Image Backup Question

sparky · Feb 08, 2014, 10:15:09

I am using Seagate Disc Wizzard (Acronis) to do image backups of my system disk, "C" Drive.

I am running Windows 7. When Acronis loads, under disk 1, it shows two partitions, the main windows partition and the reserved partition. Now I'm not really sure what is in this reserved partition (its about 100mb), I think it's only appeared since Windows 7?

So my questions are, doing an image backup, do I need to include this reserved partition in the backup?
It wouldn't boot yesterday, so getting worried

but did eventually come up and booted first time this morning.

Secondly, If I have to restore to a brand new drive, do I also have to restore that reserved partition?

Thanks in advance.

Gary · Feb 08, 2014, 11:18:03

Was it an upgrade to windows 7? Some companies keep restore partition on hard drives to initiate a full restore back to factory settings. Especially Laptops.

Technical Ben · Feb 08, 2014, 11:54:19

It's part of Windows now. It reserves a special partition (of around 100mb) for stuff. IIRC it's extra HDD data integrity and recovery information. Very important as I think it also does some of the boot options. Back it up with the drive/image/windows install.

It was added with Vista. A quick google says, yes it's boot (though also backup boot files I think) and recovery files (usually just scandisk/reinstall menu) for Windows and the whole PC. Oh, and/or for when you use an encrypted disk, so it has a non-encrypted boot file, as encrypting everything means the computer could not boot.

sparky · Feb 09, 2014, 09:32:38

Ben,

Thanks. So I assume then, that if I have to rebuild my system disk on a new drive, I restore both partitions that were on the original drive. It sounds right, if that partition contains windows related boot info, rather than HDD specific stuff.

Technical Ben · Feb 09, 2014, 10:25:54

Yes, you need to restore both partitions if it is there as the boot sector and/or windows then expects it. It's only if it's an install that skipped it that you don't need to create one. It's probably too much hassle removing it, and it's quite handy if you don't have the Windows DVD disk to hand and want to do a system restore/scandisk.

I did a backup last night, with partitions 0 and 1 (IIRC) which are the 100mb and the windows partition. I've successfully restored from this before too. I don't backup my other drives with an image, as they are too big, so I just manually backup the important files, and the unimportant ones would need redownloading etc. As thankfully my documents don't reach that many GBs.

So I can restore a windows install from a backup image, but have to do a re-install of any really big programs (mainly games, so not that important!

), as I keep those on a separate partition.

sparky · Feb 10, 2014, 14:02:05

Thanks again. New drive on its way, although after reseating the SATA cable, it came up this morning with only one error logged???
They are "click n lock" cables so shouldn't have come loose, ah well gave me chance to do a current backup. Will see how it goes for the rest of the week.

Technical Ben · Feb 10, 2014, 21:16:24

So was the disk playing up? If so, you've got a nice new second disk and a hopefully fully working original.

I'm very tempted to see if I can figure out how to make a file server, and set up some raid 5 or 6 for redundancy.

sparky · Feb 16, 2014, 14:27:30

Well, the disk did continue to play up, it was logging errors in the evemt log, but just about useable.
So I kind of cheated. I installed the new disk and using Disc Wizzard booted from a CD, I cloned the old drive to the new.
Took less than 10 minutes. Now running on the new drive, with lots of free space

Technical Ben · Feb 17, 2014, 10:10:53

I've done that before. Took ages as the disk was wobbly.

sparky · Feb 17, 2014, 14:30:31

Would you belive it.
The Faulty Disk is a Western Digital Blue. It has two years warranty.
Failed two years and one day after I ordered it!

Glenn · Feb 17, 2014, 15:21:54

Email WD and ask them if they will as a gesture of good will, cover the drive.

sparky · Feb 18, 2014, 12:02:37

To be honest Glen I can't be bothered. It cost me no more than £30, how much postage would it cost me to send it back? Hardly worth it really. I understand now why WD make "cheap" drives and "expensive" drives, ie. blue v's black.
It's the inconvenience of potentially having to rebuild your system that is the most annoying part. Fortunately I didn't have to as I managed to clone it on to the new one. Unfortunately, warranty on HDD's doesn't include time and labour to restore everything, I guess that's why they invented RAID and back-ups!
Now I must remember to keep mine up to date...........

Technical Ben · Feb 18, 2014, 14:11:03

Quote from: sparky on Feb 17, 2014, 14:30:31
Would you belive it.
The Faulty Disk is a Western Digital Blue. It has two years warranty.
Failed two years and one day after I ordered it!

In all reasonableness, you should still be able to get a refund/replacement. Mention that it's not performed as you would expect for the product and what you paid for it. You never know, the company should be good about it. My bro purchased a new £250 Graphics card, because the old £250 one broke after 2 and a half years. Turns out it was both a manufacturing fault, and under 3 years warranty. When I sent it for replacement, they sent the next model up (as they had no old stock) back. So I ended up with a free new card.

QuoteIt cost me no more than £30

Ah, yes. True, I forgot drives had a reasonable price at one time.