Safety measures to start / boot / repair Win 10?

OK, that's good.

Enter said:

Yes, I understand, it just does not make any sense for me.

Here is a pic of the actual definition file I have for Macrium to backup the Creators Update edition. Partitions 1 & 2 are system required partitions, boot info and stuff, 3 is the main C: - the OS and all my data, 4 is the Windows Recovery partition. All are required if I restore in order for it to boot back up and run normally. So my Macrium backup for Windows and all required is 4 partitions. Hope this makes it a little clearer.

OK, thank you for the explanation.

It's a pity one cannot back up / restore the OS only when one has a single partition.

Enter said:

OK, thank you for the explanation.

It's a pity one cannot back up / restore the OS only when one has a single partition.

If you're referring to C; , your system would not boot if the only partition you restored was that....C:. The others, particularly 1 & 2 are very very small and contain required data for the BIOS and OS to boot. I'm not sure how else to explain it. You can't have just the C:. If your drive croaked and you had to restore, you would need them all. If Windows fails, or the data gets corrupted, you would need them all. If I'm not understanding something, please explain.

ignatzatsonic said:

Just as a comparison to Tomcat's, here's a look at mine.

I have only 4 partitions on my SSD. All 4 are needed to restore Windows. All of my data is on a separate HDD.

When I run Macrium, I manually select each of those 4 partitions you see with a checkmark.

Because of my drive configuration, I COULD accomplish the same thing by choosing either of the 2 choices shown in the upper left corner: "image selected disk" or "create an image of the partitions required". That's because ALL partitions on my SSD are required to run and restore Windows.

Each and every thing on all of those partitions are included--even though much of the contents on the C partition is NOT needed to run or restore Windows.Attachment 155002

Because it's your data. You cannot backup part of a partition with Macrium Image Backup. That may be misleading to the OP. Sorry.

If you're referring to C; , your system would not boot if the only partition you restored was that....C:. The others, particularly 1 & 2 are very very small and contain required data for the BIOS and OS to boot. I'm not sure how else to explain it. You can't have just the C:. If your drive croaked and you had to restore, you would need them all. If Windows fails, or the data gets corrupted, you would need them all. If I'm not understanding something, please explain.

Very sorry for my bad explanations. What I meant was - actually it is not that important - that, if a complete drive will be backed up / restored there should not be displayed something like back up Win. And yes, of course, all of the partitions belonging to Win should be backed up / restored, if needed.

In my case today I had backed up / restored my onw files (being on C: as well), I had read / thought back up Win means back up Win and not my own files. So I lost the new data since yesterday.

I have only 4 partitions on my SSD. All 4 are needed to restore Windows. All of my data is on a separate HDD.When I run Macrium, I manually select each of those 4 partitions you see with a checkmark.Because of my drive configuration, I COULD accomplish the same thing by choosing either of the 2 choices shown in the upper left corner: "image selected disk" or "create an image of the partitions required". That's because ALL partitions on my SSD are required to run and restore Windows.

Yes, of course, very plausible. It must be backed up what is needed / to restore Win if need be.

Each and every thing on all of those partitions are included--even though much of the contents on the C partition is NOT needed to run or restore Windows.

So e.g. one' s own files. Yes, so it should not be displayed "Back up Win" or such. Respectively if one knows what "Back up Win" means (backing up everything) one might not run in such problems. Now I know, before I didn't.

Just for reference. Even Microsoft uses the term "Windows Backup". And their version (soon to be eliminated) does the same thing....the entire C: partition, OS, data, and all.