Hey everyone! I've got a bit of a tricky situation going on. I recently had a Windows To Go setup on an SD card that failed due to both logical and physical issues. The MSReserved partition is completely gone (it shows up as unallocated), the EFI partition has a messed-up file system, but surprisingly, the main Windows partition seems to be intact. I suspect physical issues because the states of the partitions keep changing.
After imaging the main Windows partition, I thought of getting a new, identical SD card to set up a new WTG. My plan is to clone just the original Windows partition over to this new card. My questions are: Is it possible to do this? If yes, would it lead to a fully usable system, assuming the image is fine? Also, which software would allow me to clone that partition without touching the EFI and MSR partitions on the target card? Most of what I found online is about cloning to an empty drive, which isn't what I'm after since I need to keep the existing partitions intact on the target. Thanks!
2 Answers
While it's possible to clone a partition as described, be cautious about relying solely on that method. It might be smart to recreate the EFI partition if you notice issues later, since it controls booting. To recreate it correctly, you might look into using a Windows installation media to repair the startup or use the command prompt to rebuild it. Just keep a backup of your data first!
You don't really need to worry about the EFI and MSR partitions if you're planning to clone just the Windows partition. However, the best practice is to keep them intact to avoid boot issues. You can use software like Macrium Reflect or AOMEI Partition Assistant; they both allow you to clone individual partitions. Just make sure you select the right options to avoid overwriting the other partitions. In theory, if your image of the Windows partition is good, you should get a working system after the clone!
Thanks for the tips! I've heard good things about AOMEI but wasn't sure it could do partial clones. I’ll give it a shot and see how it goes!
I appreciate the advice! I’ve tried looking up how to recreate the EFI correctly, but it seems so complicated. If I run into any issues, I might have to consider that option. Thanks!