Restoring first hidden partition

Refer figure 15 inisde the guide.
User input into the free space before is
1
and the unit of measure is MB--not GB

http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/mvp/user285/guides/tih2012…

Thanks Grover for your prompt response. I had referred to Fig 15 you mentioned. For your information I treasured your Guides (and your partners contributions in the Guides). I had even referred to your earlier guides on the same subject.

Upon reading your response, my initial reaction was "is it always 1 MB" or it depends on the number in the "Start" column corresponding to Partition 1 and if it is so, what is the conversion factor from that number into MB.

I then wondered into your forum topic "40903 : Work in Progress" and learned the command DISKPART and it seems that my latest query is answered i.e. according to your annotation on the concerned screen shot, the starting position offset is displayed in multiples of "bytes" units without the need to know the conversion factor I referred to above. Just use the figure and the byte units displayed. (I gathered from the web that there are 2 types of disks i.e. 512 bytes per sector or the latest 4MB/sector and I guess I need not bother to know them either with the DISKPART command).

I apologize if I my comment appear to be long winded but I appreciate your confirmation on the point I made on the DISPART command above.

Many thanks.

Hi Grover / Forum Members

Appreciate if any one can confirm to my lingering concern i.e. with reference to Grover's reply, is it always 1 MB to be allocated for the "Free Space before" during restoring the 1st hidden partition created by the laptop manufacturer or I can guidance from the DISKPART command I referred to in my 2nd post?

Thanks

Perhaps some of the technnical minded users can answer your specific question.

When the unit of measure window is megabyte, I have only seen either the digits 1 or 2 used. Both would produce an aligned disk such as needed for an SSD or Windows 7.

As to whether you input 1 or 1,024 or a higher number depends upon the unit of measure being submitted. Read the window carefully as to what unit is being asded for, such as byte, megabyte, gigabyte.

You can also gain a lot if input from a google search on
correct starting partition offset
disk partition alignment

Thanks Grover for your response.

My main concern is to input the correct size to be allocated for the starting partition offset in the relevant units so that the restore process does not fail due to insufficient size allocation.

I also observed as you have pointed out that 1MB or 2MB have been used but I must admit I am not clear when to use 1 MB or 2 MB.

I shall make use of the DISKPART command that appears in one of your forums which I discovered after I posted my first query on the subject as it appears to give me the information on the size (with units). Once the size and the units is mentioned, I can the suit to the units Acronis require (MB or KB) during the restore operation.

Thanks again Grover.

........... I am not clear when to use 1 MB or 2 MB.

This is used when restroing onto a new disk normally having Win7 or Win8.
The 1mb setting refers to the 1mb of free space before the FIRST partition.
Note the two disks in this picture. You do not see the setting but each disk has a 1mb of free space before the first partition begins. The first partition actually begins after the free space and begins on the first part of the 2nd mb. Normally, any subsequent partitions are adjacent or touching with no free space between.

http://forum.acronis.com/system/files/mvp/user285/misc2/show-gpt-2.jpg

Thanks GroverH for your explanation - sorry for the late reply.

Perhaps as a final note on the subject, any comments on my impression that I can resort to the DISKPART command in your forum "40903 : Work in Progress" for guidance on the free space to be allocated before the FIRST partition?

Thanks again GroverH

Diskpart can be used both to show existing settings as well as it can also create the settings.

Almost all my guides provide examples of how to set the "free space before" the first partition such as figure 15 previous reference.

The Windows system information report will also show you whatever the setting is.

Start/All progams/accessories/system tools/system information
componets/storage/disks/ partition starting offset for Disk#0, Partition #1
Or, approximately line 20 of the Storage/disks section
Partiton Starting Offset=1,048,576 bytes

Thanks Grover

Dear Grover

Upon reading through your forum on DISKPART and performing one on my system (as attached), mine also has a Reserved partition (Partition no. 3 ) which is not shown in Disk Management.

I assumed that if I performed all partitions backup in Acronis, the said reserved partition shall not be displayed in the Acronis Recovery Wizard / What to recover screen.

Assuming my assumption is correct, how then do I restore the Reserved partition to the same disk or to a replaced larger capacity disk using Acronis?

Thanks Grover.

Your last post introduced two new items into the discussion

One is that your disk is the newer GPT style partitions; and the other is the 128mb hidden Microsoft Reserved Partition and is custom placed as partition 3.

My guides are geared to the Master boot record type replacement so not really applicable to your specific hardware.

I may be wrong but I am not aware that TrueImage can restore your partition 3 back into the same partition slot when a new disk is created. My experience is that using TrueImage 2013 restore, this special partition will be relocated as partition 1 and that you will need to use the Windows Recovery CD to make your new larger disk bootable.

As I have written before, I am not a technician so my comments may not be exactly correctly stated as I am writing based on my single past exposure to the this type situation.

This change of partition location also could(?) affect accessing both your Windows Recovery module; and if the vendor recovery partition is relocated as a result, you need to correct the BCD in order to access the vendor recovery if you wanted to return your disk to a factory fresh state.

