Can EasyBCD boot 3 drives

getloan

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I Have a Dell XPS 8500 setup with a Win 7 SSD and a Win 10 HDD using Easybcd to use for dual boot. The HDD is partitioned for Win 10, recovery partition and Storage.
Easybcd 2.2 is on the Win 10 HDD and the Win 7 SSD.
I want to clone just the Win 10 partition to the new SSD via USB since I am currently using the system all day.


Here are my concerns and questions:
Should I clone the Win 10 partition with Easybcd installed or will it create problems later with the bootloader?
Ideally I would like to keep the Win 7 SSD connected til all my programs and data are transferred to the Win 10 SSD, so is it possible to have 3 boot drives with Easybcd?
If not then how do I disable the Win 10 partition and yet keep active the storage partition?
After cloning, should I disconnect all drives and first install the Win 10 SSD and boot to it first and of necessary reinstall EasyBCD, then add back the other drives?
Currently Bios only shows the HDD and not my current Win 7 SSD. I presume this is because Easybcd is loaded.

Attached is the disk management screen from Win 7 boot
Thanks in advance
 

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EasyBCD plays no active part in the boot process. It makes no difference at all to your PC whether you install or uninstall it.
It's the MS Word of the boot process. You use it to add, delete or alter the contents of the BCD. After that it's an entirely passive occupant of a little disk space.
In the same way as removing Word from your PC won't alter any of the documents you created or altered by using it, removing EasyBCD doesn't affect the BCD.
Only what you did with EasyBCD when you used it will affect the boot process subsequently (and permanently) until you use it again to add, undo or alter what you did previously.
You can use it to add a virtually unlimited number of boot choices to the BCD.
You are already controlling the boot of W7 via the W10 bootmgr
Disk Management flags have the following meanings

"boot" = "this is the system you're running"
"system" = "this is where I found the boot files for the currently running system"
"active" (on the first HDD in the BIOS boot sequence) = "this is where I started the search for the boot files"
"active" (on subsequent HDDs in the BIOS boot sequence) ="this is where I will look if I don't find something in the MBR on the first HDD"

When you "clone" W10 to a new SSD, whether it causes problems or goes like a dream depends on the combination of Partition Management software and which of its internal commands you use.
A true clone (bit for bit identical copy), won't boot without further intervention because it will also clone the BCD and the BCD points at partitions using a hash of unique device signature and partition offset from the device start. i.e. it will still be pointing at the original HDD not the new SSD. That's easily fixed by booting the W10 installation DVD and > Repair Your Computer > Repair Startup (3 times), or you can use EasyBCD to modify the SSD's BCD from W10 running on the HDD (Files > Select BCD store) by simply deleting the BCD entries, then adding them again which will also correct the misalligned pointers to their new location.
Some OS copying commands, in some Partition Managers, will "fix" the BCD for you, yet others will make a "copy" which can be booted alongside the old source by heavily modifying the registry.
I'd advise you to read the small print of your Partition Manager sofware and the differences between its many apparently similar copying functions, and then read them again to make sure you know what it intends to do to your OS and that's what you really want.
 
Thanks for response.
I now understand how Easy BCD works.
My goal is to move the boot record to the new Win 10 SSD.
So if it is a bit by bit clone ( I think most are Sector by Sector..Samsung Data migration or EaseUS clone) of the Win 10 HDD partition to the SSD, can I just delete the Win 10 partition on the HDD and it will still be intact on the SSD? or am I missing something?
 
When you've successfully booted the W10 SSD copy (it will show as "active" "system" and "boot" in Disk Management) then you can delete the old HDD copy. Don't discard it until you've verified the above status of the new copy.
 
Everything I try just isn't working. I have read alot of posts and cant boot the cloned SSD. If I try Repair from install or repair disc, it does nothing.
I just need some instructions on how to clone the Win 10 (EasyBCD) partition to a the new SSD and then delete the Old Win 10 HDD partition.


Any help would be appreciated.
 
Can't offer any more advice than the last para of post #3. It's all about the software you're using, and I haven't moved an OS in that way since W95 era, when the relevant software had much less to do.
 
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