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Can't restore image so it will boot

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I had a hard drive die and need to replace it. I used a bootable Acronis DVD and performed the restore. There were 3 partitions on the original disk - I only needed the OS restored though. 

The restore options required me to select a location and partition type for each of the original partitions. Initially, I only selected the OS partition, but I got a "Missing Bootmgr" error. I tried "bootrec /fixboot" and DISKPART (making the partition active), but nothing worked. I then tried restoring all 3 partitions, but that didn't work either. I ended up selecting 2 partitions and assigning a location, but then couldn't assign the 3rd partition. I eventually resized everything so I could get past the 3rd partion, but after the restore, got a "missing operating system" error.

 

Isn't there some simplified way to restore a system images as if it were a "clone". I just want to restore an identical clone of the original backup.

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Bert, can you clarify what version of Acronis True Image was used to make the backup you are trying to restore, and which version of the Acronis bootable DVD you are using, including which boot method (UEFI or Legacy/BIOS boot)?

If your original hard drive has died, then you should be restoring all the contents of the backup including the MBR when writing to a new drive.

What are the 3 partitions you see inside the backup file - is one of these an EFI partition, if so, this must be restored if you want the system to be bootable, and also the Acronis DVD must be booted in EFI mode too.  If you have Windows 7 or later, you should also have a System Reserved partition which is also required.

I suspect that the Acronis DVD has been booted in the incorrect boot mode or that you have not restored the required (hidden) system partitions.

See KB document: 57982: Acronis True Image 2016: Restoring to a Drive with a Single Partition which covers your situation of restoring a backup to a new drive (one with no partitions / unformatted), and shows screen shots of the difference for a EFI boot versus a BIOS / Legacy boot for the rescue media.

 

Yes, simple answer is don't restore certain partitions - restore the entire "disk" and leave it alone and it will do the rest.  You must have selected a parition restore as you had the option to select certain ones.  If you do a disk restore, this is all done automatically. 

When doing a parition restore, you need a minimum of 2 partitions to be bootable and need to make sure you restore them in the same order they were created.  

In a legacy/MBR install, the first is the MBR which is the bootloader and tells the bios where the OS is installed and how to boot it.  

The second would normally be your OS install (C: drive).  

The third is probably a recovery partition.  Not necessary to restore recovery paritions, but may make repairing your OS easier (especially if you don't have the original installer media or a recovery disk already created). 

In a UEFI install, by default, it normally goes

System, MSR, Windows, Recovery.  However, Recovery can be first, MSR can be first, etc, depending on differnet backup softare and/or OEM installs.  At a minimum though, you would still need the System (EFI bootloader) and Windows paritions to be bootable. 

Rule of thumb... if you aren't sure or can't boot, restore them all "as is".  

And, as Steve mentioned, how you boot your offline recovery media will make a difference.  If your system was originallly UEFI/GPT, you need to boot the recovery media in UEFI mode.  If it was originally a legacy/MBR OS install, you need to boot the recovery media in legacy mode.  This post explains this part a bit more in detail.

and this may help you too, in regards to converting MBR install to UEFI (if your bios supports it.  you cannot go from UEFI to MBR though).

http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATI2016/index.html#26852.html