XP/Win7 Dual Boot vs. Paragon 9.5 (and migration)

Hi all. Here's the situation. Disk has 2 partitions. 1st partition is XP, 2nd is Win7. When Win7 was installed, Windows boot started offering a choice between the two at each boot time.

My ultimate goal is to reduce the space on the XP partition and increase the space (must increase downward into the current XP partition, since there is no space to expand to upward for the Win7 partition).

Obviously, a risk here is screwing up the Win7 boot when the Win7 partition beginning is expanded downward.

My hope was that Paragone PM could help with this. As an initial test, I installed the boot manager.

Result is that when the system boots, it offers one choice -- which it calls the XP system (well, other choice is remove boot manager).

If I take the XP choice from PBM, I then enter the usual Windows dual boot menu and can choose either XP or Win7 from there.

That's where it stands.

The question is, what would be a recommended procedure to move forward without risking losing the ability to boot into either system, keeping in mind that the ultimate goal is to reduce the size of the XP partition (and remove it in the end) and increase the size of the Win7 partition downward into the space not consumed by the XP partition.

Thanks for any ideas!

 

You shouldn't need the Paragon bootmanager for that.

I would uninstall it. You should then be using Win7 bootmanager again.

Use Paragon boot disc to shrink XP partition from the right.

Then extend 7 partition to the left.

Paragon should update bcd to reflect the new offset.

If there any issues with that , run startup repair from the 7 dvd.

 

I do not have high confidence that Paragon considers the Win7 partition to be bootable. Remember, when I installed PBM (which I can easily remove, assuming the removal process properly reinstalls the original MBR), it only provided me with ONE choice -- the XP partition -- which has its own dual-boot menu which allows me to get to the Win7 system.

But if Paragon doesn't consider the Win7 partition to be bootable, why would it adjust the BCD at all when I grow that partition downward?

I really don't want to get into the situation where I have to depend on using a Win7 repair disk to try fix things up on the second partition (Win7) -- my luck with that in the past (as with Vista repair disks) has been very spotty.

Thanks.

 

I assume you had XP installed first.

Then installed 7 to the second partition.

Unless you deliberately changed it , the XP partition will be the Active partition.

Both the XP and the Win 7 boot critical files ( including bcd ) will be on the XP partition.

 

Correct, and that's my assumption. Which is why I'm concerned that Paragon won't adjust the BCD reference to the Win7 partition if I grow the beginning of the Win7 partition downward.

 

It always has for me.

Paragon adjusts the "system" bcd store ( the bcd store on the Active partition ).

 

That's the last time I trust Paragon with anything. I tried to use it simply to reduce the size of the 1st (XP) partition. Ran almost to completion, then suddenly put the machine in standby! Trying to wake it up got nothing. BAD.

Rebooted, got "interrupted operation" complaint. Recover disk useless.

Used Win 7 (Win 7 is on 2nd partition) repair disk to restore the MBR and
got back to the dual boot menu, but neither system will boot. The original XP system throws a nloadr error, and the Win 7 system starts to come up then
throws a "missing autochk" error. The Win 7 repair disk doesn't seem to see any systems on the disk though, which doesn't make any sense.

 

It sounds like the partition is hidden ( not showing as type 07 installable filesystem).

I have never seen that with Paragon before.

Ther are cases related to uninstalling one of the big famous Antivirus suites. It appears to be due to the Antivirus trying to protect itself/the drive.

That may explain why Windows boot disc ( and other bootable apps made for Windows ) are having trouble seeing the drive.

Gparted 0.3.9.4 ( NOT the more recent versions ) is often able to see the HD. http://sourceforge.net/projects/gparted/files/gparted-live-stable/

Boot Gparted 0.3.9.4 - it stops about 3 times asking about keyboard and language - just press enter - the defaults are fine.

Assuming it sees the HD, it may show as Unallocated or Raw - it may also give a message about an incorrect partition table.

I have had success using Gparted 3.9.4 to make a SMALL 1-2 gb partition on the extreme RIGHT of the HD.

It will recreate the partition table.

After that, Windows boot disc ( and other boot apps. made for Windows ) can also see the drive.

They may show the small partition at the end you just made , and the rest as Unallocated.

A partition Recovery Tool such as the one built into Paragon boot disc, ( or the one in the Free Partition Wizard Bootable CD is particularly good for FAT and NTFS partitions ), will probably recover the partitions in a few seconds.

It worked for me on several occasions.


NOTE: Free Partition Wizard boot disc includes - Rt click the partition >Modify>Change Partition Type ID >Select 0x07 NTFS ,Yes , Apply.

Try booting PW first - if it see the drive , then do the above - no need for Gparted.