AOMEI and Multi Boot Systems
Hello,
I'm using a W10/64 system with the 3 partitions HOME, VIDEO and TEST. It is possible to boot into that systems using the bootmanager. MBR contains all necessary information to manage the systems. For details please see the attachment.
At the moment I use Acronis TI 2016 but I'm not fully satisfied with its functionality concerning multi boot systems.
So, here are my questions to AOMEI 3.2:
1. Is it possible to create a full backup containing all 3 system partitions and all required boot partition information using the HOME system ? (not the emergency CD)
2. Is it possible to make a recovery of a single system from that backup ? E.g. a recovery of the TEST system ?
Recovery should be done within HOME system.
3. Is it possible to make a recovery of the TEST system from that backup, using the VIDEO backup as the source ?
Recovery should be done within HOME system.
4. Is it possible to make a recovery with or without overwriting the existing MBR on the disk?
5. Is it possible to insert the comment of an existing backup belatedly?
Comments
Es ist nicht ersichtlich, dass etwas multi-boot sein soll? MBR ist nicht der multiboot-manager. Von screen shot ist sichtbar, dass HOME die "system"partition ist, wo der boot manager ist. jedoch wieviele verschiedene OS der boot manager verwaltet, ist nicht ersichtlich. Es hat nicht drei "system" Partitionen. Möglicherweise hat es drei "boot" ("startpartition") Partitionen, welche alle von der "system" Partition aus verwaltet werden. Aber das ist nicht ersichtlich. (Ich gehe bei diesen Erläuterungen davon aus, dass in jeder Partition ein Windows installiert ist).
Frage1: Ja, hier braucht es einen Disk Backup. Die Multiboot-Information ist in HOME enthalten.
Frage2: Ja, kann eine einzelne Partition zurückladen.
Wenn HOME zurückgeladen wird, muss unter Umständen auch die Wiederherstellungspartition zurückgeladen werden (450MB),wenn sie zerstört sein sollte, aber ich ich würde sie zuerst nicht zurückladen.
Frage3: Ja, die VIDEO Partition kann nach TEST zurückgeladen werden, sofern sie Platz hat. Sie wird dann als TEST gebootet.
Frage4: die Frage ist irrelevant. MBR macht etwas anderes als multi-boot zu verwalten, sondern MBR wird vom BIOS geladen und sucht einzig die aktive Partition und lädt deren PBR partition boot record (die aktive Partition ist vorliegend HOME.) Der PBR lädt dann den Boot Manager. Der Boot Manager ist in HOME ("system" Markierung im screen shot). Erst der Boot Manager verwaltet Multi-Boot und startet eines drei Windows ("startpartition"en). MBR und PBR sind übrigens immer gleich und können mit BootSect /nt60 .... immer wiederhergestellt werden. Ob der MBR zurückgeladen wird oder nicht, ist egal, weil er immer gleich ist und selten zerstört wird.
Frage5: nein. Beim ersten wie bei jedem folgenden backup können Bemerkungen eingegeben werden, aber ich sehe keinen Befehl, diese nachträglich zu bearbeiten. Beim ersten Backup muss man Backup Options aufrufen, um die Bemerkung einzugeben.
Eine Sicherung in diesem Fall erfordert am besten Partitions- oder Disksicherungen. Beim zurückladen von Partitionen wird der Bootmanager-Eintrag nicht angepasst, sogar wenn dies nötig wäre, und je nach Art des Zurückladens ist der Bootmanager-Eintrag (BCD) selbstheilend oder nicht. Bei einer Festplatte mit MBR-Partitionsschema spielt einzig die Disksignatur und die Anfangsadresse der Partition eine Rolle: wenn diese ändern, braucht es Reparaturen im Bootmanager-Eintrag.
Wenn eine Reparatur nötig ist, kann sie mit BCDBoot gemacht werden. Das sollte funktionieren.
