Windows 10: Moving Boot Partition

Hey all,

This is probably much simpler than I expect, but I can't find any specific instructions myself and I do NOT want to mess anything up here.

I want to separate my data and boot files. I have two 1TB hard drives and a 320GB. I want to move the boot drive and necessary operating partitions from one of the 1TB drives to the 320GB drive.

How can I succesfully clone the boot partition while leaving behind data files?

Here's a screenshot of Disk Management if it helps.




And if you're curious why I want to do this; I transfer a lot of large files around frequently (Files on my PC to NAS, using bittorrent, FTP/VPN work stuff, etc.) and I use my PC as a bit of a HTPC running Kodi. I could be wrong, but I assume separating my data files and my boot files will allow the PC to run a bit more smoothly when there are all sorts of file transfers going on all over the place.

:)

 

How to move the boot status from a partition to another ?

How to move the boot status from a partition to another of the same one HDD on GUID Partition Table system on windows 10 ?

I have cloned the bootable OS partition (lettered with C) to another partition (letter F) so the size used is near exact.

screenshot from AOMEI Partition Assistant SE (free edition) app.:



Now how do I move the active bootable (change the boot status) of source partition to be in the destination (new) partition?

 

WINDOWS 10 UPGRADE COULDNT UPDATE THE SYSTEM RESERVED PARTITION

I am unclear about all of this.

What is the 100MB Data partition for?

It says: Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition),

while the C: says: Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)

Your link was about moving the Boot to C:

Thanks!

 

You can use Macrium Reflect Free to create an image of the partitions required to backup Windows then restore that image to the new drive you want to use. It's good practice to ensure that new boot drive is the only drive connected when you first boot and to ensure only the main boot drive has an active partition (unless you have a dual boot system).

 

As it is it won't work you need c and the UEFI partitions but they come to over 403 gig so it won't fit in the present state

 

Yup. This is right. The partition I would need to clone with Reflect is 433GB, about twice the space I have on the 'new' drive.
I'm letting Explorer calculate how much space C:/Users takes up, but I know for certain that it's well over 100GB of data.... that took a while... it's 353GB.

I think I might need to clarify what I'm ultimately trying to achieve. I want all of my user files, data, movies, pictures, documents, etc. on my current 1TB drive, and all of the files to run programs and Windows on the 320GB harddrive.

From the sounds of what has been suggested, using reflect will mirror my user files as well; not what I want I think.

I can always move data files to NAS or somewhere to reduce my primary partition's size and clone it, but where do I go from there?

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A quick addition: In the near future, I plan on getting an affordable SSD to put the primary partition on to really help make boot time and other things a lot snappier. Ideally, I'd just go out and pick up a 4TB SSD, but manufacturers say the prices won't reach HDD prices til 2020. So, I'll move stuff to the HDD for now which will make things slightly more tolerable until a month or so from now when I get an SSD (and at that point all I'll have to do is clone the 320GB HDD to the SSD) Then I'll sit on that for a few years until I can afford a >1TB SSD at which point I'll clone (or more likely just move with Explorer) my data HDD(s) to it and retain the separate, smaller SSD.

 

Ok,

I've moved some data files around and cleaned up space on my drives.
C:\ now has less than 200G.

Now what do I need to do now?

These instructions sound like they're going to move EVERYTHING from C:\ to my new drive (mounted at E:\), this isn't what I want to do.

I want to move the operating system and program files to the new drive, but leave behind user files.

 

May need to do it in a couple of steps. First, get all your user files off somewhere else. Nice tutorial here to accomplish that: Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10 Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

Then, all should be left is the OS and Program Files, Program Files (x86), etc...... everything BUT your user files. Macrium an image of that. Restore the MR image to the new drive. Move the user files back to the previous drive, where they were. And point to them there from the OS on the new drive.

Make any sense? Or am I missing the whole point? Wouldn't be the first time.

 

Might have been easier to use something which allows file/folder exclusion from an image. I think the only free version to do that is Paragon Backup and recovery 14. Takes a while to calculate the exclusions, though.

O&O disk image 10.5 Pro is quicker in that respect.

O&O giveaway may still be running. Looks like it is. Register for free key here:
Registrieren Sie sich hier für Ihre kostenlose Vollversion von OO DiskImage 10

download O&O disk image 10 pro edition from here:
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After install O&O disk image offers to update to 10.5.5 ( upgrade to v11 is not free )


There is also Pguru which isn't really an imaging program ( no scheduling etc). It does make manual images with exclusions - even the free ( non registered ) version
Recover deleted files, Partition manager and Windows backup - PartitionGuru

 

Park the user files somewhere else or create a separate partition on the SSD for your user files and don't select that partition when you create the system image. I keep my user files on a HDD and file access is still very fast.

 

You know... this sounds like exactly what I want to do. I haven't done it yet (will within 24 hours), will post how it goes when I get there.

I don't actually have an SSD yet, just separate HDDs. I actually did find some trustworthy articles that confirmed that even with HDDs, having program files and user files in separate locations will make the OS operate quicker. The most ideal thing is to have the OS on an SSD and user files on a separate one, but an SSD/HDD combo is almost just as good (as you mentioned). And considering the cost of drives, it's really the most cost-speed-effective option. I'm stilling waiting a while to get an SSD for OS and then a few years from now when the price has deflated dramatically I'll get an SSD for user files, because why not?

 

Having two SSDs gives much flexibility in how you arrange your files. Go for it if you can afford this solution.

