Question Windows Partition on a non-windows disk?

[xaohs]

Hi, I have recently reinstalled windows on my disk. And I wanted to create a backup of this disk in case I need it in the future. I am using macrium for this, but upon opening it, I have noticed something weird (see image). It seems as if my HDD (Disk 1 - D) has a Windows EFI Partition, for some reason even though that is not my windows disk. My Windows disk is disk 4 (Disk 4 - C)

I have now two questions:

1) Should I worry about this? If yes, how would I easily fix this?
2) In case I don't have to worry about this, how would I then create my backup now? Would I just backup C as normal?

Thank you in advance!

 

[USAFRet]

Please show us your current Disk Management window. Not Macrium in dark mode.

 

[xaohs]

Please show us your current Disk Management window. Not Macrium in dark mode.

Of course, my apologies. Here's my Disk Management window:

 

[TerryLaze]

The efi partition is the boot partition and is always placed on the first disk in the boot order.
Yes, just backup your C drive, if you restore to this system there won't be any issues.

 

[xaohs]

The efi partition is the boot partition and is always placed on the first disk in the boot order.
Yes, just backup your C drive, if you restore to this system there won't be any issues.

I see. But doesn't this mean my pc is booting from that disk (hdd), instead of my m.2 drive (C)?

 

[USAFRet]

I see. But doesn't this mean my pc is booting from that disk (hdd), instead of my m.2 drive (C)?

No.
Windows does indeed live on your M.2 drive.

That EFI partition is just the tiny bit of start up.

 

[xaohs]

No.
Windows does indeed live on your M.2 drive.

That EFI partition is just the tiny bit of start up.

I see. And what would happen if that HDD fails, or if I someday want to replace it? I presume windows will not boot anymore as it won't find the EFI partition anymore.

 

[USAFRet]

I see. And what would happen if that HDD fails, or if I someday want to replace it? I presume windows will not boot anymore as it won't find the EFI partition anymore.

Correct.
No boot for you.

This happens when more than one drive is physically connected when you do the OS install.
Nothing you chose or can prevent, it jsut does it.

The way to prevent this is to have only one drive connected during the install. Connect the others later.

There is a method to manually create that boot partition on your current C drive. But I am not the expert in that realm.
Let's see if the resident expert chimes in here.

 

[TerryLaze]

I see. And what would happen if that HDD fails, or if I someday want to replace it? I presume windows will not boot anymore as it won't find the EFI partition anymore.

Your windows installation media would still boot and that will create an efi partition for you or copy the boot files onto your disk if there is only one disk connected.
Automated repair/startup repair.

 

[USAFRet]

Your windows installation media would still boot and that will create an efi partition for you or copy the boot files onto your disk if there is only one disk connected.
Automated repair/startup repair.

I'm fairly certain the startup repair would not fix that.

It can be done manually, though.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Your windows installation media would still boot and that will create an efi partition for you or copy the boot files onto your disk if there is only one disk connected.
Automated repair/startup repair.

Automated startup/repair can not fix this.
Bootloader partition has to be created manually.

 

[xaohs]

Thanks for the replies guys.
Is there any risk in creating such partition, and if not, could an expert in this give me a step by step of what I would do to create it?
Or would doing this not be worth it ?

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks for the replies guys.
Is there any risk in creating such partition, and if not, could an expert in this give me a step by step of what I would do to create it?
Or would doing this not be worth it ?

Before you go down that path, create that full drive backup with Macrium.

Just in case.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Thanks for the replies guys.
Is there any risk in creating such partition, and if not, could an expert in this give me a step by step of what I would do to create it?
Or would doing this not be worth it ?

Execute from elevated command prompt.
Regular command prompt will give error on last step.
If you get any errors, then stop immediately and show screenshot with command output.

diskpart​

list disk​

select disk 3​

(select 1TB OS disk)​

list partition​

select partition x​

(select 931GB C: partition, x=1 or x=2, replace x with appropriate number)​

shrink desired=500​

create partition efi​

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 set boot priority.
You'll have two Windows Boot Managers to choose from.
This will be tricky because both drives with bootloaders are 1TB.
You'll have to find the right one.

Or just disconnect D: drive.

https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/e/elevated.htm

 

[xaohs]

Hi guys! It took a while sorry, but thank you so much for your help. I have done the steps described by SkyNetRising, and everything went smoothly, I went into my boot menu and saw my 970 evo m.2 drive as a boot option, and it booted fine. I then proceeded to delete the old EFI partition via diskpart, and rebooted, and everything boots fine!