Making a restored image bootable.

OS : Windows XP Pro
TI9 : Build 3633
Disks : 2 x SATA
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I have created an image of the system partition C: on Disk_1

I want to "Restore" this image to the 1st partition E: on Disk_2. I want to be able to make this partition bootable by selection not by default. (If I interrupt the boot process by pressing F11 I want to be able to select either Disk_1 or Disk_2 as the boot media)

Option 1. Restore Specified Files or Folders. I don't think that this is the correct option because it will create a new Folder on E: Disk_2 called "Drive(C)" which will have all the Folders and Files from C: but it won't be bootable.

Option 2. Restore Disks or Partitions. I assume that this is the correct option. However, there are some unexpected problems with selecting this option.

a) The screen "Partition or Disk to Restore".

This screen enables you to select the partition and the MBR and Track 0 (See User Guide Section 6.3.4). I had expected that if I wanted to make this partition bootable I would have been able to select both the partition (e.g. NTFS C: ) and the "MBR and Track 0". But this screen does not work that way. I can only select one or the other not both. I don't understand how this works.

b) The screen "Restored Partition Type".

If I select "Primary" the note under "Description" tells me that ".....you can boot the operating system only if you have a boot manager like Acronis OS Selector installed...." I can understand the necessity of this under Windows 95/98 but not under XP. I would have thought that under XP I could select the boot partition simply by pressing F11 during boot-up and then selecting Disk_2.

If I select "Active" I am uncertain as to the implications when I reboot. Currently Disk_1, drive C: is the "active" partition. I don't want to change this as I want to retain this as my default boot partition. I only want to boot from Disk_2 drive E: when I choose to do this at boot time. My understanding is that only 1 partition can be marked as "active" at any one time. So I assume that if I select "Active" for the restore destination (Disk_2 drive E: ) then Disk_1 drive C: will become "inactive" and therefore unbootable. Not what I want.

Is the above clear? If not please let me know and I will rewrite it

 

Any thoughts on this...

 

When you want to restore an image of the entire disk that you made, click the Disk box rather than trying to click the MBR box as well as the partition box. The Disk box will be a parent of those two children and will select both for you.

If you are restoring this to a 2nd hard drive, then you should be able to restore the image, then windows should continue to boot into your first hard drive. This is where you will have to edit your boot.ini to include that 2nd disk. You may have to look some information up online for how to change that, but its really going to be simple. Just a matter of copy/paste that line twice and changing the numbers to point to your other internal hard drive.

And once you have it configured, you do not press F11 to choose your partition to boot from. The F11 recovery zone is built in so that if your system is nuked more or less, you can use that to rebuild from your last image stored in your ASZ.

If you can get the boot.ini configured properly, a screen will come up automatically, asking you to pick which Windows you wish to boot into.


This is how I'm thinking about this problem at least with my first glance. I'm sure others will have some words o wisdom

 

Tks RockyCore for the input

This is how I now understand the process:

Setup the OS as follows : XP instance_1 on disk_1, XP instance_2 on disk_2

1. boot.ini file on disk_1 (normally active boot)

* Add a wait period e.g. 20 seconds
* Make XP instance on disk_1 the default boot instance
* Add extra line to point to location of XP instance_2 on disk_2

2. boot.ini file on disk_2 (emergency boot)

* Copy boot.ini file from disk_1
* Make XP instance on disk_2 the default boot instance

3. Normal operation

* Boot normally into boot.ini on disk_1 and select OS or wait for default

4. Disaster recovery (e.g. disk_1 failure)

* Press F11 during boot and select disk_2 as the boot disk