Can I only install an image to a drive of the same assigned drive letter? IE: A "C" to a "C" etc?
Using a dual boot system with XP on the "C" partition and Win 7 is on the "D"partition.
If I make an image of the 7 partition while using 7, that is the "C" drive. Then of course if I was using XP and I made an image that drive would become "C" as well. Win 7 becomes "D".
If I take the 7 image, made when 7 was the "C" and install it onto the XP partition, it won't boot. I get a black screen " No OS found" or words to that effect.
Can I only install an image to a drive of the same assigned drive letter?
How to I get around this behavior?
It seems that the MBR is wrong because of the way the image was made. How to edit the MBR if you can't access it?
Tried to search the forum but didn't know how to phrase what I wanted, so here I am. I'm sure this has been covered a million times but I didn't find it.
Thank you!
F Wolf
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Use the TI Recovery CD and create a backup when booted from the CD. The backups will be done using Linux and Windows will not be involved.
You do not indicate whether each OS is on an individual disk or one disk but separate partitions.
Your backup can be either or both.
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Bob (Robert) Huffman wrote:If I read this correctly you are attempting to restore an image of the Win 7 partition onto a partition that once contained Win XP. Does the original Win 7 partition still exist on the drive?
HI Robert,
Yes it does it's on the "D" partition of my drive.
F Wolf
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In Windows the disk label (letter) is held in registry. When restoring an image True Image will update the registry only if a complete disk image is being restored.
Your problem is down to either the BSD for Windows 7 is not pointing to the W7 loader or the partition isn't marked as active.
Was XP the original OS and W7 then installed in a separate partition or th eother way around?
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GroverH wrote:Use the TI Recovery CD and create a backup when booted from the CD. The backups will be done using Linux and Windows will not be involved.
You do not indicate whether each OS is on an individual disk or one disk but separate partitions.
Your backup can be either or both.
Hello GroverH,
Both my OS's are on separate partitions of one HD.
I'm weaning my way off using XP as much as I can. So I thought "hmmm make an image of Win 7 and put it on the 1st partition where XP is. Of course you know that Windoze will want to mess with the drive letters, that was the reason for me asking how to avoid it. I was afraid the system:
A/ Wouldn't boot at all
B/ All the programs that worked won't work because the drive letters don't agree with the boot.ini or registry
So if I make the backup using Linux on the boot/recover CD I could do what I want with no dire consequences? IE: Use the image of the D partition and put it on where the C partition resides?
Thanks and Happy New Year!
F Wolf
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Colin B wrote:In Windows the disk label (letter) is held in registry. When restoring an image True Image will update the registry only if a complete disk image is being restored.
Your problem is down to either the BSD for Windows 7 is not pointing to the W7 loader or the partition isn't marked as active.
Was XP the original OS and W7 then installed in a separate partition or the ether way around?
Hi Colin,
First off, mercifully, I haven't done this yet! So I am safe so to speak. I was quoting a friend's misadventure when I said it wouldn't boot up. He ended up installing both OS's on 2 partitions then putting the images on them. Seems a long way around the barn eh?
I always only make FULL backups so that's not an issue
Yes you are correct XP was first installed on the drive then Win 7 added to the second one at a later date. I use Easy BCD to toggle between them.
I am puzzled that GroveH says "make your image using the Recovery CD that way it's Linux and it won't mess with the drive letters." But each OS has it's own registry and I can't understand how if all the registry and boot.ini stuff points to the "D" drive how it will work in a C partition. I'm sure he knows far more than I do ( or care to) and will wait for his reply.
Thank you very much for your reply and question, I know at some point I'll make sense of this all!
F Wolf
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So after you do this migration you will cease to have a dual boot system and will only have a single Win 7 install? Additionally, you have not done what you propose to do yet or have you?
If you have 2 bootable installs of Win 7 on the same drive Windoze might well complain about that with a BSOD.
