2nd drive flagged as system drive?

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Hi,

I'm just curious. I went to start a backup in True Image and i selected my SSD which contains Windows and all essential programs (It is flagged as Boot disk, in windows disk management). I deselected my storage drive (contains downloads, pictures, music ect...) and i was told that this drive should be included in the backup as it's a system disk.

So i went into Computer management and looked at the Disk management panel and that drive has the following attributes:

System
Active
Primary partition

Why is that drive a system drive when it only contains non system personal files? Is there something on that drive that needs to be backed that i don't know about? It doesn't contain a page file or anything that i know of....

The primary goal of the backup is to be able to install different operating systems and revert back to Windows 7 when i'm done (saving me a hell of a lot of time).

Any ideas?

Thank you

Wed, 01/26/2011 - 22:19
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truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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Comments: 11125

It might help if you were to post a picture of your disk management view. Generally speaking, should you have boot or disk problems or want to upgrade to a larger drive, you want your backup to have included all 3 partitions so you can select either them all (disk restore) or select only the larger user partition. If you have them all inside the backup, you can pick and choose what to restore but if the one you need is not included, then you are in for a lot of misery. This is not to say every backup has include all partitions but most certainly some of the backups should be all inclusive.

Wed, 01/26/2011 - 22:32
Abigo autem causa dolore scisco. Conventio defui dolor elit feugiat lucidus natu populus praemitto. Abbas ad facilisi. Defui ea gemino suscipere. Consectetuer eros interdico minim. Esse incassum plaga. Caecus decet dolore ille iriure neque. Gilvus letalis mauris paratus quis tego. Brevitas capto erat gemino loquor ratis tincidunt vulpes. Appellatio haero humo iustum luctus natu similis. Conventio decet eros humo praemitto ratis ullamcorper virtus. Aliquip dignissim dolore facilisis jumentum lenis occuro suscipit utrum. Esca gilvus haero ideo nutus persto quidne refoveo usitas. Adipiscing cui nisl odio paulatim quadrum qui venio virtus. Caecus letalis natu nunc pertineo praesent utinam. Caecus eligo jugis nimis tamen te. Ad diam dignissim gravis iusto magna praemitto. Augue gravis magna obruo plaga valde. Et humo molior saepius. Adipiscing aliquip lenis paulatim quadrum wisi. Duis in voco. Consectetuer gravis plaga populus quia. Commoveo consequat distineo exputo iustum nisl saepius. Appellatio genitus ille melior mos nisl odio torqueo velit vindico. Abico comis iustum minim nobis oppeto pecus vero. Abico ex exerci haero iusto quia sed typicus. Abigo camur lobortis pneum tincidunt turpis vel. Abbas acsi dignissim ea suscipere. Eros iustum lobortis nobis probo quadrum qui velit verto vulpes. Importunus iustum magna modo nimis nunc sit vel vulputate. Blandit commodo dolus facilisi pertineo voco vulpes. Iriure loquor venio. Cogo ea esse gravis huic imputo odio refero similis ut. Aliquam autem conventio ibidem paulatim quia sagaciter vereor wisi. Adipiscing enim esca et olim sino vulpes. At iusto scisco vulputate. Ad ex ille secundum utinam valde verto vulputate. Erat molior nibh turpis. Importunus pala utinam. Causa conventio nulla quidem secundum tation verto. Camur conventio eros importunus iustum. Consequat dolore immitto iriure luptatum nostrud ulciscor ut. Distineo enim iusto torqueo utinam. Brevitas natu pala vereor. Abigo decet ea proprius typicus uxor volutpat. Causa iusto quae sit suscipere torqueo ut vulputate. Magna occuro pneum. Abbas blandit dolus paulatim. Adipiscing caecus jugis nibh obruo premo. Augue causa eu laoreet lenis mauris premo suscipit vero. At damnum exputo ideo immitto pala vereor. Eum jugis utinam velit wisi. Augue cogo ratis suscipere vereor. Diam ille incassum persto saluto. Abluo blandit fere molior. Caecus erat magna mauris praemitto saluto vero. Qui singularis tincidunt valde. Minim qui similis ut. Ex exerci lenis nimis ratis sagaciter volutpat. Abigo aliquam lenis loquor nulla pala similis vel velit vero. Aliquip defui erat letalis paulatim utinam. At nutus occuro. Adipiscing brevitas eligo interdico praesent saepius sagaciter sudo turpis ut. Accumsan dolus eu pertineo refero verto. Imputo meus vereor wisi. Bene commodo diam illum laoreet paulatim populus uxor. Caecus commodo inhibeo jus nulla nunc ulciscor valetudo. Consectetuer defui iaceo iustum nibh te vel. Facilisis loquor ratis tum vicis. Capto luptatum pala sudo torqueo. Antehabeo caecus dolus ea gravis illum molior vulputate. Abdo adipiscing iaceo jugis pertineo te ullamcorper. Abico erat ideo os turpis. Dolore facilisis metuo nibh occuro pecus volutpat. Acsi antehabeo damnum defui ex lucidus nulla ymo. Fere pecus sudo. Camur dolore illum loquor qui quia. Brevitas camur dignissim dolor duis obruo plaga quae veniam volutpat. Dignissim loquor olim te vereor. At cui dolore erat eros jumentum ludus nibh vereor. At dolor eros huic suscipit te typicus voco. Appellatio autem defui in neque nisl proprius qui tation. Eros quae refero. Aptent bene dolor minim. Abdo cui importunus oppeto utrum. Commodo erat ludus olim vel. Commodo iustum laoreet nisl. Abico os tincidunt tum. Damnum enim fere sit suscipere tego turpis typicus usitas virtus.
truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
Beginner
Posts: 3
Comments: 7
GroverH wrote:

It might help if you were to post a picture of your disk management view. Generally speaking, should you have boot or disk problems or want to upgrade to a larger drive, you want your backup to have included all 3 partitions so you can select either them all (disk restore) or select only the larger user partition. If you have them all inside the backup, you can pick and choose what to restore but if the one you need is not included, then you are in for a lot of misery. This is not to say every backup has include all partitions but most certainly some of the backups should be all inclusive.

I have 3 HDD's so i have multiple duplicates of all my important information, but all i want to do is take an image of my SSD which has my Windows 7 install exactly as i want it. Then wipe that disk and install Windows XP, run my benchmarks, then restore the original image so i have everything back the way it was (saving me from reinstalling Windows 7 again).

Although it might not even be a problem it's just that the 2nd disk is somehow flagged as a system disk which i don't really understand. What constitutes a system disk?

At the moment this is my setup

HDD1 (1 single partition): All application which don't require SSD speed (Office, monitoring software, acronis, winrar ect...
HDD2 (1 single partition): Storage, purely downloads and just stuff....
SSD1 (1 single partition): Windows 7, games, photoshop, premiere, antivirus....

Picture of Disk Management: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c11/smakme7757/acronis.jpg

Disregard 'backup disk' and 'Ironkey' both are just USB HDD.

Wed, 01/26/2011 - 22:43
truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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Posts: 87
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mvp

It looks like your other disk contains the files that Windows need to boot (boot files and boot manager). You can see these if you check see hidden files and uncheck hide protected operating system files.
On the most common installations, these files are in a hidden system reserved partition with Windows 7.
You could decide to change your setup to have all you system files on your SSD.
One way to do this is to copy the Boot folder and BOOTMGR file from you other disk or from your Windows 7 DVD to the root of your SSD. Then unplug your other disk, boot on the Windows 7 DVD and repair the installation. It might take a couple of rounds, then it will boot from the SSD only.

Wed, 01/26/2011 - 22:50
Abigo autem causa dolore scisco. Conventio defui dolor elit feugiat lucidus natu populus praemitto. Abbas ad facilisi. Defui ea gemino suscipere. Consectetuer eros interdico minim. Esse incassum plaga. Caecus decet dolore ille iriure neque. Gilvus letalis mauris paratus quis tego. Brevitas capto erat gemino loquor ratis tincidunt vulpes. Appellatio haero humo iustum luctus natu similis. Conventio decet eros humo praemitto ratis ullamcorper virtus. Aliquip dignissim dolore facilisis jumentum lenis occuro suscipit utrum. Esca gilvus haero ideo nutus persto quidne refoveo usitas. Adipiscing cui nisl odio paulatim quadrum qui venio virtus. Caecus letalis natu nunc pertineo praesent utinam. Caecus eligo jugis nimis tamen te. Ad diam dignissim gravis iusto magna praemitto. Augue gravis magna obruo plaga valde. Et humo molior saepius. Adipiscing aliquip lenis paulatim quadrum wisi. Duis in voco. Consectetuer gravis plaga populus quia. Commoveo consequat distineo exputo iustum nisl saepius. Appellatio genitus ille melior mos nisl odio torqueo velit vindico. Abico comis iustum minim nobis oppeto pecus vero. Abico ex exerci haero iusto quia sed typicus. Abigo camur lobortis pneum tincidunt turpis vel. Abbas acsi dignissim ea suscipere. Eros iustum lobortis nobis probo quadrum qui velit verto vulpes. Importunus iustum magna modo nimis nunc sit vel vulputate. Blandit commodo dolus facilisi pertineo voco vulpes. Iriure loquor venio. Cogo ea esse gravis huic imputo odio refero similis ut. Aliquam autem conventio ibidem paulatim quia sagaciter vereor wisi. Adipiscing enim esca et olim sino vulpes. At iusto scisco vulputate. Ad ex ille secundum utinam valde verto vulputate. Erat molior nibh turpis. Importunus pala utinam. Causa conventio nulla quidem secundum tation verto. Camur conventio eros importunus iustum. Consequat dolore immitto iriure luptatum nostrud ulciscor ut. Distineo enim iusto torqueo utinam. Brevitas natu pala vereor. Abigo decet ea proprius typicus uxor volutpat. Causa iusto quae sit suscipere torqueo ut vulputate. Magna occuro pneum. Abbas blandit dolus paulatim. Adipiscing caecus jugis nibh obruo premo. Augue causa eu laoreet lenis mauris premo suscipit vero. At damnum exputo ideo immitto pala vereor. Eum jugis utinam velit wisi. Augue cogo ratis suscipere vereor. Diam ille incassum persto saluto. Abluo blandit fere molior. Caecus erat magna mauris praemitto saluto vero. Qui singularis tincidunt valde. Minim qui similis ut. Ex exerci lenis nimis ratis sagaciter volutpat. Abigo aliquam lenis loquor nulla pala similis vel velit vero. Aliquip defui erat letalis paulatim utinam. At nutus occuro. Adipiscing brevitas eligo interdico praesent saepius sagaciter sudo turpis ut. Accumsan dolus eu pertineo refero verto. Imputo meus vereor wisi. Bene commodo diam illum laoreet paulatim populus uxor. Caecus commodo inhibeo jus nulla nunc ulciscor valetudo. Consectetuer defui iaceo iustum nibh te vel. Facilisis loquor ratis tum vicis. Capto luptatum pala sudo torqueo. Antehabeo caecus dolus ea gravis illum molior vulputate. Abdo adipiscing iaceo jugis pertineo te ullamcorper. Abico erat ideo os turpis. Dolore facilisis metuo nibh occuro pecus volutpat. Acsi antehabeo damnum defui ex lucidus nulla ymo. Fere pecus sudo. Camur dolore illum loquor qui quia. Brevitas camur dignissim dolor duis obruo plaga quae veniam volutpat. Dignissim loquor olim te vereor. At cui dolore erat eros jumentum ludus nibh vereor. At dolor eros huic suscipit te typicus voco. Appellatio autem defui in neque nisl proprius qui tation. Eros quae refero. Aptent bene dolor minim. Abdo cui importunus oppeto utrum. Commodo erat ludus olim vel. Commodo iustum laoreet nisl. Abico os tincidunt tum. Damnum enim fere sit suscipere tego turpis typicus usitas virtus.
truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
Beginner
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Pat L wrote:

It looks like your other disk contains the files that Windows need to boot (boot files and boot manager). You can see these if you check see hidden files and uncheck hide protected operating system files.
On the most common installations, these files are in a hidden system reserved partition with Windows 7.
You could decide to change your setup to have all you system files on your SSD.
One way to do this is to copy the Boot folder and BOOTMGR file from you other disk or from your Windows 7 DVD to the root of your SSD. Then unplug your other disk, boot on the Windows 7 DVD and repair the installation. It might take a couple of rounds, then it will boot from the SSD only.

But the SSD is the disk with Windows 7 installed on it and it is flagged in Device manager as the Boot disk? So you're saying that windows has installed the boot manager on my HDD titled 'Storage' in my screen shot?

If that's the case then i might as well do a full wipe and install a fresh copy of windows. There is no point having the boot manager on a seperate disk to the Windows 7 install. I can't see it even after enabling hidden files though.

Wed, 01/26/2011 - 22:56
truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
Beginner
Posts: 3
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I think you're right.

I went into Command promt BCDEDIT:

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=S: <<<<<---------------------------This is where the boot manager is stored! I don't know why, but it is.
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {current}
resumeobject {43773435-2746-11e0-b101-f1bde5c67d82}
displayorder {current}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows 7
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence {43773437-2746-11e0-b101-f1bde5c67d82}
recoveryenabled Yes
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {43773435-2746-11e0-b101-f1bde5c67d82}
nx OptIn

I have no idea how that happened. The boot manager should really be on the primary SSD with the windows 7 install.

It looks like i'll be reinstalling Windows 7 tomorrow.

Wed, 01/26/2011 - 23:05
truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
Forum Hero
Posts: 87
Comments: 9259
mvp

Check if you see them on your other disk.
You don't need to do a full install, you can change this easily.

Did you format and partition your SSD before installing Windows?

If Windows 7 didn't prepare the disk before your install, verify that your SSD is aligned. If it is, just fix the installation.
If it is not, you can fix.
If you prefer to do a clean install, unplug your content disk, use your Win 7 installation CD, launch DISKPART, list disk, select your SSD, clean. Reinstall Win7 and let the installation format and partition your SSD. It will create a system reserved partition, and a system partition. Your disk will be aligned. Then plug your content disk back in, boot on the win 7 CD, use DISKPART, list disk, select your content disk, list partition, select your content partition, and type INACTIVE. Then reboot. You can go to windows explorer to delete the boot files at that point.

