Restore System Image Backup

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Although I’ve never had to restore a backup, I do back up the C (boot, OS Win10x64) drive of my computer with a system image on a regular basis to an external drive. I use Aomei Backerupper Standard. Due to a win10 update issue I decided to recover to a backup from the day before. All ok until I got to the last step of recovery, before the final click. There was a message that said, to paraphrase, IF the boot sector is on the drive you’re recovering, you MAY NOT be able to boot your computer when the recovery is completed. So I stopped the recovery. The boot sector is on the C drive – I thought it got backed up as part of the system image. I contacted AOMEI, who did respond quickly, which was nice. But they said:

“I guess you were going to restore the backup image file to the original location, right? If so, that’s the problem. As the C: drive is the system partition, so if you restore the image file to that partition, that partition will be overwritten first so AOMEI Backupper shows the message saying the system might not boot after the restore process was complete. Of course, since you have the backup image file of the C: drive, you can try to boot the PC after performing the restore. If everything goes well, you can boot the PC successfully after doing the restore.”

So my question here: What am I doing wrong, or what should I be doing? I don’t use the cloud, I always assumed I could restore a system image of the C drive, overwriting the existing C drive content without bothering the boot sector – or the system image backed up the boot sector, too, and would re-write it during the install. Please advise.

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Please tell us what version and Build of Win10 you are running.
Also some specs on your computer.

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rdleib

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I am running win 10 64 bit build 1803 OS Build 17134.590. It has an Intel Core i7-920, 16 GB of memory, a SanDisk 480GB SSD C drive, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 graphics board, a 2TB WDC hard drive. The boot disk and windows installation and programs are on the C drive, the hard drive contains data. Dual monitors.

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Brunocasey

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@ rdleib

So, you have Win10 installed on the SSD drive. Can you look at *Disk Management* (Win7 terminology–Win10 may be different term)–how many partitions are on the SSD drive, and what are their descriptions such as *System* and *Boot*.

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rdleib

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I do not use  Aomei Backerupper Standard. So, I can’t help you with your issue.

I am posting this reply only because I am wondering why you prefer not to use the built-in System Image Backup.

Ever since Win 7, I have been using the built-in program and it never fails me.

I do system image backup at least once a month or immediately after a “Tuesday Patch” update.

Never have issue doing system image backup or using it to do system image recovery.

Perhaps you would want to reconsider?

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rdleib

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Thanks, Davidhk129, I always used the system backup – never had to restore – but I grew concerned MS is moving towards auto “backups” of data and cloud-based tech, and like the “disk check” function will do away with the traditional system backup – so I went to Aomei which is simple and does exactly what I want – except, of course, for the boot sector and restore function it seems.

Thanks, Nightowl, here is what is on the C Drive:

Disk 0 Basic 447.13 GB

Partition 1: (C:) 446.30 GB NTFS: Healthy (System, Boot, Page File, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)

Partition 2: 850 MB Healthy (Recovery Partition)

I’ve always assumed a system image made an identical copy of partition 1, including the boot, and a restore would restore partition 1, including the boot. Now I just don’t know…

 

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I don’t use Aomei, but the warning is generic, as you were told.  Typically a Windows 10 installation on a GPT system places an EFI partition at the beginning of the boot disk, and the contents of this partition facilitates Windows booting on a GPT system.  Apparently your image file is of the entire SSD (which would contain the EFI partition), not just the OS partition.

The warning is based on the possibility that software/hardware changes may have been made to the system, particularly the EFI partition, after the backup image was made, which the Aomei software is not programmed to determine.

As you describe your circumstance, it is highly unlikely that any changes have been made to the EFI partition (Windows updates/upgrades don’t usually delve into the EFI partition) unless you made them yourself using software such as EasyBCD (which can write to/edit the EFI partition).

If you have made no such changes, your system will boot normally after restoring your drive image.

If your system is MBR, the boot files are on the root of C: drive, but the same warning would apply.  Changes could have been made to boot order, etc. for which Aomei is not programmed to determine.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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rdleib

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Thanks, bbearren.

So it was just a generic warning in case something went wrong – I can understand that, although it would have been nice for AOMEI to have noted that somewhere! AOMEI backupper seems to work fine, if I could impose do you have a recommendation for backup software other than AOMEI? Thanks again.

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I’m a long-time TeraByte user, like NightOwl.  Image For Windows is what I use.  It can be quite granular, allowing for creating an image for a complete HDD, or selected partitions.  I only include my EFI partition after I’ve made changes (which is not very often), and typically image only my OS partition, Programs partition and Users partition.

There is a fully functional 30-day free trial, if you care to give it a go.  Current pricing is $38.94, but there is a lot of stuff included, not just the imaging software.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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rdleib

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@ rdleib

The most common problem with Restores is when folks are restoring to an new harddrive (HDD), or an old HDD that has been re-formatted first. These two events creates a new disk ID, and that can throw off the boot file information.

If you are restoring an image from the same hardware, same HDD partitions, etc., then there’s almost never a problem.

Because your C: partition has both the *System* (this is the boot information), and the *Boot* (this is the OS files) on the same partition, your OS is not dependent on a separate boot partition. If there was a separate partition that had the *System* description–then both partitions need to be backed up and available for restore if you need to restore to a new HDD, or newly re-formatted HDD–in that case both would have to be restored–the small *System* partition first. (There might have to be a *boot repair*–but, that’s usually easy to do if you have the original installation media, or a Repair Disc created from within the OS prior to ever needing it.)

rdleib wrote:

do you have a recommendation for backup software other than AOMEI?

Many folks around here reference *Macrium Reflect Free*, and to a lesser extent *EaseUS To Do Backup* (free version). There are others. I personally use TeraBytes *Image for Linux* (don’t let the name fool you, it’s a Linux boot disc, but creates images of Windows and other OSs as well)–but it’s not a free program.

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rdleib

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Thanks again, NightOwl and bbearren, and others that responded. I believe I have it now, I just freaked out a bit when I read the warning. I will look into terabyte, and again, thanks for helping.

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