Failed UEFI restores to a new HD

Discussion in 'backup, imaging & disk mgmt' started by Brian K, Feb 21, 2015.

  1. oliverjia

    oliverjia Registered Member

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    It's really a good price, however it appears like it's a unfinished product. Apparently more work is needed for it to be reliable.
     
  2. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Thanks BrianK and others. Re-reading this post I had to take some aspirins since imaging is never been my strongest point. I always depended on DS + Paragon in years gone by and more recently stayed with DS but didn't practice much in the way of serious restores except but partition only and surely not having tried to restore to an empty disk I chose to remain in the dark on some of this until renewing interest by this post.

    Very very good details and comparisons but more importantly the discoveries and finds. I only lately am learning my way around Macrium 6 but now am kinda interested in testing the DS app again to an empty disk.

    This post encouraged me to D/L MBRwork and MBRfix just to familiarize myself in an area I haven't practiced with since XP and that's been quite awhile back now. That safety procedure for saving Track0 especially got my attention. I run into issues before with the MBR but had a firm handle on correcting matters with various disk tools but UEFI/GPT is still very new for me.

    Thanks.
     
  3. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    EASTER,

    Don't worry. It will be years before we are forced to use UEFI systems. On the other hand, it's not so hard to image/restore the drive. The partitions are forgiving and even if you restore them in a completely "incorrect" order, the OS will still boot. But it is sensible to do entire drive image/restores as it is straight forward. A typical Win8/10 drive is...

    Recovery partition
    EFI System partition
    Microsoft Reserved partition
    Win8/10 partition

    You can create other partitions if desired as a GPT disk can contain up to 128 primary partitions.

    You can even recover from catastrophes...

    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/using-diskpart-clean.383028/
     
  4. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Thanks a ton. I have to admit since transitioning over straight to Win 8 from XP that i been very lax at doing any imaging restores but it's time to get some of this practice in again. XP was always piece of cake but with this new UEFI disk assembly I been very reluctant.

    And just when I was (re)testing those skills on imaging with Macrium 6 thinking that this will be my new go-to imager, today I used my long time favorite DS and once again it blew me away. The imaging took much longer with Macrium but DS was done in less than half the time.

    Either way i'll comb over these posts and follow closer many of these imaging threads and test my nerves on the restore side of things soon. Will never know until diving into it and after that first one the rest should become a little less taxing. That is provided all goes well the first time.
     
  5. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Hi Easter

    I use Macrium v6 home. My win 7 image has only one partition, my win 10 image has two. I restore back and forth and macrium handles each one correctly. You should be fine.

    Pete
     
  6. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    That note of confidence inspires some hope when I get around to doing a restore but will do nothing for the nerves when that operation goes in progress.

    No matter though, if something would happen to go astray (me?) there's always you highly qualified imaging gurus who been around that same block before long before I have. :thumb:
     
  7. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    EASTER,

    Don't worry. Image/Restore apps are reliable. Apart from a few brands mentioned in this thread, I've not seen a failed restore with a UEFI system. And never a failed restore with a MBR system.
     
  8. Robin A.

    Robin A. Registered Member

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    Restores almost always work. Whether or not Windows boots is another matter.
     
  9. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Just quoting my personal experience. I've never seen a failed restore of a MBR system. The restored OS always loaded into Windows. I've only seen a few failed restores of UEFI system. The software didn't support the restore. Mentioned in this thread.
     
  10. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Thanks for another note of confidence.

    I have another rig (Win 8 used lappy) currently in route from California and when it gets here, just like the other cool one from Amazon that is working great, I'll FIRST use it to test the skills of "BOTH" Macrium 6 + DS image and restore. I should have already tried it on that other one (my bad as usual)

    It's a win win and a useful precaution because afterwards assuming all goes well (can't see why it wouldn't) it will then get the 8.1 update, enjoy a HDD replacement too, (Toshiba 1TB) a test burn in, then load all my many customizations to that puppy. I backup images to a pair of 1TB Toshiba External Drives as well as save Tweaking.com RegBackups (at the time of imaging) in order to keep them relevant to the respective images created.

    Also one of the first things i do is create a Custom Refresh for good measure. I really admire that Microsoft had the ambition to add that useful feature to 8.
     
  11. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Is the Win8 used lappy a UEFI system?
     
  12. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    Yes it is.
     
  13. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    That's fine. Maybe I misunderstood. Do you already have UEFI systems?

    Edit... If you have a HD failure, restore all 4 partitions to the new HD.

    If you have an issue with the OS and decide to restore an image, you only have to restore one partition. The OS partition.
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2016
  14. EASTER

    EASTER Registered Member

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    I see. Much obliged for making that clear. So in essence let's say testing some new or not so new program causes Windows not to boot, (when that happens and it has happened to me before, (I usually can clear it up by doing a full registry restore via Linux Pen Drive manually) you say it's as simple as restoring ONLY the windows partition. Good deal. Works for me.

    Oh and yes Brian K, I only have (so far) only UEFI systems with the secure boot feature. No MBR disks at all yet although I do plan to make at least one rig at some point an MBR type. I assume that it's more simplistic and easier to troubleshoot any potential boot issues as well as can be easier to set up double-triple boot into other user-configured partitions if desired.
     
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