A bit shorter in english, regarding question 1-4. (It is assumed that every of the three partitions contains a Windows operating system). The boot manager of the multiboot system is contained in HOME partition. The boot manager is in the partition marked "system,aktiv" (in english it would be "system,active"). The current OS is in the partition marked "startpartition" ("startling partition", in english it would be simply "boot")
The two systems VIDEO, TEST rely on that boot manager from HOME, and are otherwise each contained in its partition. The other two systems can be restored with a partition restore. When they are restored to the exact same disk at the exact same location, the boot manager entries (BCD) in HOME are still valid. Otherwise BCDBoot will be needed to repair them. A HOME restore may need restore of the 450MB partition additionally. Also VIDEO may be restored to TEST (answer to question3), and booted as TEST then.
A backup of all three Windows therefore requires a disk backup of Datenträger3 ("DataSupport3", in english it would be "Disk3")
As opposed to the original posters question4 assumption, the boot manager is not contained in MBR, but in HOME, and restoring MBR is not relevant (as long as it is not destroyed, which is rarely the case). MBR can easily be reconstructed with Bootsect /NT60, as well as the PBR of every partition, in case they were destroyed, which is rarely the case and their contents are always the same, regardless of multiboot and OS (Vista and later).
One of the catches of multi-boot-systems is this: when reloading partition X to anywhere, no one knows that partition X is bootable. Except the boot manager in partition HOME knew it,but that boot manager is not involved that there is a reload going. The recovery software does not know that partition X is registered in HOME, or should be registered there. And cannot know for sure that boot manager in HOME is the right one, because X also contains a boot manager, but inactive.
Of course backup software could ask for boot-relationship, but no backup software I know of does it. They either do nothing, or do something automatically, but it is impossible to know for sure. Backup software should ask on backup, and should ask on restore. Boot manager, and bootable property of a partition, should be handled as explicit and separate assets and properties.
Another catch is that nothing in a computer on a mainboard does scan on start-up for bootable partitions. Actually there is a scan, but only for boot order (on BIOS) or ESP (on UEFI).
Yet a third catch- a bootable thing today is the OS partition and the WinRE partition, that means two partitions go together, but very not always. Actually the WinRE functionality gets instead installed sometimes in the OS partition or in the "active" partitions.
Please consider this a proposition, and a thought for more deep understanding of why it might not boot after restore.
Peter, thank you very much for your detailed answers ? You are right with all your comments. Because of my bad english I was not able to describe the situation perfectly.
For more details of the system see my new appendix.
Is it possible to answer in german language here ?
The screen shot confirms that you indeed do have a multiboot system with HOME TEST VIDEO. Right now, as you are running HOME, drive letters are HOME=C:, VIDEO=U:, TEST=V: . When you boot into VIDEO, then VIDEO=C:, and HOME and TEST get other drive letters. I confirm my answers of #1 and #2.
Yes you may write in german to me, but your english is good.
Two Windows installations of the three have its own WinRE, as seen from the picture. Not everything is visible in the picture, but obviously HOME-WinRE is a separate 450MB partition, VIDEO-Winre is contained in VIDEO, TEST does not have a WinRE. This aspect does not requires tricks and this absatz is just for information.
All three have largely different GUIDS for identifier, resumeobject or recoverysequence, which shows that there have been some repairs. This is just for information, as there is probably nothing wrong and neither hibernation nor WinRE are really needed.
In addition there is a little known fact that Windows can be installed onto VHD, and multibooted from VHD. VHD simply goes instead of a full partition, everything else remaining the same. A vhd is easier to back up than a full partition.
I would, in your setup, do try VIDEO and TEST as .vhd installations, and have the .vhd either reside in HOME, or better in a separate partition. (A vhd is easier to back up than a full partition.) That is I would consider doing it this way. There are information from Microsoft Technet, and from other sources, on how to install into VHD, it requires not much manual handling. After installation, multibooting from VHD is an explicit supported feature of the boot manager without any tricks needed.
