System-backup with dual-boot
Hello everybody,
I´ve got a question concerning system backup of a dual-boot system.
Currently I´ve got WIN 8.1 home (64bit) installed on my computer. I´m
thinking of changing that to a dual-boot system (WIN 8.1 + Ubuntu) on
the same disk (HDD). On different partitions of course.
Now I´m looking for a backup programme capable of creating system
backups in such a way that my two operating systems would be saved and
could easily be restored to the original state of my disk (WIN 8.1 +
Ubuntu).
Plus that backup programme should be freeware if possible.
As I am already a user of Aomei Backupper Standard (latest version) I was looking for some specifications of that programme.
I found some reference to my peculiar problem on the following page:
http://www.backup-utility.com/res/backup-windows-7-ubuntu-dual-boot-system-4348.html
In addition to that I found out that supported file systems are:
NTFS, FAT32, FAT16, EXT2, EXT3 and other file systems
Link: http://www.backup-utility.com/free-backup-software.html
As I´m planning to use Ubuntu EXT4 should be supported as well. Alas I don´t know whether this is part of "other file systems".
My question now is: would Aomei Backupper Standard be the right programme for my purposes?
Thanks a lot in advance.
Greetings and a happy New Year
Rosika
Comments
What do you mean by "system" backup, please clarify. In Backupper the word "system" has a specific meaning, namely the partitions needed for one Windows to boot again when restored. Do you otherwise mean "system" like "my computer system", computer hardware or what? Besides all the trouble of dual-boot on MBR vs. GPT initialized disks what are your intents there. It is not enough that partitions with contents in a file-system like NTFS or Ext3 are handled well, to make it boot after restore.
Hi Peter,
thanks for your comments.
When talking about "system-backup" I´m referring to a backup which embraces operating-system, installed programmes and settings, drivers etc.
In short what I want to have is an exact copy of the hard disk (with data-compression if possible).
I was talking about "system-backup" just to point out this type of backup in contrast to a simple "data-backup".
What I want to obtain is a backup that is able to restore my computer to a previous state (the point in time when I created it) if need be.
After restoring my computer with that backup dual-boot should function like it did before (WIN8.1 + Ubuntu).
Greetings
Rosika
"When talking about "system-backup" I´m referring to a backup which
embraces operating-system, installed programmes and settings, drivers
etc.
In short what I want to have is an exact copy of the hard disk (with data-compression if possible)."
The two are not the same, the second sentence is not a "short" of the first sentence. The first sentence is about the exact contents of just C:\ (which is assured easily). This is not enough for Windows, and it does completely not embrace your second OS Linux. The second sentence is about the whole disk.
You would need a disk backup, but even then we know that aomei does not restore the disks style (MBR or GPT) but this is the only issue here and can easily be fixed manually.
Having an as possibly exact restore of the disk, does not ensure the disk is booted by firmware when the firmware is UEFI. The firmware settings (in case of UEFI) are not being adapted automatically to the restored disk. (Windows takes care of this, but only for Windows. That's life, and it is easier on BIOS firmware.)
Please see here for more information on UEFI boot https://www.happyassassin.net/2014/01/25/uefi-boot-how-does-that-actually-work-then/
Hi Peter,
thanks for your response.
You´re completely right there. Perhaps I didn´t make myself clear enough.
What I need is disk backup. This seems to be the only way to backup both operating systems as they are located on the same disk.
If I undestand you correctly I´m going to run into problems due to the fact that I have UEFI.
"The firmware settings (in case of UEFI) are not being adapted automatically to the restored disk. (Windows takes care of this, but only for Windows)."
That seems rather unfortunate. So it´s justifiable to say that AOMEI Backupper is not the right software for my purposes. So sorry to learn that as I´m really content with this software up and until now.
By the way thanks for the link. I´m going to look into it.
Greetings
Rosika
no backup software will be restoring UEFI settings. They restore the disk. Good luck.
If you do the disk backup,it will backup both system in your disk.
The system which is running when you backup will be ok to boot.But we cannot gurantee the second system is ok. Some customer can boot both system before.Sorry for that.
@Peter:
Thanks for the information. Now I´m a bit wiser, I think.
@admin:
"Some customer can boot both system before".
I wonder what the underlying processes of that situation might be. Yet I think we cannot resolve this riddle right here.
Thanks anyway for your info.
Greetings
Rosika
quote: I wonder what the underlying processes of that situation might be.
Thats the processes described in "How UEFI boot works". Thats UEFI boot manager picky about what it knows about the disks that have been once attached to the main board. And that's what makes Windows boot message "Resource not found", for example when there are two "bootable" disks present, and UEFI boots randomly bootx64.efi from one of them instead of bootmgrfw.efi and the partition guid's are no longer the same after restore (again understandable by the article linked above from me)
For Linux (ubuntu) the article tells a lot of the story and its efi boot configuration utility. For Windows I already learned the command bcdboot and trained it on virtual efi computers to repair the situation (vmware, actually, using AOMEI PEBuilder bootable disks).
But I do not yet know of a UEFI boot manager running on Windows like the one described for ubuntu.
Clear is it in Windows, that the Windows boot manager bootmgrfw.efi (copied to bootx64.efi as appropriate) has a second layer in its BCD data base, and there obviously it manages the WINRE partition, for example. It does not even rely completely on EFI, by adding a second tier.
Good luck to you and me.
Hi Peter,
thank you so much for your qualified comments. One can easily see you´re a real expert in that field.
To my shame I have to admit that I have not had the time yet to study the information provided by the link you gave me. Sorry for that. I will do that as soon as possible.
Thanks again for the time you spent anwering my questions and for being so thorough in your explanations.
Have a nice day.
Greetings
Rosika