How to Resore WinXP, Vista, and Win 7 to the same machine

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truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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I would like to test my software on WinX, Vista, and Win7 using clean installs each time. I'm not talking about a MultiBoot system. I'm suggesting the following scenario.

1. Boot from the Acronis CD
2. Start Acronis Loader
3. Restore the OS I want to test with XP, Vista, or 7
4. Shut Down and Reboot into the Windows OS I just restored.

Question. I've tried this with Win7 and everything is fine. When I restore Vista, it won't boot. My thinking is that when I RESTORE Win7 I need to also Restore the little 100MB SYSTEM Partition. And that when I RESTORE Vista or XP - I should blow away that partition and Just Restore my Vista or XP OS which does not Require the SYSTEM partition.

Think that would work? Is there a better practice?

Tue, 06/15/2010 - 15:55
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truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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That could be the problem and I would also restore the MBR for each one. You do a backup and restore of the whole disk for each OS which would automatically replace or delete the partition as required and restore the MBR. Disadvantage is it could take a while if you have other partitions on the same physical HD with lots of data in them.

Have you considered using a disk rack/caddy? Setup each HD in its own caddy and then all you have to do is plug in the one you want. Fast and not overly expensive.

Tue, 06/15/2010 - 16:49
truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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I assume Vista was booting correctly when you created the backup image.

When restoring Windows 7, the SRP needs to be Active. When restoring Vista or XP, the Vista/XP partition needs to be Active. Have you checked this?

Otherwise, what error are you getting when you try to boot Vista?

In general, Entire Disk Image backups and restores cause the least problems. In your case, it sounds like that's the option you should be using (assuming you don't have other partitions on the drive).

Tue, 06/15/2010 - 16:50