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Re: migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board

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On 4/12/25 20:40, Paul wrote:
> On Sat, 4/12/2025 7:50 PM, bad sector wrote:
>>
>> Recovering data from my suddenly departed son's computer was a job and a half, but it's mostly done. He had a huge server tower and I think he was amusing himself with RAID (which he didn't need) and encryption (which he didn't need) and so on!
>>
>> Drives:
>>
>> #1
>> 500gb ssd with strange partitions for Linux and I think some created for future Linux OSes, could't figure out his /home partition setup, possibly raid.
>>
>> #2
>> 1tb ssd hosting fat and ext4 data PLUS a w7 and a w10 partition
>>
>> #3
>> 4tb data
>>
>>
>> #4,5,6 in a Linux-Raid array, all data
>>
>> I copied out the #4 data set, cleared those drives, and released the tower to the executors for liquidation. Then I also backed up what ever other data I could find to other drives on hand.
>>
>> Plugged the # 1,2,3 drives into my own very similar computer; couldn't believe it when everything just booted right up, even the two window installs! This gave me the idea that I can relax and take my time doing the rest of the recovey, filtering and disposal as time permits because I can now just boot my son's systems on my own computer. But it's my OLD computer.
>>
>> _____And that's how shit hit the fan
>>
>> I'm moving to a new and inevitably UEFI box, just plugging those 3 drives in doesn't work any more, so...
>>
>> I copied the #1 drive to a 1tb ssd to have more space, then did a fresh Linux (Tumbleweed) install to get EFI bootabilty. With that new #1 drive and his other drives including the #2 with windows on it also plugged-in I ran Yast to set up the EFI boot. I can now boot either my temporary facilitating Linux install OR my son's Linux (Leap-15.4) on the new EFI-BIOS board.
>>
>> But I cannot boot his windows, for that I'd have to keep my old Legacy-BIOS box which I don't want to do (I can unload it for a few hundered bills).
>>
>> Not knowing windows much I think I could do a w7 and a w10 fresh install after having done two 'windows backups' on the legacy box and then try a recovery from those windows-backup files on the new w7 and w10 installs on the EFI box. There's GOTTA be a simpler way   ..I hope.
>>
> 
> With my Macrium CD, I can boot from the CD and back up any machine.
> 
> You would not use the "Windows 7 Backup" that comes with Windows, because
> of the rough edges. Commercial backup materials have the rough edges filed off.

I got as far as Ventoy making me a w10 usb installer, expecting to hear 
from Macrium during the week, I don't wanna pay for it unless I know 
it's gonna do the job. Or is that boot repair feature on the trial CD?





> 
> *******
> 
> Similar to your Tumbleweed facilitator install, you can install a Windows side-by-side
> in a sense. Use Macrium to clone over or backup-restore over, the partition
> from the other box. Then do a Macrium CD boot repair, and the boot repair (similar to
> OSprober), it sees the orphan Windows partitions you added, and includes
> them in the boot menu.
> 
> Similar to third-party "EasyBCD" on Windows, you can use this command
> 
>     bcdboot C:\Windows /s C:
> 
> to add an item to the boot menu (stored in the BCD file, BCD file
> format is actually a registry file).
> 
> But, there is "much to and fro" involved. For example, somewhere along the
> way, you will be holding an MSDOS Primary partition in your hand,
> some other disk is GPT with GUID partition type declarations.
> 
> What commercial tools will agree to bodge those items together
> to make a whole part ?
> 
> It's going to take trickery at some point.
> 
> Perhaps you make a "shell" of a partition (exact sizing important)
> on the GPT disk, then "dd" copy the MSDOS partition into the
> space set aside for the GPT partition. I have no idea whether
> that works. I can tell you, that the equivalent of an rsync
> between Windows C: type partitions, would never work, due to
> all the fiddly details involved in such things. Microsoft have
> gone out of their way, to ensure you can't Robocopy the entire
> C: drive into another partition. I *used* to do that in WinXP era,
> but those were simpler times and the file systems were a bit more
> bend-able back then.
> 
> Windows has an MBR2GPT.exe utility, written by some hapless developer.
> Any program carrying out composite file system operations (partition,
> merge, shrink, done) is basically doomed to fail and fall on its face.
> Developers normally stick to "primitive" "one step" commands, for safety.
> Yet, somebody wrote that code... and it has enough smarts to reject
> disk configurations it does not like. Leaving only one configuration
> it does like. I think you can see coercing such a utility to do more
> than it intended to do, is a tall ask. It will not accept any old
> arbitrary configuration, and convert it.
> 
> So yes, your mission looks like, technically do-able, but just about
> all the tools will tell you "I don't like broccoli", "I will sit
> here in this corner with this cold broccoli until hell freezes over",
> and so on :-) You've seen this before somewhere.
> 
> MBR2GTP.exe can help you cross that river, but it won't allow
> you to carry a duck and a potato in the boat with you (a reference
> to this problem, where the problem was modified for an AI to solve).
> How the problem can involve a duck and a potato, I will never know.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf,_goat_and_cabbage_problem
> 
> Summary: Do-able, but mostly a bar bet, like a steam powered rocket launch :-)
> 
>     Paul
> 

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Thread

migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board bad sector <forgetski@_INVALID.net> - 2025-04-12 19:50 -0400
  Re: migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-04-12 20:40 -0400
    Re: migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board bad sector <forgetski@_INVALID.net> - 2025-04-13 22:42 -0400
    Re: migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board bad sector <forgetski@_INVALID.net> - 2025-04-22 16:40 -0400
      Re: migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-04-23 09:38 -0400
        Re: migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board bad sector <forgetski@_INVALID.net> - 2025-04-24 00:23 -0400
        Re: migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-04-24 03:52 -0400
        Re: migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board bad sector <forgetski@_INVALID.net> - 2025-04-25 08:33 -0400
          Re: migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-04-25 12:42 -0400
            Re: migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board bad sector <forgetski@_INVALID.net> - 2025-04-25 23:01 -0400
            Re: migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board bad sector <forgetski@_INVALID.net> - 2025-04-27 08:43 -0400
              Re: migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-04-27 11:20 -0400
  Re: migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-04-14 04:27 +0000
    Re: migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-04-14 03:29 -0400
    Re: migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board bad sector <forgetski@_INVALID.net> - 2025-04-14 06:03 -0400
      Re: migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-04-14 08:16 -0400
        Re: migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2025-04-14 23:38 +0000
        Re: migrate triple-booting legacy-BIOS Linux-w7-w10 to EFI board bad sector <forgetski@_INVALID.net> - 2025-04-14 20:44 -0400

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