Having big problems imaging windows 10 to a larger disk

I understand what you are trying to do but can we skip this part ?

Reason is threefold.
1) I have no problem in imaging Windows 7 disk it works fine when I do so there is a perfect solution for that.
2) Windows 7 will rarely be needed - it's just a means of testing and some other rare things if there are problems with Windows 10 etc.
3) I actually don't want my drive partitioned with several o/s. This is a test but I will end up with just Windows 10 the M/2 with multiple external / SSD internal backups

As I understood this was a test to see if windows 10 can be successfully imaged where I have failed to do so on my system and hence find a solution to making successful images.
Windows 7 will not help this process at this point I feel.

 

Oh ok. well why don't we work with the M.2 and the 850 SSD (Windows 7 is currently on the 860) those 2 drives can be used for juggling purposes

 

Sure, skip Win7 but can you try the test in #75

I can help you dismantle the BIBM setup.

 

Yes of course ...

Can you give me a few mins - I just have to bang off an email to someone and I'll get to it ..

 

Nice work, Brian.
Louiscar came to the right place for help.

 

I have to strongly agree with that ... I've learnt a lot and hopefully if I can remember all this stuff It's going to be worth buying the bundle as Brian pointed out.

 

OK I've booted Win10-2 now ... I'm guessing I need to install IFD next. IFW is installed . I'll go download IFD trial

 

No need to get IFD. It's the same app that is on BIBM and it only runs from boot media. It's not an installation type app but it does create the same images as IFW and IFL. Each app will restore images created by the others.

So you have demonstrated you can restore Win10 to the M.2
Any other tests you would like to try?

 

Would you like to add the Win10 on the 850 SSD to the BIBM Boot Menu?

 

Oh no sorry more confusion I though you wanted me to boot to Win10-2 and install IFD.
I understand now ... I think I am clear on what to do then.

If I get the 850 up and running make - copy the two partitions over and then restore them back ... That will take time now so I'll report back when I've succeeded or failed (if I forget a step)

Other tests would be to try to get something easier. The observation on copying Win10-1 to Win10-2 took well over an hour. When imaging via anything else it literally takes 6 mins or so as the media is so fast - I am not sure why but I suspect it's the M.2 as the checking part took much longer on that than on the 850 ssd. I'm guessing the lack of nvme drivers ?

If there was a way to achieve the same result by copying partitions separately that would be great, the time this takes would mean less frequent backups as I'd be having to give up using the computer for quite a while and i'd end up putting it off.

When using Ghost for windows 7 it was bad enough although at least I can leaving it running in the background.

Anyway .. I'll go do the #75 test now ..

 

Copying took an hour? That is slow. Have you run ATTO on the M.2? IFD is slower than IFW but maybe only 30% slower. IFL is the fastest by far. Maybe download IFL and make a boot disk to trial later.

I only use copy in test situations. Image/restore is my mainstay. When I was using MBR I got rid of the SRP and then there was only one partition to deal with...

https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=409

I'm using UEFI which isn't faster than MBR but an image backup of Win10 (4 UEFI partitions) takes 30 seconds with IFW. Image restore with IFL takes 30 seconds.

 

yes (well over) it was painfully slow. Making the partitions was notcieably slower at the "check disk for errors". Copying SRP-1 to SRP-2 was not too bad but then Win10-1 to Win10-2 I almost aborted as it took absolutely ages to get off the 0%.

Re ATTO - not sure that is.

RE imaging - I've started the image copy to the 850 disk. I didn't know what settings to alter so left them pretty much at defaults.
I'm presuming that as I requested in this case a "single file set" I should restore by choosing SRP-2 partition so it will restore both partitions over itself.

Btw it's actually sitting at 26% as I write this. In comparison to the above partition copy I mentioned above that percentage would be around 4-5% It was that slow.

Should I actually delete SRP-2 / Win10-2 or restore on top?

