Cloning and setting up a dual boot system

Wilbri · 17 Jul 2019

I seek advice about the possibility of setting up a dual boot system on my existing Windows 10 64 bit pc.
I have an old redundant PC which I built in 2009. Windows 7 Professional 32bit OS installed.
I no longer possess the installation disc and am therefore considering cloning the OS and installing this onto my current PC provided that this difference in bit rate could be tolerated.
So my first question is can I set up a dual boot system incorporating both 64 and 32 bit systems? If not, I have 4 hard drives, small SSDs, and 2 x1TB 2 HDDs, so if necessary I would be willing to dedicate one SSD to accommodate the Windows 7 32 bit OS.
My second question is how do I set up a dual boot system?
The third question is, could I use Macrium Reflect (free issue) software to clone and if not can you suggest an alternative free system?

Samuria · 17 Jul 2019

Firstly it's unlikely the old win7 would boot and run on the new PC you best bet would be to clone the old disk and try it with no other disks before trying anything else. It may not even be possible if the new system is uefi with secure boot and the old is mbr it may be impossible to run both systems

Megahertz · 17 Jul 2019

As Samuria advised, the best you can do is to clone the Win 7 HDD to a SSD or HDD, detach the Win 10 disk and try to boot it. On BIOS, you need to disable Secure boot and Fast Boot as Win 7 isn't compatible with them.

If you succeed, the fist problem would be the reactivation. Is your Win 7 license a retail or OEM?

The main problem are the drivers for your new system, but on Asus site I can see that there are Win 7 drivers for your M5a99FX Pro.

I would do a Clean install of Win 7 64 on dedicated disk. You can retrieve the win 7 license and download the iso from the net.

ThrashZone · 17 Jul 2019

Hi,
For different bit you'd have to install one and remove the drive than install the other
Best process for the same bit too frankly

Then each drive has it's own boot loader
Just reconnect and use F8 or what ever brings up your boot options
Then select which ever os you want to boot too.

Helps if you add labels to easily identify different hdd's/ sdd's on the boot menu.
Free mini tool can do this easily

Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Wizard Free