Backing up Windows 7 with Acronis

[Muse]

I have WD HDs (external and internal), and so get a free download of WD Acronis True Image.

I just installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit for the second time. The first time I worked around Microsoft's strategy of having a hidden system recovery partition (100mb or 200mb, don't know why it varies, some say it's 200mb but mine just turned out 100mb), and had Windows on one partition. In that event it creates a folder \Recovery IIRC. I think I did this to simplify backing up Windows.

The installation I just did was the default install, with the 100mb system recovery partition. I have two visible partitions on the hard drive:

C = Boot_Apps 150GB
D = Data 450GB

Doesn't having that 100mb hidden partition complicate the process of imaging my operating system? How do you deal with this? Should I reinstall Windows 7, this time eliminating the separate recovery/boot-files partition?

 

[Dahak]

Its up to you, i have imaged machines with and without that partition and have had really not issues.
it would be up to you if you want to.
if you leave it you have to make sure that you have that in the image as it contains the boot files, or you would have to do a start up repair, if you restore the image without it

 

[Muse]

Its up to you, i have imaged machines with and without that partition and have had really not issues.
it would be up to you if you want to.
if you leave it you have to make sure that you have that in the image as it contains the boot files, or you would have to do a start up repair, if you restore the image without it

So, is there a way I can make one image that contains just partition 0 and 1 (the hidden 100mb partition and the OS&apps partition) and doesn't include the data partition? Or would I have to make two separate images, one of partition 0, the other partition 1 to accomplish this? I presume it would be possible to make one image of all 3.

 

[wirednuts]

not sure either. i use windows image backup to avoid confusion like this.

 

[boochi]

Just select the two partitions (boot & os) and use one image. If you want to remove the 100mb boot partition after the fact just download the free version of EasyBCD and use the BCD Deployment tab and select the OS partiton and then create and entry for your Windows 7 installation. You may then need to use gparted, parted magic or disk director to make the os partition active as the 100mb was the active partition before. If it boots up ok you may need to reactivate windows again. If all is well you can remove the 100mb partition and resize the os partition to include that little bit of extra space. I still recommend leaving the 100mb partition because it is hidden and somewhat protected.