Solved single drive, 3 paritions, one OS per parition, image backup/restore

[M18XR2]

just as the title indicates, i have one hard drive that is partitioned 3 times for a tri OS boot.

window 64bit, 64bit and 32bit all window 7, for my personal reasons.
now i just found out today window 7 image backup tool backs up the entire hard drive, and can not seperate partitions therefore backs up all 3 parition together as a single image file.

what i want to know is, if there is a way either through window 7 or via another 3rd party image tool, that i can backup image and restore image per partitions instead per harddrive and still be able to tri boot? and if so, which program and how..?

thanks a lot!

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Macrium lets you back up one partition at a time. So does Acronis.

I think Windows imaging has its own idea of what a "system" partition is. I don't use it and will have to take your word for it that you have no control over that.

 

[kado897]

I'd go with Macrium Free also. The link is in my sig.

 

[karlsnooks]

Win 7 backup and restore will only backup the partitions you select, except for the fact that Win 7 backup and restore will automatically include the system partition of the Win 7 being run.

My suggestion is to simply try it and see the options you receive.
Win | type Backup and Restore | Click on System Image in the left-hand pane |
from here on out all is pretty obvious.

We also have a tutorial on Win 7 Backup and Restore
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html

 

[M18XR2]

ok guys i decided to try out Macrium reflect and i was able to back up an image from each individual partition. but i guess this is the part that i really need it to work. what i wanted to do was to backup image from each partition OS so i can restore onto another partition OS.

to simplify, i have partition A, B and C and OS A, B and C. i back up image of A and B and want to use the image A or B and restore it on C so i dont have to reinstall the programs i did on A and B again. ive looked around and Macrium doesnt seem to have that option. after i backup image from one partition, that image is only for that parition and i cant not use it to restore to another parition.

is there anyway i can use the backedup image from one partition and restore that image on other partitions?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

to simplify, i have partition A, B and C and OS A, B and C. i back up image of A and B and want to use the image A or B and restore it on C so i dont have to reinstall the programs i did on A and B again. ive looked around and Macrium doesnt seem to have that option. after i backup image from one partition, that image is only for that parition and i cant not use it to restore to another parition.

is there anyway i can use the backedup image from one partition and restore that image on other partitions?

I'm not sure I understand your explanation, but.......

In my experience, you can direct the restore to any existing partition, assuming it is large enough.

I assume you have made a Linux recovery disk, booted from it, and for some reason cannot select the desired destination for your restore?

 

[kado897]

It depends which version of the Restore CD you are using. If it is the Linux version I'm not sure what options you have, but if it is the PE disk then you can restore to any accessible drive or partition.

 

[M18XR2]

i downloaded the restore cd for window pe or w/e its called, still doesnt let me restore image i created for partition A onto partition B or C..

can anyone show me step by step how to direct an Image and restore on another partition.

 

[kado897]

With the PE disk you should see something like this.



Select Restore The Image and you will get this screen.



Select a different target disk to get the disk you want. Then just drag the image to the partition you want.

 

[M18XR2]

thank you guys so very much sir, this is HELLA fast for restoring images on different partition, WAY faster than window 7 and also saves space too.. just amazing lol.

again thanks for all the quick reply!! really made my day

 

[kado897]

No Problem M18XR2 and by the way welcome to Seven Forums. You will get a lot of helpful advice here. Too much sometimes.

 

[M18XR2]

No Problem M18XR2 and by the way welcome to Seven Forums. You will get a lot of helpful advice here. Too much sometimes.

thanks for all the help from before, but now i am facing new problem :'(
ive learned many things such as active partition, system partition (which is active) etc and now i recently tried to restore an old image and when done and try to boot into it i get BSOD.

after looking into it i realized its because i changed my array from AHCI to RAID, which imo it shouldnt matter much, its still the same file, same partition and same system files too.

backing up image from AHCI and used it on RAID cause BSOD in bootup during windows and vice versa. any idea? is it a known issue for reflect macrium? maybe i shouldnt have posted in here and should post in macrium forum instead, sorry if i break any forum rules.

 

[kado897]

Hi M18XR2.

RAID is not something I have any experience with. I think you may get a response from more people if you start a new thread for this.