System image, clone, and restore points

From everything I've read about this issue, even if Restore Points exist on the clone they may be corrupt and not work.
I haven't re-read this whole thread so maybe this was already answered:
Has Layback Bear said that he successfully used a Restore Point on the cloned drive ?
Seeing them is one thing, using them reliably is something else.

I also don't believe LB has a multi-boot PC, so that is a difference that might be important.

I'm not saying there is no merit to Restore Points.
What merit/features/benefits do you need with Restore Points ?

DavidE said:

From everything I've read about this issue, even if Restore Points exist on the clone they may be corrupt and not work.
I haven't re-read this whole thread so maybe this was already answered:
Has Layback Bear said that he successfully used a Restore Point on the cloned drive ?
Seeing them is one thing, using them reliably is something else.

Yes, in post #22 he indicated he restored his clone back to his earliest (oldest) RESTORE PT.

DavidE said:

I also don't believe LB has a multi-boot PC, so that is a difference that might be important.

This I am not sure. He would have to answer that.

DavidE said:

I'm not saying there is no merit to Restore Points.
What merit/features/benefits do you need with Restore Points ?

I did a FRESH install on all of my systems. Consequently, I had to reinstall all of my software as well. So I created intermediate RESTORE PTS in case I did not get something correct. RESTORE PTS are convenient to fix the problem than starting all over with a FRESH install. I keep images, but I reserve those for major changes in either the SYSTEM configuration or major software upgrades.

Lady Fitzgerald said:

I never could get System Restore to work on any of my three Win 7 machines (they only worked roughly 75% of the time in XP) so I shut down System Restore and just use imaging, which has been 100% reliable.

As I stated I IMAGE as well, but not for intermediate changes.

mjf said:

"This quote could be relevant to the discussion:
Source: "Acronis True Image WD Edition", 2000-2010, pp.48

When MBR recovery is chosen, the "Recover disk signature" box will appear in the bottom left corner at the next step. Recovering disk signature may be desirable due to the following reasons:
1. Acronis True Image WD Edition creates scheduled tasks using the signature of the source hard disk. If you recover the same disk signature, you don't need to re-create or edit the tasks created previously.
2. Some installed applications use disk signature for licensing and other purposes.
3. If you use Windows Restore Points, they will be lost when the disk signature is not recovered.
4. In addition, recovering disk signature allows to recover VSS snapshots used by Windows Vista and Windows 7's "Previous Versions" feature.
If the box is unselected, Acronis True Image WD Edition generates a new disk signature for the recovered drive. This may be needed when you use an image backup not for disaster recovery but for cloning your Windows Vista hard drive to another one. Trying to boot Windows after cloning with both drives connected will result in a problem. During Windows booting, its loader checks the disk signatures of all the connected drives, and if it finds two identical disk signatures, the loader changes the signature of the second disk, which would be the clone disk. Once this happens, the clone disk would not be able to boot up independently of the original disk, because the MountedDevices fields in the clone's registry reference the disk signature of the original disk, which will not be available if the original disk is disconnected."

The section of the same reference:
14.3.6 Cloning with Manual Partitions
may also be of interest

As stated in RED, Layback somehow managed to circomvent this & I cannot see how. After, I cloned my drive with MACRIUM it had a different SIGNATURE. I forcibly changed the SIGNATURE via CMD mode. I disconnected my source drive & attempted to boot the clone unsuccessfully. I had to reset the SIGNATURE & rebuild the MBR to get it to boot again. So I have a working clone, but the RESTORE PTS are not functional or missing.

If someone out there could reproduce Layback's procedure in post #22 & get the RESTORE PTS to work maybe we could diagnose my troubles.

betaupsilon said:

I did a FRESH install on all of my systems. Consequently, I had to reinstall all of my software as well. So I created intermediate RESTORE PTS in case I did not get something correct. RESTORE PTS are convenient to fix the problem than starting all over with a FRESH install. I keep images, but I reserve those for major changes in either the SYSTEM configuration or major software upgrades.

betaupsilon said:

As I stated I IMAGE as well, but not for intermediate changes.

You could try using Macrium Differentials for intermediate backups/changes.
Then you would see if it's an acceptable workaround/change for you.
If you don't like it, you can delete the Differential image.
For me they run quickly and don't use much space.
They have been 100% reliable for me, and they include "full" changes, not just what changes System Restore decides to backup.

I can't try to duplicate your problem, i don't have an extra SSD/HD to clone to right now.