Imaging a Windows 7 HD

When you buy a ready made computer with Win 7 on it, there are often
several partitions on the HD. Often there is a restoration partition
that will allow you to restore the computer to the state it was when
purchased. There is also a partition called SYSTEM that is used for
starting the OS. There is also a partition called BOOT where the OS and
all other files are stored for the programs installed on the hard drive.

I know that making an image of the BOOT partition captures all files
since the last image was made, so that is certainly one that you would
want to re-image if you hadn't made an image in some time. The
restoration partition should not have changed since it is what it was
when you bought the computer. My question deals with the SYSTEM
partition: Assuming that another OS has NOT been added to the HD, does
the SYSTEM partition data ever change due to updates such as those from
Microsoft? In other words, is there any need to re-image the SYSTEM
partition like there would be for the BOOT partition on a Win 7 computer??

Below is an article about Win 7 partitions:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...oot-partitions

On 12/19/2011 7:25 AM, Ken wrote:
> When you buy a ready made computer with Win 7 on it, there are often
> several partitions on the HD. Often there is a restoration partition
> that will allow you to restore the computer to the state it was when
> purchased. There is also a partition called SYSTEM that is used for
> starting the OS. There is also a partition called BOOT where the OS and
> all other files are stored for the programs installed on the hard drive.
>
> I know that making an image of the BOOT partition captures all files
> since the last image was made, so that is certainly one that you would
> want to re-image if you hadn't made an image in some time. The
> restoration partition should not have changed since it is what it was
> when you bought the computer. My question deals with the SYSTEM
> partition: Assuming that another OS has NOT been added to the HD, does
> the SYSTEM partition data ever change due to updates such as those from
> Microsoft? In other words, is there any need to re-image the SYSTEM
> partition like there would be for the BOOT partition on a Win 7 computer??
>
> Below is an article about Win 7 partitions:
>
> http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...oot-partitions
>
My answer would be to have an image of it just in case the drive itself
goes bad. Power spikes or a program that forces you to power cycle it
since the PC is locked up could also cause a problem, however remotely.

Since I'm basically lazy I make an image copy of the entire boot disk
which includes any partitions. That way when (and they all fail sooner
or later) the drive goes bad I can replace it and use the backup image
to restore things back. Other backups take care of any data drives
using Acronis.

On Mon, 19 Dec 2011 08:13:43 -0600, GlowingBlueMist
<> wrote:

>On 12/19/2011 7:25 AM, Ken wrote:
>> When you buy a ready made computer with Win 7 on it, there are often
>> several partitions on the HD. Often there is a restoration partition
>> that will allow you to restore the computer to the state it was when
>> purchased. There is also a partition called SYSTEM that is used for
>> starting the OS. There is also a partition called BOOT where the OS and
>> all other files are stored for the programs installed on the hard drive.
>>
>> I know that making an image of the BOOT partition captures all files
>> since the last image was made, so that is certainly one that you would
>> want to re-image if you hadn't made an image in some time. The
>> restoration partition should not have changed since it is what it was
>> when you bought the computer. My question deals with the SYSTEM
>> partition: Assuming that another OS has NOT been added to the HD, does
>> the SYSTEM partition data ever change due to updates such as those from
>> Microsoft? In other words, is there any need to re-image the SYSTEM
>> partition like there would be for the BOOT partition on a Win 7 computer??
>>
>> Below is an article about Win 7 partitions:
>>
>> http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...oot-partitions
>>
>My answer would be to have an image of it just in case the drive itself
>goes bad. Power spikes or a program that forces you to power cycle it
>since the PC is locked up could also cause a problem, however remotely.
>
>Since I'm basically lazy I make an image copy of the entire boot disk
>which includes any partitions. That way when (and they all fail sooner
>or later) the drive goes bad I can replace it and use the backup image
>to restore things back. Other backups take care of any data drives
>using Acronis.

I take the same approach and make an image of the entire drive rather
than just one or more partitions.

