Windows 8.1 loses Windows 7 Imaging

What is in the other two NTFS partitions? The Win8 partition should be the only one you need to restore.

 

I just made a restore image using Macrium Free 5.2.6314 Rescue Disc of Win 8.1. It took 4 DVD+R disc on medium compression. Using Win 8's imaging application the same process required only 2 DVD+R discs. This sucks, but I guess if that's all I have to use then it will have to do. I prefer the restore disc method rather then an installed application.

Does anyone have an idea how much image space will I save using high compression? What compression level do you use?

Thanks.

Regards,

Bob

 

Sorry, it is a GPT disk. 2 are NTFS, 1 is FAT32 and the other is unformatted. Everything was default when installing using the UEFI method.

 

2 is the ESP (File System Ch)
3 is the MSR (File System EEh)

If you have an OS issue you only need to restore 4 (File System 7h).

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463525.aspx

 

The option to backup all "critical" partitions is useful in UEFI systems, which have several "system" partitions, and it may not be obvious which to backup. This option should be implemented in all imaging programs.

 

Macrium Reflect, Paragon hard disk manager and Image for Windows already have this option turned on by default on UEFI/secure boot enabled systems.
Acronis can not see the hidden MSR partition (or maybe the EFI partition, don't remember exactly which one), therefore I doubt it will correctly restore an image it capture.
I recommend paragon because it has image integrity check enabled by default, which in my opinion, enhanced the possibility of a successful restore.

 

I wasn´referring to the fact that the imaging program recognizes and can back up all UEFI partitions, but to an option that automatically selects and backs up the critical partitions.

Only in Reflect have I seen such an option: "Create an image of the partitions(s) required to backup and restore Windows". I don´t know if this option effectively works in UEFI systems, I haven´t tried the program in real operations. AFAIK, no similar option exists in Paragon programs.

 

For regular UEFI Secure boot windows 8 default installation, there are 4 critical partitions to be backed up:

Paritition 1 - Recovery;
Partition 2 - System - The EFI System partition that contains the NTLDR, HAL, Boot.txt, and other files that are needed to boot the system, such as drivers.
Partition 3 - MSR - The Microsoft Reserved (MSR) partition that reserves space on each disk drive for subsequent use by operating system software.
Partition 4 - Primary - Where Windows is to be installed to.

What I meant was, I am sure Macrium, Paragon and IFW has options for you to choose all 4 critical partitions to make a system image, however these partitions may or may not automatically selected when you run the backup wizard. However, as long as you back up all these 4 partitions you are good to go, knowing these are the partitions required to backup and restore windows. I recommend Paragon because it has image integrity check by default which provides better chances for generating a good image that works.
with Acronis, you won't be able to see all 4 partitions therefore a working image is not guaranteed if you make backups using acronis.

 

For better or worse Windows 8 especially is made imaging more difficult and problems more likely. Supposedly in the name of security which obviously is no substitute for rescue from complete data destruction.

 

EASTER,

I agree. That's partly why I installed my Win8 in MBR mode. My wife has Win8 in UEFI mode and although restoring an image of the Win8 partition was easy, I'm not looking forward to recovering her system if she has a drive failure. I have an Entire Drive image of her drive so it should be easy but you can't say that until you have actually done it.

 

Great! Thanks Brian .

 

What do you know...this works. And even on blank DVD's.

Here's the command I used...

wbAdmin start backup -backupTarget: -include:C: -allCritical

...the smiley face is actually colon D:

with D being my DVD burner. I dropped the -quiet switch that was listed in the howtogeek's article because you need to see the questions that it will ask of you like please insert a blank DVD or please insert the next blank DVD. It formats each blank DVD before the write begins and it verifies each disc when the write is completed. It only took two DVDs versus Macrium 4 DVDs. Also, you must use the Win 8.1 installation disc on the system restore (it didn't work with a Win 8 64 bit repair disc for some odd reason).

I was concerned that it would not include all my installed applications during the imaging (-allCritical switch...sort of relative) but they were all there once I reached Desktop.

Nice. .

Later...

Bob

 

@Trespasser

"It only took two DVDs versus Macrium 4 DVDs."
this is very strange because normally the image made by third party softwares is about half the size of the image made by windows itself(no compression). Did you have a chance to restore the image made by windows powershell to see if it actually works?

 

"Also, you must use the Win 8.1 installation disc on the system restore (it didn't work with a Win 8 64 bit repair disc for some odd reason)."

Yes I did. Immediately after creating the discs I rebooted and did the restore. That's how I discovered the above info.

This is the command I used (change the lower case d to capital)...
wbAdmin start backup -backupTarget:d: -include:C: -allCritical

Later...

 

There may be more to it than I'm aware of but to say that Windows doesn't compress when making a system image with its recovery application just has to be wrong. Macrium said I had over 21 gigs of space being used and on medium compression it took 4 DVD disc (admittedly the 4th disc had very little written to it). Yet with the Windows recovery application it put 82% of my image on the first disc (it actually shows this information during the disc creation using the Powershell method) and 18% on the second disc. It has to be using a rather good compression ratio.

Later...

Bob

 

Did the same here - all MBR. I suppose we'll all have to get used to UEFI eventually, but as long as MBR booting is an option I'll be keeping that mode enabled. UEFI seems to be hit-or-miss depending on the "BIOS" and manufacturer when installing anything other than 8. Some OEM UEFI interfaces, for example, are a real pain when trying to install 7 in place of 8.

You've inspired me to try restoring a Win 8 backup done after a UEFI mode install. Better to find out now than when disaster strikes, I guess. Not sure when I can get to it, but certainly something to try soon. Thanks for the idea!

(BTW Anybody know what we are supposed to call the "BIOS" on UEFI boards?)

 

MudCrab,

Would you mind outlining your experiences with UEFI restores? How does it differ from MBR restores? You are on top of this.

 

Sucks. Why must they hide the GUI links?

 

Brian,

I've not had any problems with my UEFI/GPT Windows restores (I use IFW mostly). It's pretty much the same as on an MBR system. If you have a problem with the Windows partition just restore that. Otherwise, if restoring to a new drive you would need to restore an entire drive image (usually the easiest) or restore, at least, the EFI System partition, Windows partition, WinRE partition (if used), and the Microsoft Reserved partition.

Note that the Microsoft Reserved partition will already exist on the destination drive if it's been initialized as GPT already. In this case, if not restoring an entire drive image, it's not necessary to restore it from your backup image.

After restoring an entire drive image (especially, if you've changed GUIDs) you may need to go into the BIOS and update the boot order. Some systems see the drive as "new" and won't boot it automatically.

 

For those that think Windows System Image Backup was removed from Win 8.1 then please read this...

http://blogs.technet.com/b/keithmay...-of-windows-8-windows8-itpro-tipoftheday.aspx

It appears to be back, or not removed in the first place. It has been moved to a very obscure location...

Control Panel>File History>System Image Backup (lower left hand corner).

Good news for me, at least. Hopefully others, as well.

Later...

Bob

 

@Trespasser

Thanks for the clarification.

 

@Tresspasser

I saw that some time back. It doesn't make sense why they chose to hide' it under File History but it's still better than them removing it altogether.

It may lack in features but it's simple and reliable enough for most case scenarios and the fact that it's built-in means less compatibility problems and poses as a relatively good option without the need for frequent updates. One can use it as an a sidekick "backup" regardless of whatever other imaging app one choose to use. At the very least, one can use it to create an image of a fresh install of Windows with updates.