backup recovery 10 restore inconsistency

I'm trying to restore an image from a network share. When I click on the partition > restore parition > select my .pbf file > blah blah > apply. One of two things will happen.
1) It immediately prompts me for the 001, 002, etc files. Then starts the restore.
2) It starts the restore and prompts me for the 001, 002, etc files when needed.

The difference is on the first instance it takes 3-4 times longer (around 2 hours for a 4gig image) and I can see the file by file restoration process. Additionally, there's a 25% chance that something in the OS won't work properly: just random problems with no reason why they're happening. A reinstall of the particular program usually fixes it. Restore the same image on another machine and it's a different problem with a different program or no issue at all.

The second instance what I want to happen. This process takes maybe 20min for the same image. The file by file status is not displayed, it just says "copying files".

Instance 1 only happens on already install drives where I just deleted the existing partition (it doesn't matter if I leave or delete the dell service partition). Instance 2 only happens on brand new drives.

Does anyone know what's causing instance 1 to happen?

 

ilostmypants,

The first condition is a file level restoration as opposed to a sector-level restore (the second condition).

File level restoration happens when restoring to a smaller hard drive or partition than the original partition size. It is likely that when you are restoring just the partition to an existing partition, the target is smaller than the original, causing a file-level restore. Which would not happen when restoring to a new (presumably larger or the same size) drive.

~Matt

 

Thanks Matt, that makes sense. I'm pretty sure the images were created on 80 or 160gig drives and with instance 1 are being restored to 40s & 60s. What can I do to fix this?

 

The only way to prevent/resolve this issue is to shrink the original partition to be smaller then your target drive.

This should be done before a backup is made of the partition.

This ensures that you are restoring your image to a larger (or same size) drive, allowing a sector level restore.

Edit: Shrinking a partition can be done with Partition Manager, and is not available in B&R10. It can also be done with Windows 7 built in disk management, though the Windows tool is less robust and will only allow you to shrink a portion of your partitions.