Startup Repair (or image restore) after Partition Problem

Looks like the repartitioning did complete if you can Explore your C files in PW.

Now you need to recover the System boot files to the C partition by booting DVD/Repair CD to Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times.

Hopefully running it a few more times will get the System flag planted back on C.

Ok, so I guess the wizard was showing that all was well. Since it didn't really do anything I wasn't sure

I had to bag it for the night and shut down right after that last email. I had to do all the work I didn't do for the last 48 hours because of this stuff.

I used PW to set the partition to inactive and shut down. I reconnected my other HDD that has Vista on it and booted right up to get to work.

I won't be able to revisit this until the weekend but when I do, I'll reset the partition to active with PW, then reboot into the system repair CD and run System Repair 3 times and see what happens.

On another note, my original question wasn't really answered:

• If you have a good system and then create a windows system image DVD and a system repair DVD, THEN change the partition structure on the HDD, can the system repair DVD still be used with no problems? Can the system image recovery DVD be used to restore the entire system - even if the partitions on the HDD have changed since making the DVD?

There's a lot of info on this site about system image recovery but none of it addresses issues like this nor do they address system images being on a DVD (the instructions and tutorials all apply to external and internal drives with images on them). I have a fresh system with only 15gb on it and the image that windows backup and restore created fit on one DVD. If necessary, can I boot into that image DVD and restore the HDD even though I moved the system partition to the front of the HDD? It's still the same size by the way.

Thanks!

Try also Rebuild MBR on PW CD Disk tab. It may save having to do the Repairs.

If you change partitioning on the HD, when you reimage the Win7 imaging app will require you to format the HD before reimaging, no matter how you saved your image - which is never bootable itself when on a DVD as you must always use the Repair CD or DVD Repair console to reimage.

Use Macrium Reflect or Paragon 11 for freeware that has more flexibility on reimaging to resized partitions. Acronis also has premium free editions with cloning if you own a WD or Seagate HD.

gregrocker said:

Try also Rebuild MBR on PW CD Disk tab. It may save having to do the Repairs.

Will run the Rebuild MBR for sure first thing after making active again (or do I have to? Could I do this while it's an inactive partition on a 2nd HDD in my machine which is currently back to running on it's original HDD with vista?).

gregrocker said:

If you change partitioning on the HD, when you reimage the Win7 imaging app will require you to format the HD before reimaging, no matter how you saved your image - which is never bootable itself when on a DVD as you must always use the Repair CD or DVD Repair console to reimage.

In first sentence, when you say "when you reimage" do you mean "try to put the saved image that's on my dvd back onto the HDD"? I ask because "reimage" to me means make another image "snapshot" of an HDD onto another DVD eg "make another back up DVD".

Are you also saying that the System Recovery Image DVD I made with Windows of my c: system partition will want to reformat the entire HDD even though my system partition c: was only 200Gb (with 16Gb of data) on a 1Tb HDD? If that's the case, what's the point of partitioning an HDD into a system partition and a data partition? I thought that would allow me to restore (via a saved image) my system c: partition without affecting my data d: partition.

I hope I explained that right.

Thanks

If you want to keep Vista on separate HD on your machine unplug it during any repairs, set the Win7 HD first to boot in BIOS setup. Mark Win7 active then repair it's System boot files.

After Win7 starts, plug back in Vista and boot it when needed using the one-time BIOS Boot menu key which on HP is normally ESC. This keeps the HD's independent to come and go as you please. If you install EasyBCD 2.0 to one to add the other to Dual Boot Menu, it will interlock the second one requiring the same repairs to extricate it later.

I was only referring to what would likely happen if you repartition your HD and try to use Win7 backup imaging to reimage whatever partitions you saved. I believe any change in partition sizes after image is taken would "grey-in" the choice to format HD when reimaging the saved partitions.

If you want to save an image of only your OS/programs partition, then only check that partition during imaging. It should allow you to exclude formatting the data partition during reimaging.

To be sure, I would save a Macrium or Paragon 11 image as a secondary backup as they will allow more flexibility to change partition sizes during reimaging, what can be saved, and where it can be applied during reimaging.

gregrocker said:

If you want to keep Vista on separate HD on your machine unplug it during any repairs, set the Win7 HD first to boot in BIOS setup. Mark Win7 active then repair it's System boot files.

After Win7 starts, plug back in Vista and boot it when needed using the one-time BIOS Boot menu key which on HP is normally ESC. This keeps the HD's independent to come and go as you please.

"After Win 7 starts" - you don't mean get it started and while it's running I'm supposed to fiddle with the PC's innards and hook up the other HD, right? You mean that after all repairs and win 7 is working again that then I should shut down, open case, plug Vista HDD back in and proceed...Right? Just want to be completely clear so as not to misstep.

gregrocker said:

"Keeps HDs independent to come and go as you please"

Are you saying that I don't have to do anything special to have two HDDs in my PC, each with its own OS, each with a system partition marked active, and not have them conflict with each other? As long as one of them is marked first to boot in the bios setup and I don't mind hitting ESC if I want to use the other OS?

I thought it was a whole lot more complicated than that. This would be great.

gregrocker said:

I was only referring to what would likely happen if you repartition your HD and try to use Win7 backup imaging to reimage whatever partitions you saved. I believe any change in partition sizes after image is taken would "grey-in" the choice to format HD when reimaging the saved partitions.

If you want to save an image of only your OS/programs partition, then only check that partition during imaging. It should allow you to exclude formatting the data partition during reimaging.

To be sure, I would save a Macrium or Paragon 11 image as a secondary backup as they will allow more flexibility to change partition sizes during reimaging, what can be saved, and where it can be applied during reimaging.

Just for the sake of definitions and because I'm having trouble understanding the difference...am I correct that when you say "imaging" you are only referring to the process of saving a backup image of some partition or drive and that when you say "reimaging" you are only referring to the process of trying to get that backed up image back onto some partition or drive after some calamity caused the original to have some problem?

Thank you for the clarifications!

Yes, power down your PC before unplugging or replugging HD's.

We recommend the BIOS Dual Boot method in install forum multiple times per day, to keep from having to later rescue users in distress when they try to remove a Windows-managed Dual Boot.

Imaging: Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup
Reimaging: System Image Recovery

Quote: Originally Posted by buckscaper
Will run the Rebuild MBR for sure first thing after making active again (or do I have to? Could I do this while it's an inactive partition on a 2nd HDD in my machine which is currently back to running on it's original HDD with vista?)..


For clarification: I currently have my vista drive back in as the boot/system drive in this pc and the 'damaged' win7 drive, is in the machine, its single 200gb partition with boot and system is marked inactive. I'm running this machine as a vista machine just fine and I can use windows explorer to view the win7 drive.

In this configuration, can I boot to the PW cd and run the Rebuild MBR on the win7 drive/partition or do I have to disconnect the Vista drive again?

Please let me know what I should and shouldn't be doing in the process of doing this Rebuild MBR on the win7 drive.

Also just fyi, the win7 drive is in SATA0 and the vista drive is in SATA2.

Thanks

P.S. I will definitely report back on all my results.
P.P.S Thanks for clarification on imaging terms.