The bottom line is that you will probably have to go ahead and try the restore to the new larger disk and see what changes, if any, you have to make. Again, I am not an expert at these things so you will have to take my comments as comments--not necessarily fact.

Have you attempted to boot from your computer from the TrueImage Recovery CD and restore a few files? My point being have you confirmed that the TI CD will boot your computer?

Your attachment picture was surprising with especially with regard to the last partition. Is there any chance you might have created this partition yourself?

If you wish to try the most current 2013 version of TrueImageHome, you could download the trial version of the CD and make a new Recovery CD. Then, you could use your 2012 TI Recovery CD to make a new full and complete backup of your old computer and then use the 2013 trial CD to do the restore to the new and larger hard drive.

During the 30 day trial, if you register your trial serial number, Acronis will provide support during the initial 30 days. Or once purchased, they will also provide support during the initial 30 days of purchase. Support being in the form of Live Chat or via the completion of a support ticket. The forum is not part of the official support process.

I really do suggest you seek the aid of a qualified computer technician to avoid many of these potential pitfalls.

Thanks Grover for earnest reply. As to your query on the last partition, it is fresh from factory as to date I have not created any partition yet. I must admit I am a bit lost with the details. My only hope now is to contact Acronis support but from my past experience, you seem to be more well verse than Acronis Support. Thanks again Grover, really appreciate.

You might be interested in this link as it could be(?) applicable to you when restoring to your larger disk.
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/35347

Thanks Grover. FYI, I did install a trial version of ATI13 and receive phone support but the guys at ATI could not restore the image created (verified in recovery environment), it was a multiple (5 nos) partition restoration, I choose the sequence to restore based on the default listing of partitions in the Recovery Wizard/What to recover screen, did not change any of the settings for each partition except the New Location option. What happened was I run out of new locations to restore (grey-out).

ATI support could not figure out and the case is opened. Perhaps it failed because of (1) the drive to restore to was NOT unallocated i.e. it was not empty (2) the default listing of partitions was not the right sequence of partitions to restore (3) the stuff on Free Space Before & Free Space After and perhaps Partition Size i.e. the stuff I left as default values were not the right values.

Thanks again Grover for the link

Have you considered attempting a disk opiton restore and allow the program to restore and do the partition placement automatically? The target would need to use the add disk option and as GPF to clear the old data.

Referring to your attachment post #10,
Another option to try would be to restore the single partitons 1, 2, 4, 5 (in the sequence as listed by DiskPart except omit restoring the last partition 6 and the partition 3 will be created automatically by the program. You could leave 1mb of "free space after " on partiton 5 or the last partition so possible restoration later as a single partition restore to that 1mb ending unallocated space.

Another opiton to try would be to do a manufacturers provided backup (if provided) or a Windows System backup and then restore either of these onto a blank or GPT disk. If that worked and booted, you could then restore your drive C only form your backup.

Ultimately, as I wrote before, anything restore by Acronis I believe will result in the 128mb Microsoft Reserved partitons being placed first which will be workable but will result (I believe) in your loss of automatic access to the Manufacturer recovery partitons but many do not use this function or the function could be restored via a proper edit of BCD such as discussed multiiple times at this link.
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/6758

What is the brand and model number of the compuer in question?

The brand is Samsung and the model no (SERIES 5 SAMSUNG NITEBOOK) is NP500P4C-S07AE.

Thanks GroverH

this may be of interest
http://skp.samsungcsportal.com/integrated/popup/HtgDetailGuide3.jsp?cds…

Thanks very much GroverH. FYI my system uses Samsung Recovery 6 and the equivalent steps can be found in the User Manual for my specific manual. The link you posted is for version 5 but nevertheless thanks a lot. I shall be using the steps in your post no#15 but before that I am thinking of exploring the software Macrium Reflect just in case it is more simpler. Thanks again GroverH.

Dear GroverH

Just to update you of the latest development, I was able to backup and restore successfully and simply using Macrium Reflect. It was able to detect and display ALL the partitions (Macrium indicated that the Partition 3 that was not detected by Acronis is unformatted) and the restore process was very simple i.e. I did not have to specify the sequence of restoring the partitons and other settings and it is almost like one click restoration.

Thanks

Just to make sure I am understanding your comment.

You have used Diskpart on the new disk and the new disk has the same diskpart partition sequence as the old disk
Or, another way of expressing. You have confirmed that Macrium restored your new disk with the same partition arrangement as the original disk has--as displayed by DiskPart when partition arrangement on both disks are compared.

Here is a link relating to your orignal question--just an FYI
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/43360#comment-135918

and thanks very much for the update as to what is working for you.

Dear Grover

I did the restoration on the SAME disk, not on the new disk yet (which I shall do very much later). After performing the restoration, DISKPART comparison before and after restoration are identical !!!

To note that I and the support staff ran into restoration problems when restoring to the same disk using Acronis and the restoration process was lengthy. With Macrium it was simple (I do not have to bother with the sequence of partition restoration) and successful,l though I have yet to try on a new hard disk.

Regards