How to properly recover disks when the computer has fewer partitions than the ones in the recovery file
Hello guys hopefully I can get the help I need,
I have a Lenovo laptop (Flex 14 Model) running Windows 8 64 Bits. I had to take the computer to tech support due to some problems with the screen (purely a hardware problem), it was fixed but god knows why these guys formatted my hard drive, hopefully I had made a disk image with True Image in case the above scenario happened. The thing is now I'm unsure how to proceed in the recovery process because the computer was given to me with just 2 partitions instead of the 6 it was originally bought with. In this moment I have a system reserved partition and the main partition with OS and Data, but I really need to recover my old setup which consists of six partitions:
WINRE_DRV (I guess this is the windows recovery partition)
SYSTEM_DRV (not sure what is here but I believe the boot information)
LRS_ESP (no idea what this is, maybe some Lenovo recovery info (?))
OS (C:)
DATA (a partition that came with the machine, but its almost empty. I believe it has some drivers)
PBR_DRV (no clue what is in here)
How can I recover my laptop as it was before without too much trouble?
Please help me.
Thanks in advance,
M.
Forgot to mention in case you didn't know it (I have a Lenovo M82 desktop). Instead of bothering with the BIOS boot order, after a restart, keep pressing F12, and that will take you to Boot Options. Select boot from the CD or DVD drive, and TI will be loaded from the boot disk in the drive. Also, after a while, there are a few choices presented and you have a brief amount of time to select the TI software for loading.
Thanks for the reply Jacob, the backup I have in the external HDD is indeed the same as the one you posted in the picture, and I have already made an startup USB drive with Acronis. But the thing is that after I boot inside the USB and start the recovery process I don't have enough partitions in my hard drive for the partitions in the recovery file, so I'm unable to proceed with the process. As you mentioned I don't care if I loose everything that is in my Laptops HDD in this moment because the only thing is the OS that the tech support left me with. Regarding the partitions I tried to partition the hard drive but I can only manage to get 4 primary partitions in it and apparently I need six in order to restore my PC to its previous state, which is what is holding me back.
Thanks for the reply Jacob, the backup I have in the external HDD is indeed the same as the one you posted in the picture, and I have already made an startup USB drive with Acronis. But the thing is that after I boot inside the USB and start the recovery process I don't have enough partitions in my hard drive for the partitions in the recovery file, so I'm unable to proceed with the process. As you mentioned I don't care if I loose everything that is in my Laptops HDD in this moment because the only thing is the OS that the tech support left me with. Regarding the partitions I tried to partition the hard drive but I can only manage to get 4 primary partitions in it and apparently I need six in order to restore my PC to its previous state, which is what is holding me back.
I'm a bit lost with your reply. I don't remember after booting from the restore software, in my case a CD, in your case an external USB flash drive, that when selecting to recover an "entire disk" from a full image with all of its partitions, that you get a choice of how many partitions. But it's been a while for me with a different number of partitions, and I was confused with the restore software, until I figured it out at the time. I did it once successfully. But again, it shouldn't be a problem. Probably wait for someone else to clarify what to do. If you have a HDD you could give things a try and see what happens. No writing life concerns like on a SSD, although many argue that's not a big deal. Maybe make an image of your current system before doing that? Also, you could try installing the program on your computer, and doing a restore of the correct full image from the software console. It is simpler to do and should demonstrate that it can be done. Afterwards, I would do it again from an F12 boot into the restore software, since that's less likely to have restore errors. Again, someone else should be able to be more helpful.
No worries I managed to solve it. It took a bit of trial and error and I needed to fix the MBR after the restoration, but finally I could restore my laptop.
You assign the partitions to be restored and the size of each-- a default size will be offered and works if the hdisks are the same size-otherwise you have to fiddle with the system and data partitions. Generally not good to fiddle with the hidden partitions. the targets just have to be as big as original data for each partition. Actually you can set the order of the partitions too but best to stick what's offered default as it preserves the original order and some hidden partitions are sensitive to location.
The Restore from within really just reboots you into the restore environment. I like to use the bootCD so the restore program isn't mucking with the systems disk while I'm trying to restore.