 

Making an IFL boot disk... (GUI)


double click makedisk.exe, next
Traditional- You have control over options. (Custom), next
dot in I accept the agreement, next
no ticks in the two ini, next (this screen might not be present)
Global Geometry----tick in Align Partitions on 1MiB Boundaries, next
Miscellaneous Global Options, no selections, next
Additional ifl.ini Options, no additions at present (I use TimeZone=AUS-10;ISO8601=1), next
Normal Boot, next
Normal Boot (Again), next
BIBM Licensed Name, Product Key (leave blank if you don't own BIBM)
For additional options I use TimeZone=AUS-10;GlobalGeoAlign2K=1;ISO8601=1 but you can leave it blank
select your CD burner drive letter (you can use a CD-RW or a CD-R disc). Or USB flash drive. Or ISO File.
With UFD I choose
USB Layout... Partition - FAT/FAT32 partition
Geometry Calculation Method... Use Device
Finish

 

It doesn't matter. Either way gets the same result.

Choosing the default backup or restore options is fine. If you get annoyed by the slowness, just abort, get IFL and create/restore the image. For test purposes, forget the SRP and only image/restore the Win10 partition.

 

It's curious why it's so slow though. The Nvme in windows is blindingly fast according to crystal mark. Bios didn't have problems with the nvme as on some motherboards. If IFL has nvme drivers that may speed it up.

I'm getting to 60% so I'll persevere and meanwhile I make a IFL boot for subsequent tests.

 

Ok. Try restoring the IFD Image using IFL. That should show a big difference in speed.

 

Yeah ok the ifl image is being written now and 85% on the outgoing image ..

... now restoring with IFL , it looks like it'll take 3 mins apprx


... and that restored to SRP-2 / Win10-2 fine

So I wonder if IFL will simply do what I wanted in the first place which is image to the 860 or 850 directly?I haven't got enough space on the nvme now to store the backup so maybe I'll delete Win10-2, so I can store it there. What is encouraging is that this if this works then maybe the problem is doing all this from a working / running windows 10.

I have no problem booting into IFL if that's the case.

 

Delete Win10-2, SRP-2 if you need the space.

 

yes I used BIBM but when I deleted the Win10-2 partition it doesn't show up as one in windows. I then went back and formatted it as ntfs - still doesn't show.
Whichever windows I boot in all other partitions show up as unallocated space. I don't understand how this works can you explain? ie. if I just want to free up that partition - leave the others alone ..

 

That's the nature of an EMBR disk. You have to use Boot Edit, Edit and click Fill to put the partition into the MBR Details partition slot. You won't see the partition in Windows until you Fill the slot.

With a MBR disk you can't use Fill or Clear to manipulate the partitions. But a MBR disk can only have 4 primary partitions whereas an EMBR disk can have 200 primary partitions. Out of those 200, only 4 can be seen at any one time.

 

General comment. You should only use BIBM to create/delete partitions because Windows Disk Management doesn't know about partitions not in slots. So what appears in Disk Management as Unallocated Space could be full of partitions. If you create a new partition in Unallocated space you could be destroying partitions.

 

Thanks had just sussed that I had to use fill but thanks for the explanation. I'll try the copy image now to the 850

 

Thanks yes I realised this as that unallocated space shows as one block and I knew there were 2 partitions in it. I will be mindful of this to be sure.

Ok I seem to have hit a problem:
Copied the backup file to the nvme and IFL is not happy that I want to use the 850. I deleted all partitions and formatted as one space. The message IFL is giving is this:

"The target drive cannot be used because the partitions already occupy one or more of the target locations"

Oh ok I just had to delete it before continuing.

 

Sounds like you are good to go.

Which partitions on which drive did you backup?
Where are you restoring the image?

Another general statement. You don't have to restore into a partition. Restoring into Free Space is just as good.

 

Hehe not so fast - spectacular fail when restoring to the 850.
I think I can guess the solution however, I don't quite understand how it happened. ...
So trying to boot from the 850 :

Code:

Bootit EMBRI 4.00
Bootit EMBRL 4.00

EMBRM Load: EMBR is missing or is an unsupported version.

So somehow it appears that the bootit bootmanager stuff seems to have got mixed up.
I copied SRP-2 and Win10-2 only