Still confused - backup Vista Drive from XP w/ ATI 10.4942

[philster41]

I've read many posts about restoring Vista with ATI v10 and the possibility of needing to repair Vista; but I'm still confused.
I need to back up my daughter's laptop before sending it to service in case they restore the drive to Factory Original. I really don't want to reinstall all the software, activation codes, purchased music DRM files, etc. My laptop has 2 drive bays and is the only hardware I have to connect a SATA laptop drive to another computer.

I have ATI v10, build 4942
my OS is XP, laptop is HP.
I'm taking a hard drive from another laptop (Compaq) that runs Vista, and putting it in my 2nd hard drive bay.

Can I backup 'My Computer', select the 2nd drive and clear the 1st, and have an image that I can restore without too much problem? Or do I need to backup & restore MBR/Track0 & each partition individually, restoring them in the order Disk Manager shows, with a couple other switched turned on? Or even try to 'Clone' the drive (need a 3rd drive, would an external USB work)?

Also, when HP service returns the laptop, I intend to backup the drive again before powering it up the first time, in case anything went wrong with the initial backup/restore. That leads me back to the above question.

btw, I saw the idea mentioned of making a simple cheat-sheet for various tasks. I like that idea.

[jmk94903]

You could make this a whole lot easier by using the TI Rescue CD to boot your daughter's computer and backing it up to an external hard drive. USB drives are cheap and work very well.

The only way that wouldn't work is if the Rescue CD can't see the drives on her computer because they are SATA drives and not supported by the Linux environment of the TI 10 Rescue CD.

Your alternative of putting her drive into the second drive bay on your computer and backing it up to your computer's first hard drive would work if you have sufficient space on your first drive for the image. You simply need to make a folder for it, or just save the image in your My Documents folder. I'd still prefer to save the image to a USB drive, but that's optional if you have sufficient space on your first drive.

You want to select the entire hard drive from your daughter's computer in True Image in either case. That means to click the box next to the drive letter and not just a box next to one of the partitions. By selecting the entire drive and then restoring the entire drive, you will get a bootable Vista system drive in one restore step.

Your idea of making a new image when the computer is returned is a good one. However, I doubt there would be room on your hard drive for two images of her computer unless you have a lot of space. Go for a USB drive. You can use it for backups on a regular basis.

[philster41]

John, thanks for the reply!

I can't boot up her laptop - screen stays black! It tries to boot & reboot but can't. Compaq (HP) will fix it out of warranty on this model because the problem is so pervasive. The service tech, if I understood her Hindu accent, said it was a motherboard issue.

I am putting the backup images on an external drive. My question with external USB drives was with 'cloning' to an external.

My main question is will the backup of the whole drive through 'My Computer' option be sufficient? Finding out the service techs re-imaged the drive & my backup didn't work would be lousy. I ask because of the many posts about backing up a Vista OS drive and needing to repair Vista after, and the detailed instructions to get around it. I'm not seeing some options that those posts talk about, like selecting drive ID number, or whatever it was.

[Acronis Support]

Hello philster41,

Thank you for using Acronis True Image

If the issue with the unbootable operating system is related to motherboard technical problems, you will be able to recover the archive and make the system bootable. If the system is unbootable because of any issues with the operating system, it will be unbootable after the recovery also (I assume that you understand it).

Therefore, you should have Windows installation CD at hand to be able to repair BCD.

You can repair Vista Boot Configuration Data in the following way:

1. Put the Windows Vista installation disc in the CD\DVD disc drive, and then (re)start the computer;
2. Press a key when you are prompted;
3. Select language, time, currency, keyboard or input method, and then click Next;
4. Click Repair your computer;
5. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next;
6. In the System Recovery Options dialog box click Command Prompt;
7. Type the following:
Bootrec.exe /FixMbr
Bootrec.exe /FixBoot

If you want to completely rebuild Boot Configuration Data, then you should issue the following command:
Bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd
This command scans all disks for installations that are compatible with Windows Vista.

Thank you.

--
Oleg Lee

[philster41]

Oleg Lee,

all I want to know is if I put the 'C' drive from a Vista-OS puter into a secondary drive bay ('D'-drive) of another computer running XP & ATI v10 build 4942, and back it up using the 'Back up my computer' option and selecting the whole drive, and only that drive, is that sufficient to restore the hard drive in the event the service techs revert the hard drive to Factory Original.

for details on the "Limited Warranty Service Enhancement" of this laptop, see:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...roduct=3445630

basically:
The following symptoms apply to Compaq Presario F500 notebooks:
* The notebook does not detect wireless networks and the wireless adapter is not detected in the Device Manager.
* There is no video on the computer LCD panel or external monitor.
* The notebook turns on, power LEDs light up, but nothing is seen on the display.