Windows backup sees two "System" drives

[itsdonny]

My computer has 4 internal drives. I have 1 hd with a C: and D: partition and then 3 other drives with 1 partition each, drives E: F: and G:.

I just set up windows back up to back up the C: drive to the E: drive, however Windows is also viewing the F: drive as a System drive and insists that I also back it up as well. How do a let my computer know that the F: drive is not a System drive so it doesn't make me back it up when making a system image.

Thanks!

Don

 

[Petey7]

Can you post a screen shot of you disk management for us?

 

[karlsnooks]

It's Donny,

Welcome to SevenForums.

A good question. To answer your question correctly we are going to need a snapshot of the maximize output of Disk Managmernt.

We aill also benefit from you completing your system specs.

Here are some links and additional info.

________________________________________

HOW TO FILL OUT YOUR SYSTEM SPECS

In the line at the top of www.SevenForums.com you will see UserCP.
That is an abbreviation for User Control Panel.
Click on UserCP.
In the left-hand column, under Your Profile you will see Edit System Spec.
Click on Edit System Spec
You can copy and paste from the output of Speccy, Speccy - System Information - Free Download to fill out much of the info. Be sure to use the Other Info section of your System Specs for such info as your optical drive, your wireless adapter, your speakers, etc.

________________________________________
The Snipping Tool:
WIN | type SNIP | ENTER

Disk Management:
WIN | type DISKMGMT.MSC | ENTER

Remember to maximize the display before making a snapshot with the Snipping Tool.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-how-post-screenshot-seven-forums.html

WIN indicates the key with the wavy flag on the key.

 

[itsdonny]

Okay, thanks guys. I've updated my comp specs and let's see if I can post the snapshot of disc management.

 

[Petey7]

Just as I thought, the F: drive has been marked as active. I think it might mean that the Master Boot record has been installed on the wrong drive. To test this, unplug all drives except for the one with Windows 7 on it and try to boot into Windows. Please write back with the results.

 

[karlsnooks]

Petey,
As I understood him, he wants to boot from the C: and does boot from the C:

I don't remember whether with Disk Management he can mark F: as inactive.

If not, he can always use DiskPart's Inactive command which is what I've always used.

 

[Petey7]

No, he can boot into C:. He just doesn't understand why Windows Backup wants to back up both C: and F: to the backup image. He doesn't have an actually problem with booting at the moment. I believe that the MBR was installed on F:, while the OS was installed on C:. This is common when the OS is installed while multiple hard drives are connected. I know how to mark the drive as inactive through commend prompt, but I want to make sure that he doesn't need it to be active first.

 

[itsdonny]

Hi guys, sorry for the late reply. Okay so I took out all the drives except my C: drive and my computer would not boot. So I'm guessing you're right that my MBR was installed on my F: drive. Can you tell me how I can go about getting the MBR on my C: drive and how I can then let my backup software know that the F: drive is no longer a system drive?

Thanks!

don

 

[Petey7]

Its been awhile since I've helped someone with this particular problem, so I'm going to ask someone who is more or less an expert on this kind of thing to help you through it.

 

[gregrocker]

Hi guys, sorry for the late reply. Okay so I took out all the drives except my C: drive and my computer would not boot. So I'm guessing you're right that my MBR was installed on my F: drive. Can you tell me how I can go about getting the MBR on my C: drive and how I can then let my backup software know that the F: drive is no longer a system drive?

Thanks!

don

With all drives plugged, boot into Win7 DVD or Repair CD, press Shift F10 to open a Command Line (or boot into the Repair console to open Command Prompt), then follow the steps in this tutorial using Diskpart to Mark Win7 partition Active, then mark F drive Inactive: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/71432-partition-mark-active.html

Once you have done this, power down to unplug the F drive so that it doesn't interfere as you boot the Win7 DVD Repair console to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times with reboots to write the System MBR to Win7 partition. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105541-startup-repair-run-3-separate-times.html

After Win7 starts, you can again power down to plug back in the F drive, make sure it is not marked Active or mark it Inactive again using the earlier Diskpart steps.

If you want a graphical interface to do the marking Active and Inactive, use free Partition Wizard bootable CD. Free Download Magic Partition Manager Software - Partition Wizard Online

 

[mjf]

The gregrocker advice will solve your problem.
The reason why Windows imaging requires both C: & F: is because you are booting your OS on C: through F:. In addition to the MBR F: contains all the boot information normally on the 100MB system reserved partition. Windows always images this (now on F: along with the OS (your C: partition).

 

[itsdonny]

Thanks gregrocker! That was much easier than I thought! I sincerely appreciate the help. Good karma on the way...

 

[brian5]

I've been trying to resolve this problem for years, where C: and E: both want to be included in System Image. Tried so many things with diskpart.

I followed the exact steps that gregrocker said but that has not solved my problem. Windows's System Image still wants to include C: and E: when I do a System Image. Before I did the steps that gregrocker descrived, I successfully got E: to not show as System in Disk Management (see first pic).

How can I make E: think it not a System partition? Disk Management does not show it but System Image says it is. See second pic.

EDIT: SOLVED IT!

With PC in above situation
1. Deleted E: partition
2. Ran Windows Backup including System Image. It obviously only did system image of C:
3. Created and formatted E: partition
4. Nowhere is it being reported that E: is a System drive AND Windows Backup does not try to take image of it when doing a System Image.

So it needed one successful backup when only C: was available.