Where Did I Go Wrong?
I decided to upgrade my Dell XPS M1710 laptop from XP to Windows 7. Some people have done so successfully, but others have failed. I decided to update my Acronis True Image Home software to Ver. 2011 with Plus Pack to handle Windows 7 and (hopefully) deal with any disasters. My backup is via 10MHz Ethernet to a Lacie 2Big (Raid) unit, which has served me well for years.
The Acronis 2011 backup to "My_partitions.tib" went well, and Acronis found no less than five partitions (on a laptop!). The terminology was not identical, but Windows 7 would later report the following five partitions (all on Disk 0), so I figured we had everything covered:
1 - 62 MB OEM (Reserved) (I think this is also called "Sector 63")
2 - 82.5 GB System (my C: Drive)
3 - 2 GB Media Direct (which I have never used)
4 - 4.1 GB Logical (an unnamed FAT partition of unknown purpose)
5 - 60.4 GB AcronisSZ (the Secure Zone, which I also have never used).
I guess I had slightly complicated the issue by deciding to re-partition the hard drive to a single partition. It did not immediately occur to me that, by wiping out the OEM partition, I may have trouble re-installing my OEM XP operating system. I had to do so before I could use the Windows 7 Update software.
When that failed, I just wanted to go back to where I started. I used my Acronis 2011 Rescue Disk, which worked beautifully, and connected me with my remote back-up unit. Then things got really hard for me. I could not figure out how I was supposed to put all those partitions and their contents back exactly as they were before I started changing things (a simple "undo" button would have been nice).
I am now in my second 10-hour restore attempt, and hoping for the best, however, I wish Acronis would stop telling me I have just two hours to go, when I actually have about nine hours to go.
My Dell 17-inch XPS paperweight is living in hope.

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You should be able to restore the whole disk including the MasterBoot Record (MBR) in one step
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Thanks for those useful tips. I think I have worked out where I went wrong. I had not noticed that little box for saving the Disk Signature. When I did, I wasn't sure if it would be sufficient to download just the MBR (with that box ticked), so I decided to do the whole thing yet again. If it works this time, I will feel more confident about going for that Windows 7 installation. I would still hope to be able to dump some of those additional partitions (such as Media Direct, the Fat 16 OEM, and the Fat 32 4 GB one), and give myself some useful disk space. Also, as I don't use the Acronis 60.4 GB Secure Zone, I wonder if I can use Acronis to "give that back"?
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