--

Char Jackson

Ken wrote:
> When you buy a ready made computer with Win 7 on it, there are often
> several partitions on the HD. Often there is a restoration partition
> that will allow you to restore the computer to the state it was when
> purchased. There is also a partition called SYSTEM that is used for
> starting the OS. There is also a partition called BOOT where the OS and
> all other files are stored for the programs installed on the hard drive.
>
> I know that making an image of the BOOT partition captures all files
> since the last image was made, so that is certainly one that you would
> want to re-image if you hadn't made an image in some time. The
> restoration partition should not have changed since it is what it was
> when you bought the computer. My question deals with the SYSTEM
> partition: Assuming that another OS has NOT been added to the HD, does
> the SYSTEM partition data ever change due to updates such as those from
> Microsoft? In other words, is there any need to re-image the SYSTEM
> partition like there would be for the BOOT partition on a Win 7 computer??
>
> Below is an article about Win 7 partitions:
>
> http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...oot-partitions
>

I image C: and the small SYSTEM RESERVED partition.

That makes it easy to restore to a bootable system later.

I use the System Image option, offered by Windows 7.

And I do that more often, than I might do the "data"
partition, which is the largest partition on the drive.

Paul

On 19/12/2011 14:48, Char Jackson wrote:
> On Mon, 19 Dec 2011 08:13:43 -0600, GlowingBlueMist
> <> wrote:
>
>> On 12/19/2011 7:25 AM, Ken wrote:
>>> When you buy a ready made computer with Win 7 on it, there are often
>>> several partitions on the HD. Often there is a restoration partition
>>> that will allow you to restore the computer to the state it was when
>>> purchased. There is also a partition called SYSTEM that is used for
>>> starting the OS. There is also a partition called BOOT where the OS and
>>> all other files are stored for the programs installed on the hard drive.
>>>
>>> I know that making an image of the BOOT partition captures all files
>>> since the last image was made, so that is certainly one that you would
>>> want to re-image if you hadn't made an image in some time. The
>>> restoration partition should not have changed since it is what it was
>>> when you bought the computer. My question deals with the SYSTEM
>>> partition: Assuming that another OS has NOT been added to the HD, does
>>> the SYSTEM partition data ever change due to updates such as those from
>>> Microsoft? In other words, is there any need to re-image the SYSTEM
>>> partition like there would be for the BOOT partition on a Win 7 computer??
>>>
>>> Below is an article about Win 7 partitions:
>>>
>>> http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...oot-partitions
>>>
>> My answer would be to have an image of it just in case the drive itself
>> goes bad. Power spikes or a program that forces you to power cycle it
>> since the PC is locked up could also cause a problem, however remotely.
>>
>> Since I'm basically lazy I make an image copy of the entire boot disk
>> which includes any partitions. That way when (and they all fail sooner
>> or later) the drive goes bad I can replace it and use the backup image
>> to restore things back. Other backups take care of any data drives
>> using Acronis.
>
> I take the same approach and make an image of the entire drive rather
> than just one or more partitions.
>

I do the same. I've thought about doing separate images for the D:
drive (restoration partition) and for the System + C: drive partitions.
But I am uncertain as to how I would get these two completely separate
images onto a single new disk so that it would appear to be exactly the
same as the original disk it was replacing. There is no problem if it
is just a single image of D: + System + C:, of course.

--

Jeff

On 19/12/2011 1:08 PM, Jeff Layman wrote:
> On 19/12/2011 14:48, Char Jackson wrote:
[...]

> I've thought about doing separate images for the D: drive
> (restoration partition) and for the System + C: drive partitions. But I
> am uncertain as to how I would get these two completely separate images
> onto a single new disk so that it would appear to be exactly the same as
> the original disk it was replacing. There is no problem if it is just a
> single image of D: + System + C:, of course.
>

Er, in Windows, the system partition is always C:. If you dual boot,
each OS sees its own system partition as C:, and the other one's as D:
(or E: whatever).

You can image the whole drive to any drive that is at least as large as
the physical drive. By "image". I mean track-by-track, sector-by-sector,
including empty sectors and of course the MBR (which resides on a track
not normally seen by the OS.) Imaging software should be able to image
any partition or combination of partitions, as specified by you.

Because of the way Windows assigns drive letters, if you dual boot and
have one or more common/joint data partitions, they will be assigned
different letters by each OS, so it's best to ensure that each OS uses
the same letters for those (use the Disk Management applet).

HTH
Wolf K.

