System recovery - what goes where?

Steve, do you have a note of the correct partition order for your laptop from when you did the factory reset / restore?

If you don't then we are guessing at the correct order here.

The MBR is easy, this goes into the boot sector of the internal drive.

After this, could come the Recovery partition though this could equally go at the end of the drive.

Next would be the 199MB System Reserved partition which goes ahead of you Windows partition.

The HP Tools partition could also come at the start of the disk layout and will come before the System Reserved partition by virtue of being a FAT32 partition as this imposes addressing constraints.

Post https://forum.acronis.com/forum/42528 may be of help in this subject too. See the post by Grover.

Worst case scenario, you will need to repeat the factory reset and then carefully note the correct partition order.  After doing so, then you should really only need to restore the Windows partition from your backup image as the other partitions should not have changed, i.e. the HP Tools, Recovery, System reserved and MBR should not have changed.

Well… I think I’m beaten! I did a factory reset to check what goes where, and decided to restore just the C drive. Looks pretty simple, it just goes onto the partition with the same capacity. All went well, but when I boot the machine it says “windows is loading files” and then goes to startup repair. Then it does that on an endless loop. Tried restoring both the C and D drive, same result.

So I think if you can’t just restore the C drive ten it’s not going to work for a whole system no matter what I do. I was fun to play around, but I think I’ve spent enough time on it - looks like Acronis isn’t the software for me, it just doesn’t work with my system. Oh well.

Thanks heaps for your replies.

Hi Steve W,

Sorry you are feeling defeated.  Two things I would like to recommed.   

One, Disk Management - You should always capture an image or at least write down the layout of the disks you are protecting.  This takes the guess work out of things.

Two, to test your recovery ability, I would recommend trying with just one file to your desktop before experimenting and overwriting your entire disk.

Thanks

Steve,

If your backup was a disk image backup of all partitions, then you should be able to coax the backup to display the partition order, but it does take a little sorting to do so.

http://forum.acronis.com/forum/111076#comment-324773

Well, I should probably stop messing with stuff i don't understand... but... couldn't help myself and have made it worse! Completely stuffed it.

I though I had made a newbie mistake. The machine is factory restored to win7 but the backup is from when it was on win10. So I figured if I factory restore, update to Win10 so the machine is running on Win10, then restore just the C drive that should get me back where I was. Restore said successful. But on boot:

• The application or operating system couldn't be loaded because a required file is missing or contains errors. File:\windows\system32\winload.exe error code 0x0000225
• It won't boot into the recovery screen so I can't do a factory restore anymore. Ouch. "A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down... Technical information: ***STOP: 0x0000007E (0x........, 0x......., 0x......0x.......)."

So that's bad and means while before I was just playing round to see if I can work Acronis, now I've broken it. That is not unlike me!

I'm having another crack at a full restore, which at least might put the recovery stuff back so I can do a factory restore and quit while I'm ahead. After a factory restore disc management is as per attached picture. That looks like it goes SYSTEM then (C) then Recovery (D) then HP_TOOLS.

Then in the other picture is the order they are recovered so it will go:
Partition 1-1 restored from "(C:) system" at 199MB
Partition C restored from "D" at 445.93GB
Partition D restored from "E (Recovery)" at 19.53GB
Partition 1-4 restored from "HP_TOOLS"

You guys are great. Wish me luck...

Hmmm… that didn’t go very well. Acronis says recovery operation succeeded, but windows says “Windows failed to start” and suggests using the “repair your computer” function from the installation disc. See pic. So I downloaded windows 10 and booted from a usb.

Startup repair says “couldn’t repair your PC”

Reset this PC says “The drive where Windows is installed is locked. Unlock the drive and try again.” That is probably way beyond me.

I guess the next step is to get a win7 installer, do a fresh install and use the product key on the bottom of the laptop.

Sleep first.

Steve, you may not need to do a fresh install to resolve the \Boot\BCD 0xc0000034 error you are seeing - this points to a problem only with the Boot Configuration Data on the 199MB System partition.

See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2004518 for information on how to either repair or rebuild the BCD.

I have seen similar systems. Your restore sequece should be as shown in this link.

/system/files/users/285/steve-part-sequence.jpg

YOu can prove that sequence by performing the sort sequence shown in my previous posting #4    
Boot into the TI Recovery CD and return to this location where you need to resort the display so the display will show your  actual partiton numbers/sequence as it was at time of backup.

https://forum.acronis.com/system/files/forum/2016/03/114735/01_select_i…

http://forum.acronis.com/forum/111076#comment-324773

https://forum.acronis.com/system/files/users/6816/show-partition-sector…

Don't be concerned about drive letters during the restore sequence. Windows will assign during bootup after the restore.

Your system could be confused with all the wrong settings. During the restore start with a "add new disk option" and delete all the old partitions so your restore starts with an empty disk.

Note the first partition is the system partition is it must be marked as "Active"

Note item #3 in my signature below. Inside that link refer to iem 2 (restore entire disk), you try using that procedure to perform a disk option restore.

If your restore lsts the "Recovey disk signatre" as my picture illustrates, then do checkmark that option.

Whether your restore will match those exact steps will depend upon whether your backups was a disk option backup as opposed to a partition type backup.  You now know the procedure.

Your illustratition was correct in partition sequence as show in your attachment.

https://forum.acronis.com/system/files/forum/2016/03/114735/last_restor…

After the above is tried, if all else fails, then my signature link #3, item 1 inside that link can be tried but the restore sequence must as shown ihttps://forum.acronis.com/system/files/forum/2016/03/114735/last_restor…

Note: any partition which shows a drive letter  (System or Recovery), this drive letter can be removed using Wiindows Diskmanagement.   Your large Windows partition should be lettered as C, and the HPTools should be D.

Partition sizes on the new restore should match the sizes of the partitions at time of backup as shown in the illustration below. Partition sequence and sizes are correct.  Ignore any drive letter difference the drive letters you see (when booted on the CD) is Linux and  temporary.

/system/files/users/285/steve-part-sequence.jpg

Oh dear... I was playing around secure in the knowledge that I have a windows 7 installation disc (which came with my desktop) and can use that when all else fails. But I can't!

So Grover, I think I have meticulously followed the guides you linked to. They are fantastic. And it looks like my system restore finishes with everything in the right place. I worked out how to check from the command prompt and the partitions look to be where they should be with the system partition marked as active. See pic.

But I'm still getting the  \Boot\BCD 0xc0000034 error. 

I have tried to build repair the BCD like you suggested Steve, but when doing the "bcd/edit c:\backup", it says the export operation failed because the system device cannot be found. I ran a think called "scanos"  and it says "Total identified Windows installations: 0". 

The to my fallback... loaded up the Win7 install disc and at the "where do you want to install Windows screen there are no drives listed! Now I'm really stuck. Should have quit when I had a working computer! 

Any ideas for no drives? I've done a bunch of googling but none of the results look quite right to me.

Thanks heaps for your time I really appreciate it. 

At this point I would recommend going directly to the Acronis web site http://www.acronis.com/ and follow the options to Contact Support as you have a Recovery Issue here that entitles you to receive help in getting your system working again. You will need to login to your Acronis Account and have registered your True Image product.  

See http://forum.acronis.com/forum/111708#comment-335853 for a recent confirmation of free support for recovery issues by one of the Acronis Support Engineers on these forums.

Steve Webber,

Confirm your actions so we can understand more what last occurred.  See Attachment.

1. Did you use the "add disk" option to remove the old partitions?

2. During the restore, see attachement, was this "recove disk signature" offered, and did you checkmark this to be restored?

Where this would have been offered is on the target screen where  you chose the target disk being restored.

Ahhh… Grover, I confess although I said I followed your guide I didn’t go through the add new disk wizard. I had this theory that it’s not part of the procedure in the Acronis help file and is an addendum to your pdf and since I already have the partitions there should be no need to delete them. But before I go ahead and try that could I ask your advice about one thing that I suspect might be at the heart of things?

The now disk window lists an extra disk – 25GB iswstrip RAID (pic attached). The HP spec page says the Envy’s HDD is: “500GB (5400rpm) with Intel Smart Response and Rapid Start Technology with a 32GB SLC mSATA”. So that would be two drives, one a flash drive for the OS I guess. It does not come up as a partition location when doing the recovery. Also it is not listed in diskpart – pic attached has the 465GB drive, the 7GB usb drive I booted from and (I think) 4GB of ram.

So before messing with the add new disk wizard I think 2 questions:

1. Is it possible my problems are because the recovery method doesn’t take into  account the flash drive?
2. If so how should I take it into account (I’m guessing I recover the system partition to the flash drive)?

Also, in the 2016 bootable media the add new disk wizard is slightly different to your guide. After “disk selection” there is a step requiring selection of initialization options

• Initialize disk in MBR layout
• Initialize disk in GPT layout

I’m contemplating that I should go through the add new disk for the 25GB RAID disk with GPT layout and then try and put a fresh install of win10 on that disk. What do you think of that theory?

