0

Over time I have accumulated several genuine Windows Versions (XP, Vista, Win7) on separate HDD drives running on the same machine. Now I'd like to combine all three OS onto one SSD with a multiboot option to boot one of the three OS.

A fresh install of various Windows versions onto one drive in different partitions is very well possible. In fact Windows simply creates one Startup option for each OS installed. However in this case, I do NOT want to make new windows installations, I want to clone (or merge) each of the three OS on a single-drives onto one SSD. How can this be achieved, so that each OS residing in its own partition can be booted from?

I have taken a thorough look at various options discussed on this exchange "What utility can move my Windows boot partition over to another hard drive?" and also How to clone a Win7 boot partition onto the SAME hard drive? Unfortunately I did not succeed.

Some use AOMEI or MiniTool, one person using easeUS gave a nice and detailed description but also mentions that the proposed procedure isn't tested.

What I am hoping for is to receive advice for a working solution from someone who actually did it and has verified their suggestion.

I have the option to use gParted running on a Raspberry Pi 4. Therefore a solution that involves Raspbian is also very helpful.

snahl
  • 159
  • 1
  • 1
  • 13
  • I cannot answer the specific question (so a comment here). I do what you do and even farther back - all the way to DOS. They are all virtual machines and have lived from 1998 (thereabouts) to now adding as I go and living on whatever machine is current at the moment. You can convert your machines to Virtual Machines too. – John Feb 05 '21 at 23:40
  • Windows XP doesn’t support SSDs so you won’t be able to migrate that version of Windows – Ramhound Feb 05 '21 at 23:48
  • Not to mention drivers will cause them to crash. – Moab Feb 06 '21 at 01:20
  • This is going to be a complex mess DONT DO IT. You can't use GPT. MBR support 4 primary partitions. You will need to use the first 3 for your OS, and create an extended partition for the rest of the partitions. Even solving this problems is going to be hard, and there are far harder problems waiting for you. You need to run virtual box or etc and visualizer them. This is way easier. – cybernard Feb 06 '21 at 03:05
  • I should note FYI. I recently tried surfing the web on Vista and it was terrible nothing worked properly and no modern versions of web browser run on it. Web surfing was a no go. XP is going to be even worst. – cybernard Feb 06 '21 at 03:08
  • @Rambound True for a fresh install. No true for a sector-by-sector clone from HDD to SSD – snahl Feb 06 '21 at 06:47
  • @cybernard Right, MS-IE renders useless, but there are modern browsers like 'serpent' that run on Vista and replace MS-IE. In addition there are many other flaws in the OS relating to the question. – snahl Feb 06 '21 at 06:52
  • @John The idea includes that I'd like to use the original hardware the 3 OS were running for all them years. I do want them OS operational, but I don't want them OS to be used on a daily base. It's more like an exhibition piece in a museum showing "what was then". – snahl Feb 06 '21 at 06:59
  • @snahl - Windows XP doesn't support TRIM nor does it support NVMe since it doesn't support UEFI. I have never seen Windows XP on an SSD. – Ramhound Feb 06 '21 at 13:23
  • @Ramhound You're right XP does not support TRIM and yes it's not optimal for daily use. Nevertheless XP runs on SSDs. Try it for yourself and you will be surprised to see it. I've been running XP on SSD for at least three years without any issue. The trick is to leave some space unallocated. However this is not related to my question. – snahl Feb 06 '21 at 22:23

1 Answers1

0

As my comment exceeds the allowed comment size you are getting my comment in the answer template:

What I am hoping for is to receive advice for a working solution from someone who actually did it and has verified their suggestion.

Your request will fail because the success of somebody else succeeding in it does not prove that his recipe can be applied to your machine.

Your question is too unspecific.

The fact that you do not disclose information about your boot methods and setting (compatible, AHCI, extended scheme), size of drives, used size of partitions, number of partitions used up for each invidiual os installation. or any activity required when starting another OS on your machine would force a reply being is big as a magazine.

Think about the simplest most common denomminator which involves using a CSM (compatibility support module) thereby restricting the drive to a sector size of 512 byte and a total of not more than 2TB could also prevent reaching your goal.

Good luck!

r2d3
  • 3,298
  • 1
  • 8
  • 24