Guidance on backup, multi-boot strategy for NVMe SSD

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Grabby
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2013 11:49 am

Guidance on backup, multi-boot strategy for NVMe SSD

Post by Grabby »

I just got a Lenovo x1 yoga 2nd gen laptop which has Win10 installed with the product key in BIOS. In a perfect world I’d like to boot Ubuntu, Win 10 or Win 7 from its Samsung NVMe SSD, but I’d settle for Ubuntu and Win 10 with Win 7 running on VirtualBox. Since this is my first jump into the SSD world I’m not even sure what the best way to backup the SSD is before I start experimenting with boot options. Unfortunately I have licenses for BootItBM and Image for UEFI, but not BootIt UEFI. Any advice would be appreciated.
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: Guidance on backup, multi-boot strategy for NVMe SSD

Post by Brian K »

Grabby,

Your CPU doesn't support Win7. 7th generation CPU.

Your Win10 will be installed in UEFI mode so you will need BIU if you plan to multi-boot with Ubuntu and/or other Linux OS.

Don't be frightened by your NVMe SSD. Just regard it as a conventional HD and image/restore as you have done in the past. Can you post a screenshot of Disk Management? We could make some suggestions about backup and multi-booting.
Grabby
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2013 11:49 am

Re: Guidance on backup, multi-boot strategy for NVMe SSD

Post by Grabby »

Brian, thanks for the quick reply. I know my CPU doesn’t support Win 7, but I’ve read that it actually works quite well. That said, that’s not my main concern. I’m mainly interested in setting up for at least booting into Win 10 and Linux and having image backups of both. I’m posting a screenshot of my Disk Management. I should add that at present I have a 256GB Samsung PM961 which I’m looking to upgrade to a higher capacity, but I assume I will be able to clone whatever I do to this SSD to the new one.
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Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: Guidance on backup, multi-boot strategy for NVMe SSD

Post by Brian K »

Grabby, nice screenshot and you have plenty of Free Space for future OS. As you know there is another partition, the MSR, which doesn't show in Disk Management.

When you install BIU, all BootIt files go into the EFI System partition. Unlike BIBM, an extra partition isn't created. BIU will automatically create a Win10 Boot Item for you. When you install Ubuntu, set the Boot Loader partition as the EFI System partition. BIU will automatically create an Ubuntu Boot Item for you. Unlike BIBM, you don't have to create these Boot Items prior to installing the OS.

Yes, you can upgrade your SSD to a larger one and clone across.

You can keep Secure Boot enabled for the Ubuntu install.
DrTeeth
Posts: 1289
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:58 pm

Re: Guidance on backup, multi-boot strategy for NVMe SSD

Post by DrTeeth »

On Sat, 13 Apr 2019 14:01:09 PDT, just as I was about to take a herb,
Grabby disturbed my reverie and wrote:

>I know my CPU doesn't support Win 7, but I've read that it actually works quite well.

OT:- I could not run Win 7 as I could not enable USB support for my
chipset (Intel Z390). Win 8.1 works just fine, but a hack will have to
be applied to enable windows updates as it recognises a
"non-supported" CPU. No probs with Linux.
--
Cheers,

DrT

** Amateurs built the Ark, but professionals built the Titanic.**
Grabby
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2013 11:49 am

Re: Guidance on backup, multi-boot strategy for NVMe SSD

Post by Grabby »

I finally have an update with both good and bad news.

The good news is that I was able to install Windows 7 alongside Windows 10. To do this I made use of USB installation media created with Rufus, not Windows USBDVD Download Tool because the latter won’t let you make one in FAT32. Then I added the USB 3.0 drivers so the stick could be seen in UEFI mode with ASUS EZInstaller even though I have a Lenovo because EZInstaller is brand agnostic. I then had to get the naked Samsung NVMe SSD driver files, not the .exe Samsung gives you, and stuck them in a directory on the USB stick. I created a partition for Win7 with BIU, made sure I was starting in UEFI mode, then booted to the USB. Setup started, I chose Custom Install, but on the “Where do you want to install Windows?” screen it didn’t see the SSD, so I loaded the drivers from the USB, it saw the drive, I chose the partition I had made, and the rest was a piece of cake. Rebooting into BIU the entries for Win10 and Win7 were both there, with the one for Win10 first taking me into Windows Boot Manager with entries for Windows Update and Win10 and the one for Win7 taking me straight into Win7. So far so good. Then I tried to add Kubuntu.

I created a root and a swap partition and then booted into Kubuntu’s USB installation media. I chose the partitions I had just created for installation, and picked the EFI System Partition for its boot loader installation. Then I rebooted into BIU, went into Boot Edit, didn’t see any entry for Kubuntu, so I added one, set the boot partition as the EFI System Partition, but there didn’t see any boot file corresponding to Kubuntu. The BOOT directory had nothing, and the EFI directory had

Boot
BootIt
Microsoft.001
Microsoft.002

directories, but no entries for Kubuntu. I’m stumped – can anyone help?
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: Guidance on backup, multi-boot strategy for NVMe SSD

Post by Brian K »

Grabby wrote:
> The BOOT directory had nothing, and the EFI directory had
>
> Boot
> BootIt
> Microsoft.001
> Microsoft.002
>

Grabby,

The missing folder is ubuntu.001

In your UEFI BIOS do you have CSM disabled?
When you made the Kubuntu UFD in Rufus, did you select GPT Partition scheme?
Grabby
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2013 11:49 am

Re: Guidance on backup, multi-boot strategy for NVMe SSD

Post by Grabby »

Brian, the problem was if I disabled CSM Win7 wouldn’t start. I didn’t create the Kubuntu installer with Rufus, but rather with Universal USB Installer. I don’t think it asked me which partition scheme I wanted to use. On your advice I tried creating it with Rufus using the GPT partition scheme and initially chose ISO Image mode, but that threw errors during installation concerning the SSD. I tried creating it again in DD Image mode and I didn’t get the errors, but the installation was unsuccessful. Finally I disabled CSM, installed it successfully, then re-enabled CSM so Win7 would run and now everything works! I can’t use Secure Boot, but I’ll accept that under the circumstances. Many thanks:-)
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: Guidance on backup, multi-boot strategy for NVMe SSD

Post by Brian K »

Grabby, thanks for the feedback. It's always informative to hear if something worked or didn't work.
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