Windows 10: 2 active system disks. Systembackup requires 1,5TB-storage ?

Hello,
I have an SSD where I installed the OS. WIN 10 from scratch
(Replacement of an updated Win10 which causes suddenly errors that couldn't be repaired, infinite loop from repairing and refinding the same error).
Saturday I tried making a system-backup but I was requested for 1,8 TB of storage. Strange, an SSD of max 450 GB with max 210 GB of software and OS.
Looking to the systeem-disks I saw I have 2 active systemdisks in my PC. F: (1,8 TB, collection of photo's, once used for OS Win XP) and C: 450 GB.
Here the overview:

1 SSD with the OS on it. (Max450GB) with driveletter C:.
When asking to create an system-backup, the soft requested for a disk greater than 1 TB and that is not possible.
Looking to the system I saw two active primar systemdisk, the SSD as C:
Looking further I saw a boot-partition (350MB) on C: and a partition for 'restore' and another one with the OS (450GB).


1 HD (1,8TB) assigned as F:







With easybcd I discovered next:

There is one entry in the Windows bootloader.

Default: Windows 10
Timeout: 30 seconds
Boot Drive: F:\

Entry #1
Name: Windows 10
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe

In the root of C: I see
C: contains BOOTMGR and BOOTXN,
In the root of F: I found a BOOT-folder

Questions I have.
1) Can and may I desactivate disk F: which in fact is NOT containing the OS
2) How to tell the PC that it should not start from F: as mentioned in the Windows loader with an imediate rotuing to C:
3) What is the meaning of the BOOT-map on F: ?

Any way, thanks for reading this post

:)

 

Cannot allocate the unallocated space in a 3Tb and 4Tb hard disk drives in Windows 10

I have a 2011 Acer Predator G3610 with UEFI boot. The original disk (a 1,5Tb Sansung) just failed and I replaced it with a Toshiba OCZ VT180 SSD as boot drive plus a Seagate 4tb and a WD Blue Series 3Tb
unit for extra storage.

I haven't been able to use the full size of both disks (currently connected to the SATA III connector in the board) and the non allocated space cannot be accesed via disk manager, only letting me to check
properties/help. Same for the disk, they're listed but cannot re format them as GPT, the only options available being online/offline; check properties and help.

I have gone through the forums without luck. Is there any way I can use all the available storage?

Thanks

 

system restore problems

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

This issue could occur due to one of the following reasons:

1. If the maximum storage size limit is set to low for your shadow storage.

2. You manually disable system restore

3. If you perform disk cleanup and remove all the restore points. Did you use the Disk Cleanup utility to delete all but the last restore point?

4. Check if you have sufficient disk space on the drive/s because if you run out of available space, System Restore will just stop monitoring your system. System Restore is automatically suspended when there is less than 200 MB
of free hard-disk space on the system drive and automatically resumes its monitoring activities, after 15 minutes, at the next system idle time, as soon as 200 MB of hard-disk space is available.

5. If you have already set Windows to create System Restore points, but notice that every time you restart your computer, you find that you’re successfully created system restore points get deleted, you may have to check if the
maximum storage size limit is set to low for your shadow storage.

6. Any cleaner might delete your restore point. You may need check your third party cleanup utility settings and make sure the settings do not allow restore points to be deleted.

Regards,

Guru Kiran

 

There should only be one Active partition. I suspect that during installation, Disk 1 was marked active so Windows install Boot Manager in disk 1 to boot from.

Temporarily disconnect disk 1 from your PC by disconnecting the power cable then try to boot. If it does not boot then you know for sure that your Windows is using the Active partition on disk 1 to boot from. If that is the case then you have to move the Boot Manager from Disk 1 to disk 0 then mark disk 1 Inactive.

 

There are three great tools available for free that will help you greatly - you already have one:

EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies
Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Free
Macrium Reflect Free


This is what I would do:
1. If disk management won't assign a temporary drive letter to the 350mb system reserved partition at the beginning of disk 0, then use MiniTool Partition Wizard to do it. (I would just use MiniTool to begin with). Call it T: drive.
2. In EasyBCD change the boot partition to T: drive.
Changing the Boot Partition
If the Disk 0 system reserved partition is already the boot partition (and I doubt it is), EasyBCD will tell you.
3. Disconnect the hard disk drive (disk 1) and make sure you can boot only the SSD.
4. Reconnect the hard disk drive and make sure that bios is set to boot from the SSD first, not the hard disk drive.
5. Use MiniTool partition wizard to remove the drive letter T: from the system reserved partition and to clear the active partition setting from the hard disk (disk 1) F: drive partition.
6. Use Macrium Reflect free to create your backup images. (and a rescue disk.)

 

• No need to install any software. Just download @Kyhi Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums
• use Rufus - Create bootable USB to create a boot disk downloaded from step 1.
• Disconnect Disk 1. Boot from the USB and run Macrium, click on "Fix Windows Boot Problems". Macrium should rebuild the BCD.

 

The downside is that the user actually has to boot from the PE disk and can't just run the programs from inside Windows.

 

And the Upside is you don't have to install several programs to fix the problem. Specifically why would you install Mini Tool just to assign a Letter T: when it can be easily done using Diskpart ?

 

Personal preference.

 

Ah..., So you finally admitted it that it's your personal preference. Your personal preference is not neccessarily applied to others. So it got nothing to do with the downside, isn't it ?
FYI, your suggestion to install those programs are already included in @Kyhi Recovery disk. In addition, certain things can only be done under WINPE environment, not while Windows is running.

 

There are not really any down- or Upsides with either solutions. I personally prefer to install the programs because in my box of appr. 40 USB sticks I never find the one I am looking for.

 

Tip: I get the 1.25" key tags from the hardware store to put on a number of my thumb drives and mark the capacity on them. If there's any with particular data on them I can write that on the tag. They come with a ring that can be used for attaching to the hole on the drives.

 

Good tip. But that requires a certain discipline which I guess I don't have.

 

The upside with WinPESE is you maintain a cleaner OS... And only need 1 Boot Disk..

 

It is my personal preference due to the downside of having to find the USB flash drive or DVD and select it to boot from at the right time in the boot process.

And when you perform one of the operations that can only be done under WINPE environment you click apply and the program tells you that it is going to reboot the computer and complete the action on the next reboot.

There's nothing wrong with using Kyhi's WINPE boot disk. There's nothing wrong with installing the programs. There's nothing wrong with using command line commands when possible. You will notice what I stated in my post #3: "This is what I would do:".

and when I am playing around a lot with partitions, Insider versions, external drives, etc. to see what works and what doesn't work, I like to have all the programs in one little square of 3 or 4 small icons on my start menu that I don't have to reboot to use. That's just my personal preference. And I like being able to see the big picture in graphical format and like have more options than what built in Windows utilities will provide.