System image restore on empty external drive

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  1. wkt
    Posts : 31
    Windows 7 Home Premium
       #1

    System image restore on empty external drive


    System image restore on empty external drive I made a system backup of my C:
    system partition with Windows 7
    backup and restore facility on an
    external disk.

    Now I bought another external disk
    and wanted to restore my backup to it to test the restoration on
    an empty disk ( for the case of disk crash or when buying a new SSD and
    adding it to the computer ).

    When I boot from the Recovery CD
    and try to restore the image I can exclude my current system disk and keep only the external target disk. But then I get an error message, which tells me that the
    restoration misses a disk. I suppose the excluded C:-system disk.

    So is there a way to restore the
    image to a disk other than the current disk with the running C:-system ?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 11,408
    ME/XP/Vista/Win7
       #2

    Not to a External Drive.

    System Image Recovery
      My Computer


  3. wkt
    Posts : 31
    Windows 7 Home Premium
    Thread Starter
       #3

    System image restore on empty external drive


    Good answer ! So my project with external disk is damned to failure.

    But what about my project to add an new SSD as a second drive and then
    restore the image of my nicely running system to this SSD.

    Can I somewhere choose the SSD as target or must I remove my current
    internal drive from the computer so that the restore has no choice.
    But I have also some doubts that the restore to a smaller say 128GB SSD
    might be not possible. Any hard facts ?
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 11,408
    ME/XP/Vista/Win7
       #4

    wkt said:
    Good answer ! So my project with external disk is damned to failure.

    But what about my project to add an new SSD as a second drive and then
    restore the image of my nicely running system to this SSD.

    Can I somewhere choose the SSD as target or must I remove my current
    internal drive from the computer so that the restore has no choice.
    But I have also some doubts that the restore to a smaller say 128GB SSD
    might be not possible. Any hard facts ?
    You may find going to a smaller HD may not work.

    Your new HD would need to be the first drive. (SATA1=Disk0=New HD)
      My Computer


  5. wkt
    Posts : 31
    Windows 7 Home Premium
    Thread Starter
       #5

    System image restore on empty external drive


    The first part of your answer is what I read in another forum. I have to keep in
    mind to decrease my system partition before I take the system backup.

    I have no experience with the SATA-hardware. If I understand you right there
    are several SATA connections inside the computer and I have to reconnect
    the current hard disk to SATA2, for instance ?

    Does it work, if I change simply the boot-up sequence in the BIOS settings
    to SSD first and internal hard disk third after the DVD ?
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 16,119
    7 X64
       #6

    Yes, just change the bios boot order. Disk 0 , Disk 1, etc only indicates which port you plugged it into - nothing to do with the boot order.
      My Computers


  7. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #7

    As was said, with the image you have to restore to a partition that is equal or larger in size than the original - but it must be C, thus an internal disk.
    For what you want to do, you need to make a clone with e.g. Acronis or Norton Ghost. But for your SSD project, I recommend you use Migrate Easy from Acronis. It was designed for that purpose and allows you to move your C to the SSD even when it is USB attached (which is an important feature for laptops that have only 1 bay).
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 16,119
    7 X64
       #8

    Looks like the trial version has no function limitations - works for 15 days, so it's worth a go: Trial Version Limitations of Acronis Products | Knowledge Base
      My Computers


  9. wkt
    Posts : 31
    Windows 7 Home Premium
    Thread Starter
       #9

    System image restore on empty external drive


    Pardon, but I want to use the Microsoft backup and restore feature.
    Nothing else, no Paragon, Acronis, DriveImageXML, Macrium, ...

    Another question : can I simply make a restorable system backup by using
    simple copy/paste with Windows Explorer between the internal system partition
    and the external disk drive partition ? So completely without any backup program ?

    In case of crash of the disk I would use the boot with the installation DVD, repair
    computer and the from the command prompt an xcopy back on the new disk.
      My Computer

  10.   My Computer


 
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