How can I image unallocated space?


  1. Posts : 5,478
    2004
       #1

    How can I image unallocated space?


    I have formatted my disk as hybrid member and boot Windows in legacy mode. This is what diskpart looks like :
    Code:
    DISKPART> sel disk 0
    
    Disk 0 is now the selected disk.
    
    DISKPART> list par
    
      Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset
      -------------  ----------------  -------  -------
      Partition 1    Primary            200 MB    512 B
      Partition 2    Primary             82 GB   200 MB
      Partition 3    Recovery          4096 MB    82 GB
      Partition 4    Primary             10 GB    86 GB
    
    DISKPART>
    However my GPT scheme has 2 other OS installed after the end of the primary partition space :

    How can I image unallocated space?-screen-shot-2018-12-02-18.13.22.png


    This is my exact layout from gdisk - as you can see I have 2 more partitions on GPT than MBR
    Code:
    PS C:\Users\Hali\OneDrive\Programs\Gdisk> .\gdisk64.exe \\.\physicaldrive0
    GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.3
    
    Partition table scan:
      MBR: hybrid
      BSD: not present
      APM: not present
      GPT: present
    
    Found valid GPT with hybrid MBR; using GPT.
    
    Command (? for help): r
    
    Recovery/transformation command (? for help): o
    
    Disk size is 250069680 sectors (119.2 GiB)
    MBR disk identifier: 0xEBD711AE
    MBR partitions:
    
    Number  Boot  Start Sector   End Sector   Status      Code
       1                     1       409639   primary     0xEE
       2      *         409640    172376718   primary     0x07
       3             172378112    180766719   primary     0x27
       4             180766720    201738239   primary     0x83
    
    Recovery/transformation command (? for help): p
    Disk \\.\physicaldrive0: 250069680 sectors, 119.2 GiB
    Sector size (logical): 512 bytes
    Disk identifier (GUID): 569B72DC-B014-4DD3-B28A-A95CA047CBEE
    Partition table holds up to 128 entries
    Main partition table begins at sector 2 and ends at sector 33
    First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 250069646
    Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries
    Total free space is 525694 sectors (256.7 MiB)
    
    Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
       1              40          409639   200.0 MiB   EF00  EFI System
       2          409640       172376718   82.0 GiB    0700  MacWindows
       3       172378112       180766719   4.0 GiB     2700  Recovery
       4       180766720       201738239   10.0 GiB    8300  Arch
       5       201738240       222447615   9.9 GiB     AF00  macOS2
       6       222709760       249807495   12.9 GiB    AF00  macOS
    
    Recovery/transformation command (? for help):
    I try to backup the whole disk with Macrium (even using the "Forensic" option) but only get this option :

    How can I image unallocated space?-capture.png

    The greyed out bit is not backed up no matter what I do but as in includes the 2 extra (EFI bootable) partitions and the GPT recovery data structure at the end of the disk I do want it included.

    I need to image the unallocated space after the last partition so my question is how? Some other program?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 30,117
    Windows 11 Pro x64 Version 23H2
       #2

    Have you tried Cloning the disk with Forensic option?


    Ken
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 13,895
    Win10 Version 22H2 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home
       #3

    For exact cloning I do it the hard way, pull the Source drive from the computer and put it plus the Destination drive in an Eaxer dock, unplug the USB cable from the computer then run the clone feature on it. So far it seems to do an exact byte for byte copy and the ones I've done always booted. The last I did was after a complete install of Win10 on a 250GB drive, did the clone to a 1TB drive, it did everything from the 250 leaving the rest unallocated which I then used Win10 Disk Management to create and format a new partition in that remaining space. The clone process was just press a switch, watch the lights for a few minutes to assure it started then go do something else.
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 5,478
    2004
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Caledon Ken said:
    Have you tried Cloning the disk with Forensic option?
    My screen print above is with the foresic option selected. As far as I can understand from Macrium documentation it it only copies the selected partitions on a sector basis.

    Berton said:
    For exact cloning I do it the hard way, pull the Source drive from the computer and put it plus the Destination drive in an Eaxer dock, unplug the USB cable from the computer then run the clone feature on it
    Thanks. I was hoping to avoid that as it is a laptop and removing the drive is a bit of a hassle. I have managed to do it by booting linux from USB and then copying the entire disk bit by bit using dd but it takes hours.

    I was hoping there was a Windows program that would image the partitions it understood and sector copy what it didn't (including free space).

    Macrium will use sector copy when creating an image for partitions it doesn't understand the file system of (like the EFI partition it sees as unformatted in the picture above) but it seems to not want to have anything to do with what it thinks of as unallocated space.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 31,459
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #5

    lx07 said:
    Macrium will use sector copy when creating an image for partitions it doesn't understand the file system of (like the EFI partition it sees as unformatted in the picture above) but it seems to not want to have anything to do with what it thinks of as unallocated space.
    From your screenshot it appears that you are running Macrium from within Windows to try and image the drive. Your windows is running as a legacy MBR system so from within windows it's perhaps unsurprising it cannot see the gpt partitions.

    Have you tried making the rescue media with uefi boot enabled? I suspect you may have more luck imaging a gpt/mbr hybrid if you booted from the rescue media in uefi mode and used that to make the image. It's running the same Macrium, it doesn't just do restores, it can also make images.

    No guarantees, but it's worth a try.
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 5,478
    2004
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Bree said:
    From your screenshot it appears that you are running Macrium from within Windows to try and image the drive. Your windows is running as a legacy MBR system so from within windows it's perhaps unsurprising it cannot see the gpt partitions.
    Correct.

    Bree said:
    Have you tried making the rescue media with uefi boot enabled? I suspect you may have more luck imaging a gpt/mbr hybrid if you booted from the rescue media in uefi mode and used that to make the image. It's running the same Macrium, it doesn't just do restores, it can also make images.

    No guarantees, but it's worth a try.
    I can't boot Windows or PE using EFI unfortunately - only macOS or linux in text only mode. It is a limitation of my (32 bit EFI version 1.1) firmware unfortunately - it doesn't expose enough of the hardware to boot (no display adapter is revealed for example). The BIOS mode works OK but then I hit the problem of it only seeing MBR not GPT partitions.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 30,117
    Windows 11 Pro x64 Version 23H2
       #7

    I wonder if Paragon Disk Manager, their free version, would work. As I recall you selected a disk to clone, at the disk level, rather than at the partition level.
      My Computer


 

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