Booting problems after restore
In the past, I did not have any problem with backing and restoring with ATI within and outside Windows. I am currently using ATI 2010 under the environment of Windows 7.
There was a problem with C-drive last weekend. I almost thought about replacing it with a new disk drive. But the problem was solved by deleting the whole c-drive and reformatting. Then, I attemtped to restore the most recently backedup tib (say "recent.tib"), Restore was progressed successfully but I was not able to boot the windows. Whenever I trited to boot, the scren shows three choices: memory check, diagnostics and exit. I never could boot the windows.
Finally, I placed Windows 7 disk in DVD-drive and tried to fix the Windows startup problem. That did not work either. Finally, I was forced to install Windows 7 and then restored the "recent.tib". Now, my windows works just fine as before.
My impression is that restore with tib works fine when it is written over the previously installed windows partition. But when restore is performed on disk after deleting the partition and then reformatting, it causes problem with starting windows. Could anybody suggest how to handle this booting problem (without re-installing windows).
Note: There is no problem with "recent .tib".
Yes. tib was restored from boot disk CD. It worked without any hitch.l
Did you restore the MBR+track0? Yes.
Did your backup include the system reserved partition? I am not familiar with "the sytem reserved partition".
When I do back up, I click "Disk backup \Disk and Parition Backup". Then, I select "Disk 1 C-paraition" (see the attachment). I don't see a choice for "system reserved partition". Please advise me where to find the system reserved partition for backup along with C-partition. Thanks.
Based on you screenshot, your system configuration does not include the System Reserve partition.
As your disk contains 2 partitions, the deletion and reformatting may have made changes that Windows did not understand. You may have been better off just reformatting the partition without deleting.
I assume you are making separate backups of the two partitions.
I would also suggest you consider doing a backup whereby you checkmark the disk so both partitions are included in the backup. You could exclude the contents of your pictures partitions so the contents of partition 2 would not be included but the backup would include the partition markers for both. Then, when you need to restore the os partition, you could use the disk backup and restore just the single partition--rather than both.
When you are having troubles with your system, and restore C and mbr/track0, you should also consider restoring the "Recover disk signature" option which is located on the same screen where you select the target disk.
This example below shows how to check if your disk as a Partiton starting offset of 1 mb. Most (but not all) Windows 7 installs has this setting. If yours has a different setting, Windows is still ok but if you move to an SSD, this will need correction.
Thanks for GroverH' comment.
Last week, I noticed that the size of C-paratition reached close to the maximum. So I tried to resize the whole partitions of C-drive. That's where the problem started. Somehow, Partition Manager could not resize parititons due to error(s) in C-drive. Apparently, both Paratiton Magic and Paragon Partion Manager saw it as a bad drive. That's why I decided to delete partitions in the whole C-drive to remove the erronous readings. At that time, a leading, small segment (about 1-4 MB in fat 32; I don't recall its exact size) and a reccovery partition (sic) in front of C-drive were disappeared .
As described earalier, after insntalling Windows 7 and restore of the previous tib, my computer is running just fine as it was new. But when I checked the whole C-drive, there were only two partitions: C- and P-partitions. The leading, small fat32 segment was gone. But the computer runs well without any problem so far.
>I would also suggest you consider doing a backup whereby you checkmark the disk so both partitions are included in the backup. You could exclude the >contents of your pictures partitions so the contents of partition 2 would not be included but the backup would include the partition markers for both
This is new to me. During backing up, how can I exclude the contents picture partition (after checkmarking P-partion)? I would like to learn this procedure. Your help would be appreciated.
After you select your target, on the lower left under Optional steps is an option which reads "What to Exclude"
Checkmark the "Exclude files matching the following criteria:"
Click he add option and add
P:\*.* or point to specific folder on drive P.
he folder name may still be listed but without files. In one my tests, I backed up a 90g partition and the exclusions reduced the backup size to 9 GB. This may take some experimenting on your part to get as much exclusion as you can.
Don't misunderstand. The most preferred backup would be a backup which includes the contents of both partitions with no exclusions. If it is your intention to backup C and P onto separate backups, then I am suggesting you add a 3rd choice which is to check the disk option to include both C and P and then use the exclude files option to exclude as many files as possible on the P partition.
Should you need to restore, you would normally only restore C from the most recent; or restore P from the most recent (only if needed as P would already be current). The only time the 3rd choice would be used would be if the preceding does not work and you need to use the 3rd choice which would be to do a disk restore followed by individual partition restores as needed to get yourself current in both partitions again.
There have been some prior postings on exclusions which you may want to search for plus the user file.
There is a good chance in your booting problem, the non-replacement of the small partition was the cause of your system not booting after the restore. Most likely, the active and boot partition in the beginning was the small missing partition. The subsequent repair placed the boot files inside the partition C so now there is no need for the small partition.
GroverH,
Thank you for your precious informaiton.
Here is a related question: "System Reserve partition (SRP).". I assume that SRP is about 40 MB leading partition without drive letter and in 32FAT format. I saw that SRP was on C-drive. But when I deleted three partitions on C-drive, the SRP was disappeared. As shown in the attachement to an earlier post, the SRP is no longer in the C-drive now. But I have no problem with cold booting in the morning. How can I create SRP now?
Missing SRP probably would cause booting problem sometime in future.
If the partition was created by Windows repair, you will have no issues with it. Having the small system reserved partion is not a requirement. Any individual that upgraded their computer from a prior version of Windows to Win 7 most likely does NOT have a system reserved partition. Note the attached examples. I believe you are concerned about an issue which is really a non-issue. This examples shows a variety of computers with a variety of different configurations put there by the manufacturer.
Mine is Dell XPS 8000. Windows 7 was pre-loaded when the computer was purchased from Costco 2 years ago.
When I looked at your graphic, I meant "100 mb OEM" partition not system repair partition. I will try to backup the current C-drive today. I would like to restore it to check how the current status of C-drive works. I will post again later in the day if I am getting problem booting. Thanks again.
Mine is Dell XPS 8000. Windows 7 was pre-loaded when the computer was purchased from Costco 2 years ago.
When I looked at your graphic, I meant "100 mb OEM" partition not system repair partition. I will try to backup the current C-drive today. I would like to restore it to check how the current status of C-drive works. I will post again later in the day if I am getting problem booting. Thanks again.
Jorge,
As Grover suggested, a better backup is the one that includes all partitions, even if you choose to exclude user content from the backup. In particular, include the active partition.