Help Needed Doing A test Recovery with BartPE CD

Hi
I have built a BartPE CD and want to do a rest recovery with ATI. I would really appreciate it if someone could help/confirm what I am getting is ok.

Ok here is what I have done and where I am a bit stuck:

1) Built BartPE CD and rebooted laptop using Bart.

2) Laptop boots ok and I have accessed ATI10 from Bart.

3) Started ATI "Recovery Data Wizard" and got to "Archive Selection" Screen and this is where I am a bit stuck.

Under the folder tree for my USB backup drive, apart from the image file I want to recover, there is also listed another 2 folders - "Recycler" and "System Volume Information".

I am unsure if I simply highlight my image file and press "Next" button to proceed to the next wizard screen or if I should be doing something with the other 2 folders. Can anyone please guide me here?

I have also noticed if I highlight any of the other 2 folders ("Recycler" or "System Volume Information") the "Next" button on the Wizard screen is greyed out, so I can't move to the next step in the restore Wizard anyway. If I highlight the Image file, I have confirmed that I am able to advance through the next wizard screens to the last screen before the point of no return (Screen with "Proceed" button). Is everything I have described in this
paragraph normal and ok?

Can anyone tell me the significance of why I have "Recycler" and "System Volume Information" folders on the backup drive (A new USB Western Digital Passport drive I have only ever used it once to store the image that is on it).

On the other hand, if I access ATI from my Desktop and go into Restore Data Wizard, then only the Image folder is displayed under my WD drive i.e there is no sign of the other 2 folders. Can anyone explain why what i see under BArtPE is slightly different from what I see when accessing ATI from my desktop?

I have also done a backup validation via ATI and it has confirmed backup is ok.

Many thanks in advance to anyone who can straighten me out on these points.

Regards
The_Flying_Scot

 

That's exactly what you do. Igore the other folders.

Exactly, because you haven't selected a backup to restore.

Absolutely normal and OK.

Windows puts these folders in the root directory of every drive that has been accessed in Windows. The Recycler is the Recycle Bin portion of this drive. System Voume Information is details about the drive that Windows uses.

That's easy. In Windows Explorer, click on Tools and then Folder Options. Click on the View tab and scroll down the list.
Under Hidden Files and Folders, the default is to hide these folders. That's how your system is set up. BartsPE shows the hidden files. Personally, I always uncheck this box so that hidden folders are shown.

While you are there, you might want to uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types." This will allow you to see what the file is not only in Windows Explorer but also for the attachments in email. The Windows default is stupid from a security stand point, but Bill won't be reasonable.

Very good. Short of actually restoring an image, you've done a good check. You should also try mounting the image because that's another test.

If ATI shows your hard drive to have more than one partition, be sure you have made an image of the entire drive (all partitions). That's the only backup that is guaranteed to be bootable when restored.

 

Hi John
Thanks a million for all your help and very clear explanations, very much appreciated. A while after I had posted I suddenly realised what a dummy I had been by forgetting to set hidden files and folders to view! Thanks for confirming my later thoughts.

I forget to mention that I have also successfully mounted the image and been able to read the stored files. I can also confirm the Image contains all partitions of my HD.

Question - I have imaged both the main system partition and the HP Recovery partition (the latter will never change). These are the only partitions I have at the moment. I was intending to just create further images of the system partition in future so that to restore I would restore the first image with all partitions and then restore the latest system partition image (I am just making all images full images i.e no differential or incremental as the time factor isn't a problem for me). Does this sound ok to do, or am I liable to hit problems in the restore?

Sorry for treating you like the font of all knowledge!

Thanks again for all your great support

Best regards
The_Flying_Scot

 

The_Flying_Scot,

What you're planning is a good way to do it. Have a full image backup of the drive, including all partitions. That way you have a "base image" to go back to if you need to or for a future install on a new hard drive.

After that, all you need to do is backup the Windows partition. You can restore it to its existing place as necessary and the drive should continue to boot fine. If you replaced the drive, restore the "base image" and then the last Windows partition image and you should be set to go.

 

Hi Mudcrab
Thanks very much for your help and to everyone who has helped me on this thread.

Regards
The_Flying_Scot

 

The font of all knowledge is smiling.

That's very good.

It's safest to have at least one backup saved that was made of the entire hard drive (all partitions in the same backup). If you have to install a new hard drive, this backup is the one guaranteed to boot. Even if it is old, it creates a bootable system on the new drive.

After you have one backup of the entire drive, you can just backup the C partition. You can restore it alone to your current drive to get back to an earlier date with no problem. Since the drive is bootable, it will still be bootable with only C restored.

In the case where you replace the drive, you may need to restore to old image of the entire drive to get the system bootable. You can then restore the most recent image of only the C partition to bring the system up to date (and also to resize the C partition if the new drive is larger than the original drive).

If you repartition the drive, it's smart to make a new backup of all the partitions in one image.

 

Hello The_Flying_Scot,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

As MudCrab and jmk94903 said this approach can be used as reliable backup strategy.

Would also like to mention that the size of hidden service partitions (like, HP Recovery partition) is probably set by vendor for a reason, so resizing them or changing their location on the disk during restoration might render them unusable.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov