creating and recovering a system reserved partition

David, when using ATI 2018 to make a Disk & Partitions backup image, if you select the top level Disk item, then all the partitions for that disk will be selected automatically, regardless of whether these are hidden/system or not.

If you select individual partitions below the top level Disk item, then you need to be aware that the default view of partitions are the 'Short partition list' though this is not shown on the display.  If you look at the bottom of the GUI panel what you will see is 'Full partition list' which in turn is a toggle switch that you need to click on, then it will switch to showing all partitions and the text will change to saying 'Short partition list'.

When you come to recovering your full disk backup from the image file to your new SSD, then the key point to understand is that there must be sufficient space to accommodate the 'used data' size of your original HDD backup image.  ATI should attempt to resize the data being recovered to fit on either a smaller or larger target drive, though in my experience this does not always happen due to the ordering of hidden/system partitions such as those for the Windows Recovery Environment.

After doing the recovery, you can use any partition management software such as DD or others to manually resize partitions, moving any that may need to be moved to allow the C: partition to be resized.

There should be no need to attempt to resize the System Reserved partition and it is not recommended to do so.

One further key point here:  your screen image of the drive shows it to be from a Legacy/MBR system, therefore when you perform the recovery, you need to use the Acronis bootable Rescue Media with this booted in Legacy/CSM mode, especially if your system is capable of UEFI.

See forum topic: [How to] recover an entire disk backup for further advice.

As usual Steve's advice is excellent. He correctly points out that Acronis usually will not resize the non-hidden portions if there is a hidden partition located after the visible partitions. I cannot recall if I have used Disk Director to resize petitions when this happens, but I have used MiniTool Partition Wizard Free to do so. 

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the timely reply, and useful info. I have a somewhat lengthy response so please bear with me. First, some background.

Background

I normally backup the disk in separate partition images, for ease of recovery - there seems to be no reason to do it all in one shot when the most common issue (software corruption) is likely to be on one partition only.  And so far that's been the case.  Altho, admittedly, It's been quite a number of years (6+?) since I had to recover anything.

As background, I try to organise the the disk partitions according to the data type - OS, programs, data of various sorts (audio, video, pictures, text etc), tools etc.  My backup schedule is: full disk images every 3 months, C drive and data drives once a month. The backup .tib files are stored locally, on an attached as needed 1Tb usb drive, and on a LAN attached network store. An image of the most recent full system backup files is attached.  Note that the scratchpad partition is missing from the screenshot image - because it's either scrap data, or (90% of it) is the local copy of the backup files (screenshot also attached). Backing this drive up is just a waste of time and space.

Taking the items you mention in turn:

1.  Backup files.

I did not know about the partition list options - thanks for that.  changing to a full list doesn't appear to hold after the current backup actions, so it looks like  it has to be set for every backup cycle (monthly) at least.

2.  Reserved partition backup.

I mentioned in my earlier post about "My Partitions".  That was in the default short list mode.  Usually I rename the backup file to be for the partition name and date - which is just for admin convenience. The Backup NAS is 2Tb full of backup files  from 3 PC's so a form of sorting is actually essential. And a prior query (a few years back) to the acronis forums gave me the answer of 'that is the name given to multiple partitions chosen for the same backup file', and thereafter I assumed that for the PC which had reserved partitions on it, selecting C also selected the reserved partition as well, since that was the only backup selection in which that name appeared.  Apparently, not so, and I'll adjust my practice for the partition backups I'll be doing in 2 days time.

One thing still not clear to me is the means of specifying a reserved partition during the creation of one using DD12.  The doco and screenshot seems (doesn't positively state) to indicate that any partition marked as active and primary is a reserved partition, but there seems to be no description of how such marking is achieved.  Another question - can you advise on this point please.

3.  Backup partition sizes.

I've had some unsatisfactory experience with using DD12 to re-size a partition that was 'in the middle' of others - even with space available, it did not work.  On the forums advice, I used the windows disk manager to do the job.  That was with DD12 build 3223.  Now using 3297 so, further question - has that bug been fixed?

And because of that past experience, I was reluctant to do a transfer to the new SSD by:

- creating and sizing the disks as they were on the HDD using DD12

- recovery of the partitions using TI2018, and then

- resizing the recovered partitions using DD12.

Which is what you advised.  What I had planned to do was, one by one,

- create and size the partition on SSD as for the HDD,

- recover the partition

- resize the partition, and then

- repeat for each partition. Which is a lot of to-and-fro between DD12 and TI2018 - and thus the question I posed about re-size during recovery.  Based on your response I guess I'll have to do it the long progressive way because the apps and data partitions are in between scratchpad and tools on the disk layout.

4.  Boot mode

The PC is indeed a legacy MBR system, does not have UEFI.  I've checked, and there isn't that sort of boot mode option presented using the bootable recovery disk:  starting with the disk gives a list of about 5 options (standard and 64bit TI), system report, start normally, and if you wait to select an option too long, it proceeds to a normal windows boot.  Selecting an option - in my case 64bit TI since its installed on a 64bit PC - and the loader gets thru it's script directly to the TI user interface.

I've printed out that article, and will have it handy.

Thanks,

David

David, thank you for the comprehensive reply in your post above.

The 'Full partition list' versus 'Short partition list' is simply a view toggle and does not affect the selections you have already made, hence it returns to the same default view each time.

Selecting individual partitions does not guarantee that you have selected the System Reserved partition - this is especially true when you are not selecting the top Disk level option (which would select all partitions) - so in your case, you need to explicitly select such reserved partitions for your backup task.

Note: the name 'My Partitions' (or My Folders) that ATI gives to your task can be changed to be more meaningful to you, but ideally this should be done before running the backup task for the first time, as this name then is given to the backup image files on the storage drive.  You can still change the name for existing tasks with files already created, but new files only will take the new name.  This can be confusing depending on the degree of name change!

To be totally honest, I very rarely use DD12 - it is somewhat archaic and inflexible compared to equivalent free partition manager tool.  I tend to use the MiniTool Partition Wizard but have never needed to create a System Reserved partition.  The rules for this partition is that MS will automatically create this if doing a clean install of Windows on a blank drive, but if installing on a drive with existing partitions, then no System Reserved partition is created - instead the Windows Boot Configuration Data store is hidden on the main OS C: partition.
Note: My own laptops do not have any System Reserved partitions.

I have had no problem with resizing partitions, moving them, reorganising them etc using either MiniTool PW or other similar tools.  As always the key is to make a good backup first 'just in case!'

One key benefit of doing a full Disk & Partitions backup (that includes everything) is that recovery and placement of partitions on the new drive is all handled by ATI without any need to manually specify or resize these. 

I fully understand the benefit of having individual partition backups and being able to recover a single partition due to a bad Windows Update etc - I also use this approach myself and have been glad I was able to do so.

When using the Acronis Rescue media, then it would be recommended to use the boot menu option that best matches your computer architecture, i.e. 64-bit program for such machines.

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the reply, you covered almost everything.

Today was backup day for 3 machines - 2 laptops and a desktop - and using the full list, I did in fact see and create separate backup files for the reserved partitions.  I noted that individually selecting the C drive for backup on the laptops (but not the desktop) automatically selected the reserved partition as well, so I got it twice. Which confirms the assumption I mentioned in my 1st post. The desktop does not have a reserved partition.  One of the laptops is the one I'll be upgrading to SSD.

You also explained why reserved partitions exist on some but not all machines - I was going to ask about that.

Also found that using DD12 on one of the desktops to resize a volume to use unallocated space which I found on the drive (did not expect that, but took advantage to try out move and re-size functions of the latest DD12 build) worked fine, confirms past bug experience seems to be fixed in build 3297.

So noting your remarks about minitool, I do have DD12 and b3297 does seem to be good for what I want at the moment.

What isn't in your reply is how to mark a created partition to be reserved.  Could you clarify that please.

David, take a read of webpage: What is System Reserved Partition in Windows 10/8/7

This should help answer your questions.  In reality, it is just another partition given that name but flagged as being System, Active & Primary in the screen shot shown by the above page.

Other useful webpages: What Is the System Reserved Partition and Can You Delete It? and from Wikipedia Microsoft Reserved Partition

David,

Are you needing information on:

1. A System Reserved Partition or
2. A Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR)?

These are not one and the same.  A System Reserved Partition contains boot configuration files in Windows 7, 8,  and 10.

A Microsoft Reserved Partition does not contain boot files but on some systems may contain metabeta about the other data on a disk.

Hi Guys,

Steve, thanks for the link and info.

Enchantech, No, just looking to the "how to" of replicating on SSD what I already have on HDD, which is MBR - see the screenshot with my 1st post - and a reserved partition.

I've used TI to recover several times (fingers of one hand) and DD10/11/12 much more often (both hands and feet), but this is the 1st time I've planned to do

- install configure and partition a new disk from clean-skin up, using DD12.  Usually all I've had to do was to create a new partition on an existing disk, re-size one, and move them around.

- recover the entire system from backup files onto the new disk, in the same partition configuration as the HDD has, including the reserved partition.  Will probably take all day - the  backup of C in max compressed form is currently 40gb and takes over an hour to do, and I'm expecting recovery to be at least twice that long.

and consequently I'm feeling a tad nervous about the whole process - about things I know about, and mostly those I don't.  An example of the latter is about how to set MBR for the disk, and reading about it yesterday I stumbled over initialisation and mis-alignment.  Another is the commitment process when there's only the bootable disk available with an OS - on my trials yesterday, that involved an 'autopart' process - black and white text only screen - as part of a re-boot, but the standard windows was available. Not sure how that will work when it's not, or really when it's just linux+DD12 on bootable DVD.

Got more reading to do today. And I've consoled myself several times that

- commitment for tasks on a clean skin disk must have been tested and working by Acronis, and

- if it goes wrong, I can always re-install the HDD that's currently there.

David

David,

Why do you want to use DD12 to partition this new disk prior to restoring a full disk backup image to the SSD?

It is much simpler and easier to create a full disk image backup of the entire disk then restore that image to a new drive.

True Image has the smarts to recognize that you are restoring an image to an SSD and creating the correct off set alignment for the drive.  If you do this yourself you might get that wrong.  I have no idea how DD12 handles this by default.  I would suspect that it would be able to do the same as True Image but I do not know for sure.

I have used MiniTool Partition Wizard and I am confident it will off set alignment correctly on an SSD and I am confident if you tell it to do it wrong it will caution about doing so.

Just my opinion here but if it were me I would make a full disk image backup of the disk as is.  I then would recover that image to the new disk using defaults that True Image sets.  After that I would make sure it boots.  Once confirmed that the disk boots I would use MiniTool to resize the partitions as needed or desired in your case.

Doing it this way I would expect to have the entire thing done in half the time or less than you are planning for with the end result being the same.

David, I agree with the advice given by @Enchantech. Do a backup, recover to the new SSD and use MiniTool to resize/move partitions.

Ian

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the advice.

A full disk image - as I outlined in prior post, a bit less than half of the current disk is local copies of backup files.  No point in backing up those again, and my partition backup practice means I don't do that.

My backup practice is create backups by partition - it's managable and for this update, already done (yesterday).    A full disk backup even in partitions for the configuration shown in the image in the 1st post is a 3+hour activity: setting the partition backup up may be less than a minute for each one, without doing the partition that has the backup file copies in it.

Regarding recovery time - TI is optimised for backup in minimum time. And in this case, It's to an external disk store using a usb3 interface (because the internal hdd that I'm replacing just doesn't have the capacity to store it all, plus the performance penalty from using the same HDD to store the result - all the extra disk access time mounts up in cases like this), so the time to go thru the driver is in the middle of it all.  maybe those 2 things balance out? Past experience is that recovery using those backup files will take a lot longer than it did to create them.

I daresay if anything goes awry, I'll put the HDD back in and do a full disk backup.

Tomorrow's the day.  I'll keep you posted.

Hi guys,

It's done.  Successfully, too!, and without any heart stoppers.

Some commentary seems appropriate.

1.  There seemed to be no way to mark the C drive as the boot drive, but I eventually assumed that DD12 would mark the 'boot' drive based on the location on the OS bootable files.  That seems to have been accurate.  So, some clarifying remarks in the manual about that function in section 3.4, para title "Boot volume".  What's there can be interpreted as DD12 will do it, but equally that the user has to mark the volume based on where those OS files will be.

2. Based on Steve's advice, I took a backup of the reserved partition, but - as noted above - backing up the C drive also seemed to backup the reserved partition.  So I decided to restore the c drive first - for 2 reasons;  a) if the obvious was indeed accurate, it would save a separate restoration of the reserved partition; and b) once done I could use the tools (TI2018 and DD12) in the C drive to do any further operations, rather than be restricted/slowed down by any access time necessary to the CD drive where the bootable software for either tool was.

3. Reserved partition.  Recovering the C drive did indeed recover the reserved partition as well. 

4. Recovery time.  As I indicated earlier my expectation based on past experience (years ago, it must be said) was that each volume would take 2x backup time, to recover.  Expectation - for the C drive, around 3 hours, so I planned my day around that. I was dumbfounded when the C drive recovery using software loaded from the CD drive - note: only 8gb system RAM available, and including the reserved partition - was finished in less than 10 minutes.  Part of that may be the faster access and write times for the new SSD, but the source of the backup file was same usb3 connected external HDD.

5. The new system booted in half the previous time - from pressing start to a known advice message appearing, which includes internet access; a bit over 1 minute using windows 7.

6.  using the tools - TI2018 and DD12 from the new SSD based system drive to recover and then expand/re-locate the other drive partitions - was similarly faster.  Not really enough time to get a cup of coffee during each one.

7.  Total time - to remove the HDD, install the SSD, close up the chassis, power up using the bootable DD12 DVD and start the disk configuration, thru to completion of recovery for all drives and the relevant re-sizing/moves - a bit more than 2 hours. Outstanding!!. The revised DD12 disk image is attached - the extra 200Gb on the SSD distributed over C, D, F and G.  Last act - killing the defrag scheduler.

My thanks to all for the many educative and helpful suggestions.

David

David, always good to read of success stories and glad all went so smoothly & quickly!