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Partitioning problem



 
 
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  #1  
Old February 8th 19, 09:56 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Panthera Tigris Altaica
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 102
Default Partitioning problem

My personal laptop has a 1TB spinning drive. I bought the laptop new
over six years ago. It was, then, fast, with a quad core i7, and 8 GB
RAM. The HD came with three partitions:

1 the emergency partition, under 50 GB with the emergency boot files
2 the OS boot partition, 390 GB, with Win 7 Pro. (I upgraded it to Ultimate)
3 the data partition, about 500 GB, no OS.

When I upgraded to Win 8, I did it by installing cloning over the OS
partition to the data partition and upgrading the data partition. I did
that just in case I didn't like Win 8. I didn't like Win 8 and went back
to using Win 7 for most things, though I left Win 8 on the old data
partition.

When I upgraded to Win 8.1, I did the upgrade on the Win 8 partition. I
still spent most of my time with Win 7.

When I upgraded to Win 10, I again did the upgrade on the Win 8.1
partition. I am currently spending most of the time in Win 10. In fact,
I am spending so little time in Win 7 that I decided that I wanted to
kill the Win 7 partition, recover the space, and add it to the Win 10
partition.

Problem: Disk Management shows the Win 7 partition as being an active,
system, partition. The Win 10 partition is also active, and is the boot
partition, and where the page file lives. Because the Win 7 partition is
the active system partition, Disk Management (and everything else I've
tried) won't delete that partition, and I suspect that if I managed to
do that then there might be problems, as there is very likely a reason
why Windows thinks that it is a system partition.

So how do I make the Win 7 partition NOT a system partition? Would the
solution be as simple as cloning the Win 10 partition over to the Win 7
partition (there should be enough space for everything) and then booting
from the other partition and killing the current Win 10 partition? I
doubt it. I can see where BCD might get confused if I did that, just for
starters. Do I have to go as far as getting a new drive (spinning or
SSD) and setting up the emergency volume and just the Win 10 partition
on it? This laptop is getting elderly, and I might get an SSD to extend
its life, but other than that I'd get a new laptop and probably just
clone the Win 10 partition over. I originally cloned the Win 7 partition
using Laplink PCMover, and I still have the installer for the old Win 7
version. It's 5+ years old now, and may not necessarily work with Win
10, and besides there may be licensing issues as it was purchased to be
used in a Win 7 environment. I suspect that a support cal into Laplink
at this late date would not be well-received.
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  #2  
Old February 8th 19, 10:23 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Paul[_32_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 11,873
Default Partitioning problem

Panthera Tigris Altaica wrote:
My personal laptop has a 1TB spinning drive. I bought the laptop new
over six years ago. It was, then, fast, with a quad core i7, and 8 GB
RAM. The HD came with three partitions:

1 the emergency partition, under 50 GB with the emergency boot files
2 the OS boot partition, 390 GB, with Win 7 Pro. (I upgraded it to
Ultimate)
3 the data partition, about 500 GB, no OS.

When I upgraded to Win 8, I did it by installing cloning over the OS
partition to the data partition and upgrading the data partition. I did
that just in case I didn't like Win 8. I didn't like Win 8 and went back
to using Win 7 for most things, though I left Win 8 on the old data
partition.

When I upgraded to Win 8.1, I did the upgrade on the Win 8 partition. I
still spent most of my time with Win 7.

When I upgraded to Win 10, I again did the upgrade on the Win 8.1
partition. I am currently spending most of the time in Win 10. In fact,
I am spending so little time in Win 7 that I decided that I wanted to
kill the Win 7 partition, recover the space, and add it to the Win 10
partition.

Problem: Disk Management shows the Win 7 partition as being an active,
system, partition. The Win 10 partition is also active, and is the boot
partition, and where the page file lives. Because the Win 7 partition is
the active system partition, Disk Management (and everything else I've
tried) won't delete that partition, and I suspect that if I managed to
do that then there might be problems, as there is very likely a reason
why Windows thinks that it is a system partition.

