System Reserved - moving from standard to SSD question
I need some help. I just installed Win7 on a standard hd. When I did the install I had windows delete the prior win8 partition and install win7 into it. When it completed i booted into windows and went to disk management and noticed it had created a System Reserved in front of the C partition. The same drive contains D holding my programs. I now want to move everything to the SSD. I plan to do a disk restore. The SSD drive currently has win8 on it with the 1024 offset and C (OS) and D (programs). So my question is when I boot off the Acronis CD I created, what is the best procedure for transferring everything successfully, especially with the System Reserved on my win7 drive but not the win 8 I am moving everything to? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for the assistance.
Ronald,
If you make your backup as illustrated via the first part link #2 below and then restore based on link #3, item 1, these provide examples which should help.
Hi Pat. Thank you for your feedback. Sorry for this dumb question but what does "resp GPT" stands for?
I read your "Restore a TIH2012 Backup to a larger or smaller disk." and was surprised to see it didn't show the 100 MB (EFI system Partition) that Windows 7 seems to always create. I don't see either that or the C: (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition) listed as active on my PC's Disk Management so I so I don't know which to mark as the active partition when restoring from a backup. Do you have a recommendattion?
Thanks!
To be honest, I have done many windows installations over the years since Windows was first introduced and this is the first time I have ever seen the "reserved partition" show up on one of my personal hard drives. Recently, I read that Windows, especially starting with version 7, will either create one as a separate partition or it or embed the files in the root directory C. In either case the article asserted that the files must always be present regardless of the partitioning scheme used in order to achieve a successful boot. Unfortunately, like you, knowing that is not helping me decide practically how to transfer the larger standard drive to my smaller SSD (500GB to 120GB) where I am now dealing with a "reserved partition". When I did this same thing with my windows 8 when I moved it to a SSD the larger did not have that and things went fairly smoothly. The good news is that many others on this forum has faced this issue and I am convinced it can be done and with someone providing a clear explanation as to how?
Here is a good explanation of the "reserved partition":
http://helpdeskgeek.com/help-desk/hdg-explains-what-is-the-system-reser…
Bob,
My guide was relative at the time it was written but the new style partition is just becoming common place.
For your own information, you should know if your source disk a style MBR or GFT.
If none of your partitions are marked as "ACT" , then you may have a GFT disk.
Open Windows Disk Management Option.
RIGHT click on the word "Basic" and click Properites
On resulting window, click on the "Volume" label.
The Partitiion type will be listed as either
Master Boot Record (MBR)
GUID Partition Table (GPT)
If GPT is the listed type, the 128mb Reserved partiton will be a hidden part of your disk
but will NOT be displayed when viewing the Wndows Disk Management graphical view.
If your backup style is a "disk image" or "disk mode" backup, then you can restore it as a "disk option" restore and the partitions should be reproduced on the new disk same as on the old disk.
Ronald,
If you are lookiing for a guide, the link #3 below does illustrate how you can perform a proper restore to a spin or SSD disk if the disk is an MBR style disk. Not all computers have the same setup so most restores are custom restores based on their own configurations. A review of these guides will provide helpful hints as to how this might be accomplished.
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I think the disk is GPT and I'm sure the "EFI System Partition" is 100 MB, was created by the win7 installer, and is clearly displayed by Windows Disk Management, see attached screenshot. I assumed it was GPT because it didn't show up as an available disk from the Clone Disk tool, which I read only works with MBR disks.
I used the disk image backup and have tried both disk option and restoring the 2 partitions as separate steps. Windows didn't boot from the SSD after either attempt. I'll go back and add the 1 mb offset to the "EFI System Partition". Or perhaps see if I can see that 1 MB offset with ATI. ALso, I'll re-wipe the SSD.
Thanks!
In the windows disk management window, choose view > top > list disk This will update the top part of the window and show you which disk is GPT and MBR.
I finally decided to do a clean install because of the corruption due to walware that had made its way deep into my system and didn't surface until after my backups had been done. So when I was sure i got rid of it I then mounted the drive in my second computer and used drive management to get rid of the reserved partition and then formatted it all as c and set it to active. This time when I installed windows I designated that as the target partition and the install went smoothly and so did booting up. Since then I have made a number of full backups and did a number of restores with no issues (several of the windows updates created problems and windows restore app failed). Thank you to everyone for all their invaluable help and advice.