what software do I need to backup OS

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  1. Posts : 44
    win 10
       #1

    what software do I need to backup OS


    HI,
    I want to backup and restore several bootable OSs. I only see software that backs up the whole partition. However most of the partition is empty so I only want to backup the OS. What do I need to do this please? Macrium does the whole partition even if empty from what I can see.
    Thnx
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  2. Posts : 8,057
    windows 10
       #2

    Often what seems blank isn't but must be backed up like uefi and boot partition best bet is to post photo from disk manager so we can see what you have
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  3. Posts : 1,612
    11, 10, 8.1 and 7 all Professional versions, and Linux Mint
       #3

    tenjay said:
    HI,
    I want to backup and restore several bootable OSs. I only see software that backs up the whole partition. However most of the partition is empty so I only want to backup the OS. What do I need to do this please? Macrium does the whole partition even if empty from what I can see.
    Thnx
    More explanation is needed, as you say backup AND restore
    Do you in fact mean you want ONLY to back up the OS and which are these several OS

    If you in fact wanted for instance to backup Windows 10 which is what this site deals with, then in respect of the OS ONLY
    you may either use Macrium to create an image of the partitions required to backup and restore windows

    OR if you want strictly ONLY the OS, then in the case of 10 you may follow this
    How can I only backup the operating system
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  4. Posts : 44
    win 10
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Samuria said:
    Often what seems blank isn't but must be backed up like uefi and boot partition best bet is to post photo from disk manager so we can see what you have
    I was wrong actually. Macrium compressed the file so that is fine. However I am still confused as to how to proceed. Maybe you can help.

    I have a bootable SSD with EFI partition, win boot partition and win10 OS. The remainder is unallocated.
    I have created a macrium image for the OS partition.
    I have restored the image backup to the unallocated space so now I have 2x OS.

    What do I now have to do to be able to boot from either OS? I guess I need to add the MS 15mb partition somewhere but where and how?

    Thanks

    - - - Updated - - -

    Macboatmaster said:
    More explanation is needed, as you say backup AND restore
    Do you in fact mean you want ONLY to back up the OS and which are these several OS

    If you in fact wanted for instance to backup Windows 10 which is what this site deals with, then in respect of the OS ONLY
    you may either use Macrium to create an image of the partitions required to backup and restore windows

    OR if you want strictly ONLY the OS, then in the case of 10 you may follow this
    How can I only backup the operating system
    Sorry I missed your post. Yes these are all windows 10 boots just with different drivers and applications installed.

    What I am stuck on now is once I have backed up to an image with macrium. And want to make a new boot from that image say on the same drive as the original boot how do I do this? A better explanation is in my post to Samuria. I guess I need to make a new 15mb windows boot partition but dont know how and where to put it. thnx
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  5. Posts : 1,612
    11, 10, 8.1 and 7 all Professional versions, and Linux Mint
       #5

    You have made a mistake by restoring the image made from the original OS - to what was unallocated space on the same drive.

    It would be helpful if you explained in detail what your aim is
    You originally said backup and restore
    and I asked did you actually mean backup AND restore

    When you restore something that normally means restore - when the original fails.

    Obviously you did not mean that as you have restored and NOW have as you say two OS

    I can assure you that confusion and problems will result.

    As I said a full explanation of what you are trying to do is required to advise you
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #6

    tenjay said:
    I was wrong actually. Macrium compressed the file so that is fine. However I am still confused as to how to proceed. Maybe you can help.

    I have a bootable SSD with EFI partition, win boot partition and win10 OS. The remainder is unallocated.
    I have created a macrium image for the OS partition.
    I have restored the image backup to the unallocated space so now I have 2x OS.

    What do I now have to do to be able to boot from either OS? I guess I need to add the MS 15mb partition somewhere but where and how?

    Thanks

    - - - Updated - - -



    Sorry I missed your post. Yes these are all windows 10 boots just with different drivers and applications installed.

    What I am stuck on now is once I have backed up to an image with macrium. And want to make a new boot from that image say on the same drive as the original boot how do I do this? A better explanation is in my post to Samuria. I guess I need to make a new 15mb windows boot partition but dont know how and where to put it. thnx
    When you are booted into Windows, the other Windows OS partition should have a drive letter. If it doesn't then assign one to it. Let's say the second Windows OS partition is drive letter X:. The command in a command prompt with admin privileges would be:

    Code:
    bcdboot X:\Windows /d /addlast
    Change X: to whatever the correct drive letter for the other Windows is.
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  7. Posts : 1,612
    11, 10, 8.1 and 7 all Professional versions, and Linux Mint
       #7

    Why please create a new thread when the last response to your existing
    easy backup of OS for mutiboot

    was only a matter of some two hours ago.