"Wolf K" <> wrote in message
news:cCLHq.12138$...
> On 19/12/2011 1:08 PM, Jeff Layman wrote:
>> On 19/12/2011 14:48, Char Jackson wrote:
> [...]
>
>> I've thought about doing separate images for the D: drive
>> (restoration partition) and for the System + C: drive partitions.
>> But I
>> am uncertain as to how I would get these two completely separate
>> images
>> onto a single new disk so that it would appear to be exactly the
>> same as
>> the original disk it was replacing. There is no problem if it is
>> just a
>> single image of D: + System + C:, of course.
>>
>
> Er, in Windows, the system partition is always C:. If you dual boot,
> each OS sees its own system partition as C:, and the other one's as
> D: (or E: whatever).
>

In Windows 7 by default, there is a separate system partition that is
not given a drive letter. My Windows 7 system is currently running
Windows 8 developer preview so I can't say for sure, but in Windows 8
it is called "System Reserved", and is listed as System, Active,
Primary Partition. The C: partition is listed as Boot, Page File,
Crash Dump, Primary Partition.

--
Zaphod

Vell, Zaphod's just zis guy, ya know? - Gag Halfrunt

On Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:08:03 +0000, Jeff Layman
<> wrote:

>On 19/12/2011 14:48, Char Jackson wrote:
>>
>> I take the same approach and make an image of the entire drive rather
>> than just one or more partitions.
>
>I do the same. I've thought about doing separate images for the D:
>drive (restoration partition) and for the System + C: drive partitions.
> But I am uncertain as to how I would get these two completely separate
>images onto a single new disk so that it would appear to be exactly the
>same as the original disk it was replacing. There is no problem if it
>is just a single image of D: + System + C:, of course.

I agree, a single image that includes the entire disk is easier, and
I'm basically lazy, so that's why I do it that way.

However, the imaging program should give you the option of restoring
an image to part of a drive rather than the entire drive, so restoring
a single partition shouldn't be problematic in itself. I'm primarily
familiar with Acronis True Image, where it's easy to restore the
partitions one at a time and in any order. Being the lazy sod that I
am, I don't want to deal with the complexity of managing backups at
the partition level and simply find it easier to deal with them at the
disk level.

--

Char Jackson

On Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:44:24 -0500, Wolf K <>
wrote:

>On 19/12/2011 1:08 PM, Jeff Layman wrote:
>> On 19/12/2011 14:48, Char Jackson wrote:
>[...]
>
>> I've thought about doing separate images for the D: drive
>> (restoration partition) and for the System + C: drive partitions. But I
>> am uncertain as to how I would get these two completely separate images
>> onto a single new disk so that it would appear to be exactly the same as
>> the original disk it was replacing. There is no problem if it is just a
>> single image of D: + System + C:, of course.
>>
>
>Er, in Windows, the system partition is always C:.

Only if, by "always C:", you mean any drive letter that was available
during initial installation. For many years I used W: as my Windows
drive (throughout my Win 95-98SE era) and went through a period after
that where Windows was on E:.

>If you dual boot, each OS sees its own system partition as C:, and
>the other one's as D: (or E: whatever).

I don't think this is about dual booting, is it? I thought the OP was
simply asking about disk imaging in general.

>You can image the whole drive to any drive that is at least as large as
>the physical drive. By "image". I mean track-by-track, sector-by-sector,
>including empty sectors and of course the MBR (which resides on a track
>not normally seen by the OS.) Imaging software should be able to image
>any partition or combination of partitions, as specified by you.

Most people will use the default settings when creating a system
image, which means NOT doing a sector by sector backup but rather just
backing up the actual data, usually with some level of compression to
make the backup even smaller.

Sector level backups are only important or interesting when you're
dealing with a failed drive and need to attempt extreme data
restoration, for example. Normal everyday image backups won't need the
empty sectors backed up.

--

Char Jackson

On 12/19/2011 2:57 PM, Char Jackson wrote:
> On Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:08:03 +0000, Jeff Layman
> <> wrote:
>
>> On 19/12/2011 14:48, Char Jackson wrote:
>>>
<snip>
>

Why would one want to keep the Restore Partition when that returns the
PC to the
"as delivered" condition and not to the "as is now condition"?

Make a complete HD image, remove the Restore partition, expand another
partition(s) into the space now not being used, and then make a new
full, NOT incremental, image and then delete the the first image.

Now all HD space is available for your use and you are protected with an
image.
--
Zaidy036