Image and restore Dell Laptop with proprietary partition(s)

[BJB]

I have seen many websites and posts in many forums about all the problems you can have trying to image and restore a dell laptop wtih those hidden partitions.  I believe one is usually for restore purposes and the other for media direct.

But what I have not seen is how to do the following.  Create an image with SSR of an old hard drive, put in a new hard drive, and restore it without having issues!

Everything I have read is how you dig yourself out of the hole once you are having problems.

Is there a painless way to do this with SSR 2013?  I really do not care if the new drive has the system recovery partition or media direct partition.

But I do want it to boot to windows and I want the full capacity of the larger hard drive.

Thanks,

BJB

[Markus_Koestler]

If you only want to change the harddisk you could use the copy harddrive feature, see page 273 of the users guide: http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=DOC6256

[JohnTech]

Unfortunately, the copy harddrive feature, isn't quite as simple as one would suspect.  Page 273 of the users guide:

You can use the CopyMyHard Drive feature to copy your operating system,

applications, and data to a new had disk. If the hard disk that you want to copy

contains multiple partitions, you must copy the partitions one at a time.

SSR (and Ghost previously) never had a "copy the entire hard drive".  Probably 99+% of hard drives today contain more than one partition (unless you have a "data-only" hard drive).

[BJB]

Yes, this is the problem I am running into.  There are of course multiple partitions.  At least 3 (or maybe four if you count the special windows 7 small one).

Having done it in the past with Dell laptops I rememeber having to run windows "mbr fix" programs, even editing byte level codes, all kinds of nonsense to get them to boot.

Also, the fact that the hard drive is a larger size adds to the fun.

Just trying to figure out how to do it in advance this time without the frustration.

Thanks,
BJB
 

[JohnTech]

I've used Ghost for many years for image backups, but as you mentioned multiple partition hard drives are the norm now and upgrading (or replacing) to a larger hard drive requires the entire hard disk to be restored (or copied).  One partition at a time has led me to problems several times because Norton doesn't automatically recover them in the correct order, plus other issues.

So I then use Paragon which does a "copy/restore the hard drive, the entire hard drive, all partitons".  It has worked well for me several times.

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/

[BJB]

Thanks for the Paragon tip.  I continue to try to read through all the......advice on how to do this restore and have it boot.  It seems a few people have had success even with "partition-specific" software like SSR by taking the new larger hard drive and creating partitions (appropriate for the larger drive) and formatting them on another computer say on a USB docking drive.

THEN, installing the new hard drive in the laptop being upgrading and restoring ONLY the windows partition and not the Dell retore or media direct partitions.

I guess this keeps the custom MBR out of the equation.  And perhaps might need a windows disk "fix startup" fix but that is no big deal.

Perhaps someone that has struggled through this can confirm this works with SSR, or perhaps at least explain why it might. 

Thanks,
BJB

[TRaj]

Well I would like to put some light on this issue since I am reading all over it and suppose my ideas may help.

With the New Dell Laptops and with the GPT coming into picture it has been difficult for people to perform restores until you follow the right pattern.

Firstly you need to check the BIOS configuration and confirm if it is a UEFI /EFI based partition or normal BIOS ( MBR)

With EFI/UEFI there are 2 types 1. Legacy and 2. UEFI.

So many a times with Dell laptops you need to change the modes and switch over either to get the restore to work.

Legacy is recommended with Dell.

Later you can have the SSR to get restored but this depends on partition type on each of the Laptops and the OS installed.

With Windows XP ( non- GPT ) on C: and data drives need to get restored

With WIndows 7 ( GPT ) System reserved and C: need to get restored with the "set drive active" and "restore mbr" many a times checked for both the "system reserved and C:"

With Windows 8 (GPT ) Recovery , OEM and C: need to get restored with "set drive active" and "restore mbr" checked for both the "Recovery or OEM ( which ever contains boot files ) and C:"

Now the question arrives how would you know which partition contains boot files and this could be checked under "Disk management".

Also you need to check if the Laptop is encryption enabled. With New Windows 8 Dell laptops , the partitions are encrypted which does not allow to perform a successful restore on a new hard- drive. 

Thus those need to be de-encrypted before performing a restore.

Hope this helps !

[BJB]

Tripti,

Thanks for those comments!  I have a question for you.  This is an older "secondary" Dell laptop, traditional bios. If this was my production machine, I would just re-install everything.  But as a secondary or family machine with a variety of stuff on there, I would just prefer not to.

It seems you are recommending some of what I have seen for Vista/windows 7 era machines.  Restore the system and C: drive with the "set drive active" and "restore MBR" checked.  Does SSR provide those options on a bare metal boot disc restore from the disc?

Also, is there some thread of truth about there being an issue about what ORDER the partitions are restored?  I had read long threads about how people setup partitions....restored everything by partition, etc. etc..

But perhaps they were trying to get all the dell "special partitions" restored.  I could care less about those.  I just want it to boot!

Seems like for me with a traditional bios, just image those 2 partitions and restore as recommended above and I should be good to go?

