Get rid of GTP Protective partition so I can backup Windows 7?

[Hawaga]

Hi,

I just can't backup my C: system drive (windows 7 x64), I am getting the " A shadow copy could not be created...VSS error code 0x81000019"

After long research online I found out that it won't run because my c: drive is preceded with a 200MB GPT Protective partition on the same disk (not a "system reserved" one) as shown on this screen capture (click to enlarge):

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

I really need to get this backup of my system Win7 c: drive because I have lots of professional software installed that I am using daily and I can't afford a complete reinstall, since I'm working continously with this machine. Other backup software like Acronis (I tried many others) won't do the job for the same reason.


So basically, I understand the backup VSS service won't run till I get rid of that GPT Protective partition.
Can I get rid of it? How to do this?

Anyone who can help?

Thanks in advance!

 

[samuria]

Welcome to the forum. When you try and backup I assume you creating and image on to another disk are you trying to do a full disk image or just an image of c? If your just imaging c I don't see why it wouldn't work. If the partition is empty delete it move c to left then grow it

 

[Megahertz07]

Did you try Macrium? - Macrium Reflect Free

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi and welcome to SevenForums,
Well you win the posting something new I've never seen before
How on earth did you manage to install that gpt partition

Please follow the link above my signature to fill in your system spec's page.

Also so if you use Go Advanced button you'll see a paperclip icon so you can upload images here instead of using a file sharing site.

 

[Hawaga]

samuria
I'm trying to use the Control Panel Backup service, trynig to just backup my C: to another drive ( D: ) which is a bigger, totally newly formatted free NTFS partition.

When you say "If the partition is empty delete it" I assume you are referring to the "GPT Protective Partition"? Can I delete it without any risk that I can't boot my C: partition afterwards??? If so how may I do that?

Megahertz07

Hi, yes, I did, as many other softwares (Acronis True Image, AOMEI Backupper etc...) All fail.

ThrashZone

Hi, sorry I'm quite knew to this forum thing, can't see the link you are referring to, but I did update my system specs in my profile. I really don't know how I got this partition to be GPT in the first place, probably didn't have much of a choice when I installed windows 7...Anyway that's how it is now

What's really strange is that when I right-click Disk 1 for properties in Disk Management, it does say the Disk 1 is a MBR partition style (as you can see in attachment)

 

[AddRAM]

Can you please post a full shot of Disk Management, your 1st shot does not show up. Yes it`s quite amazing how your disk is MBR, but yet you have a 200 MB GPT partition. Who installed Windows on this PC ?

If C is marked Active, contains the System files, Boot, Page file, Crash Dump etc then you can most likely delete the 200 MB partition, then you should have no problems creating an image.

But we need to see the shot of DM from YOUR computer.

 

[jumanji]

I just want to intrude with this one post and have no intention of taking over this thread as you already have some good and better heads on it.

As AddRAM suggested post a full screenshot of Windows Disk Management.

The following tutorials will help. So read these and act accordingly.

Follow the guidelines here to post an untruncataed screenshot with all the information clearly visible. Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image

Snipping Tool How to Use the Snipping Tool in Vista

Upload to Seven Forums: Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums

Technically speaking, there is no such thing as MBR Partition and GPT partition. One only initialises a disk as MBR or GPT.

Second, when one initialises a disk as GPT, a 128MB Microsoft System Reserved Partition (MSR) is created preceeding the system partition. In case of boot drives this is an essential partition which Microsoft creates with a purpose and should not be deleted. Windows Disk Management however will not show it.(Third party partitioning/ formatting softwate like Partition Wizard will however show the MSR partition..)

I also cannot see the screenshot you posted in post #1 to a third party server, but it clearly shows the 200 MB partition. So it is not a true GPT drive. How are you assuming and calling it as a GPT drive? And can you show me any documentation that says GPT drives cannot be backed up, as you aver ? I haven't heard anything like that.

With these comments, I shall go back to watch mode.

 

[Hawaga]

Thank you for your answers!

Technically speaking, there is no such thing as MBR Partition and GPT partition. One only initialises a disk as MBR or GPT.

Second, when one initialises a disk as GPT, a 128MB Microsoft System Reserved Partition (MSR) is created preceeding the system partition. In case of boot drives this is an essential partition which Microsoft creates with a purpose and should not be deleted. Windows Disk Management however will not show it.(Third party partitioning/ formatting softwate like Partition Wizard will however show the MSR partition..)

Not in my case.

See picture : Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet (same as attached below).

Still, when I right-click "Disk 1" (the left grey part saying Disk1 Basic 238,47GB Online) for properties, this is what I get:

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

I also cannot see the screenshot you posted in post #1 to a third party server, but it clearly shows the 200 MB partition.

Can you please post a full shot of Disk Management, your 1st shot does not show up. Yes it`s quite amazing how your disk is MBR, but yet you have a 200 MB GPT partition.

The shot was showing up yesterday, I don't know why it didn't show up today. Anyway I edited the OP and provided a new link. Here it is again just in case (same as attached below) :

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet (same as attached below)

How are you assuming and calling it as a GPT drive?

Well... Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet (same as attached below)

And can you show me any documentation that says GPT drives cannot be backed up, as you aver ? I haven't heard anything like that.

Researching for a solution online, I found that this problem can be dealt with when this 200MB partition is MSR. Didn't find ANY solution for a "GPT protective partition" like it shows in my case.

