Too many Partitions on hard drive

Thanks.
I do have Macrium.
I am going to try and see if the restore drive is accessible.
I'll look in the Boot Options and see what is there.
Also, Dell recovery.

I certainly don't want to go back to Windows 8.

Well, I tried several things.
I tried Shift+Restart and the only option was "Turn off your PC".
No Troubleshoot!!
I could not find a way to boot into Command prompt.
I used msconfig to boot into Safe mode and do the Shift+Restart without luck.
I figured that Safe Mode with Command prompt is just starting from Windows.
I will make the clone and see if it boots and works normally.

Dell Backup and restore only gave me the option of restoring my files.

I tried to create a recovery drive in Windows and I got this:



Can't imagine what files are missing.

Thanks again.
I'll post back when I succeed or fail.

Joe

Hi,
I'm doing a clone on that Computer. It will be a while.

50% done

Wordman's Method with Macrium will work , ( you need the Macrium Rescue CD ) and if you run the Fixboot Option before Rebooting it will fix and replace the BDC File automatically.

However you need to restore more than just C: for a properly configured System Drive , this is what a Full Clean Install of Win10 would give you. The Recovery, EFI and MSR can even be imaged from another Computer , I have an Image of just them on an External for backup , just in case something gets corrupted, and it works...

KB

Word Man said:

Just to clarify: clean install just preceding the restore of C: only will have already provided those other 3 partitions. You're simply overwriting the new clean C: with the original C: and all of those programs and data that it includes. Also, if there are any customizations whereby the OS/programs have been writing to or using the other data partitions (that OP originally created and may want to maintain), they'll be operational once the others are restored.

Yes that method works too , if you want Win10 to generate the 1st 3 partitions brand new but keep all your existing Data on C:\

KB

OK, Here’s what I got.
I cloned the drive to a second internal 500 GB EVO SSD.
I cloned all but the Dell 57 GB recovery and the Swap Temp partitions.
Macrion “Trimmed” etc.
I think Macrium might have put a new “Aqllighment” partition.
I then set the BIOS to what I thought was the correct Boot Order.

I discovered you can’t identify which hard drive is which in the BIOS Boot choices.
Two choices, Windows Boot Manager or Windows Boot Manager.
Anyways, I am able to Boot to both drives using the “Boot Options” (F12).
You also can’t identify which drive is which in the Boot Options Menu.
Both Windows options look the same.
Choosing the second “Windows Boot Manager” in the list boots to the second drive.
I changed the Partition labels on the two drives to System a and System b etc.
That way I could see which one I was in using with File Explorer.
Trouble is that the Swap Temp partition, which is only on the old drive, popped up as partition F with both boot-ups.
Windows would not let me change the partition letter for F Swap Temp until I removed the Custom Page File settings I had on F:.
Of course, when booting into the “NEW” drive, Windows rearranged the partition letters and I now need to reset the drive letter for the file History backup drive back to G:.
This will not be a problem because I will only need to use the second Drive if the first drive fails.
I believe Windows will remember the Partition letters after I reset them in each System. It seems to remember.
So, thanks to all the information I was able to get from you guys, I was able to make a plan and exicute it.
Without your help and advice I would not have been able to gain the insight into the workings of Windows 10 (in this one narrow field) and make this happen without a lot of grief.
Thanks Guys.
By-the-by, reagentc /info.



I would like to know how to setup the Boot process so that I can choose which drive I want to boot into.
Another post.

Thanks,
My problem is solved.
Joe

Solved

you now have two SSDs with exactly the same versions of Windows cos you cloned , not imaged them...... I wouldn't say this is solved unless you plan to Format the EVO SSD Copy while booted into the Original Drive.....

Why would you want to boot to either?

KB