restore OS to drive C of a partitioned drive (keeping the disk signature)

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if i plan on doing a restore of the OS on a partitioned drive, but do not want to image the data on drive G (because i have that backed up nicely with a backup program, how do i image the drive so i can both restore C on the same disk, and also restore C on to a new disk in case of failure.

I understand i need to image the disk directory of signature. how to i make sure i do that.

sam 10/07/2010 - 21:55
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truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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i guess my question involves the MBR. It seems when i read other posts, there is almost a hit or miss in terms of the MBR. why is that?

sam 10/07/2010 - 22:07
truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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I'm still fairly new to this, so I hope someone else will verify my response.

The reason the disk signature (which is part of the MBR) is important is because of the way Windows Vista and 7 recognize a particular partition as say, Drive C:\. If the signature has changed, then windows doesn't know what drive letter to assign itself, or your data partition.

Since it doesn't sound like you multiboot, it sounds like the easiest thing for you is to simply not worry about it. When you restore, you will need to check the option to restore MRB and track 0. Even if the disk signature has changed, Windows, being on the only boot partition, will properly assign itself to C:\. You may then have to manually change the drive letter of your data partition back to the right one.

Worst case senario, keep your Windows install disk on hand so you can run the automated boot recovery.

dim 11/07/2010 - 00:57