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Macrium Reflect Free, AHCI, IDE system backup & restore
Hi,
I have just upgraded my system and am now using a single Windows 7 install on a Samsung SSD hard drive. This was installed and running under AHCI rather than IDE which I was previously used to. This is for the performance benefits of Sata/SSD from what I can understand.
I know that I can't just switch to IDE any time I want as Windows 7 will no longer boot due to the mode the BIOS was set to during windows installation.
I am trying to get to grips with the best and cleanest way to backup my system drive correctly using Macrium Reflect Free. Previously I would use a "popular" boot disc and run my backup and restores from within a Windows XP boot environment.
This can obviously not see my drives when set to AHCI as XP is older and I would have to set my BIOS to IDE in order for me to see them in XP boot environment.
My first question is could I change my BIOS to IDE just to boot into XP boot disc and see my drives, run Macrium Reflect Free, create a full backup of my system drive, restore this from here, change my BIOS back to AHCI and have a successful system boot?
My assumption is no because Win 7 was installed when set to AHCI and I would assume when Macrium restores with the BIOS set to IDE, it will cause an issue when I set back to AHCI, no?
I'm not really sure about the processes Macrium goes through during restore.
My only other ideas are to give the Macrium boot disc/usb utility a go and hope this can see my system drive when set to AHCI and hope this can create and restore images without any problems. I did have problems using this method on my last system which was the reason I opted for an XP boot disc.
Failing that, maybe create another temp partition and install a new fresh temp Win 7 install, install Macrium and restore my system drive, then remove this partition and temporary win 7 install. Hoping here I would not accidently create a dual boot system.
Does anyone have any advice or clarifications about how this stuff would work, particularly Macrium and AHCI/IDE issues in a boot disc environment?
Much appreciated.