So how do I make the Win 7 partition NOT a system partition? Would the
solution be as simple as cloning the Win 10 partition over to the Win 7
partition (there should be enough space for everything) and then booting
from the other partition and killing the current Win 10 partition? I
doubt it. I can see where BCD might get confused if I did that, just for
starters. Do I have to go as far as getting a new drive (spinning or
SSD) and setting up the emergency volume and just the Win 10 partition
on it? This laptop is getting elderly, and I might get an SSD to extend
its life, but other than that I'd get a new laptop and probably just
clone the Win 10 partition over. I originally cloned the Win 7 partition
using Laplink PCMover, and I still have the installer for the old Win 7
version. It's 5+ years old now, and may not necessarily work with Win
10, and besides there may be licensing issues as it was purchased to be
used in a Win 7 environment. I suspect that a support cal into Laplink
at this late date would not be well-received.


I changed a two-partition Windows 7 install to a one partition
install with this. I did a backup first.

https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=409

It basically shows how to move the booting materials
the OS needs, so it's on the same partition as the OS.

The reason for two-partition installs, is to support
encryption. In your case, it's because you are dual-booting
that you have things split.

That article shows the basic concepts for an MBR install,
but doesn't cover GPT. On a GPT install, there would be
a separate ESP (EFI system partition 100MB) with the materials
on it. And less of an issue (in a sense).

Paul
  #3  
Old February 11th 19, 09:13 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Big Bad Bob
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 793
Default Partitioning problem

On 02/08/19 12:56, Panthera Tigris Altaica wrote:
My personal laptop has a 1TB spinning drive. I bought the laptop new
over six years ago. It was, then, fast, with a quad core i7, and 8 GB
RAM. The HD came with three partitions:

1 the emergency partition, under 50 GB with the emergency boot files
2 the OS boot partition, 390 GB, with Win 7 Pro. (I upgraded it to
Ultimate)
3 the data partition, about 500 GB, no OS.


snip

So how do I make the Win 7 partition NOT a system partition?


I suggest a clean install, from optical media. that should do it, and
will let you control everything. Just re-do ALL of the partitions. And
keep windows 7. Win-10-nic STINKS.

you could do this with a new hard drive more easily, I would think,
keeping the old one around as a backup.


--
(aka 'Bombastic Bob' in case you wondered)

'Feeling with my fingers, and thinking with my brain' - me

'your story is so touching, but it sounds just like a lie'
"Straighten up and fly right"
  #4  
Old February 22nd 19, 03:46 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-10
Panthera Tigris Altaica
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 102
Default Partitioning problem

On 2019-02-11 15:13, Big Bad Bob wrote:
On 02/08/19 12:56, Panthera Tigris Altaica wrote:
My personal laptop has a 1TB spinning drive. I bought the laptop new
over six years ago. It was, then, fast, with a quad core i7, and 8 GB
RAM. The HD came with three partitions:

1 the emergency partition, under 50 GB with the emergency boot files
2 the OS boot partition, 390 GB, with Win 7 Pro. (I upgraded it to
Ultimate)
3 the data partition, about 500 GB, no OS.


snip

So how do I make the Win 7 partition NOT a system partition?


I suggest a clean install, from optical media.Â* that should do it, and
will let you control everything.Â* Just re-do ALL of the partitions.Â* And
keep windows 7.Â* Win-10-nic STINKS.

you could do this with a new hard drive more easily, I would think,
keeping the old one around as a backup.


A clean install would mean reinstalling all my apps, which would be
painful. I don't have installers for everything, and some applications,
including some of the ones I don't have installers for, were made by
vendors which no longer exist. Others, including apps I do have
installers for, have annoying licensing setups. (Adobe. Not Creative
Cloud, because I am NOT paying $60/month rent.) I _really_ want to avoid
hainv to do a complete reinstall.

I booted up from a USB drive with a 3rd-party partitioning tool
installed, killed the Win 7 partition, rebooted... the system screamed
about BCD. I booted up with my WinPE USB, fixed BCD (again) and
rebooted. It seems to work now. Will use Disk Management to allocate the
empty space on the drive.

This was way too much trouble. The last time I had to clear a partition
on a Mac it took a matter of seconds to do and minutes to clean up
afterwards and I didn't have to reboot even once. It's been a while
since I had to clear a partition on a Linux system, but that wasn't as
painful as this was. Microsoft goes out of their way to make life
difficult. If it wasn't for the fact that a lot of my apps have no Linux
equivalent, I'd have done a complete install, all right: a complete
install of Ubuntu or Mint or Fedora.
 




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