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I think this experience may be useful to Win7/8 users who build and maintain home and small business systems. I regularly clone and swap drives keeping at least one spare at the ready per system at all times. I was shocked to discover that under certain conditions Win7 installation creates a 100MB "boot partition". This is annoying and unfortunate to say the least. The boot partition is a discrete unallocated partition that contains the MBR or GPT loading files (perhaps authentication files as well). I needed a bootable Linux based low level disk utility that would clone a Win7 multiple partition image to either a slightly larger or slightly smaller HDD. I wanted to avoid a complicated repair procedure or total re-installation necessary to rid myself of this 100MB anomaly. I found a way to work around it and ignore it and be better prepared for my possible next WinOS - Number 10.
Most imaging utilities will not clone from larger to a smaller drive or automatically re-size the primary partition to fit available sectors. Some will not clone multiple partitions, which means some partitions must be copied individually or reconstructed manually. Few imaging utilities run as bootable media which gives total control of the drive without WinOS getting in the way. Mini-Tool is freeware, is a Linux based boot media, has an intelligently designed GUI, and works miracles where other utilities simply fail. Most importantly for future SSD users, it aligns sectors and can be manipulated to clone to a smaller drive by downsizing the primary partition from which the image is being copied. MTPW is GPT and UEFI compatible. If you plan to install an SSD system drive, start moving data storage to a separate partition so you can keep the system and programs primary partition at minimal size. This is where cloning individual partitions will come in handy. MTPW does all the above with surprising ease and facility.
I believe the remedy for avoiding this 100MB unwanted nuisance is to do a deep pre-format on the installation drive. Do some research if you want to avoid what I consider to be a design fault. In any case, there was no warning during Win7 installation and the damage has been done since Win7 is no longer being officially retailed. It might be interesting to note if the 100MB boot partition afflicts Win8.x owners as well. Judging from my personal experience working at DellHell in TN, I rather doubt that mass production or even local custom systems builders are bothering to do a six to twelve hour deep format on HDDs during the mfg process.
Mr. Moderator, this is not a sales pitch. I have no connection with the above company Mini-Tool. The free download bootable utility mentioned above is freeware, although the site link advertises retail WinOS applications s as well. But MTPW is of such quality that I would nonetheless recommend a donation to the authors. I heard about this tool by word of mouth and it is in many ways superior to even the Acronis products which are insanely "licensed" to specific PC-OS system installation keys AND vastly more expensive beyond all reason. To be fair Acronis offers back-up functions and other unrelated advantages but the basic disk tools are comparable in every way except cost.
http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html
Most imaging utilities will not clone from larger to a smaller drive or automatically re-size the primary partition to fit available sectors. Some will not clone multiple partitions, which means some partitions must be copied individually or reconstructed manually. Few imaging utilities run as bootable media which gives total control of the drive without WinOS getting in the way. Mini-Tool is freeware, is a Linux based boot media, has an intelligently designed GUI, and works miracles where other utilities simply fail. Most importantly for future SSD users, it aligns sectors and can be manipulated to clone to a smaller drive by downsizing the primary partition from which the image is being copied. MTPW is GPT and UEFI compatible. If you plan to install an SSD system drive, start moving data storage to a separate partition so you can keep the system and programs primary partition at minimal size. This is where cloning individual partitions will come in handy. MTPW does all the above with surprising ease and facility.
I believe the remedy for avoiding this 100MB unwanted nuisance is to do a deep pre-format on the installation drive. Do some research if you want to avoid what I consider to be a design fault. In any case, there was no warning during Win7 installation and the damage has been done since Win7 is no longer being officially retailed. It might be interesting to note if the 100MB boot partition afflicts Win8.x owners as well. Judging from my personal experience working at DellHell in TN, I rather doubt that mass production or even local custom systems builders are bothering to do a six to twelve hour deep format on HDDs during the mfg process.
Mr. Moderator, this is not a sales pitch. I have no connection with the above company Mini-Tool. The free download bootable utility mentioned above is freeware, although the site link advertises retail WinOS applications s as well. But MTPW is of such quality that I would nonetheless recommend a donation to the authors. I heard about this tool by word of mouth and it is in many ways superior to even the Acronis products which are insanely "licensed" to specific PC-OS system installation keys AND vastly more expensive beyond all reason. To be fair Acronis offers back-up functions and other unrelated advantages but the basic disk tools are comparable in every way except cost.
http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html