Image to be restored must contain same layout of destinatio to be over

whs said:

Does restoring an image via Macrium environment not format the destination?

It depends how the target disk looks. It formats only if the whole disk is unallocated space.

I would advise to preformat the disk and restore the partitions one by one. That's safer.

Thanks a lot 'Whs'

If so, then what will happen for the OS installed on the destination to be overwritten?

Make sure the HD being reimaged is set first to boot in BIOS setup. In fact it's best to unplug all other HD's during these operations.

Repairs only need to be done on rare occasions if something like the Active flag is not transferred as you experienced.

gregrocker said:

Make sure the HD being reimaged is set first to boot in BIOS setup. In fact it's best to unplug all other HD's during these operations.

Repairs only need to be done on rare occasions if something like the Active flag is not transferred as you experienced.

Thanks a lot,
Do you mean with 'reimage' with 'restore'?

Second: the first device in BIOS is the optical drives(DVD/CD ROM) because if it is not so, I cannot boot to Macrium environment(Secure CD)
So, HD being restored is set second to boot in BIOS.

Your choice. You get a little faster boot by setting HD first, using one-time BIOS Boot Menu key to trigger other bootable devices.

gregrocker said:

Your choice. You get a little faster boot by setting HD first, using one-time BIOS Boot Menu key to trigger other bootable devices.

But if I want to first boot to Macrium enviroment via bootable CD to restore image to hard drive, so how can I boot as long as the first boot device is HD.

gregrocker said:

I just told you.

gregrocker said:

Your choice. You get a little faster boot by setting HD first, using one-time BIOS Boot Menu key to trigger other bootable devices.

OK, here goes again: You have a one-time BIOS Boot menu key, which should be given on the first screen, which you can use to trigger any boot device without booting into BIOS setup.

Thank you so much indeed for your continuing helping me,
I would like to ask you that when I set the HD the first device in BIOS, I will only get a littler faster boot, and it doesn't fix my problems with loading windows.

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I believe as frustrated because I couldn't explain things in plain language, so I hope you put up with me because I am trying.

I would try again.
The problem I face in each time I think it is related to the System Reserved. What is the benefit of this partition and why do when reinstall windows Ultimate x86, I saw that there isn't System Reserved?

Inside Macrium environment I did this:
The source(image to be restored)
OS(C) active primary My personal data(E) primary
The destination(the disk to be overwritten):
System(active and primary), C (primary), D(primary), HP Tools(primary)
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Also, the reverse is:
The source((image to be restored):
System(active and primary), C (primary), D(primary), HP Tools(primary)
The destination(the disk to be overwritten):
OS(C) active primary My personal data(E) primary
----------------------------------------
Also, Even I have tried resorting the same image to the same destination from which it was imaged.
The source(image to be restored)
System(active and primary), C (primary), D(primary), HP Tools(primary)
he destination(the disk to be overwritten):
System(active and primary), C (primary), D(primary), HP Tools(primary)
So when I proceeded to restoration many times of all images above, in each restoration, I faced these errors below, although I am quite surprised that the image completed successfully in Macrium environment. However, when I shout down the WinPE, and my computer restarted, I faced errors of loading windows:
Windows Manager Boot:
Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
1- insert your windows installation dis and restart your computer.
2-choose your language settings and then click 'next'
3- click repair your computer.
if you don't have this disk, contact your system administrator.
---------
I booted to Macrium Secure CD version 4.0, which has an option to fix the boot error. Then, I choose fix boot error.
There were four options, Which I think were:
Master Boot Recored
Unique Hard Code
Boot Database configuration
-----
The second attempt, I faced this error:
No bootable device, insert boot CD and press any key.
I fixed by make OS partition is active or system reserved(if any)
----------------------------------------------------
The third attempt, I faced this errorthis error is strange), because the OS partition restored became unallocated.

I booted to Mini partition wizard with bootable CD, although I restored images containing four partitions (system, C(windows, D (Factory recovery) , HP tools) on a the destination containing two partitions(C 'Windows', D 'personal data), I only found that this C in the destination became unallocated. However, D remained as it was:

Unallocated (300GB) "logical"
D(my personal data) "primary"

and I couldn't fix it because the OS partition didn't restore and only became unallocated, although the restoration completed successfully.
--------------------------------------------

So I am beginning to realize that the designer of Macrium put the option of fixing windows boot, due to such problems. What makes the status of the boot partition of windows inactive, although when restoring image, I was quite sure that the partition was active in its properties of restored partition?
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I would respectfully like you to answer me this question of mine:

Do you think that partition setup I have posted in my first post is good?
Second HDD:
- F for backups of your personal files (using Karen's Replicator for instance)
- G for images of C ( base image + new onces added after making system changes), of D (once) and of E (very, very often, like weekly or even better daily) (using Macrium Reflect for instance)

If so, I would be asking that if I will need to restore the image of the data partition along with the image of the OS partition whenever I need restoring the image of OS, then what is the benefit from imaging data partitions separately from OS images as underlined above?

I hope you understand me.

If you'd like to avoid the System Reserved partition just pre-partition the HD before install as you wish.

I've already suggested you don't need the HP Recovery partition which only restores the corrupt bloatware install. So if you'd like to now get the superior Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7, you can prepartition the HD with free Partition Wizard bootable CD to Create Partition - Partition Wizard Video Help.

I would unplug the other HD's during the reistall. Delete all partitions and create your C partition and any others you want.

Your second HD partition scheme sounds OK.

Wenda said:

I use EaseUS Todo Backup Workstation 5.8 and it has an option to let you 'Restore to Dissimilar Hardware'.
It seemed to work OK on the one occasion I tried it.
Does your version of Macrium have a similar option? If so, it could be worth a try.

Wenda.

The paid version (PRO) version of Macrium does.

Lady Fitzgerald said:

Wenda said:

I use EaseUS Todo Backup Workstation 5.8 and it has an option to let you 'Restore to Dissimilar Hardware'.
It seemed to work OK on the one occasion I tried it.
Does your version of Macrium have a similar option? If so, it could be worth a try.

Wenda.

The paid version (PRO) version of Macrium does.

I really don't understand what you meant with 'Restore to Dissimilar Hardware'
Normally, I really choose the image to be restoreed, then I choose 'restore'. After that, I choose whether all partitions or individual partitions be resotred. Next, I choose the destination. So what is the benefit of this option?

I really have full version of Macrium, whose version is 4.2.2097(Registered version). However, I didn't find such the option.