Image for Linux Image Restore Questions

Image for Linux Image Restore Questions

Windows XP Pro 32 bit PC

C: – Single Partition 160 GB Seagate EIDE hard drive containing the Windows XP Pro 32 bit OS

E: 1st Primary Partition of 500 GB WD SATA300 hard drive (Size 160 GB (Exactly the same size as the C: drive)

F: 2nd Primary Partition of 500 GB WD SATA300 hard drive (Balance of Disk Space)

I am in the process of making an Image of the C: drive with Image for Linux. The destination drive for this Image is a WD 500 GB USB 2.0 hard drive. I will then shut down the PC and disconnect power from the Seagate hard drive.

I plan to Restore this Image to the 1st Primary Partition of the 500 GB WD SATA300 hard drive. Once I am confident that the new System Partition is working OK, I will shutdown the PC, reconnect the power to the Seagate hard drive, Power on the PC, boot a Linux Distro and delete the Seagate hard drive partition, partition the Seagate hard drive and format the Seagate hard drive (NTFS). Next Restart the PC and boot into Windows.

Questions:

1. Can I just do an “Automatic Restore” to the 1st Primary Partition of the 500 GB WD SATA300 hard drive.
2. If it is not recommended to do an “Automatic Restore”, what Restore options should I select?
3. Since the 2nd Primary Partition of the WD 500 GB hard drive has its own MBR, there should be little or no risk of loss of the 2nd Primary Partition’s data. Is that correct?

Thanks in Advance.

 

TheKid7,

Sorry, but I'm confused by the detail. Do you want to replace the 150 GB HD with a 500 GB HD? Is it empty at the moment? No partitions? What size would you like the restored WinXP partition?

 

Basically, Restore an Image from a Seagate 160 GB hard drive to the 1st Primary Partition (Exactly the same size and the Seagate Partition) on a Western Digital 500 GB. The Western Digital 500 GB hard drive has an existing Data Partition (2nd Primary Partition). I have backed up all of the files on the Data Partition just in case something goes wrong.

 

OK. I do this several times a day. Your data partition won't be altered.

Don't use Automatic as that doesn't allow Options. I'd use...

Set Active
Restore First Track (AUTO)
both Validates (but this is optional)
Log Results to File

 

I went ahead and did a non-Automatic Restore before I saw your Post. I don't remember seeing the Set Active or the Restore 1st Track options. Would selecting the entire drive when making the Image cause this? The source drive has only one Partition. I lost the MBR of the 2nd Primary Partition (Windows Disk Management showed unallocated space.) I created and formatted a new 2nd Primary Partition and copied backed-up data to the 2nd Primary Partition.

 

It's OK to create an Entire Drive backup but you must not do an Entire Drive restore unless you know what you are doing. You should have done a partition restore.

Even though the data partition had been deleted (from the partition table) you could have recovered the data partition by booting from a BIBM CD and selecting Undelete. The partition would have been restored less than a second later with all data present.