Dual Booting with mSATA causing file corruption

[gleapman]

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Apercu wrote -

Rather than installing from a downloaded ISO I grabbed the WIN8 .exe and tried the real time download/install. 

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Glad to hear I'm not the only one with this issue.  Appreciate learning you were able to fix it.

Not sure I understand your installation process.  I did the original install by creating a bootable flash drive using the Win8 ISO file and the Windows 7 Download Tool.  I pulled the SSD and set the boot order to boot from the USB drive.  Is that different than what you did, or does the WIN8.exe do the same thing?

[Apercu]

Initially I did what you did  - used the ISO and made a bootable usb from it. Then after installation I manually chose the boot drive/device. Does not work well as you and I have experienced.

You cannot install a good dual boot option using the ISO version. Using the ISO  to make a bootable usb does not make a difference. To get dual boot to work with Win8, as currently available, you have to allow Windows to establish the boot choices during install. Their on-line download/installation process allows this.

You need to download "Window8-ConsumerPreview-setup.exe" to your computer and then run it  to create a bootable usb. This process will give you a  choice to install on a different partition or drive and the installer will then set-up dual boot for you.

Go to the MS site and click on the blue rectangle that says, "Download Windows Consumer Preview"

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/download?ocid=W_MSC_W8P_DevCenter_MetroApps_EN-US

It makes sense once you work through it. Took me a week and a half to figure it out.

Once you are running you are probably going to have to install the Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver . I had terrible lag running off my mSATA SSD until I updated the sata controller driver.

-apercu

[gleapman]

Apercu -

Would appreciate more information.

1.  How do I get the exe file to create a bootable usb?  After it does the compatibilty report and downloads the files, it gives me a choice to Install Now, Install on another partition or Install later.  Which do I choose to get to the Custom Install you mentioned?  I know when I used the ISO file, it got to Custom Install after the installation started to allow me to do a clean install, not create a bootable usb.  When I choose Install Now, it then asks me if I want to keep my existing files and settings and then gives me a button that says Install.  I don't want to click that button because I don't know if it will then start installing or give the the chance to create the bootable usb.

2. I've read other posts that say to pull your main drive when installing an OS on the mSATA.  With your process, do i create the bootable flash drive from Windows 7 on the main drive, then shut down and pull the main drive to do the install on the mSATA?  Or, do I need to keep the main drive installed in order to "allow Windows to establish the boot choices during install" as you wrote in your post?

[Apercu]

You want your ssd formatted and mounted. Leave the main drive in. If in doubt just use something like Acronis True Image to clone your HD and give yourself a simple path back to your current OS state.

Click on the windows download link I referenced in my last post. This will download a 5mb file called Windows8-ConsumerPreview-setup.exe

Double click that file 

The setup application will launch and run a compatibility check etc

Keep clicking next , write down the product key

The setup app will then start downloading Win8 CP and then it will check the download.  Next  it will work on getting files ready

Next up are the choices to install now, install on another partition, and install later. 

Choose "Install on another partition" and it asks "What media do you want to use?"

Once your usb flash drive is finished being prepped, reboot, hit  F12 and choose the usb flash drive as your boot source. IIRC at this point you will be prompted again and you need to choose custom install. Select the partition or drive you want to use for Win8 and let the installer do its thing.

[gleapman]

Apercu,

I implemented your solution and it works fine.  Thanks.

For the benefit of others, the result is that when I power up, I get the Win8 fish logo and then a screen to choose either Win8 or Win7.  It seems to be stable.  (I did implement ThorsHammer's suggestion of disabling the fast startup to be sure Win8 shuts down completely.  Don't know if it's necessary under this setup.)

Although your solution is solid and looks like it works fine, I should have read your posts more carefully since this is not what I was hoping for.  My plan was to keep the two drives as independent as possible.  I wanted to install Win7 on the main drive and Win8 on the mSATA and then use f12 to select which drive to boot to.  The reason for that is just to make things cleaner when the release version of Win8 comes out.  Your approach may work out fine, but I think ThorsHammer's suggestion would have set things up the way I had hoped.

Anyway, there are now two solutions available to folks.  Thanks again for your help.