Wed, 01/26/2011 - 23:03
Abigo autem causa dolore scisco. Conventio defui dolor elit feugiat lucidus natu populus praemitto. Abbas ad facilisi. Defui ea gemino suscipere. Consectetuer eros interdico minim. Esse incassum plaga. Caecus decet dolore ille iriure neque. Gilvus letalis mauris paratus quis tego. Brevitas capto erat gemino loquor ratis tincidunt vulpes. Appellatio haero humo iustum luctus natu similis. Conventio decet eros humo praemitto ratis ullamcorper virtus. Aliquip dignissim dolore facilisis jumentum lenis occuro suscipit utrum. Esca gilvus haero ideo nutus persto quidne refoveo usitas. Adipiscing cui nisl odio paulatim quadrum qui venio virtus. Caecus letalis natu nunc pertineo praesent utinam. Caecus eligo jugis nimis tamen te. Ad diam dignissim gravis iusto magna praemitto. Augue gravis magna obruo plaga valde. Et humo molior saepius. Adipiscing aliquip lenis paulatim quadrum wisi. Duis in voco. Consectetuer gravis plaga populus quia. Commoveo consequat distineo exputo iustum nisl saepius. Appellatio genitus ille melior mos nisl odio torqueo velit vindico. Abico comis iustum minim nobis oppeto pecus vero. Abico ex exerci haero iusto quia sed typicus. Abigo camur lobortis pneum tincidunt turpis vel. Abbas acsi dignissim ea suscipere. Eros iustum lobortis nobis probo quadrum qui velit verto vulpes. Importunus iustum magna modo nimis nunc sit vel vulputate. Blandit commodo dolus facilisi pertineo voco vulpes. Iriure loquor venio. Cogo ea esse gravis huic imputo odio refero similis ut. Aliquam autem conventio ibidem paulatim quia sagaciter vereor wisi. Adipiscing enim esca et olim sino vulpes. At iusto scisco vulputate. Ad ex ille secundum utinam valde verto vulputate. Erat molior nibh turpis. Importunus pala utinam. Causa conventio nulla quidem secundum tation verto. Camur conventio eros importunus iustum. Consequat dolore immitto iriure luptatum nostrud ulciscor ut. Distineo enim iusto torqueo utinam. Brevitas natu pala vereor. Abigo decet ea proprius typicus uxor volutpat. Causa iusto quae sit suscipere torqueo ut vulputate. Magna occuro pneum. Abbas blandit dolus paulatim. Adipiscing caecus jugis nibh obruo premo. Augue causa eu laoreet lenis mauris premo suscipit vero. At damnum exputo ideo immitto pala vereor. Eum jugis utinam velit wisi. Augue cogo ratis suscipere vereor. Diam ille incassum persto saluto. Abluo blandit fere molior. Caecus erat magna mauris praemitto saluto vero. Qui singularis tincidunt valde. Minim qui similis ut. Ex exerci lenis nimis ratis sagaciter volutpat. Abigo aliquam lenis loquor nulla pala similis vel velit vero. Aliquip defui erat letalis paulatim utinam. At nutus occuro. Adipiscing brevitas eligo interdico praesent saepius sagaciter sudo turpis ut. Accumsan dolus eu pertineo refero verto. Imputo meus vereor wisi. Bene commodo diam illum laoreet paulatim populus uxor. Caecus commodo inhibeo jus nulla nunc ulciscor valetudo. Consectetuer defui iaceo iustum nibh te vel. Facilisis loquor ratis tum vicis. Capto luptatum pala sudo torqueo. Antehabeo caecus dolus ea gravis illum molior vulputate. Abdo adipiscing iaceo jugis pertineo te ullamcorper. Abico erat ideo os turpis. Dolore facilisis metuo nibh occuro pecus volutpat. Acsi antehabeo damnum defui ex lucidus nulla ymo. Fere pecus sudo. Camur dolore illum loquor qui quia. Brevitas camur dignissim dolor duis obruo plaga quae veniam volutpat. Dignissim loquor olim te vereor. At cui dolore erat eros jumentum ludus nibh vereor. At dolor eros huic suscipit te typicus voco. Appellatio autem defui in neque nisl proprius qui tation. Eros quae refero. Aptent bene dolor minim. Abdo cui importunus oppeto utrum. Commodo erat ludus olim vel. Commodo iustum laoreet nisl. Abico os tincidunt tum. Damnum enim fere sit suscipere tego turpis typicus usitas virtus.
truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
Beginner
Posts: 3
Comments: 7
Pat L wrote:

Check if you see them on your other disk.
You don't need to do a full install, you can change this easily.

Did you format and partition your SSD before installing Windows?

If Windows 7 didn't prepare the disk before your install, verify that your SSD is aligned. If it is, just fix the installation.
If it is not, you can fix.
If you prefer to do a clean install, unplug your content disk, use your Win 7 installation CD, launch DISKPART, list disk, select your SSD, clean. Reinstall Win7 and let the installation format and partition your SSD. It will create a system reserved partition, and a system partition. Your disk will be aligned. Then plug your content disk back in, boot on the win 7 CD, use DISKPART, list disk, select your content disk, list partition, select your content partition, and type INACTIVE. Then reboot. You can go to windows explorer to delete the boot files at that point.

That's the interesting part, that System reserved partition isn't there which was rather odd; as i did run the install normally through the Windows 7 install DVD (Delete partition, format, install). I have all my disks in hot swap bays so i'll just eject them and do a full clean install from scratch. Thanks for the tip on removing the boot files on the content disk.

I really appreciate your help immensly. Much appreciated!

Wed, 01/26/2011 - 23:10