).

 

[irie0for0all]

Thanks but not so.
Why are you mentioning Disk O, I have no problem with it?
My problem is 2 copies of w10 on SSD, 1 on C 1st partition another on C 2nd partition.
Whats more the space taken up with the same folders on each is...................
for C 1st 81.7 GB, for C 2nd partition 57.0 GB

I attach some s/shots!! No I cant no facility funny old www this?

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks but not so.
Why are you mentioning Disk O, I have no problem with it?
My problem is 2 copies of w10 on SSD, 1 on C 1st partition another on C 2nd partition.
Whats more the space taken up with the same folders on each is...................
for C 1st 81.7 GB, for C 2nd partition 57.0 GB

I attach some s/shots!! No I cant no facility funny old www this?

There are two physical drives.
1 x 500GB (Disk 0)
1 x 1TB (Disk 1)

Which is the SSD? 500GB Disk 0?
That has the OS, correct?

Disk 1, the 1TB, has two partitions. D of 80GB, and E of 851GB.

You're going to have to do a screencap of whatever is telling you about these two Win 10 installations.

 

[Rocky Bennett]

Thanks but not so.
Why are you mentioning Disk O, I have no problem with it?
My problem is 2 copies of w10 on SSD, 1 on C 1st partition another on C 2nd partition.
Whats more the space taken up with the same folders on each is...................
for C 1st 81.7 GB, for C 2nd partition 57.0 GB

I attach some s/shots!! No I cant no facility funny old www this?

All looks good with those pictures that you attached. It does not appear as if you have two separate Windows installations.

 

[Colif]

looking at link again, he has 2 active partitions, he added screen shots of file exploder showing both hdd have a windows folder on them. So something strange going on. Hdd doesn't appear to have a boot

what did you do when installing win 10? Did you have hdd in PC at same time? Did anything strange happen in the install process?

 

[USAFRet]

OK..newly added pics make it both more and less confusing.

Power off
Remove ALL drives except the SSD
Power up
Does it boot correctly?

 

[irie0for0all]

Thanks but not so.
Why are you mentioning Disk O, I have no problem with it?
My problem is 2 copies of w10 on SSD, 1 on C 1st partition another on C 2nd partition.
Whats more the space taken up with the same folders on each is...................
for C 1st 81.7 GB, for C 2nd partition 57.0 GB

I attach some s/shots!! No I cant no facility funny old www this?

There are two physical drives.
1 x 500GB (Disk 0)
1 x 1TB (Disk 1)

Which is the SSD? 500GB Disk 0?
That has the OS, correct?

Disk 1, the 1TB, has two partitions. D of 80GB, and E of 851GB.

You're going to have to do a screencap of whatever is telling you about these two Win 10 installations.

 

[irie0for0all]

OK sorry I made a mistake.
SSD 500gb, normal H/drive 1TB.
PC was supplied with W10 on H/drive normal, I used Easeus to move it to SSD but it also stayed where it was.
I have some 'screenshots but unable to upload on this www????????????????????

 

[USAFRet]

OK sorry I made a mistake.
SSD 500gb, normal H/drive 1TB.
PC was supplied with W10 on H/drive normal, I used Easeus to move it to SSD but it also stayed where it was.
I have some 'screenshots but unable to upload on this www????????????????????

Ahhh....
Now more details emerge.
EaseUS does a cloning thing. Basically, an in depth copy from the old drive to the new drive.
It does not automagically remove it from the old drive. This is a good thing.

You have "Windows" on both drives because you did not complete the actual cloning process. The last step would be to wipe the old drive...the HDD.

 

[irie0for0all]

OK great, thanks!
So if I wipe the normal 1TB h/drive ie re-partition that partition, will I be OK?

 

[USAFRet]

OK great, thanks!
So if I wipe the normal 1TB h/drive ie re-partition that partition, will I be OK?

MAYBE.

Let us do some verification first, to definitively tell which drive we are booting into.
Start the system up
You will have a C drive, and D & E drives.
C drive will be whichever OS has been booted into. When it boots...that OS will see itself as the C drive.
Since there are two viable Windows instances, and we are not 100% sure of the actual boot order in the BIOS, lets test this.

So...
Start the system up, with all drives connected.
Open Notepad and write some text...anything.
Save this file as MyTestFile.txt. Save this somewhere on the D drive, and remember where you saved it.
Power off
Disconnect the HDD
Power up. (this is booting from the SSD)
Look for that file...MyTestFile.txt
It should not apppear, because it is hopefully on the HDD which is currently disconnected.
You can't find it? Good.

Power off, and reconnect the HDD
Boot up
Look for that file again.
It should appear on the HDD (the current D drive)
If it does, great.

Disk Management, delete each partition on that drive, leaving one large unallocated space.
Create a partition and format it.

 

[irie0for0all]

OK great, thanks!
So if I wipe the normal 1TB h/drive ie re-partition that partition, will I be OK?

MAYBE.

Let us do some verification first, to definitively tell which drive we are booting into.
Start the system up
You will have a C drive, and D & E drives.
C drive will be whichever OS has been booted into. When it boots...that OS will see itself as the C drive.
Since there are two viable Windows instances, and we are not 100% sure of the actual boot order in the BIOS, lets test this.

So...
Start the system up, with all drives connected.
Open Notepad and write some text...anything.
Save this file as MyTestFile.txt. Save this somewhere on the D drive, and remember where you saved it.
Power off
Disconnect the HDD
Power up. (this is booting from the SSD)
Look for that file...MyTestFile.txt
It should not apppear, because it is hopefully on the HDD which is currently disconnected.
You can't find it? Good.

Power off, and reconnect the HDD
Boot up
Look for that file again.
It should appear on the HDD (the current D drive)
If it does, great.

Disk Management, delete each partition on that drive, leaving one large unallocated space.
Create a partition and format it.

 

[irie0for0all]

OK thanks.
I will but not straight away. When my W10 mind is clear!

 

[USAFRet]

OK thanks.
I will but not straight away. When my W10 mind is clear!

OK.
The above is just to definitively tell which drive is what you are booting into.

 

[Colif]

I wonder how often cloning works. I only ever deal with the failed attempts so my view of the process is perhaps incorrect. I have never done it myself.

At least you worked out what happened, Does the clone process move the boot partition?

 

[USAFRet]

I wonder how often cloning works. I only ever deal with the failed attempts so my view of the process is perhaps incorrect. I have never done it myself.

At least you worked out what happened, Does the clone process move the boot partition?

It does whatever partitions you select.

I have done it many times, and never had it fail.

But, there are certain steps to follow at the end of the process.
See the spoiler here:

Spoiler

-----------------------------
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
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 as necessary.
Delete the original boot partitions, here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/4f1b84ac-b193-40e3-943a-f45d52e23685/cant-delete-extra-healthy-recovery-partitions-and-healthy-efi-system-partition?forum=w8itproinstall
-----------------------------

It is easy to screw it up, but those steps will work.
Tested, verified.