How to Rescue Windows 7 in the Event of SSD Failure

martinlest · 29 Jan 2012

Hi again,

The optical drive works just fine with any other DVD/CD-ROM I put into it .. I have burned the WindowsPE image file again and the disc now boots OK, but of course until I move the bootmgr it won't work.

I think though that before I start doing things like moving the bootmgr (BTW, is that just as easily reversible via EasyBCD?) I need to look at a tutorial showing how to restore the C drive using the recovery disc so I know what should be happening - I reckon I could mess up my system by doing something wrong here otherwise. I can't find anything about this (possibly my fault!) - as far as I can see, the Macrium help file shows how to create a disc, but nothing about what happens when you boot with it. Do you know where there is such a tutorial?

As for alignment - the thread you quoted says "If you install Windows7 on a brand new SSD, you need not make any special arrangements because the Windows7 installer will do the alignment for you"..., so as that is my case, I guess all should be OK.

Thanks again for your time and help,

Martin

whs · 29 Jan 2012

Glad you got the CD problem out of the way. In my Macrium tutorial there is a link to a video tutorial that Keith (Kado) made. That shows the recovery portition with the WinPE DVD (or USB stick).

Regarding the bootmgr - you can move that around to any partition. But it belongs into C:.

martinlest · 30 Jan 2012

Oh, I missed that - downloading it now, thank you. Will report back when there is any 'news'!

M.

martinlest · 30 Jan 2012

Ok, I have watched the video - but it says nothing about the recovery disc. What happens if my SSD fails and I can't access Windows? Does the recovery disc enable me to start Macrium as if Windows were running (like a BartPE disc), or am I going to get a 'DOS' window first? As I say, I really would like to be confident of what will happen when I boot using the WindowsPE disc before I move the Bootmgr. Have you ever restored the O/S using the recovery disc?

Thanks ...

M.

whs · 30 Jan 2012

When you boot the WinPE disc, you get exactly what Keith is showing in the video. He had a clever setup running the WinPE in a virtual partition. That way he was able to record the video with regular Win7 tools. Normally, you would not have any such tools when running the WinPE.

I suggest you burn the DVD (or a small stick which is even better), load from it and see how it looks. It is very easy to recover. You just have to navigate to the image you want to use and drag that into the partition you want to recover.

Make a little 2GB test partition and try out the whole process: Image > modify something in the little partition > Recover. If your modification has been set back to the original state, then you know the recovery worked. And with a 2GB partition and a couple of folders in it, that is a matter of seconds. The fastest image I ever took with Macrium took only 2 seconds (as you can see in my video tutorial).

martinlest · 31 Jan 2012

Hi,

OK, I moved the Bootmgr using EasyBCD and then made another Windows PE rescue disc. (I left the system partition as it is, only I removed the drive letter).

The disc boots just fine and accesses the Macrium interface. I may test it on a small partition as you say, but will in any case clean up my C drive and make an image of it today. I won't bother with the Linux version of the rescue disc if I have a working Windows disc..

Well, I am really glad that I learned the easy way that the Windows 7 backup/imaging tool is not reliable for restoring the O/S and hope that the Macrium will do the job - well, actually of course I hope that I never need to find out!

Thanks again for your patience and advice - much appreciated. I'll post back to this thread in the future if there are any problems!

Martin

whs · 31 Jan 2012

Martin, you are welcome. Keep in touch.

martinlest · 31 Jan 2012

Windows now takes a lot longer to start up than when I had the Bootmgr in the reserved system partition. Is that normal/fixable? I wonder whether to make the reserved partition the boot partition again now that the backup image has been made?

Martin

whs · 31 Jan 2012

Hmm, that is news to me and there is really no logical reason. Are you sure that addl. delay is not caused by something else. Test it - move the bootmgr back and see what happens. You may have to give the 100MB partition a drive letter if it is hidden. And please report back. That is an interesting case.

martinlest · 31 Jan 2012

Hi. That was quick!

I have rebooted a few times to test this and it is definitely a lot slower - the 'Windows is starting' screen (or whatever it is called - with the coloured logo) sits there for some 30 seconds now - before it was less than 10 seconds maximum.

Did the system reserved partition have a drive letter before I moved the bootmgr to the C drive? I think it didn't - I never saw it in 'My Computer'. Or was it hidden? After moving the bootmgr to C, the reserved partition suddenly acquired a drive letter (which I removed). You think I need to put a letter back?

I have to go abroad for a few days (am off to the airport in a few minutes) so don't have time to test this right now - I'll get back to it at the weekend.

Thanks,

Martin