Aligning my XP partition on my 500gig WD harddrive

On Fri, 29 Jul 2016 16:43:25 -0400, Paul
wrote:

John B. Smith wrote:

After the Macrium Restore of the XP partition with Partition
Properties set to Vista/7/SSD, when I attempted the XP boot, it says:
"File \ntldr
Status 0xc0000225"

I've managed to reproduce your problem (in a dual boot VM).

https://s32.postimg.org/jfkjmc1c5/pr...reproduced.gif

You can see right away, what's wrong. The "restored,bad" BCD
info is on the right. The good one, on the left.

https://s32.postimg.org/kffk030yd/bc...ixing_ouch.gif

It should take some bcdedit commands to fix that,
and you can do them from an Administrator Command
Prompt window in Windows 7.

*******

As is usually the case with these, I never invent
anything myself, just copy the command from somewhere :-)

http://windowsitpro.com/systems-mana...cratch-bcdedit

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device partition=d:
bcdedit /set {ntldr} device partition=d:

All fixed :-)

*******

The bottom frame, the numbers on the right are now
divisible by 2048, so they're both now aligned. In
the top picture, the WinXP partition is divisible
by 63, the Win7 one divisible by 2048. I used Macrium
to realign-on-restore, the WinXP partition. The bottom
partition table shows the results.

https://s32.postimg.org/y0rqn8m6p/realigned.gif

Paul

Thanks for leading me by the hand thru this. I was trying to use
EasyBCD to examine the boot menu while in Win7 and you can't see the
error from there. I'm so rusty in Win 7 it took forever to get an
Administrator Command Prompt (hey, I'M the Administrator, how come my
personna don't work!?!?!?) Then I couldn't figure out how to PrntScrn
to the Clipboard and print the screens. (I'd spent a couple days
installing and playing in Win7 and then went back to my comfortable XP
where all my stuff works and I know what I'm doing.) I probably spent
as much time getting ready in Win 7 as you did solving my whole
problem. Anyway, today I restored a Macrium XPbackup from their Rescue
DVD using Vista/7/SSD for Restored Partition Properties. Booted to Win
7 and fixed the BCD as you instructed, booted successfully into XP,
Msinfo32 says my XP PartitionStartingOffset IS divisible by 4096 and
XP is aligned! Looks like Win7 is still not though. and neither is my
1000gig-4 partition data drive. I'll worry about them later. Thanks
much.

John B. Smith wrote:
On Fri, 29 Jul 2016 16:43:25 -0400, Paul
wrote:

John B. Smith wrote:

After the Macrium Restore of the XP partition with Partition
Properties set to Vista/7/SSD, when I attempted the XP boot, it says:
"File \ntldr
Status 0xc0000225"
I've managed to reproduce your problem (in a dual boot VM).

https://s32.postimg.org/jfkjmc1c5/pr...reproduced.gif

You can see right away, what's wrong. The "restored,bad" BCD
info is on the right. The good one, on the left.

https://s32.postimg.org/kffk030yd/bc...ixing_ouch.gif

It should take some bcdedit commands to fix that,
and you can do them from an Administrator Command
Prompt window in Windows 7.

*******

As is usually the case with these, I never invent
anything myself, just copy the command from somewhere :-)

http://windowsitpro.com/systems-mana...cratch-bcdedit

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device partition=d:
bcdedit /set {ntldr} device partition=d:

All fixed :-)

*******

The bottom frame, the numbers on the right are now
divisible by 2048, so they're both now aligned. In
the top picture, the WinXP partition is divisible
by 63, the Win7 one divisible by 2048. I used Macrium
to realign-on-restore, the WinXP partition. The bottom
partition table shows the results.

https://s32.postimg.org/y0rqn8m6p/realigned.gif

Paul

Thanks for leading me by the hand thru this. I was trying to use
EasyBCD to examine the boot menu while in Win7 and you can't see the
error from there. I'm so rusty in Win 7 it took forever to get an
Administrator Command Prompt (hey, I'M the Administrator, how come my
personna don't work!?!?!?) Then I couldn't figure out how to PrntScrn
to the Clipboard and print the screens. (I'd spent a couple days
installing and playing in Win7 and then went back to my comfortable XP
where all my stuff works and I know what I'm doing.) I probably spent
as much time getting ready in Win 7 as you did solving my whole
problem. Anyway, today I restored a Macrium XPbackup from their Rescue
DVD using Vista/7/SSD for Restored Partition Properties. Booted to Win
7 and fixed the BCD as you instructed, booted successfully into XP,
Msinfo32 says my XP PartitionStartingOffset IS divisible by 4096 and
XP is aligned! Looks like Win7 is still not though. and neither is my
1000gig-4 partition data drive. I'll worry about them later. Thanks
much.

