System Image oddity

borgus · 22 Dec 2018

Prior to building this PC, its E: partition 00 (formerly C:) on a conventional platter ran Windows 10 on an old PC, but has been reformatted and now houses only Windows back-up files and a few others on a new PC. The D: partition 01, then and now, also contains only data.

When creating a Windows System Image choosing either drive D: or E: as the target prompts that "the system is on the same physical disk." That's obviously not the case. The Win10 O/S, and boot files, are on the OS-1TB-SSD, as shown below.

Is this because the system sees E: as a Primary Partition? And if so, why? Will writing System Image to that drive, ignoring the prompt, cause problems with restoration? Thanks.

Samuria · 22 Dec 2018

Can you post full screen shot showing the paritions and all the details d: is a logical parition if you pul the power on d does the system boot ok? I am wondering if there are boot files on d

borgus · 22 Dec 2018

It's not practical to pull the drive. But, as shown in the attachment, the boot is on the OS-1TB-SSD. There are boot files on D: but they are in a "Programs" folder and date back to 2011 Win 7 SP1 days - archival.

A related oddity...

Two System Images were created within days. The earlier one has two subfolders - one with the DESKTOP-xxxxxx name and another with my name. The main folder contains 29 files and 10 folders.

The most recent image, however, has only a single subfolder, with my name. The main folder contains 14 files and 5 folders. (Two System Images of another PC similarly contain only the DESKTOP-xxxxxx subfolder - none by my name.)

Why are there differences between the early and latest images? Both were made in the same way to the same external drive, and each reported that the image was successfully created.

Berton · 22 Dec 2018

borgus said:

It's not practical to pull the drive.

Since it's the computer you built, the mention of "pull" just means to open the case and unplug the power cable or data cable to the drive to see if the computer will still boot up. Could be some boot files are in the wrong place. It can happen if more than 1 internal drive is in use during install.

borgus · 22 Dec 2018

Actually, I had it built. And, when on the bench it booted many times without the old conventional drive being connected. Now, tucked into a desk cubby, the innards are not easily accessible. Thanks.

CountMike · 24 Dec 2018

You should have active partitions only on OS drive(s), Active and Primary (to Logical) flags can always be changed without loss of data.

NavyLCDR · 24 Dec 2018

There is no need to change primary partitions to logical partitions. That really has nothing to do with it. The only reason to change a primary partition to a logical partition is if you want to put more than 4 partitions on an MBR drive. I suspect that @borgus is probably trying to use built-in Windows system imaging "Backup and Restore (Windows 7)"? I would also suspect that it is the active flags on the partitions other than C: drive that is causing the problems.

I would highly suggest using Macrium Reflect Free to do the system images with instead of Windows built-in Backup and Restore. Even Microsoft recommends using third party imaging software rather than the built-in imaging. Macrium won't care about the active flags. It is well behaved, it just does what it is told to do without complaining.
Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free

borgus · 24 Dec 2018

Yes, it's the Windows-own System Image being discussed here. Good advice on Macrium. It, and several other companies, vend better alternatives: EaseUS, Acronis, for example. Terabyte's IFW is the one used here for many years. Thanks for the info.