Dual boot Windows 7 and Windows 7 restore problems

I set up my machine with two partitions, one for video editing and one for office software. That's because the video software demands a very clean system with few services running. Windows 7 Professional 64-bit is installed on both partitions. The editing OS was installed first, which makes the office OS the one which automatically boots up.

I have never had occasion to restore that system to an earlier date... until today. Suddenly I have no audio, no network, I can't access any folders because I don't have permission. The video driver crashed. I'm facing a complete re-install of the OS and software on that partition. Could this be caused by the dual boot configuration? If so, is there a work-around?

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Michael

Dual boot should not cause this or have anything to do with your issues.
Restoring your Editing OS should not affect your Office OS, and vice versa.
I'm assuming you did not modify the Editing OS partition while you were running the Office OS.

I run multi boot PC's, and use Backup Images for all the OS's (partitions).

Many times I have restored an Image for one OS and not affected other OS's.
I don't remember if I ever used a System Restore point, as I prefer to restore a system Image, but I would use a Restore Point it that's all I had.

I recommend you create a System Image of your good OS now so you have it if you ever need it.

SF tutorials that will help with this:
Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup
Imaging with free Macrium

Thanks for all your very helpful advice. I've been able to successfully restore my machine from an image I made three months ago.

I was hoping to restore just the editing partition, but Windows 7 didn't give me a choice: It was both partitions or none. Fortunately, I've started to store my data on a separate hard drive, so the procedure was painless compared to restores I've done in the past. (Fewer than ten programs had to be updated, along with the many Windows updates.)

It still bugs me that a System Restore messed things up so badly. Neither partition is hidden from the other, and I occasionally access the public folders on the other partition. However, System Restore on each OS installation is turned off for all but the system partition. Should I try to make the other partition totally inaccessible?

There's a lesson in this: From now on, I'll be sure to image my machine more frequently.

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Michael

Can you post back a screenshot of your maximized Disk Mgmt drive map with listings, using Snipping Tool in Start Menu?

You can get a Dual Boot to perform better if you place the OS's on separate HD's if this is possible for you.

You'll get more flexibility in what and where you can restore using free Macrium to Image your system,
Paragon, or the premium Acronis imaging suite which comes free with any WD or Seagate HD in the mix.

Had you reported back that you were using Window imaging which wouldn't let you select which partition to restore, we could have had you mount the image in Disk Mgmt then use one of the above to image only the selected partition of the two: Virtual Hard Disk - Create and Attach VHD

Attached you'll find a screen capture of my Disk Management window. Does the disk appear as if it's partitioned correctly? I'd love to add a third drive to my system, and separate the OS's that way, but there's no place for it inside the box... unless I somehow put it in the open CD drive bay.

Thanks for suggesting Macrium, Paragon, and Acronis. Lots of people on the Avid forum swear by Acronis. I used it a couple versions back, but it had trouble reading the USB external drive that I used for backup, and I was never able to restore without corruption. I have Paragon on my notebook computer, but I like the way Windows is integrated, does incremental images, and doesn't insert any new services at startup.

However, this is the first time I've been able to restore my system successfully. Twice before, Windows failed to locate the image, and I was forced to re-install everything. So I was pleasantly surprised. The restoration went very fast: Just a little over three hours, and my machine was refreshed to the state it was in after my last OS installation.

Are you saying there's a way to restore just one of the two partitions? How would that work with the VHD feature?

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Michael

Almost any imaging app besides the built-in Win7 one will allow you to choose what to image and then what and where to restore it. Win7 requires you to include the System partition(s) and only lets you restore them to the same offset (HD position).

Your DM looks correct. Do both OS's assume C when booted, as they should if correctly installed from boot and not another OS?

What exactly is the problem with System Restore? Just turn it on for the respective partition you are booted into and apportion as much disk space as you can afford to get more restore points that last longer: System Protection - Change Disk Space Usage

Thanks for checking over my disk configuration. Both partitions show Drive C: as the boot drive. I have no idea what happened with System Restore. It's set up correctly on both partitions. It has always worked fine on the "Office" partition. However, the first time I needed to restore the "Edit" partition (to the state it was two days prior), it really messed things up.

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Michael

I don't think that is caused by the Dual Boot since they are walled off from each other with only boot sector code in common.

You could test System Restore now if you want after making an image of the OS partition you're testing.