The graphical tools, like EasyBCD and the others, do not display and edit vhd very well. BCDEDIT BCDBOOT and REAGENTC command line tools do handle it properly.
"1. Is it possible to create a full backup containing all 3 system partitions and all required boot partition information using the HOME system ? (not the emergency CD)"
You can do the disk backup,and it will backup all the data in the disk. But we cannot guarantee all the three system is bootable. Maybe just one is ok.
"2. Is it possible to make a recovery of a single system from that backup ? E.g. a recovery of the TEST system ? "
Actually, if you do the disk backup. You cannot just restore one system. If you do the system backup, it will jus backup the system which are runing.
"3. Is it possible to make a recovery of the TEST system from that backup, using the VIDEO backup as the source ? "
We have no idea of waht you say. VIDEO backup as the source?
"4. Is it possible to make a recovery with or without overwriting the existing MBR on the disk?"
If you restore the disk backup, it will cover all the data in that disk.
If you restore the system backup, it will cover the partition you choose to as the destination.
"5. Is it possible to insert the comment of an existing backup belatedly?"
You want to add more information of that backup?
You can name it when ou do the backup.
At the moment I am not so much interested in VHD because I need a maximum of speed in my VIDEO and TEST system.
I make much SW tests with my TEST system. So sometimes a year there is the need to overwrite the TEST system with the VIDEO image. Of course then there a additional things to do like change the partition name to TEST again and to make some changes in in EasyBCD like the name and row of the "new" TEST system for the boot sequence.
"1.
Is it possible to create a full backup containing all 3 system
partitions and all required boot partition information using the HOME
system ? (not the emergency CD)"
You can do the disk
backup,and it will backup all the data in the disk. But we cannot
guarantee all the three system is bootable. Maybe just one is ok."
Up to now, I only want the restore one of the 3 systems. Mainly its the TEST system. Very seldom my VIDEO system is destroyed thus I have to make a recovery with the latest image.
"2. Is it possible to make a recovery of a single system from that backup ? E.g. a recovery of the TEST system ? "
Actually,
if you do the disk backup. You cannot just restore one system. If you
do the system backup, it will jus backup the system which are runing"
Wow, so does that mean I have to create a system backup with all 3 partitons + WinRE marked?
"3. Is it possible to make a recovery of the TEST system from that backup, using the VIDEO backup as the source ? "
We have no idea of waht you say. VIDEO backup as the source"
yes, I want to take a complete backup, select VIDEO as source and TEST partion on SSD as target.
"5. Is it possible to insert the comment of an existing backup belatedly?"
You want to add more information of that backup?
You can name it when ou do the backup"
Normally I have several complete backups. Each has a detailled + long description e.g. 15 lines text. Sometimes its neccessary to edit that text after finishing a backup. Or when using the emergency CD I have no access to my readme file containing theese text ! So it would be helpful for me to have the pssobility to edit the text a second time.
Finally it seems to me that both Aomei and True Image 2016 cannot satisfy me 100% ?
Using TI 2016 I can confirm that recovery of a single system from a complete image is possible in W10. But I had problems with a "cross"-recovery (VIDEO image to TEST partition). Sometimes I have to use EasyBCD to make some additional corrections.
So, now I don't know which tool - TI or AO is better for me ?
ArmbrustS wrote:>>At the moment I am not so much interested in VHD because I need a maximum of speed in my VIDEO and TEST system.
I want to comment on this: VHD Boot is full speed (how come that do you think it is reduced speed?)
ArmbrustS ,If you do the disk backup, it iwll backup all the data the disk. But if there are three system, just one is ok to use. The one is running when you do the backup is ok to use. The other two are backuped as the data partition not the system.
Thanks for your help ! I understand now that there is no complete support for Backups and Recoveries within my environment.
I'll use now TI 2016 furthermore because I know the reaction of the program and nearly everything is possible I want to do.
Bye!