Don’t understand why not possible to make bootable partition clon?

I don’t understand why not possible to make bootable partition clon?

Can TI explain why Ghost can but the cant?

Why not possible to make only one partition(the boot main one) backup and restore it to a new HDD??

Redards
Flem

 

Hello Flem,

Thank you for your interest in Acronis True Image (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/).

If you create the image of a single partition the MBR will not be included into the image. If you then restore this image all the data (including system data) will be restored but the MBR will not. If you restore the image to the same hard disk where it had been before then you will be able to boot the disk because the MBR remains the same. But if the hard disk is new (or just another one) it will likely to have incorrect MBR and the computer will not boot from this disk.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

What if there is just a single partition on the hard disk? Will creating an image of it then include the MBR?

 

Hello tuttle,

In this case it is the same as if you are creating the image of the whole disk. And of course, the MBR will be included in the image.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Hi TI.

You wrote somthing about mbr will not be written if i restore only part. to a new HDD; will your tools for fixing mbr help me in this

Regards
Flem

 

I'm having this exact problem. No where in your users guide do you mention anything about this. I want to restore an image I created of a single partition that I boot from and I cannot boot. What am I supposed to do? I am very close to giving up and asking for a refund, then using the money to go buy Ghost...

 

PowerQuest's BootMagic had a program called wrprog.exe which could save a MBR to a file or restore the MBR from a file. I save my MBR's to a floppy. Doesn't Acronis have a similar utility?

 

Yes they do. You can download either floppy or CD versions from the links provided in the True Image forum "Sticky" titled <PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU POST>. Now I wonder why they chose that particular title??!!!

Regards

 

Does this means that cloning partition is possible is I use some special tools after that

 

No way can you clone individual partitions, only complete drives (the process is called "Disk Clone" after all!).

I suppose if you were a masochist you could clone the drive and then delete the unwanted partitions. However, whether or not that would succeed depends very much on what you had sitting on the deleted partitions. It really makes no sense at all not to use TI's "Image" and "Restore" functions when moving individual partitions.

Regards

 

Re: Don’t understand why not possible to make bootable partition clon?

You can always just pop in a Windows 2K/XP install disk, load the recovery console and then run fixmbr.exe. Takes all of about 3 minutes or so.

 

Don't forget that not every system is supplied with a Windows installation disk. Some only come with a manufacturer's recovery disk whilst others, if you're really unlucky, may just have the bare .cab files copied onto the HD.

Regards

 

Just for my edification, partion imaging captures the partition's boot sector, just not the Disk's MBR. Is that right?

So, if my HD has two partitions, each with an OS that I can dual boot into, imaging both partitions will capture each one's boot sector, but I'll need to recreate the MBR in some other way if I try to restore onto a new drive?

Thanks,
-Hayek

 

Menorcaman

You say that it makes no sense not to use the image and restore functions, except if I understood your message in another thread, you cannot use image and restore to end up with a bootable partition. You must image the entire disk, not simply the partition that you want. If you must image the entire disk, why not clone it? I'm clearly missing something. I just don't understand what it is.

Grant

 

Hello Hayek,

Thank you for choosing Acronis True Image (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/).

If you create the image of the whole disk the MBR of the whole disk is included into the image file. If you than restore this file to another disk the MBR will be restored as well and you will be able to boot both of your operating systems. In fact, you will get the exact copy of your old disk allowing for the sizes of partitions if you choose to resize them.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Hello Grant,

Flem originally asked why it wasn't possible to "image" just the system partition and restore it to a new drive such that it's bootable. As you know, this isn't possible unless you do a fixmbr. He then talks about "cloning" a single partition and using fixmbr. I pointed out that you cannot "clone" individual partitions, only complete drives.

As I said elsewhere, if you want to restore an image to a new drive such that it's bootable then you will need to have imaged all of the partitions on the source drive.

You ask what the difference is between a drive image and a drive clone. Well, an "image" can be stored on backup drive along with other partititions, files and folders whilst if you "clone" to the backup drive it will replicate the source drive and wipe out everything else.

Hope this explanation helps.

Regards

 

Ilya: Thanks for the response. I don't see an option to image a whole disk in TI8.0. The imaging option requires me to select partitions to image. Are you talking about the disk cloning option?

 

When you go to select the partitions to image, there is a little checkbox above the partition listing which is for the whole disk. Just select that and you will image the entire disk.

 

Re: Don’t understand why not possible to make bootable partition clon?

and if you have only one partition on any drive then if you select the little box or click on the partition then both are automatically selected.

So as I see it.

If all the bootable drive is configured as a single partition then imaging it will allow you to save it to another drive etc and then restore that whole drive including MBR back either to the original drive or a new drive.
If the bootable drive has a multiple partitions then you have to image all partitions and restore you should get the MBR back on the original drive or replacement drive, if the original drive had a hardware fault but other posts have stated this may not always happen if you are restoring to a NEW drive.


Cloning a drive is a real time process where you can copy a drive to another drive. I suppose it could be used to backup a drive but if it was the system drive that was backed up you would have to unplug it before rebooting

 

I realy don't understand why it's not possible to make clon of one single part. to a new HDD and it will be bootable?

Is it something TI will implement in the next version ??

Flem

 

Hello Flem,

Our Development Team is working on the option to back up MBR with the single partition. We expect it to be implemented in future.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman