Dual boot issue; Win7 backs-up the XP partition!

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smilingcrow
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Dual boot issue; Win7 backs-up the XP partition!

Post by smilingcrow » Wed Feb 03, 2010 3:28 am

I have a dual boot with XP & Win7 RC1 (XP = partition 0, Win7 = partition 1, Data = partition 2) and when I used the Win7 backup utility it needed to backup the whole of the XP partition as well as Win7 because presumably there are some system files on there that are required.

I am now going to install XP and Win7 retail on a new HDD so wondered if it is worth creating a tiny partition 0 that will hold the boot files which then means that Win7 won’t need to include the XP partition when it makes a backup.
So the new setup would be:

Part 0 – Boot files – 100MB
Part 1 – XP – 100GB
Part 2 – Win7 – 100GB
Part 3 – Data – 1.x TB

Are there any downsides to doing it this way and do I need to do this to overcome the Win7 backup issue or is there another way?

Michael Sandstrom
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Post by Michael Sandstrom » Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:39 am

Here is my suggestion. Use free versions of Active Killdisk and Easeus Partition Magic. First use Killdisk to blank and initialize the volume. Second use Easeus Partition Master To create and format two primary partitions of the sizes desired and a third logical partition for data.. Next install xp on the first primary partition. Finally install 7 on the other primary partition.

If you set up everything this way Win 7 backup should work as desired.

smilingcrow
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Post by smilingcrow » Wed Feb 03, 2010 5:36 am

Michael Sandstrom wrote:Here is my suggestion. Use free versions of Active Killdisk and Easeus Partition Magic. First use Killdisk to blank and initialize the volume. Second use Easeus Partition Master To create and format two primary partitions of the sizes desired and a third logical partition for data.. Next install xp on the first primary partition. Finally install 7 on the other primary partition.
If you set up everything this way Win 7 backup should work as desired.
Thanks for that although it doesn’t look any different to what I have already done except that I used Acronis. I should have another look to see if the Win 7 backup issue is separate to my partitioning layout.

SebRad
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Post by SebRad » Fri Feb 05, 2010 7:51 am

Hi, if you install Windows 7 on a clean disk it creates a small partition for something. Even if you try to partition the disk as one large one taking the whole space it still does it as it needs it. I guess some Googling would find out why.
EDIT link
I guess in smilingcrow's case it's using the XP partition instead of a small additional one it would normally have, maybe!.

Seb

Michael Sandstrom
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Post by Michael Sandstrom » Fri Feb 05, 2010 9:20 am

SebRad wrote:Hi, if you install Windows 7 on a clean disk it creates a small partition for something. Even if you try to partition the disk as one large one taking the whole space it still does it as it needs it.

Seb
When I install Windows 7 on a clean disk it does not create the hidden partition. In fact it creates no partition at all and does no formatting because the disk I use has been pre-formatted with a single primary partition by Easeus Partition Magic.

smilingcrow
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Post by smilingcrow » Fri Feb 05, 2010 10:29 am

Michael Sandstrom wrote:
SebRad wrote:Hi, if you install Windows 7 on a clean disk it creates a small partition for something. Even if you try to partition the disk as one large one taking the whole space it still does it as it needs it. Seb
When I install Windows 7 on a clean disk it does not create the hidden partition. In fact it creates no partition at all and does no formatting because the disk I use has been pre-formatted with a single primary partition by Easeus Partition Magic.
By clean disk it means one that is blank and has not being partitioned I presume.
I have previously installed Win7 on a ‘dirty’ disk and it didn’t create the hidden partition as you also experienced.

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