Boot Win 7 Paritition copied to Empty space after Win XP on old HDD?

Discussion in 'Windows 7' started by crashnburn, Jul 5, 2015.

  1. crashnburn

    crashnburn MDL Addicted

    Mar 18, 2010
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    Boot Win 7 Paritition copied to Empty space after Win XP on old HDD?

    I plan to upgrade my main OS from Win 7 SP1 x64 to 8 to 8.1. But to take the risk out of it...

    I copied my main Win 7 Partition from my SSD to Empty space on old HDD after Win XP partition. (at night.. so I dont have to wait around for 200+ GB going over)

    SSD 240 GB: [System Reserved: 200 MB] [SSD_P1 240GB]
    HDD 320GB: [Win XP 33GB] [SSD_P1 Copy 240GB ][Free Space][OEM Recovery partition]

    I copied this using Paragon HDM 12 Pro

    I did not copy the [System Reserved] partition as I wasnt sure how it would fit in.. and since its 200 MB, should be easier to "move" / "copy" if needed.

    Now, I read that there is a way to make Win 7 bootable without the SysRrv 200 MB partition.

    Or do I need to copy the 200 M partition? Is there a way to make the Win 7 boot while letting the rest of the MBR & booters (Win XP and OEM Recovery) continue working?

    What way should I follow? What steps should I take?

    PPS: Once this experiment is successful, I'd like to upgrade my SSD with Win 8.. But I am wondering if I should keep the 200 M partn around or merge it.. It just creates additional 'partition's to worry about.
    What are the pros & cons of that?
     
  2. Mutagen

    Mutagen MDL Addicted

    Feb 18, 2013
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