Dualboot backup with Macrium Reflect v5 of bootmgr


  1. HiBye
    Posts : 3
    Windows XP 32 bit
       New #1

    Dualboot backup with Macrium Reflect v5 of bootmgr


    I'm currently looking at an imaging backup solution for my home computers and have heard of Macrium Free. I have a dual boot windows 7/xp setup that is windows managed (not BIOS managed). What I mean is that since I installed both OSes on two different partitions of the same disk, the bootmgr resides on one and not the other (the xp partition, that is, as that was the first os i installed). I then installed windows 7 next on the second partition side by side and win7 setup did what it needed to the bootmgr (again, located on the first/winxp partition) so that the windows boot menu asks me which OS id like to boot and not the BIOS itself.

    This makes imaging both systems more complex as it might have been better to have installed each OS on their own hard drive and then remove the first OS disk when installing the second so that they both have their own bootmgr. That way, the BIOS detects the two systems (not Windows boot menu) and requests which one you want to boot. This makes two completely isolated systems where one does not rely on the bootmgr of the other. But I didn't do it this way since I'm on a laptop and only have 1 HDD to work with.

    So my question is this: Does Macrium Reflect v5 Free isolate the bootmgr by itself and include them with the OS partition backups? IOW, if I wanted to backup my win7 partition to an image file, would I also have to include the whole winXP partition with it just so I can make sure the bootmgr stays coupled with it or will Macrium automatically isolate the bootmgr so that if I had to restore my win7 installation, my windowsXP installation stays untouched/unrestored? Hope I asked this clearly.

    Oh... and BTW... I don't have that 100mb System Reserved partition because I used GParted for my partitioning and not the Windows setup utility. The bootmgr is on the windowsXP partition for sure.
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  3. ICIT2LOL
    Posts : 21,004
    Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
       New #2

    Hello and welcome HiBye mate I cannot see why the image cannot be done but as for separating it all out I don't know.
    An alternative is to clone that drive with Macrium (which is what I would go for first) and then try the imaging to another drive - long winded yes but safe also yes.

    Now I have to ask why are you are running XP? because if I am not badly mistaken the support for it has finished?
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  4. Golden
    Posts : 19,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
       New #3

    HiBye,

    You would need to image both partitions to have access to the bootmanager. However, a simple solution *may* be to copy the bootmanager from the XP partition to the Windows 7 partition. Once you image either, you get the local copy of the bootmanger. See tutorial on how to accomplish that below.

    Bootmgr - Move to C:\ with EasyBCD

    I'll ask WHS to confirm whether this is a feasible solution for you....Please look out for his reply.
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  6. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       New #4

    So my question is this: Does Macrium Reflect v5 Free isolate the bootmgr by itself and include them with the OS partition backups?
    No. Macrium images partitions without looking at the content. Try the solution that Golden suggested. That should work if you do it before you image the Win7 partition.
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  7. HiBye
    Posts : 3
    Windows XP 32 bit
    Thread Starter
       New #5

    Thanks everyone for the quick replies.

    The reason i've been a little concerned about the bootmgr is because i noticed when trying out windows 7 own built-in imager/backup utility that it forced me to backup the whole windows xp partition with the windows 7 one. That's because it has the bootmgr and is the active partition.

    The only reason I'm really backing up my OSs isn't for migrating to other configurations/systems but just for if my OSs get unstable or trashed. IOW, I'd only restore my images back to the same partitions they originally existed on in the same computer. So... let's say windows 7 gets trashed and I need to restore a previous image and I was restoring it to the same location it always resided in. Would it be ok not to have the bootmgr with it? Windows 7 built-in backup utility kind of confused me on the importance of retaining the bootmgr with any images of OSs that don't contain the bootmgr within them. Restoring the win7 image without the bootmgr couldn't possibly mess up my ability to boot into win7 if it is restored to the same location, right? I assume that the bootmgr, in this case, is left untouched and will not break in relation to a "change" in a partition that it already refers to? And is this vice versa too like if I had to restore a windows xp image to the xp partition with the bootmgr, it wouldn't screw up my ability to boot into win7 right? So maybe I really don't need to worry about this boot manager stuff anyway? I'm just trying to get my mind around this so I know how to implement a good backup strategy.

    BTW, still using windows xp because I like to play older games that use audio hardware acceleration FX like EAX through DirectSound and just for an overall fallback for older game compatibility. Will take it offline for sure after my antivirus' extended support for XP ends in April 2015. Milkin' it dry
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  8. ICIT2LOL
    Posts : 21,004
    Desk1 7 Home Prem / Desk2 10 Pro / Main lap Asus ROG 10 Pro 2 laptop Toshiba 7 Pro Asus P2520 7 & 10
       New #6

    Got that on using XP mate but like myself get your moneys worth eh??:)
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  10. Mark Phelps
    Posts : 1,379
    Win7 Pro 32-bit, Win8 Pro 32-bit
       New #7

    I had a similar situation with Win7 and Win8 both installed on the same drive. Since I installed Win8 last, it updated the BCD info in Win7 during the install.

    Like you, I could do image backups of either partition, and restores, as well.

    But, I found I used Win7 less over time, and Win8 more over time -- and decided it would be better to have the boot loader stuff with Win8 (which I was imaging weekly).

    So, I used EasyBCD to "migrate" the boot loader files from the Win7 partition to the Win8 partition.

    If I were in your shoes, I would do the same thing with the boot loader files -- migrate them to the Win7 partition.
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  11. HiBye
    Posts : 3
    Windows XP 32 bit
    Thread Starter
       New #8

    Thanks everyone for the support. I decided to use easyBCD to copy the boot data to win7 partition so that image files always contain the ability to boot them. That way if windows xp is completely dead for me, I'll be able to migrate to sole windows 7 usage without this dual boot inter-reliance. The only thing I had to do after following whs' bcd tutorial link above was to reset the drive flag on my XP partition back to active so I could continue to boot into it. I use GParted for that BTW
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  12. Golden
    Posts : 19,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
       New #9

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  13. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       New #10

    The only thing I had to do after following whs' bcd tutorial link above was to reset the drive flag on my XP partition back
    Well done. The dual boot case was not covered in the tutorial, sorry. Maybe I should ass that.
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