System image restore on empty external drive

[wkt]

System image restore on empty external drive I made a system backup of my C:
system partition with Windows 7
backup and restore facility on an
external disk.

Now I bought another external disk
and wanted to restore my backup to it to test the restoration on
an empty disk ( for the case of disk crash or when buying a new SSD and
adding it to the computer ).

When I boot from the Recovery CD
and try to restore the image I can exclude my current system disk and keep only the external target disk. But then I get an error message, which tells me that the
restoration misses a disk. I suppose the excluded C:-system disk.

So is there a way to restore the
image to a disk other than the current disk with the running C:-system ?

 

[theog]

Not to a External Drive.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/675-system-image-recovery.html?ltr=S

 

[wkt]

Good answer ! So my project with external disk is damned to failure.

But what about my project to add an new SSD as a second drive and then
restore the image of my nicely running system to this SSD.

Can I somewhere choose the SSD as target or must I remove my current
internal drive from the computer so that the restore has no choice.
But I have also some doubts that the restore to a smaller say 128GB SSD
might be not possible. Any hard facts ?

 

[theog]

Good answer ! So my project with external disk is damned to failure.

But what about my project to add an new SSD as a second drive and then
restore the image of my nicely running system to this SSD.

Can I somewhere choose the SSD as target or must I remove my current
internal drive from the computer so that the restore has no choice.
But I have also some doubts that the restore to a smaller say 128GB SSD
might be not possible. Any hard facts ?

You may find going to a smaller HD may not work.

Your new HD would need to be the first drive. (SATA1=Disk0=New HD)

 

[wkt]

The first part of your answer is what I read in another forum. I have to keep in
mind to decrease my system partition before I take the system backup.

I have no experience with the SATA-hardware. If I understand you right there
are several SATA connections inside the computer and I have to reconnect
the current hard disk to SATA2, for instance ?

Does it work, if I change simply the boot-up sequence in the BIOS settings
to SSD first and internal hard disk third after the DVD ?

 

[SIW2]

Yes, just change the bios boot order. Disk 0 , Disk 1, etc only indicates which port you plugged it into - nothing to do with the boot order.

 

[whs]

As was said, with the image you have to restore to a partition that is equal or larger in size than the original - but it must be C, thus an internal disk.
For what you want to do, you need to make a clone with e.g. Acronis or Norton Ghost. But for your SSD project, I recommend you use Migrate Easy from Acronis. It was designed for that purpose and allows you to move your C to the SSD even when it is USB attached (which is an important feature for laptops that have only 1 bay).

 

[SIW2]

Looks like the trial version has no function limitations - works for 15 days, so it's worth a go: Trial Version Limitations of Acronis Products | Knowledge Base

 

[wkt]

Pardon, but I want to use the Microsoft backup and restore feature.
Nothing else, no Paragon, Acronis, DriveImageXML, Macrium, ...

Another question : can I simply make a restorable system backup by using
simple copy/paste with Windows Explorer between the internal system partition
and the external disk drive partition ? So completely without any backup program ?

In case of crash of the disk I would use the boot with the installation DVD, repair
computer and the from the command prompt an xcopy back on the new disk.

 

[theog]

Take look here:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/648-restore-backup-user-system-files.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11470-windows-easy-transfer-transfer-computers.html?ltr=W

 

[wkt]

No, thats not my problem to backup user files.

I want to know what I do in case of a complete disk failure.
Do I have to the buy the same disk (manufacturer, size, model) as my current
internal hard disk ?

It seems to me that the Microsoft restore has in its image backup information
about the disk from which it backups. But I only can assume this.

I tried to cheat the restore program by putting my external target disk 1st in the
boot sequence of the BIOs, but this did'nt work. So the proposal with the SATA
connections seems the only possibility to get my backuped running system on
a new empty disk.

 

[whs]

An image can be restored to any internal disk that is the same size or larger than the original. But the BIOS must then find it as C. That's why you could not "fool" the BIOS. But if you want to restore to a smaller disk, then you need one of the other programs that were mentioned. Imaging is a pretty stupid bit copy/restore process with little logic involved.

 

[wkt]

This is exactly my problem. If the restore isn't possible to an external disk
how do I succeed that the BIOS finds an additional SSD drive as C:
and the restore doesn't go to my then second internal disk where my Windows 7
system is on the first partition ?

Does the restore always take the disk, that is on SATA1 ?

 

[whs]

For you SSD you need a different approach anyhow - as I have described in my earlier post.