Restoring backup to a smaller partition

Hi guys,

I'm trying to restore an image from a USB disk, the created backup file is about 8GB on normal compression. The original disk had a single partition of 320GB, the new disk has a single partition of 80GB (blank - I deleted the partition using the bootable CD).

I'm getting the following error message when trying to restore to the drive:
"This image can't be restored on the current selection."

I've tried this on 2 different destination disks (the other was 160GB) and got the same error message, so I don't think it's an issue with the hardware.

I'm using version 12 (downloaded last week) personal bootable CD. The feature list indicated that the personal version could restore to smaller hardware.

Any assistance would be appreciated as I evaluate this software - thanks.

Less relevant info:
- OS Backed up is XP SP3 with drivers & all windows critical updates available
- HP 6730b laptop
- The backup was made to a hard disk that is in a USB SATA hard disk dock
- I'm restoring to the same computer, just different hard disk (as a test restore)

 

Please follow Restore scenarios provided on the page 129 of a manual below. Please let us know if that doesn't help you.
http://www.paragon-software.com/export/sites/paragonsoftware.com/docs/manual_br11home_en.pdf

If possible please attach any additional info (e.g. screenshots) to help us solve your problem.

 

Thanks, tried all of the described restore methods & even ran the repair tool, still no luck.

Not sure what the screenshots will show, but I've attached them anyway.

Thanks.

 

maybe backup file contains image of whole hdd, but no simple partition?

 

The backup did a full image, I assume it was of the whole HD.
It only had 1 partition though.

Are you suggesting that if I run backups of the whole HD that I won't be able to restore them to a smaller HD even though a feature of 2012 is that I can restore to smaller HDs? That I would need to image partitions to be able to do that?

I could give that a try if that's the case.

Thanks.

 

Success!
Thanks very much