So what's the deal in the end? Can I delete that GPT Protective partition or not?

If C is marked Active, contains the System files, Boot, Page file, Crash Dump etc then you can most likely delete the 200 MB partition, then you should have no problems creating an image.

But we need to see the shot of DM from YOUR computer.

If so, how can I do it, and will I still be able to boot my C: without problem?

 

[Megahertz07]

We want to read all information from Disk Manager
Please, launch Disk Manager, expand the columns and post here a image of ALL your disk.
Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image

 

[Hawaga]

We want to read all information from Disk Manager
Please, launch Disk Manager, expand the columns and post here a image of ALL your disk.
Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image

Here it is:

 

[Megahertz07]

What you have on disk 4? It has a EFI system partition (so it's a bootable drive) and has a HFSJ formatting.
It seems that you have a MAC OS on your system and that explains the GPT protective partition.
Tell us the story of installation process. Witch OS was installed first, witch disk was attached etc

 

[Hawaga]

It's an OSX drive I currently use to exchange files with an OSX system.

I can simply eject that HFS drive if needed

I don't see any link to the GPT partition on my c drive.

 

[RolandJS]

I've been backing up Windows for years now. I've used Macrium Reflect and Image for Windows. Bi-monthly at least, I make a full image of my Windows OS partition [often known as "C drive"] onto my external HD. Are you wanting to make a full image of only your windows OS partition? Or, are you wanting to make a full image of the entire HD?

 

[Hawaga]

I've been backing up Windows for years now. I've used Macrium Reflect and Image for Windows. Bi-monthly at least, I make a full image of my Windows OS partition [often known as "C drive"] onto my external HD. Are you wanting to make a full image of only your windows OS partition? Or, are you wanting to make a full image of the entire HD?

Hello

As I mentioned earlier in the thread; I tried Macrium with no success; wether trying to do a Windows OS only or full image, same problem with other backup software

 

[RolandJS]

So, whether attempting to make a full image of Windows OS partition, or of the whole HD -- same failure. Sorry if I missed it, have you already tried the Macrium Reflect usb or dvd boot and from within that menu attempted making a full image?

 

[Hawaga]

So, whether attempting to make a full image of Windows OS partition, or of the whole HD -- same failure. Sorry if I missed it, have you already tried the Macrium Reflect usb or dvd boot and from within that menu attempted making a full image?

Yes I did with no success

Eventually I'd like to just be able to use Windows Beckup service rather than using a third party software

And I believe it should be possible right?

 

[RolandJS]

Windows Backup/Restore has been a mixed bag - many have great backups and restores; many have had problems.

 

[Hawaga]

Windows Backup/Restore has been a mixed bag - many have great backups and restores; many have had problems.

So what should I do then, as third-party software won't do the job either?

 

[Megahertz07]

It was Mac OS that created the GPT Protective Partition. This partition probably has the Time machine created under Mac OS.
How to Remove an EFI System Partition or GPT Protective Partition From a Drive in Windows
Can You Access GPT Protective Partition Or Recover Data Off It

I understood that it only can be removed with Diskpart, that will erase all disk, and that is exactly what you don't want.

This is what I would do.
- Remove all other drives, leaving only the disk 0 (C
- With Macrium Reflect Free I would try to make a partition (not disk) image of the C: drive.
- On another Legacy - MBR disk, restore the image on it.
- Remove the actual C: disk leaving only the new disk.
- With a Win 7 installation disk, go to Repair and do a Boot repair.
Then try to boot it. If it does, you have your C: backup. Don't attach it on the computer when using the Mac OS.

 

[Hawaga]

Thank you so much for your answer!

It was Mac OS that created the GPT Protective Partition. This partition probably has the Time machine created under Mac OS.

I don't think any Mac OS created the GPT Partition, If I'm not mistaken I think it was probably created during the Win7 install process, as the Mac OS drive didn't even exist before and was attached to the system probably 2 years after the PC buildup. As far as I can tell there's no Time Machine involved with my Win7 drive whatsoever.

How to Remove an EFI System Partition or GPT Protective Partition From a Drive in Windows

Can You Access GPT Protective Partition Or Recover Data Off It

I'll definitely give a look to those links and let you know!

I understood that it only can be removed with Diskpart, that will erase all disk, and that is exactly what you don't want.

True!

This is what I would do.
- Remove all other drives, leaving only the disk 0 (C
- With Macrium Reflect Free I would try to make a partition (not disk) image of the C: drive.

Tried that already (Really!) with no success, Macrium wouldn't even start the backup... BUT!

Today I was desperately still googling for a solution while waiting for your answers and I just found a free program called Driveclone 11 (Clone, copy, migrate hard disk & SSD | Make an exact copy of your disk - DriveClone) which I started and it DOES seem to be cloning my Win7 partition (not disk) to my "Backup Win7" drive. It's now going 80% of the process.

Do you know about this program ? If so would you recommend it, or would you recommend using a "safer", more well-known program for my purpose?

- On another Legacy - MBR disk, restore the image on it.
- Remove the actual C: disk leaving only the new disk.
- With a Win 7 installation disk, go to Repair and do a Boot repair.
Then try to boot it. If it does, you have your C: backup. Don't attach it on the computer when using the Mac OS.

This Driveclone software I'm referring to does seem to have a "fixboot" repair option into it.

Anyway where in that process should I delete the "GPT Protective partition" of my original system C: Drive?