In answer to your question, here’s the process I followed:

1. Home screen - Disk and Partition Recovery
2. Browse to the .tib file
3. Recovery method - Recover whole disks and partitions
4. What to recover – select the items to recover (see pic) re-ordered as per your instructions
5. Settings of partition 1-1 – the 199MB system partition (primary/active)
6. Settings of partition C – the 445GB partition
7. Settings of partition D – the 19GB recovery partition
8. Settings of partition 1-4 – the 108MB HP_TOOLS partition
9. Select target for MBR recovery – disk signature checked
10. Click finish brings up a summary of 9 operations:

1. Deleting partition (the 199MB system)
2. Recovering partition (the 199MB system)
3. Recoverying MBR hard disk 1
4. Deleting partition (the 445GB drive letter C)
5. Recovering partition (the 445GB drive letter C)
6. Deleting partition (the 19GB recovery)
7. Recovering partition (the 19GB recovery)
8. Deleting partition (the 108MB HP_TOOLS)
9. Recovering partition (the 108MB HP_TOOLS)

Slow progress, because we have to squeeze this stuff in between all of life’s other demands, but I am very grateful to you two for sticking with me!

Steve

Steve Webber,

Clarify whether the mSata was part of the installation that existed at time of backup?

In old technology, the use of the "add disk" option to wipe the MBR type disk would help to solve many booting problems. Whether it will help you, I am not sure do to the existence of the mSat as a readyboost function. You may still want to consider performing the "add disk"   before another restore. This procedure deletes the old partitons settings and the disk becomes uinallocated.  No partitoning is performed.

Note in my prior post

Note item #3 in my signature below. Inside that link refer to iem 2 (restore entire disk), you try using that procedure to perform a disk option restore.

Did you try this option?   http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/mvp/user285/guides/tih2012…

This procedure (disk option recovery) called for the recovery procedure to checkmark the single disk box which in turn would checkmark all partitons so all partions would have been checked and  automatically restored as one function  After then clicking the next option, you would have been taken the option of selecting the target disk (plus checkmarking recover disk signature). No individual selection of any single partition would have been necessary. I am curious as to whether you used this procedure as outlinked in my disk image recovery guide?

I am a user--not a technician. I cannnot help you with your 25 GB SSD with a 32GB SLC mSATA” .

Hopefully some of the MVP"s can continue helping you to get this going regarding the 25GB mSata readyboost disk as I have no expoerience with type disk function.

Hello Steve and Grover,

I've had a little more time to look at things:

Steve, support is over for Acronis 2014. It's a little over a year old and the support page says: "Acronis provides support for the current and immediately preceding versions of the product. The version that you selected is no longer supported. We recommend you to upgrade to the latest version of the product." No valid support program. When I did a restore Acronis has bricked my machine and isn't going to help. 

Grover, to satisfy your curiosity:

1. The mSata was part of the installation that existed at time of backup. The machine is the same. What I did was factory reset it and then try to restore with a validated backup. There was nothing wrong with the machine and no need to do a restore, I just thought it would be sensible to practice because there's no point in having software if you don't know how to use it. Bad idea. Now I know the best way to use Acronis is... don't! It's a high risk proposition.

2. I have tried the option in #3 in your signature. Same result. 

So... I'm going start diskpart and run the "clean" command, then see if I can install Win 7. I'm doing that because it only shows one disk, rather than the mSata and the mechanical disk in raid. I'm nervous about the new disk function in TI because I don't know whether to do it for the mSata disk or the mechanical disk. Or one after the other. Here goes...

That was quick... just changed things so that "no boot device is available." Which strikes me as no better or worse than: "\Boot\BCD 0xc0000034 error." Still no disk to see in a Win7 install.

And then I thought I would give the new disk function in TI a go. But you might remember from the other thread that where I started with this is that the bootable media in Acronis 2014 won't work on my machine, so I'm using the 2016 trial version. Trial just ran out, so now I'm unable to do anything at all. Unless I buy 2016 which, given my recent experience is a bit unlikely.

Very bad experience all round from a fully paid up registered product that I've been with for years. So, I'm close to sending a perfectly good machine to landfill. Erk.

Success!!!!

Win10 installed. I think running the diskpart 'clean' command made that possible. I had tried installing win10 before but got errors, I suspect due to some residual MBR stuff even though the not working restore was a Win10 restore. Who knows? After giving up last night, today I figured there's nothing to lose but a few more windows hours and gave it a go.. plain sailing! 

So that is a relief, and a great learning experience. I now know a lot more about command prompts and how systems go together. My suspicion is the source of my trouble is that Acronis doesn't cope well with the mSata in RAID. 

So Steve and Grover thanks for your time and advice. Much appreciated. Grover your guides are brilliant. 

For now, I'm going to leave well enough alone!

Cheers

Steve

Steve, congratulations to you for sticking with this and getting it all working again - we all learn from these experiences!