 

Thank you!

I'm almost there (a month later). I've moved the user files as described in the link.

Unfortunately, I'm stuck on trying to move the boot stuff to a smaller drive.

Currently, boot files are on a 1Tb drive, about to move them to a 300GB drive. The current boot drive has only about 55GB written to it, and the macrium image file is 31.8GB (it's compressed). When I try to restore the image to the 300GB drive, I get the error that there isn't enough space.


Thank you!

I'm almost there (a month later). I've moved the user files as described in the link.

Unfortunately, I'm stuck on trying to move the boot stuff to a smaller drive.

Currently, boot files are on a 1Tb drive, about to move them to a 300GB drive. The current boot drive has only about 55Gb

 

During the restore process, are you dragging and dropping the partition you want to move from the source drive image to the destination drive? It should then give you the option to resize the partition to fit onto the smaller drive. You also need to drop the partition into a space on the smaller drive that is big enough - either over the top of an existing partition or an unallocated space - but either the way the space you are dropping the partition onto must have enough room for the used partition of the source partition.

Let's say you have an existing partition and 10 GB empty at the end of the destination drive. You can't drop a partition with 55 GB of data into the 10 GB empty space at the end of the drive.

 

Here's a brief summary of how I ended up going from one 1TB HDD (C:\) containing all of my files (OS, programs, documents/personal data) to three hard drives; C:\, containing the OS and programs, 160GB 10,000RPM Velociraptor; and D:\, containing Documents, Downloads, Images, etc, actually two 1TB HDDs on RAID 1.

Preparations
- I recommend having 4-5 drives to complete the process (three to install, one or two for backups along the way).
- Macrium is a very elegant and handing imaging tool, but if you need to mirror from a larger disk to a smaller (like I will the OS and program files from a 1TB drive to a 160GB drive), then you'll need AOMEI.
- Get a book to read, this will take a while.
The Process:

1. Obviously, start by backing up your current drive to a 4th disk you won't be using.
2. Watch the video and read the instructions here to move all of your personal files--probably the most complicated step. Note: when it comes to creating the unattended answer file, don't sweat it if you notice that the file shown in the video differs from the one you copy and paste from the instructions. I used the text from the instructions (not the video) and everything turned out fine on the first go.

You now have two drives in your computer and could leave things as is, C:\ and D:\. I noticed a difference in performance at this point, applications that accessed data on both drives (the ones that didn't get messed up anyhow) were much quicker to load, but that's about it.

3. Use AOMEI to mirror what's left on your first disk (C:\) to your 3rd disk, in my case this was the 160GB drive. Replace your first drive with your third drive.

You still have two drives in your computer and could leave things as is, C:\ and D:\, but now your primary drive is more size-appropriate to it's job and could be a SSD or 10,000RPM drive as was my case. At this point, I noticed even better performance across the board; all of my applications loaded a bit quicker and the computer started up faster as well.

4. Backup your data drive to your 5th drive (if available, otherwise, overwrite the backup on your 4th).

5. Install your third drive, identical to the second drive at D:\

6. Open Storage Spaces by searching "Storage Spaces" in start and pressing enter. (Or be old school and find it in Control Panel). On the left hand side you'll see "Create a new pool and storage space". Click on that and follow through all the settings. Instructions for this can be easily found.

Now you have three drives in your computer and could leave things as is, C:\, D:\ and D:\(RAID).

7. Depending on your motherboard and other hardware, you may or may not be able to encrypt your drives at this time. My hardware setup did not support encryption because I lacked a Trusted Platform Module. I ordered one and installed it. With luck, you can skip this step.

8. To enable bitlocker, simply right click on the drive in explorer and select "Enable bitlocker" then follow through the dialogs. Instructions for this can easily be found.

And now you have three encrypted drives on your computer, C:\ containing your OS and program files, and two RAID 1 disks at D:\.


Rationale:
A lot of this setup has to do with my particular needs. The data that is stored locally on my computer (not on my NAS) is data that I can't do without for a moment (some files I bring home from work are on there), so I used RAID 1 to make sure I always have a ready-to-use duplicate of it. On top of RAID, I use Windows 7 Backup to do a weekly backup of everything on my computer; this backup is done on a 1.5TB hot-swappable HDD that I only put in my computer when I do my weekly backup, this drive is also encrypted.

Should one of my data drives fail, I've got one ready to go.
Should my OS become problematic or fail, I can restore.
Should my entire computer have a SHTF scenario like ransomeware, I have a physically dislocated backup of everything I can safely restore from.
Should someone steal my computer, I have a backup of my data (since the backup drive is stored out of the computer in a fire safe).
Also, should someone steal my computer, my data is secure from their prying eyes.

Finally, maybe you're wondering to yourself, why didn't Foxtrot use an SSD?
After a lot of research, I decided now simply isn't the time to be buying an SSD, especially considering reliability. At this point, to me, you pay a lot of money for nothing but speed at the risk of data corruption (SSDs are much more susceptible to the factors that concern me: stray electrons, power failures--I don't want a tree falling on my powerline to be what corrupts my drive). The only advantage SSDs seem to have in terms of reliability is that they're less susceptible to environmental factors (G forces, extreme temperatures) and I really don't take my desktop on trips to Antarctica all too frequently these days. In a few years when the price on SSDs is lower and the technology behind them is better, I'll look into an SSD as they are undeniably faster (and I might have to look at upgrading my CPU to see that increase).