Thanks,

BJB
 

[TRaj]

BJB,

Your question to me was

It seems you are recommending some of what I have seen for Vista/windows 7 era machines.  Restore the system and C: drive with the "set drive active" and "restore MBR" checked.  Does SSR provide those options on a bare metal boot disc restore from the disc?"

Ans : "Yes SSR provides these options on a barel metal boot disc.

Also, is there some thread of truth about there being an issue about what ORDER the partitions are restored?  I had read long threads about how people setup partitions....restored everything by partition, etc. etc..

Ans : Yes the ORDER is important for us to get to our conclusion of booting into the OS

All the three options in SRD mean something

"Set Drive Active" - All the partitions in our OS are not active and there has to be only one partitions that could be set to be active and this will depend on the OS including the Active partitons and the biggest changes that comes into picture is with Windows 7 machines , because in many scenarios it is the "System Reserved" containing the active partition

"Restore original disk signature" - This option is for the data drives to copy the signature of the older machines and provide it to the new machines with a different hardware

"Restore MBR" - Again , for the system to boot, the mbr places the main role and if we do not know under which partition is the mbr how will we be able to boot to the system.

Example : my mbr files are in the system reserved in the Windows  7 machine and I am ticking this option for C: , will my system boot ? NO .

But perhaps they were trying to get all the dell "special partitions" restored.  I could care less about those.  I just want it to boot!

Well I think you thought the specific restore options are only for the dell "special partitions" , but that is not the case with SSR , that is one of the reasons I mentioned the OS.

 XP or Windows 2003 do not contain "System Reserved"partitions

[cyclingcpa]

BJB

Was this issue ever solved?

I have asked the same question. 

SSR 2013 Desktop backup jobs for Win7 Pro 64 and Partition Restore Order

Created: 14 Dec 2013 | Updated: 16 Dec 2013

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/ssr-2013-desktop-backup-jobs-win7-pro-64-and-partitio...

Thanks.

Bob

[123456789]

This is all ridiculous! If Symantec is going to offer this COPY HARD DRIVE feature, then it should work, without all the workarounds, multiple calls to India (being cut off, and trying to recognize the words being said to you, then finally after hours working on this, a tech support saying they aren't trained on this feature of SSR 2013). While on the call and he was looking up info and I was waiting, I was googling the problem, I found the information you do have to copy the partitions in a specific order. He had never heard that. Of course, once I got off the phone, that didn't work either!!!

I'm not a computer novice, but all the information provided by Traj above, is beyond what I'm comfortable doing.

It really sucks that Copy Hard Drive won't work because my boot drive is failing, and of course my copy of windows 7 is on that, and now since the hard drive copy won't work, I have no idea how to move windows to the new boot drive I have to install. Also, I hate having to restore all my Adobe apps, along with everything else.

CAN ANYONE PLEASE TELL ME if I'm wasting my time trying to use SSR 2013 in this pursuit?

Then I need to move back to the first problem I was having with SSR 2013; it won't backup up all of my drives. UGGG! 

ALL HELP VERY APPRECIATED!! Debbie

[123456789]

Can anyone else vouch for Paragon? I'm going to have to give up on Symantec pretty soon, and find a different software company that has a working program. Debbie

[BJB]

Bob,

I never pulled the trigger and tried to make it work.  Never really saw a step-by-step process on how to make it work with a Dell laptop with those hidden partitions and mediadirect.

My original post was back in September and I see now a response with some more information, but I have not tried it.

If I knew it worked, I would try it in a heartbeat...

Looks like some others on this thread are having issues, but I can't tell if they are trying to image a dell drive with those partitions and restore on a bare drive or not.

I certainly think Symantec could and should post an FAQ on how to do this using SSR2013.  It is a common question and agree we should not have to piece together posts to figure it out.

BJB

[123456789]

Thank you so much for this recommendation John Tech. I bought Paragon Copy Hard Drive last night after I read your post, it worked the VERY FIRST TIME! Symantec - TAKE NOTE!!!

http://www.paragon-software.com   Copy Hard Drive program!!!

[123456789]

The Paragon Copy Hard Drive program worked the FIRST time, with my partitions and all!! Amazing. My system is booting and running from my new boot drive with the copy Paragon made of my "old" boot drive. Amazing, for $23.0 on sale this week. paragon-software.com

[cyclingcpa]

BJB Thanks for your response. I have read myself blind trying to get the restore steps in writing. My link above has some comments by Chris about one backup job including all partitions with SSR restoring automatically in the correct order. I am looking for a simple checklist/video that follows Chris's explanation. Users guide is not helpful. I would like the backup job steps before I remove Ghost 15. Bob

[BJB]

Bob,

I agree wholeheartedly about there needing to be a place where there is a technical bulletin that addresses this. 

On a home-built PC with the typical windows 7 reserved partition and regular C drive, the one-backup job backup and restore works just fine.  The issue is with the OEM-based drives with multiple "special" partitions.

I also have Ghost and SSR installed.  The copy whole drive option will not work.  I prefer not to utilize another product as some have suggested having many backups in this format.

Hopefully this will either be resolved in a patch, a new version, or one of the very helpful users or company posters can test and right a complete technical bulletin on how to backup and restore these types of computers to a larger drive.

BJB