Dumb beginner question...

Hi all,
After reading the documentation and all the posts here, I think I'm still confused as to the backup/restore processes. I would appreciate if anyone could give me some comments:

- Let's say I have a DISK1 that has 2 partitions: C: (WinXP boot OS) and D: (data). I also have a 2nd drive DISK2 that has E: and F: partitions. If I use TI to backup the C: partition to E: and when C: partition crashes, will I be able to restore C: from E: and will it be able to boot?

I read all about MBR and I was confused about:
1) Does the TI backup of C: partition (on E contain MBR/NTLoader so that when it's restored from E: to C:, the MBR will go with it?
2) When restoring from E: to C:, is D: going to be untouched or will TI have to remove C: and D: partitions before restoring E: to C:?

Thank you.
mike

 

Yes you can backup C: to E: and in the event of a problem with C: you can restore it from E:

If you restore C: from E: D: will be left untouched and your data will still be intact.

In the above scenario MBR is not part of your backup as it exists outside of C: partition. You will probably be able to boot following a restore of C: from E: but if the drive containing C: has failed and you restore C: from E: to a new drive then you will have no MBR and the drive will not boot but you can still fix MBR and be bootable again.

To ensure that MBR is backed up you must backup the entire drive containing C: and restore the whole drive not just the C: partition.

 

The answer is yes provided in the restore process you choose to make the C partition you are restoring 'active' (I think from memory that's the choice) i.e. an operating system can boot from it.

No my understanding is that the MBR is not backed up because it is on a separate small partition but this should make no difference to a successful restore since you only need to restore the operating system to be able to boot into Windows. There are however ways of repairing the MBR if needed but this should not be necessary.

D should not be touched. You are restoring a backup of the C partition so D won't be touched. This assumes you choose to keep the size of the C partition you are restoring unchanged. Someone else may be able to elaborate on the possibility of varying the size of the C partition and the effects this would have.

 

thanks for all your replies and I appreciate that.

Now things are getting pretty clear after reading your replies
I assume that I can backup C: partition to D: partition on the same drive
and restore from D: back to C: too?

 

Yes you can but it's not a good idea to have your backup on the same drive in case the drive fails and then you lose your C: partition and your backup.