Restoring an image and MBR and Track 0?

I created an image backup of my system/boot partition with Acronis TrueImage. Now when restoring the backup there are two checkboxes: first, the system/boot partition and then "MBR and Track 0". I can check one or the other, I can't check both of them, they seem to be mutually exclusive.

Is it meant to be that way or is something wrong with my system or backup? Why can't I restore both of them (the image + "MBR and Track 0") at once?

 

When you created the image did you Check the Disk 1 box or just the C: partition? If you made only an image of the partition then there is no MBR and track 0 to restore. Otherwise check the box marked Disk1 and it will mark the other two as in this image:

 

Hello Eggoon,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Actually, what thomasjk said is only correct for older versions of Acronis True Image. All version starting with Acronis True Image 9.0 Home build 3567 back up MBR and track 0 when creating partition images as well.

To restore both the partition and MBR with track 0 please check the partition, proceed with restore wizard and choose "Yes, I want to restore another partition or hard disk drive" when prompted, then check the MBR and track 0. Please see chapter "Restoring the backup data" of the respective User's Guide for detailed instructions.

Thank you.
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Marat Setdikov

 

Thanks Marat for reminding me about that change. I had forgotten it.

 

And thanks for reminding me that it is a two step process just as if two partitions were being restored. I don't think I ever knew that.

 

Hi all,

I'm curious about the two step process necessary to include the mbr and track zero when doing a restore. I don't remember having to do that the last time I did a restore, and reading the manual on TI 10 home it looks like it's a one step process, what am I missing?

From the manual:

"Disk and partition images contain a copy of track 0 along with MBR (master boot record). It appears in this window in a separate line. You can choose whether to restore MBR and track 0 by checking the respective box. Restore MBR if it is critical to your system boot."

Thanks, Larry

 

Hello bornconfuzd,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please notice that the two-step process only applies when you restore not all partitions the original disk had. When you restore entire disk image MBR and track 0 will be restored automatically.

If you have any further questions concerning Acronis software, please feel free to submit a request for technical support or post any of them on this forum. We will certainly try to help you in resolving any issues.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

Hi Marat,

Ok, so that's what I was missing. Thanks for responding and clearing that up for me.

Larry

 

Hi,

I am trying to extend my Vista boot/system partition from 34GB to the full 74GB available on my HD. To do this I have created a TI10 image of the Vista partition and plan to restore it to the full 74GB. Do I select MBR and track 0 or just c:?

Thanks in adbvance for any help.

 

If Vista was installed on a partition created with Vista, then you'll have to Repair Vista so it will boot if you do the procedure this way. If the Vista partition was created with XP or DD then you should be okay.

If the unallocated space is located directly after the Vista partition, the easiest way to do what you want is to just use Vista's Disk Management to Extend the C: partition. This does not require TI and (in my tests, at least) does not even require a reboot.

 

Hi MudCrab,

Thanks for your reply, I did not know how long it would take to get a reply so I took the plunge and went ahead.

I just selected to restore C:, not the whole disk (i.e. MBR and track 0 as well) - I realise this would have been pointless since I did not want to restore both partitions.

The operation has just completed and been a success! Although I did experience some problems getting TI to work at first; I started the operation from TI within Vista but after the Acronis Loader screen Vista simply loaded up again. So I used the TI cdrom to boot but then once in the TI DOS program it just hung. I had an error message in the loader screen - something about usb irq's and my usb mouse and keyboard would not function in the DOS TI. So I disabled PnP OS in BIOS and my KB worked but the mouse only had vertical movement not horizontal. Changed to a PS2 mouse and ok.

Also I cancelled the operation at first and removed my other hard drives because TI saw my logical IDE drive as C:, not my SATA drive. Scary.

Anyway it's done and I didn't have to do any repairs as expected. Incidentally, I could not extend my partition using Vista's own tool because it's the system / boot partition, option to extend the partition greyed out.

Thanks.

 

I've done this in tests on Active/Booting Vista partitions with no problems. I wonder what the difference was?

Was the Shrink option also grayed out? (If you remember.)

Now that you have your partition resized, does Vista's Disk Management have the Shrink option enabled for the partition? Just curious...

 

Hi MudCrab,

Yes the option to shrink is available as it was before. Obviously the extend option is still greyed out because the partition now consumes the entire disk space.

Cheers.

 

Hi,
I've read these threads with much interest. My objective is to do backups of C: (system partition, Vista) regularly; when I install a new program, or if I get a virus or a corrupt register/Windows, etc., I can recover and everything is OK. But, reading the threads, it was not entirely clear to me if I have (or if I need) to restore C: (from the image) PLUS MBR + track 0, or just C:. My ignorance tells me: any changes, corruption, errors, etc., occurred to C:, not to MBR + Track 0; I'm restoring to the same HD and image of C: over C:; then, I'd only tick the C: partition when restoring, not being necessary to go to step 2, "Yes, I want to restore another partition" and tick MBR + Track 0 too. In other words, I should leave MBR + Track 0 alone. (In old TI 8 there was not this separation of MBR + Track 0 and then these doubts did not occur to a regular, non expert user). Am I right? Regards, Alex

 

Alex,

You should not need to restore the MBR and Track 0. And, if for some reason you did need to, you can always go back and restore it.

 

Hello alexmelo,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please notice that there are 3 general cases you would need to restore "MBR and Track 0":
- Your hard drive had it's MBR corrupted (for example, by a virus);
- You are restoring your image to an unpartitioned hard drive;
- You are restoring your system image to a different hard drive (not the one you've created it from), and one of the drives (original or target) has custom MBR (for example, a third party boot manager installed).

Anyway, as MudCrab pointed, you can always restore "MBR and Track 0" later, if the need arises.

If you have any further questions concerning Acronis software, please feel free to submit a request for technical support or post any of them on this forum. We will certainly try to help you in resolving any issues.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

Mudcrab, Marat,
Thanks for the information. Regards, Alex