Formatted drive as GPT by mistake for my new system (help!)
I just did an install to an SSD on a new system and mistakenly created a GUID Partition Table (GPT) rather than an MBR .
I've now just finished doing a LOT of work installing and customizing apps and thought it a good time to do a backup. That's when I discovered the error and that Acronis cannot backup/restore a OS running on this drive as the drive is invisible on older versions of Acronis. I have made a backup using Windows' built in backup utility, so at least I'm covered if disaster strikes.
My system uses 4 drives and the SSD contains only the OS and apps. So I can still use Acronis to keep my data backed up and run the Windows backup tool whenever I've made significant changes to the OS or the Apps I use.
But I'm looking for any options that avoid starting over from scratch. For example, is there a procedure that allows me to use a backup made with Acronis 2013 (which it seems can see and backup a GPT disk) and restore the data to an MBR disk using Windows recovery to fix the lost boot info?
Any ideas/tips are appreciated?
Thank you,
Russell
Thanks for your opinion that it might indeed work, James.
I swap two SSDs in a mobile rack to go between the 2 OS's I use (Win7-64 and Vista-64) and it's only the vista install that's on the GPT drive. I might give it a try using another SSD. I assume that to do this I'll need Acronis 2013? The upgrade price isn't bad and I can download the trial first be sure it can see the drive. I think the inconvenience of doing a start-up repair is probably less than using Windows backup and restore and I'll have the ability to recover individual files using Acronis as well as do scheduled backups
Perhaps someone will jump in who's already done this and confirm if it works (or not..)
Backup & Recovery 11 is able to backup UEFI-based system on GPT disk and recover it to an MBR disk retaining bootability.
- http://www.acronis.com/support/documentation/ABR11.5/index.html#14022.h…
see the cell for 'target hardware: BIOS" column and "original system : UEFI; OS: convertible" row.
I originally thought that True Image 2012 and 2013 can do the same, but http://www.acronis.com/support/documentation/ATIH2012/index.html#13972… says that it's possible only in BIOS->UEFI way, not other way round. ( After operation completion, the partition style will remain GPT, the system will fail booting on BIOS, because your operating system cannot support booting from GPT on BIOS. )
This KB article http://kb.acronis.com/content/6533 states the following:
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if a GPT disk image is recovered over a GPT disk, the target disk remains a GPT disk
if a GPT disk image is recovered over an MBR disk, the target disk remains an MBR disk
if an MBR disk image is recovered over an MBR disk, the target disk remains an MBR disk
if an MBR disk image is recovered over a GPT disk, the target disk becomes an MBR disk"
==================
If this is the case, when restoring a GPT disk backup image to a MBR style disk layout, the result should be an MBR style layout, but probably will not be bootable, hence my suggestion for using the Windows 7 Startup Repair as an option to try.
GPT disks are supported in 2012 and higher, but not dynamic disks, without the Plus Pack.
James
Success :-))
Acronis TI 2013 was used to back up the drive.
Used Parted Magic to remove the GPT partitions and format the SSD as NTFS
Used Acronis TI 2013 to restore the partition with the install+apps (Disk C).
Used Acronis TI 2013 to copy the "Boot" folder and its contents to the same Disk C partition (I hoped to avoid the 200mb partition that Vista creates).
Booted w/ the OS install DVD and went to Repair Startup and strangely it reported that there was nothing to fix.
Booted directly from the Disk C drive and everything loads just fine.
So now everything is working from a single partition on a MBR drive.
And Acronis got to sell me a copy of TI 2013.
Thanks for your help with this!
R :-)
PS: I was installing VistaUltimate64 but I assume this will work w/Win7 too.
In the future, when booted to the Acronis Rescue Media, you can use the "Add a new disk" tool to wipe the target drive, and create either an MBR or GPT style disk layout before the restore. A third party tool is not needed for this.
Glad you got it up and running.
you can use the "Add a new disk" tool to wipe the target drive, and create either an MBR or GPT style disk layout before the restore.
That's good to know. Thanks !
R