Windows 8 Would like to move my Win 8 DP install to another HDD as a dual boot

catilley1092

Extraordinary Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Presently, I have Win 8 CP on a 40GB WD HDD. What I'd like to do is dump Vista, which is installed on one of my better hard drives, slide Windows 7 over beside XP Pro x64, rebuild the MBR & do a repair install to that.

Then, using Mini Tool Partition Home Wizard, copy my Windows 8 install to the other, minus the unneeded 350MB partition, & do a repair to that. This will give me a tri-boot of the three. Does the Windows 8 CP install disk have the repair option like Windows 7 does?

I want to do this for 2 reasons, to get it on a faster HDD (a Samsung HD103SJ), and I'm running out of disk space. Which is preventing me from installing Office 2010 Pro Plus. It's going to be my default OS.

Is this possible (I hope so), or do I need to start over? The drivers and all, I've worked on for several days, I have only limited time to work on this due to my health. Plus, I don't want to lose one of my 3 installs of Avast Internet Security. I don't know if it will trigger a change, it's the same PC, same MB, but don't know how Avast deals with this. Some companies consider a PC to be all of the installs on a HDD, some considers a PC to be all of the OS's installed across all HDD's on the same PC.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Cat
 
EasyBCD to fix MBR (I think installed in Win 7).

I do not wish to advise on moving because you do not specify how many different HDDs you have and how many different partitions your have in those HDDs and what is installed in each partition, etc.
 
OK, currently on that HDD, I have XP Media Center, Vista SP2 x64, Windows 7 Pro x64 (primaries). Data, VM's, Windows OS/Office install disks (from TechNet). 3 primaries & 3 logical.

I want to delete Vista, wipe the space, move Win 7 over, wipe that space, then copy Windows 8 CP to where Windows 7 is now. Except the 350MB partition. But I know that this will require a Startup Repair, if it can even be done.

The way the hard drives are installed on my desktop is not the norm for an AIO PC. I have an extension cable (data & power in one cable), from which I have 4 hard drives with various OS's on them. They work fine in this manner, there's really no noticeable bottleneck. Here's the cable. When I want to swap drives to access another OS, I shut down & swap HDD's. Simple.

Amazon.com: NSI LK-13812 22-pin (7+15) SATA Male to Female DATA and Power Combo Extension Cable - Slimline SATA Extension Cable M/F - 1Ft (33cm): Electronics

Hopefully this will make my request more clear. Thanks for the responses given.

Cat
 
Start by making Images - First of all partitions in one Image file, then of each partition separately (OS partitions only) Make a boot disk with whatever Imaging app you use to create the Images. Store the Images on a Ext HD. Also make sure you have a Windows Repair disk in case your MBR is hosed. This disk can be used to repair the MBR.

Easiest way is with Images. Delete Vista and Win 7 and Win 8 CP from XP using Partition Wizard. This will leave 3 separate partitions all showing as unallocated space. Restore Win 7 from the Image into original Vista partition. Restore Win 8 CP into original Win 7 partition. This will leave the original Win 8 CP partition as unallocated. Do with it what you will.

This might seem like a scary thing to do, but it would be the quickest. If you have used partitioning and Imaging apps before you know they work and are comfortable in working with them.

Use EasyBCD to massage the MBR to change the default OS to whatever you wish. You can add/remove items or change default OS very easily.

If you are new to all this stuff, perhaps someone else has some safer ideas (they will definitely take longer I would think.)

Read this stuff first:

I may have misread. If these are all separate drives, the easiest way after making the above Images, attach the present Vista drive, and the Ext HD holding the Images. Boot to the Imaging app Boot disk and restore the Win 7 Image. It will automatically overwrite the Vista OS and place the Win 7 OS in it's place.

Do the same thing with the present Win 7 HD, restore with the Win 8 CP Image. This will overwrite the Win 7 OS with Win 8 CP.

When done, attach the new Win 7 HD and the original Win 8 CP HD and delete the Win 8 CP then reformat and set to simple volume. This will leave you with a formatted ready to use HD.
 
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I got it fixed. A fresh install! I believe that this install actually turned out better, because a few of the bugs that I had to work out aren't present on this install. Plus, being that it's on a newer, faster HDD, it's smooth sailing so far.

One notable difference that I made. I dumped Avast, requesting a refund (oh they will, PayPal will see to that), and installed my usual IS, ESET Smart Security 5 + MBAM. Avast, while good when it worked, the firewall wouldn't install on this last one, and the other two, I had to install the Free version just to enter the license key. I'm not paying for a beta IS suite.

I tried the repair, by copying the "C" partition to the empty space that I created for it, tried several repair disks (these usually repairs all), tried EasyBCD, even tried to install a Linux OS beside of it, for the GRUB bootloader to pick it up, all no go. The time that I spent doing all of this, this thing could've already been installed.

The reason that I want it on a larger HDD is to take advantage of these new VM features that Windows 8 is supposed to have. I didn't have the room on the other HDD. Plus, there's a version of Linux that I need to get the bugs out of, and need that small HDD to do it.

All is up & running better than ever! Many thanks for the suggestions provided.

Cat
 
Cat
After I installed a second internal drive and moved my VMs there it seemed to improve performance
Joe.
 
Unfortunately, I can't have but one HDD installed at a time, but I can make partitions just for VM's. They seem to run better, as they're not in fragments scattered across an entire data partition, and installing one inside of the OS install is a huge mistake. The OS goes down, they both do.

But not for those who backups their computers. I have XP Mode on a 25GB partition, & the others on a 125GB partition.

Cat
 
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