Backup and Restore MBR, hidden partitions

Hi,

After searching the forums I cannot seem to find if True Image will help me with what I am looking for.

Can you tell me if it will please.

I have a brand new Dell Dimension that has 3 partitions as shipped from the factory. There is 2 hidden partitions and 1 visible partition. One of the partitions is used to do a complete system restore. The MBR is a special MBR to allow the System Restore to take place. The operating system on the visible partition is XP Pro. The harddrive is a SATA 160GB. Total data inuse is about 10GB including the hidden partitions. The preferred backup location is an external USB harddrive.

What I would like to do is the following.
1) Do a complete copy of the harddrive including the hidden partitions and the MBR.
2) Install Windows XP Pro with some specific apps and not all the ones that came with the system. This installation overwrites the MBR.
3) After working with Windows XP Pro and doing the tasks needed restore the system to the shipped from factory state.

Is this possible?
If so, is there anything I need to know to help make it happen.

Thank you,
D

 

Sounds straight forward to me. After making the image of all three partitions on the hard drive to the USB drive, be sure to use the Check Image function to confirm that the image is good.

At that point, you can do what you want with the system. When you are done, you can remove all partitions and restore the image to get back to the system as delivered.

 

DJ2

I also have a Dell (Dimension 8400) with the partitions you mentioned on the primary SATA HD. TrueImage offers the choice, when you start to make an image of which partitions, or all of them, you want to image.

Yes, TI recognizes Dells' hidden images. The hidden ones you refer to are both FAT partitions and contain what you say they contain. Don't try to run anything in these partitions unless a Dell technician is guiding you !!! They're not really hidden, in the sense that you can easily see them by right-clicking on My Computer icon; select "manage" with a left-click; then left-click on "disk management" - you'll see the FAT's there.

I always image my entire SATA drive ( the two FAT plus the NTSF that's the "C-drive"). I put the image on a second SATA drive I installed myself. No problems restoring the original SATA with all 3 partitions, from the image that I store on the second SATA. I am really liking TrueImage. Came to it from Ghost, which couldn't deal with all this SATA stuff at all.

 

Thank you both,

I'll give it a try,
D