If it were me I would do as GroverH has outlined backing up the Win 7 partition only making sure that your image contains all hidden partitions within the current D partition.
Your current dual boot setup uses 2 boot.ini files, 1 for each OS. You will need to change that so that only the Win 7 boot.ini remains.
With those considerations I believe that you can do as you desire.
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F Wolf,
My response in post #2 was meant solely to privide info on how to backup your disk so the backup was not influenced by Windows. Those instructions was not meant to imply anything else. I am not familiar with what you are attempting and am not offering any instructions.
Curios:
I assume that Win 7 is bootable? If yes, does it boot into Drive C and XP becomes drive D?
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With a dual boot system you have 2 bootable OS partitions. These partitions can be on seperate drives or in the case here, on a single drive. The Easy BCD program is nothing more than a boot manager which manages which boot loader (boot.ini) to run depending on the choice made by the user.
All this means that there are in fact 2 complete OS installs on the same drive each under a different drive letter. The boot loader files run which ever boot.ini file is needed to boot either OS but not both at once.
I am still uncertain exactly what F Wolf wishes to do here besides move the current Win 7 install to the current location where Win XP now resides. I have no idea why or for what purpose this is being contemplated other than to do away with the dual boot capability. If that is not the case then there is no advantage in doing anything at all with the system.
If F Wolf does as he purposes and restores a full partition backup of the Win 7 partition of this disk which I presume will overwrite the Win XP install I can forsee several problems with that. The main problem is that you are dealing with 2 very different file systems between these 2 OS versions. Win XP being a FAT32 system and Win 7 being an NTFS file system. I believe you would need to format the existing Win XP partition to an NTFS partition prior to restoring an NTFS file system to it or I would think you would run into problems such as the BSOD mentioned earlier amongst others. Having 2 indentical installs would also most certainly confuse the Easy BCD boot loader and result in problems there as well.
Unless there is a clear undeerstanding of the objectives with this process then no reasonable solution can be offered and F Wolf would be best to leave good enough alone rather than risk having an unbootable system.
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GroverH wrote:F Wolf,
My response in post #2 was meant solely to privide info on how to backup your disk so the backup was not influenced by Windows. Those instructions was not meant to imply anything else. I am not familiar with what you are attempting and am not offering any instructions.Curios:
I assume that Win 7 is bootable? If yes, does it boot into Drive C and XP becomes drive D?
Hi GroverH,
Yes you are correct. Win 7 is bootable and when in use Win XP becomes the D drive according to the Windoze hierarchy. Vice versa when I use XP..
In doing what I am suggesting I know I will not have a dual boot system any more.
I was just asking a theoretical question that's all.
Regards,
F Wolf
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GroverH wrote:F Wolf,
My response in post #2 was meant solely to privide info on how to backup your disk so the backup was not influenced by Windows. Those instructions was not meant to imply anything else. I am not familiar with what you are attempting and am not offering any instructions.Curios:
I assume that Win 7 is bootable? If yes, does it boot into Drive C and XP becomes drive D?
Hi GroverH,
Yes you are correct. Win 7 is bootable and when in use Win XP becomes the D drive according to the Windoze hierarchy. Vice versa when I use XP..
In doing what I am suggesting I know I will not have a dual boot system any more.
I was just asking a theoretical question that's all.
Regards,
F Wolf
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Bob (Robert) Huffman wrote:Win XP being a FAT32 system and Win 7 being an NTFS file system. I believe you would need to format the existing Win XP partition to an NTFS partition prior to restoring an NTFS file system to it or I would think you would run into problems such as the BSOD mentioned earlier amongst others. Having 2 indentical installs would also most certainly confuse the Easy BCD boot loader and result in problems there as well.<.
Rob,
My XP is NTFS it always has been.
Yes I realize you can't have 2 OS's trying to boot at the same time.
I can simply blow out XP any time I want to leaving me with only one OS Win 7.
This was a theoretical question nothing more, never thought it would cause such turmoil.
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