Why is my D drive included (mandatory) in system image?

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  1. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #1

    Why is my D drive included (mandatory) in system image?


    I posted this on the MS forums but found this to be a much better source of experts, so I'm hoping someone here can help me with this:

    I want to create a system image of my C drive for backup purposes, but when I use the built-in backup tool, my D drive is also selected and I can't uncheck it. My D drive is filled with videos and stuff and I really do not need that backed up.

    This should explain:
    http://stuff.digicrap.com/backup.png

    Is there a way to check why this is marked as required for the system? Is there a way to make it so that I don't have to backup that drive?

    This might have something to do with it: http://stuff.digicrap.com/backup2.png Any ideas on how to change the system tag from D to C?

    Thanks!

    (original thread here: Why is my D drive included in system image? - Microsoft Answers)
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  2. Posts : 6,668
    Windows 7 x64
       #2

    It would appear d drive is the bootmgr drive and thus no backup of the system can be properly made without including it. This is why it is tagged as system.

    Unfortunately I do not know a way around this that doesn't involve both changing the physical location the drives are plugged into the motherboard at, but also a reformat.

    Basically what happens is windows drops the bootmgr on whichever drive the system sees as drive 0.
    This is determined by where the drive is physically plugged into the motherboard it is not determined by software, but rather by the system bios.

    I believe this to be the cause of your problem, though I am not 100% certain.
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  3. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Might it have something to do with the fact that the C drive is an SSD?
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  4. Posts : 28,845
    Win 8 Release candidate 8400
       #4

    DeltaBlast said:
    I posted this on the MS forums but found this to be a much better source of experts, so I'm hoping someone here can help me with this:

    I want to create a system image of my C drive for backup purposes, but when I use the built-in backup tool, my D drive is also selected and I can't uncheck it. My D drive is filled with videos and stuff and I really do not need that backed up.

    This should explain:
    http://stuff.digicrap.com/backup.png

    Is there a way to check why this is marked as required for the system? Is there a way to make it so that I don't have to backup that drive?

    This might have something to do with it: http://stuff.digicrap.com/backup2.png Any ideas on how to change the system tag from D to C?

    Thanks!

    (original thread here: Why is my D drive included in system image? - Microsoft Answers)

    Mike told you the same thing up there ( Microsoft Answers) that we are telling you here. The fix is messy and fraught with risk. DO you really want to risk it?
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  5. Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #5

    zigzag3143 said:
    Mike told you the same thing up there ( Microsoft Answers) that we are telling you here. The fix is messy and fraught with risk. DO you really want to risk it?
    ...what? So far Mike has posted two replies, one completely missing the question (thinking I wanted to backup C to C) and one asking if I had anything installed on D (I haven't).

    So far I haven't seen a fix there or here. I myself posted a link at the MS forums that told to use bootfix, but I tried that to no avail.

    My SSD (C: with windows 7) is 100% sure plugged in at SATA 0. I got a completely new mobo along with the SSD and I plugged in the hardware in the correct order. You can even see that in my second screenshot.
    The only thing I can imagine is that perhaps it marked D as the system drive because C is an SSD and it had to park it's data at a "regular" drive first before it could load the SSD drivers or something.

    But I was kind of hoping that someone knew for certain what would be the cause here, and/or knew a way to change it (perhaps there are 3d party tools that could do this).
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  6. Posts : 6,668
    Windows 7 x64
       #6

    the troubling part is the bootmgr actually requires it's own little 100mb partition to be made.
    You could try pulling the d drive, plugging the windows drive into the port it's currently plugged into. Restart with your windows disk in the drive and see if the startup repair feature can create you a bootmgr out of thin air.

    That would be the absolute simplest way I can think of. (plugging the d drive back in after all of this in a different port on the motherboard.

    Then there are other ways to do this, you could also try the way we restore the bootmgr after grub has messed with it.
    BOOTMGR missing after GRUB install

    To my knowledge there is no simple click next and it's fixed solution for this.
    The windows drive needs to be moved to port 0 on the motherboard before you can even start trying to fix this though.
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  7. Posts : 7,730
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-Bit
       #7

    You may want to consider using Partition Wizard to do the job for you.

    Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD

    If it's just a case of fixing the master boot record, this tutorial should help: Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times

    I would stress however, that before you alter the drive sytructure, you'd be well advised to back up to an external media any important data first.
      My Computer


  8. mjf
    Posts : 5,969
    Windows 7x64 Home Premium SP1
       #8

    Any fix will involve risk so make sure your OS/program drive (0) is imaged.
    I suggest you
    1) Make a system repair CD / DVD (from Backup & restore screen)
    2) use free Macrium reflect and make an image of drive 0 so if things go wrong you can reimage and get back to your starting point.
    3) then set drive 1 inactive set drive 0 active
    4) unplug all drives except drive 0
    5) Now you need to rebuild the boot sequence to rely on drive 0 alone.
    Option: A
    Booting from the system repair CD run Startup Repair 3 times with up to 3 restarts of your PC.
    Option: B
    I personally prefer this option when I think it is specifically a boot sequence issue.
    1) Boot from the System Repair CD
    2) Go into the command prompt then specifically address the boot sequence with
    >bootrec /fixmbr
    >bootrec /fixboot
    >bootrec /rebuildBcd
    3) Boot your computer

    Info on Bootrec

    If this goes pear shape then simply reimage drive 0 with Macrium Reflect.
    If you want to include a separate "System Reserved" partition on drive 0 then some more steps will be required.

    If this seems a little confusing then get back and ask but you don't really want boot files on a separate drive to your OS.

    Edit: I saw the reference to you by Mike Hall (via zigzag3143 post). The advice he gives is of course valid. If you have other key system files like the page file on drive 1 then that complicates matters.
    Last edited by mjf; 16 Mar 2012 at 18:13. Reason: Edit
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  9. Posts : 28,845
    Win 8 Release candidate 8400
       #9

    DeltaBlast said:
    zigzag3143 said:
    Mike told you the same thing up there ( Microsoft Answers) that we are telling you here. The fix is messy and fraught with risk. DO you really want to risk it?
    ...what? So far Mike has posted two replies, one completely missing the question (thinking I wanted to backup C to C) and one asking if I had anything installed on D (I haven't). Mike (and I dont even know him) asked if you had a pagefile or other OS componenet on that drive. YOU DO

    So far I haven't seen a fix there or here. I myself posted a link at the MS forums that told to use bootfix, but I tried that to no avail.

    My SSD (C: with windows 7) is 100% sure plugged in at SATA 0. I got a completely new mobo along with the SSD and I plugged in the hardware in the correct order. You can even see that in my second screenshot.
    The only thing I can imagine is that perhaps it marked D as the system drive because C is an SSD and it had to park it's data at a "regular" drive first before it could load the SSD drivers or something.

    But I was kind of hoping that someone knew for certain what would be the cause here, and/or knew a way to change it (perhaps there are 3d party tools that could do this).
    You have the partition holding the boot files there. Move it at your own risk.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Why is my D drive included (mandatory) in system image?-3-16-2012-6-59-21-pm.png  
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  10. Posts : 2,686
    Windows 8.1 Pro w/Media Center 64bit, Windows 7 HP 64bit
       #10

    DeltaBlast said:
    zigzag3143 said:
    Mike told you the same thing up there ( Microsoft Answers) that we are telling you here. The fix is messy and fraught with risk. DO you really want to risk it?
    ...what? So far Mike has posted two replies, one completely missing the question (thinking I wanted to backup C to C) and one asking if I had anything installed on D (I haven't).

    So far I haven't seen a fix there or here. I myself posted a link at the MS forums that told to use bootfix, but I tried that to no avail.

    My SSD (C: with windows 7) is 100% sure plugged in at SATA 0. I got a completely new mobo along with the SSD and I plugged in the hardware in the correct order. You can even see that in my second screenshot.
    The only thing I can imagine is that perhaps it marked D as the system drive because C is an SSD and it had to park it's data at a "regular" drive first before it could load the SSD drivers or something.

    But I was kind of hoping that someone knew for certain what would be the cause here, and/or knew a way to change it (perhaps there are 3d party tools that could do this).
    I can't confirm this but I have read that on a new system when installing onto a SSD that the other mechanical drives should be removed as Windows will install the bootmanager onto the mechanical drive by default. This may have happened in your case.

    Jim
      My Computer


 
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