Restoring boot partition with Acronis

I recently installed Vista on my laptop that has a single C: partition.

Before installing I used Acronis True Image Workstation 9.x to make a backup of the entire C:\ partition (that had WinXP on it). Note: I didn't clone the drive, but rather just backed up the parition to a file on a USB drive.

Due to incompatibilities with Vista, I want to revert back to my XP install. I'm worried that since I didn't use 'disk clone', that I will only be able to restore the C: partition but not the MBR and thus after I restore, I won't be able to boot into XP.

Is this the case? Has anyone done this? I've been burned in the past when I forgot about the implications of the MBR. Did Vista write a new MBR that won't work with XP?

When I try to recover (off the boot rescue CD I made), Acronis asks me to restore it to C: or the MBR. When I performed the backup initially, I was never asked to backup the MBR.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Tom

 

Greetings tdietz.

Yes, you do have the MBR. The more recent build(s) of TI include the MBR in a Disk/Partition image, so, as you found when starting the Restore Operation, you will have the chance to restore the MBR as well.

Since TI will wipe the partition, and Vista generated MBR, before restoring them, you should be back up and running in XP once the operation is complete. Of course, provided you haven't made any hardware changes.

For those who don't have the MBR to restore, you can also use the Windows XP boot CD to Fix the MBR...doing a repair installation.

Regards,

 

Hello Christopher-I have a question pertaining to restoring the MBR from the XP boot cd mentioned in your post. I understand that the original XP boot cd without SP2 cannot be used to restore files/folders on a partition that contains SP2. Is this correct? Thanks.

 

Sorry to have taken so long to reply...I just saw your reply and question tonight.

I'm not well versed enough to answer you. I doubt that FIXMBR has changed from SP1 to SP2, and saw no reference to that when I looked just now. From what I gather, your existing MBR should work, unless you change to a new hard drive, or change the number of partitions, etc. But, Windows should be able to make the repairs.

Here's a thread that might help you understand the role of the MBR, and how it relates to TI partition restores.

Re: MBR and Track 0

The following links are also available in the Thread stickied at the top of this forum, titled: PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU POST

It also has a section on repairing your MBR, with links to Acronis utilities that will do it, if you can't repair it with your XP installation CD.

Windows XP Repair and Installation

Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console - with section on FIXMBR

And, here's a link that may cut thru some of the technical discussions in the Microsoft support pages:

Ask Bob Rankin.com: Repairing a Damaged MBR

One of the above links also tells you how to add SP2 to your XP setup, and there are plenty of sites that tell how to make an SP2 CD, if you want one. As long as you use your own XP liscense, I think you can also use a friend's SP2 CD.

Hope this helps.

 

Dan Goodells - How to Manage System and Boot Drive Letters

I just came upon this link, contributed by Brian K, which may be the best yet for understanding the intricacies of the Fix MBR process. See Method #3 ("Kawecki's Trick") at the bottom of the page.

 

Thanks for the response Christopher. I am trying to make sure I understand TI.0.03677 well enogh to restore my system when it becomes necessary.Failure during an attempt to recover from a corrupt c drive is a large concern.