HD backup clarification please

My 320GB internal SATA has XP and Vista in Windows dual boot configuration, and three other data partitions, some quite heavily populated with TV recordings and the like. Only XP occupies a primary partition, the rest (including Vista) are in an extended logical partition.

Using ATI11 I regularly back up the two OS partitions to a matching eSATA drive but I never back up the data partitions. I use WinRar for that. It's faaaast!

From a number of threads here I am getting the impression that if I needed to replace my disk I would need a whole disk image for the restore, and that simply restoring XP on its primary partition, followed by Vista on its logical partition would not succeed.

I really hope this is not so, but is it?

 

Well, if you replace your harddisk (the physical drive), then the only way to get back you data partition is to restore it from a backup image file or recreate the partition and copy back all of the files from wherever you store them as a backup off of the the original harddisk.

You could restore each partiton individually but with dual boot I think you should just do a whole harddisk restore. Unless the data files are a horde of mp3, photos, or videos, your data is probably a smidgeon of the used file space and won't significantly affect the backup/restore duration.

 

I really am not concerned at all about the data partitions. As long as I can reinstate XP and Vista from my image files, and it boots normally, I'm happy to use DD to recreate data partitions and WinRar to restore such data as I've considered worth backing up. In fact TV recordings are real space gobblers, which is why I want to avoid having to back up the entire disk.

So simply restoring the XP primary will get the system off the ground?

 

On the basis that backups are only of any use if they will restore successfully I thought I'd better bite the bullet myself on this one.

Booting from VistaPE -

1. Created and validated a new whole of disk image of the internal SATA
2. Created an incremental of the XP partition only
3. Used DD to clear the internal SATA completely
4. Restored just the XP partition and MBR from 2
5. Rebooted - XP fired up
6. Restored all remaining partitions from 1, including Vista
7. System failed to boot - missing \windows\system32\winload.exe

A Vista repair also failed to resolve matters.

ATM I am restoring 1 in its entirety. It had better work!

Once again I am being forced to the conclusion that this program does not do what is expected of it.

EDIT - restoration of the whole of disk image has also failed with a rundll32.exe error Entry Point not Found

What can possibly have gone wrong? I've simply done a whole of disk image and restored it - and lost everything!

 

Re the above, I have tried and retried to restore my internal SATA from the full disk image I made yesterday, both by doing full disk restores and by restoring individual partitions (Vista).

XP does restore and boot normally. Vista on some attempts was unable to boot at all and came up with the infamous winload.exe error which as I understand is supposed to have been cured in ATI 11. On other attempts (after I manually changed drive letters in DD) Vista does boot but cannot load user profiles and is completely unusable.

And now for the punch line. About once a month I also take a Ghost 9 image of the two system partitions, and in desperation this morning, leaving the MBR and the other four partitions untouched, I restored the last of these and Vista then booted up normally.

With Vista working again I thought I would be able to restore a more recent tib image file, but each time I try it fails to boot properly again.

It looks like the end of my love/hate relationship with ATI 11. Clearly it is unable to properly image and restore a Vista SP1 partition, and that in my book renders it useless.

 

Hello Earthling,

Thank you for using Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for delayed response.

Could you please collect some information to let us investigate the problem thoroughly?

Please create Acronis Report as it is described in Acronis Help Post.

Then submit a request for technical support. Attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with a solution.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

Hi Marat

If you really want to know how ATI 11 performs, and what problems arise in a multiboot stuation where both OSs are on the same disk, it's all in https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=1228198#post1228198

I wish you luck in sorting it out