For taking pictures, use the SnippingTool. I start a copy of
that, then "pin" it to the Task Bar. Then, on every
subsequent usage of the OS, the SnippingTool icon is
sitting there, ready to use.

There is one circumstance when I don't use it. I sometimes use
GIMP and the "Create" "from screenshot" feature. It has a timer.
I can set a 15 second timer, then arrange the cursor to open
some menu or whatever, and create "action shots" that I could not
otherwise capture. So occasionally I use the GIMP image editor,
for trick shots.

If I need a rolling record of an activity, I use FFMPEG and have
it snap a screenshot once a second. I've used that to time
things like "how long will it take Windows Update in
Win7 to appear this month". The last time I ran it, the
answer was 80 minutes, or 4800 automatic snapshots. FFMPEG
interfaces to Windows GDIGRAB, and by setting a framerate
of once a second, you can relatively economically chart
an activity.

http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/ (try a static, C:\FFMPEG\bin)

(Dumps images in the current working directory... Control-C to quit.)

C:\FFMPEG\bin\ffmpeg -framerate 1 -f gdigrab -i desktop -f image2 -q:v 1 -c:v mjpeg a%05d.jpg

*******

In Start, type "cmd", then right-click the top-most entry
and select "Run as Administrator". This is one of the
areas where Win7 doesn't have some of the polish of the
later versions, in terms of putting necessary utilities
in easy reach. In Win8/10, a right-click of Start yields
a set of utilities, including "Administrator Command Prompt".
Win7 requires more typing and memorization. After a while,
you will know

devmgmt.msc
diskmgmt.msc
netplwiz
snippingtool
perfmon.msc
....

all by heart. From having to type them so much.

Paul

I'm adding a note to this header as info to others who may be thinking
of aligning their partitions with Macrium Reflect Free. If you don't
have a dual boot system, or if you used a booter other than
Microsoft's supplied free one it might just be a snap. But Macrium
WILL mess up the BCD of a dual boot. Paul got me thru the XP alignment
and I just attempted to align the Win7 partition. If you're Restoring
to a partition other than you're initial one, where XP resides on
mine, Macrium is very likely to change your drive letter as it
Restores. I shortly couldn't boot either XP or Win7. You cannot
control the letter of the partition you are restoring. Set it to Auto
and it will almost always change, set it None, and sure enough, it
comes up without a letter and the OS cannot see it, if it even boots.
After 3 hours of trying every hare-brained solution to re-letter and
fix things, I used the Macrium's Rescue CD to 'fix Windows boot
problems' (I did all the restores externally from the Rescue disk.
Used the (Vista/7/SDD) Partition Property) (I don't see
fix-your-Windows-boot option on the regular in-Windows version of
Macrium, only on the Rescue CD). This choice does a BUNCH of stuff and
I'd been reluctant to turn it loose, but with 2 OS's not booting I was
desperate. Turned out it was the secret weapon. Both XP and Win7
booted right up (XP had to hard crash a couple of boots, finally
coming up with the proud announcement that it had 'installed your new
equipment). I would use the fix-your-boot option after every Restore
from now on.

John B. Smith wrote:

I would use the fix-your-boot option after every Restore
from now on.

Something new for me to test one of these days :-)

Because you know sooner or later, it's gonna bust something else.

Thanks,
Paul

On Thu, 04 Aug 2016 15:58:44 -0400, John B. Smith
wrote:

I'm adding a note to this header as info to others who may be thinking
of aligning their partitions with Macrium Reflect Free. If you don't
have a dual boot system, or if you used a booter other than
Microsoft's supplied free one it might just be a snap. But Macrium
WILL mess up the BCD of a dual boot. Paul got me thru the XP alignment
and I just attempted to align the Win7 partition. If you're Restoring
to a partition other than you're initial one, where XP resides on
mine, Macrium is very likely to change your drive letter as it
Restores. I shortly couldn't boot either XP or Win7. You cannot
control the letter of the partition you are restoring. Set it to Auto
and it will almost always change, set it None, and sure enough, it
comes up without a letter and the OS cannot see it, if it even boots.
After 3 hours of trying every hare-brained solution to re-letter and
fix things, I used the Macrium's Rescue CD to 'fix Windows boot
problems' (I did all the restores externally from the Rescue disk.
Used the (Vista/7/SDD) Partition Property) (I don't see
fix-your-Windows-boot option on the regular in-Windows version of
Macrium, only on the Rescue CD). This choice does a BUNCH of stuff and
I'd been reluctant to turn it loose, but with 2 OS's not booting I was
desperate. Turned out it was the secret weapon. Both XP and Win7
booted right up (XP had to hard crash a couple of boots, finally
coming up with the proud announcement that it had 'installed your new
equipment). I would use the fix-your-boot option after every Restore
from now on.

