Windows 7: How to make a system image for a dual boot system

I want to make a recovery disc to reset my entire 4 partition dual boot hard drive back to its current state. the recovery would reset both xp and win 7 which i have dual booting. can i make one single image to do this without it screwing up my boot loaders etc? what should i use? 3rd party software?

I don't know if I have heard of anyone doing 4 partitions in a single image, with a dual boot in the mix.

But---I have no reason to believe you can't do it.

It may turn out that you are better off making a separate image of each partition since you may find that only one of them goes bad.

Most here would recommend Macrium or Acronis, but it may be that Windows built-in imaging can do it also.

I wouldn't get lulled into a false sense of security just because you had an image.

WHS may have some ideas if he sees this.

I use the laptop for work and sometimes need xp for certain programs other time can use 7. the extra 2 partitions are for - 1 work files -2 empty (was going to try an make a recovery partition to add to the boot manager that somehow would be able to restore a single partition w/o screwing up the boot loader


something like this would be my most preferable.


1.

turn machine on and see the boot manager

1-win 7
2-win xp
3-recovery



2.


boot recovery and choose to restore either the c:\ (XP) or d:\(win 7) partitions.



my need for on the fly recovery is due to a few times when i have been several hundred mile from home on a project and end up with an unbootable or BSOD OS.

(i do service on high end label/laser printers and have had drivers that were needed cause my system to BSOD even w/o the units being plugged in)


thanks in adavance

Imaging programs generally require you to boot from a burned recovery disk (either Linux or Win PE) and then navigate through the Linux interface to some sort of storage device where you have previously saved the image file. Then direct the restoration of that image file to a particular partition or disc.

Does any of that fit in with what you have in mind?

have you ever heard of anyone using a partition to put the "CD" on and making it bootable and using another partition to hold the images? if nothing i could put the images on one of my empty partitions and then boot to a CD to select recovery. i may be asking to much but it would be nice to have all of the required stuff on the internal harddrive

No, I have not heard of such a thing.

The premise of imaging and using the separate boot disk is that the existing partitions on your primary drive may all be hosed for one reason or another--or the entire drive may have dropped dead.

Storing images on another partition on your one and only drive doesn't do a damn thing for you if the drive has died and you can't use it at all.

I'd use two of the three: Windows 7 backup imaging, Macrium Reflect, or the premium Acronis imaging app which comes free with any WD or Seagate HD in the mix.

Just choose all partitions.

With the latter two you'll have your choice of which to restore and to where.

With Windows 7 imaging you'll have to restore them all or if you deselect one it will leave that offset (disk space) blank.

Store the image externally for the reasons Ignatz gave.

The BEST way to image a hard drive that I have found in the past was to fine and utilize a FULL version of Norton's Ghost. Ghost, I believe, does not care one way or the other what is on any hard drive. As long as you have ample amounts of hard drive storage space for cloning the primary hard drive, or having enough BD-Rs and or DVDs to get the job done.

FYI: If you are planning on utilizing DVDs or BDs then I would not suggest using Maxwell or other generic blank BDs or DVDs. I would use either Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden media because of the lower error rating.

[QUOTE=have you ever heard of anyone using a partition to put the "CD" on and making it bootable and using another partition to hold the images? if nothing i could put the images on one of my empty partitions and then boot to a CD to select recovery. i may be asking to much but it would be nice to have all of the required stuff on the internal harddrive[/QUOTE]

Some or most of the newer (and less expensive) notebooks that have hard drives include a factory image of the original OEM OS that was tweaked for the specific notebook and often times set on a hidden partition (or the Drive D) that can be accessed via the F9 key on a cold boot up. But this is a unique partition to each individual notebook and normally what is on that partition cannot be copied.

When I make hard drive images I usually do not think about storing the .IMG on another partition of a hard drive a good reliable burnable media like Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim is best and then store the media in a safe cool place.

I have multi boot systems and mainly use Acronis TI for imaging.

My Test box is triple boot, all OS's on a single HD (3 partitions)
Windows 7 64bit, Windows 7 32bit, XP 32bit
I also have a DATA partition and a BACKUP partition on this same HD.

I can run Windows 7 and create and/or restore backup images for each OS.
I DON'T know that i ever restored a Windows 7 image while running XP...
I don't use XP much anymore...

I keep a set of backup images on a partition on the same HD as the OS's.
I also keep a set of images on another HD (offline).

It's more likely i want to restore an OS because of something I have done and want to "back out".
In the event of an HD failure, i can restore from the images stored on the 2nd HD.
I also have recovery CD's so i can run Acronis from CD if needed...

I create separate image's for each OS - I don't create a single image containing multiple OS/Partitions.
I backup and restore ONE OS at a time...