Question Restore W10 image made with True Image w/o the hidden partition

[videobruce]

I'm currently still running W7 Pro,
I made a number of W10 images with True Image 2+ years ago, but it was only the main partition, NOT the hidden partitions.
I have need of restoring one to a SSD drive that is/was used for storage. I decided not to upgrade to 10 at the time.
Things changed. unfortunately.

As a test, I partitioned a spare SSD drive drive with Mini-Tool; 50GB for the O/S, the rest for storage that was on the drive.

Everything is/was NTFS MBR, not GPT. The process of restoring seemed to go ok, I can see the folders using a active O/S drive (W7), but the SSD won't boot. I then tried, using Mini Tool to convert the SSD from MBR to GPT, but no difference.

Could this be a MBR vs GPT issue, or the lack of the hidden partitions for W10? On the drive I was using at the time, I didn't have issue with imaging just the main partition at the time. But, this is basically a 'new' drive that I'm using as a 'test' drive.

Before someone asks, when I backed up my W7 images in the past, it was only the main partition since W7 was installed and always imaged w/o the hidden partitions using that hack which worked fine with NO issue for years so I did what I was use to doing, again since it worked!!

Is there any way I can 'fix' this w/o going thru the annoyance of re-loading W10 and trashing all those images??

22H2 was the W10 version IIRC.

 

[jmagg]

I have salvaged data off a dead harddrive by mounting the drive in Linux.

 

[videobruce]

Something like that is well above my level.

 

[C1]

Ya, I think you can do it. It's a bit of a long discussion.

Type the following into Google and follow the AI's instructions:

"Restore Windows 10 image with no recovery partition"
It should begin like this:

AI Overview
To restore a Windows 10 image without a recovery partition,
create a bootable Windows Installation USB using the Media Creation Tool, boot from it, then use the Repair your computer > Troubleshoot > System Image Recovery option to select your backup image and restore your system, as the recovery environment accesses your image directly, bypassing the need for a dedicated partition.

This video demonstrates how to use the System Image Recovery feature: ..............................................

yada, yada, yada, yada ......................................


Good luck

Create Windows 10 installation media

 

[videobruce]

I already have a W10 install USB.

 

[C1]

You can do it, but you'll need to roll up your sleeves:

How to create *from 0* a bootable disk partition for windows 10?

 

[videobruce]

Ok, I loaded W10 onto that drives 1st partition (of 2 that I already made). I checked, there were the 3 'hidden' sub partitions (my term) created.
Using True Image 2021 I restored one of the W10 images I had onto the 1st main partition overwriting the USB install.
It appears to be fine, it booted up fine.

Question, that drive is the only one that is ID as UEFI which I thought the others were also. My "Main" drive (W7) isn't shown that way in the BIOS which I thought it was. (When one doesn't visit the BIOS often, one forgets what's what.)
All HDD drives do show as GPT thou.

 

[C1]

Not surprising as Win 7 wasnt natively built for pure UEFI like Win 10/11 were, but instead typically uses legacy BIOS. (The 64-bit Win 7 version can support UEFI, though it's more complex and often requires enabling the Compatibility Support Module (CSM) in UEFI settings for legacy hardware/drivers,)

In the case of Win 7, for modern hardware, you typically need to disable Secure Boot and enable UEFI/Legacy Boot (CSM) to get Windows 7 to install and run, essentially making it boot in a hybrid or legacy-like UEFI mode.

 

[videobruce]

The W7 that is there is x64, I'm pretty sure it was booting as UEFI before.
I've never used it, but the repair option during W10 install in the lower left corner, can this of been 'fixed' there?