I've had trouble before. Same thing, two other OS, active partitions
besides Win7: the trouble being Windows 7. Besides the binary stream
portion, what (another program) wrote and restores the OS image,
there's consideration for placement of a boot arbitrator (another
3rd-party *nix arbitrator). I did it with three HDs, two SSD's and a
passive-partitioned plattered drive: the SDD containing the arbitrator
also contains both OS's, not Windows 7, whereas the other SDD contains
Windows 7. Wasn't easy straightening out why Windows 7 wouldn't
boot;- for that matter, wasn't -as- easy just getting the other SDD to
take a boot arbitrator capable of recognizing, and booting without
error, the other two OS's;- a Crucial SDD unit, I believe, which
replaced a Samsung SSD, the latter without the same issues (while
booting the same two OS's). In fact, the repairs involving various
partition formats I did manage with Windows 7, in order to
successfully take a boot from a prior imagine -- to be honest, I can't
now recall in exacting detail how I managed it, only that it is
possible.

Eventually, I recall I managed a way to eliminate the Microsoft
"hidden partition" (seems it's by default a security partition and
feature to Windows 7) -- which I suspect may have alleviated
partitioning problems I experienced, for simplicities' sake.
Switching, however, more predominately to Windows 7 usage, (and
restoration/partitioning -- it's not yet my favorite OS), I'd of
course have to "bone" in on it, [re]establish a dependable and
understandable routine for surety in binary Windows 7 restorations.

The hazards and perils of running older software, sometimes hardware,
and imprecision, contingencies involved when variously mixing the two.
And a certain element to computers that's always been there, finding
limits to imprecision, the ability to first impose upon them in a
studied manner. A developmental iteration then suited for
identification, consistently observable, and a potential candidate for
alternative approaches. . . .Here's to three cheers for kludge.

On Fri, 05 Aug 2016 03:53:10 -0400, Flasherly
wrote:

On Thu, 04 Aug 2016 15:58:44 -0400, John B. Smith
wrote:

I'm adding a note to this header as info to others who may be thinking
of aligning their partitions with Macrium Reflect Free. If you don't
have a dual boot system, or if you used a booter other than
Microsoft's supplied free one it might just be a snap. But Macrium
WILL mess up the BCD of a dual boot. Paul got me thru the XP alignment
and I just attempted to align the Win7 partition. If you're Restoring
to a partition other than you're initial one, where XP resides on
mine, Macrium is very likely to change your drive letter as it
Restores. I shortly couldn't boot either XP or Win7. You cannot
control the letter of the partition you are restoring. Set it to Auto
and it will almost always change, set it None, and sure enough, it
comes up without a letter and the OS cannot see it, if it even boots.
After 3 hours of trying every hare-brained solution to re-letter and
fix things, I used the Macrium's Rescue CD to 'fix Windows boot
problems' (I did all the restores externally from the Rescue disk.
Used the (Vista/7/SDD) Partition Property) (I don't see
fix-your-Windows-boot option on the regular in-Windows version of
Macrium, only on the Rescue CD). This choice does a BUNCH of stuff and
I'd been reluctant to turn it loose, but with 2 OS's not booting I was
desperate. Turned out it was the secret weapon. Both XP and Win7
booted right up (XP had to hard crash a couple of boots, finally
coming up with the proud announcement that it had 'installed your new
equipment). I would use the fix-your-boot option after every Restore
from now on.

I've had trouble before. Same thing, two other OS, active partitions
besides Win7: the trouble being Windows 7. Besides the binary stream
portion, what (another program) wrote and restores the OS image,
there's consideration for placement of a boot arbitrator (another
3rd-party *nix arbitrator). I did it with three HDs, two SSD's and a
passive-partitioned plattered drive: the SDD containing the arbitrator
also contains both OS's, not Windows 7, whereas the other SDD contains
Windows 7. Wasn't easy straightening out why Windows 7 wouldn't
boot;- for that matter, wasn't -as- easy just getting the other SDD to
take a boot arbitrator capable of recognizing, and booting without
error, the other two OS's;- a Crucial SDD unit, I believe, which
replaced a Samsung SSD, the latter without the same issues (while
booting the same two OS's). In fact, the repairs involving various
partition formats I did manage with Windows 7, in order to
successfully take a boot from a prior imagine -- to be honest, I can't
now recall in exacting detail how I managed it, only that it is
possible.

