Understanding disk partition window cloning Win 7: what does it revea?

High folks,

In my effort to learn as I go I have the following question about my Disk Mgt Window on Win 7 Home Premium Ver 6.1. But first the context:

I've listed as many specs as I could in my machine profile and here are some more about the background of the issue.

I need to upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10. I use a number of software apps that will not run on Win 10 and the upgrades for these programs are not on the table. This software was one time purchase licsence and is now a subscription or not available. I neither need the subscription nor want to pay the much higher cost for something that has been working fine for me on Win 7. Thus, I want to Dual Boot so I can continue to use some of my older software when needed.

I purchased a new SSD (Samsung 860 EVO 1 TB) and cloned my old HDD (WD Caviar Blue 500 GB) onto the SSD using EaseUS Todo Backup optimizing for an SSD. The old is an MBR file protocol and the new for the SSD is GPT. It was a complete clone of the whole C drive, all its partitions. I reset the Asus Bios to boot the SSD on default. When all is done I'll clean the 500 GB WD HDD, maybe reformat it and use it only for data. Everything works much faster, the added 8 Gb RAM (2x4Gb + 2x4Gb) and the new SSD are great.

My next step is to partition the SSD for a custom install of Win 10 so I can Dual boot. I can use EaseUS Partition software but think I'll use Windows own Disk Mgt utility (any comments on which to use? there is also Samsung's Disk Magician but think this would be my last choice). However, before I do this the instructions I was following did not show the same, or close to the same, Disk Mgt window. I am unclear if I should just rename the partitions or if something more sinister is at work that I need to pay attention to.

To start if you folk would be so kind and comment on what you see on my Disk Mgt window that may help me understand if there is a problem, how serious it migh t be and how I should proceed. I am also quite happy to provide more detail if requested, just ask. Please see the attached screen capture of the Disk Mgt window.

Notes for attached image:
In my understanding Disk 0 (the SSD) should show it as the C: drive and Disk 1 should be an exact clone. However, you can see Disk 0 has 4 partitions including the C drive and Disk 1 has 3 partitions including the E and F drive. Can anyone describe or explain what I see? The other disks and volumes are part of three external HDDs (1 x 3 TB, + 2 x 8 TB) that I use as a quasi raid set-up for bups and data storage. They are working fine.

Disk 0 has only 3 partitions.

The unallocated 465.75 gb is not a partition, but you can add it to C if you want--most likely from menus or a right click. Or make another partition from it. Or leave it as it is.

It's been a long time since I dual booted, but as I recall, you can make your life a bit easier by putting Windows 7 and Windows 10 on totally different hard drives if at all possible. Maybe you don't have that option.

Shel7 said:

I purchased a new SSD (Samsung 860 EVO 1 TB) and cloned my old HDD (WD Caviar Blue 500 GB) onto the SSD using EaseUS Todo Backup optimizing for an SSD. The old is an MBR file protocol and the new for the SSD is GPT.

The 1 TB SSD cannot be GPT because you have an active partition shown on it (the first 300 MB System partition is marked as Active). What makes you think it is GPT? You can only mark a partition as Active on an MBR drive.

Code:

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.18362.1

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: DESKTOP-EDKIJBS

DISKPART> lis dis

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          119 GB      0 B        *
  Disk 1    Online          298 GB      0 B

DISKPART> sel dis 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> lis par

  Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
  -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
  Partition 1    Recovery           529 MB  1024 KB
  Partition 2    System             100 MB   530 MB
  Partition 3    Reserved            16 MB   630 MB
  Partition 4    Primary            118 GB   646 MB

DISKPART> sel par 2

Partition 2 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART> active

The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk.
The ACTIVE command can only be used on fixed MBR disks.

Navy LCDR ,

When using EaseUS ToDo backup it asked, gave the option, of doing the cloning as MBR or GPT. With my limited understanding I felt GPT would provide a better condition for the SSD and would work and is compatible with the system.

Thanks very much

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Cereberus,

Ok thanks. The Disk 1 coded as (E) has a slightly different status than Disk 0 System partition. Disk 0 shows status as "system, active, primary partition" and Disk 1 shows it only as "active & primary". Does this suggest the system info was lost after cloning?

Thanks

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Hey all, thanks for this, i was not expecting any quick replies it being Christmas. I'll check in again tomorrow. Thanks again and Merry Christmas.

Shel7