    I cannot understand why you did not just stay with the original thread]
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  8. Posts : 44
    win 10
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Macboatmaster said:
    You have made a mistake by restoring the image made from the original OS - to what was unallocated space on the same drive.

    It would be helpful if you explained in detail what your aim is
    You originally said backup and restore
    and I asked did you actually mean backup AND restore

    When you restore something that normally means restore - when the original fails.

    Obviously you did not mean that as you have restored and NOW have as you say two OS

    I can assure you that confusion and problems will result.

    As I said a full explanation of what you are trying to do is required to advise you
    Thanks Macboatmaster... it is clear in my head lol.
    please ignore anything so far... I will start again from scratch and differently.

    My aim is to have 4 windows 10 bootable installations. Each installation will be slightly different. Each installation will require periodic backups. Each installation will require full restore from an image at some time. Any of the images could be used to create a 5th or 6th bootable OS.

    To start I have one DELL OEM OS. and one MS vanilla install.
    I have 2TB SSD GPT. it has EFI partition and I guess 2x MS boot partitions However I don't see them as 15mb anywhere but it works dual boot so they must be there.

    I have backed up both OS partitions (DELL & MS) but only the OS not any EFI or boot partitions.

    Now I want to create 2 extra bootable OS so that in total I have 2x DEL and 2x MS OSs I want to boot into any of the 4 from windows boot manager screen.

    This is the place I am stuck. When I restore/copy the image to a new partition what do I need to do to make it bootable?

    I am expecting my SSD partitions to look like the following when done but I may be wrong

    EFI MSboot DELLOS MSboot MSOS MSboot DELLOS2 MSboot MSOS2

    however what I currently have is.....

    EFI MSboot DELLOS MSboot MSOS DELLOS2 MSOS2

    only the 1st two OSs are bootable because the 2nd two do not have MS boot partitions. I think that maybe I need to add two more MS boot partitions 1 each before each new OS partition. but... I am confused how to do this?

    Do I need to delete these 2 new OS partitions then install 1 MSboot partition then the imaged DELLOS then another MSboot then the imaged MSOS. That would make sense to me.

    If so HOW? Do I just copy the MSboot from one that is already there?

    I hope I am clear enough in my writing now.

    Thanks for trying to help me out
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  9. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #9

    Read post #6. That is how you make a new OS bootable from the boot menu. And, BTW, you are confusing EFI System Partition which the computer boots from with the MSR (Microsoft System Reserved) partition which is the 16MB hidden partition that really does nothing. The EFI System Partition contains the files the computer boots from and you use the bcdboot commands to add second, third, fourth and so on Windows installations to it. After you add the Windows installations to the BCD by using the bcdboot command, you can edit the BCD by using bcdedit commands. There is a program called EASYBCD that you can also use to do all this, but I prefer just the native Windows commands.

    You must be spending quite a bit of money buying the licenses that the End Users License Agreement requires to run all these installations of Windows.
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  10. Posts : 44
    win 10
    Thread Starter
       #10

    NavyLCDR said:
    Read post #6. That is how you make a new OS bootable from the boot menu. And, BTW, you are confusing EFI System Partition which the computer boots from with the MSR (Microsoft System Reserved) partition which is the 16MB hidden partition that really does nothing. The EFI System Partition contains the files the computer boots from and you use the bcdboot commands to add second, third, fourth and so on Windows installations to it. After you add the Windows installations to the BCD by using the bcdboot command, you can edit the BCD by using bcdedit commands. There is a program called EASYBCD that you can also use to do all this, but I prefer just the native Windows commands.

    You must be spending quite a bit of money buying the licenses that the End Users License Agreement requires to run all these installations of Windows.
    Hey Thanks ... yes that makes sense to me.

    Re the license..... well I didn't know I needed since I'm using only 1 at a time. But I researched a little and see what you mean. The fact of the matter is that I am using them to trouble shoot a CRAP PC build. I paid over 2K for this PC and it doesnt work. DELL are not interested in helping me. They have swapped out some hardware but will not do anything with their bios nor drivers. I have two choices at the moment... try to understand by making small changes and seeing if it helps or have then refund on the product as not fit for purpose. If I do that though then I may end up in the same scenario with another supplier.

    also tbh I am only expecting to run 4 OSs over the next few weeks.

    So I do have a question for you as you brought it up. I have 5 windows 10 licenses on defunct laptops. This should cover these multiboots should it not? How do I get the licenses from the laptops to the multiboots because it seems that windows takes the license directly from my machine and does not give me option to add a new one.

    cheers
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