Eventually, I recall I managed a way to eliminate the Microsoft
"hidden partition" (seems it's by default a security partition and
feature to Windows 7) -- which I suspect may have alleviated
partitioning problems I experienced, for simplicities' sake.
Switching, however, more predominately to Windows 7 usage, (and
restoration/partitioning -- it's not yet my favorite OS), I'd of
course have to "bone" in on it, [re]establish a dependable and
understandable routine for surety in binary Windows 7 restorations.

The hazards and perils of running older software, sometimes hardware,
and imprecision, contingencies involved when variously mixing the two.
And a certain element to computers that's always been there, finding
limits to imprecision, the ability to first impose upon them in a
studied manner. A developmental iteration then suited for
identification, consistently observable, and a potential candidate for
alternative approaches. . . .Here's to three cheers for kludge.

From my recent experiences with Win7's BCD MAYBE a 3rd party 'boot
arbitor' would be easier. Though I remember contending with one when
booting Win 3.5, 98 and maybe even Linux (can't remember, my romance
with Linux was of short duration, seemed just too much work) and I was
forever screwing the pooch with it. I think I was also flirting with
overclocking in those days? Anyhoo, I think I've arrived at
satisfactory solution for emergency retore of my XP/Win7 system at
this point. Time will tell
SSD prices have been getting downright tempting lately, but from what
I read XP is hard on them. And moving the page file off-SSD? If the
page file is doing a over-lot of business, then wouldn't I want SSD
speed to deal with it? Then there is NEED, I just got two brand new
HDs to accomodate my dual OS system, SSD would just be another new toy
to play with (and waste money on).

On Fri, 05 Aug 2016 09:50:26 -0400, John B. Smith
wrote:

From my recent experiences with Win7's BCD MAYBE a 3rd party 'boot
arbitor' would be easier. Though I remember contending with one when
booting Win 3.5, 98 and maybe even Linux (can't remember, my romance
with Linux was of short duration, seemed just too much work) and I was
forever screwing the pooch with it. I think I was also flirting with
overclocking in those days? Anyhoo, I think I've arrived at
satisfactory solution for emergency retore of my XP/Win7 system at
this point. Time will tell
SSD prices have been getting downright tempting lately, but from what
I read XP is hard on them. And moving the page file off-SSD? If the
page file is doing a over-lot of business, then wouldn't I want SSD
speed to deal with it? Then there is NEED, I just got two brand new
HDs to accomodate my dual OS system, SSD would just be another new toy
to play with (and waste money on).


http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/about.html
SBM was for me a convoluted process to get operational on the Crucial
SSD unit, I'd had no issues with both for Sumsung 64G and 123G units.

*Nix machines are more fairly represented, especially with prevalent
BIOS pendrive boot options -- even arbitrators for that, too, for
selecting from several "live" distro images present on a single
pendrive. I setup half-a-dozen flavors of *nix OS on one, although
regrettably seldom use it for other than potential "build tools" when
installing a fresh drive into a machine.

I seldom overclock these days, especially with temperatures in
lockstep to a carbon footprint on an earth that's seen better ambient
days. Unlocking cores might be interesting, though.

Absolutely and unequivocally...moving the page file elsewhere. Hence
the one plattered drive I mentioned, where I format a 4G FAT32
partition at the end of a 2T harddrive for solely that purpose. Also,
since that particular drive has evoked a class-action lawsuit (against
Western Digital) for "hardwiring" the model/unit to hibernate and
power down prematurely at ridiculously short time intervals (server
class machines operational 24/7 especially wouldn't like that --
potentially shortening HD life expectancy) -- there's a BIOS flash,
with which I rewrote that interval for a longer one. An excellent
place I thought to partition a dedicated drive letter only for random
writes to the Windows swapfile, just in case there's any further
foolery with the applied patch.

It's been working so well, years of exceptional performance,now, that
I'm becoming alarmed. At one point I was used to building computers
regularly with regular hardware that regularly broke. These latest
systems are too good, throwing me somewhat off the practice of rising
to challenges present in every new build.