make your own Restore partition

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Nils Bolhoven" wrote:
> I have read about the System Restore partition, and am
> very interested..
>
> I really missed it on my Dimension 8300, could have
> used it after my first serious system crash.. Luckily, i
> had a recent Ghost image but it would be usefull to
> have that restore option integrated in the system..
>
> Any idea what programs are used? How the image
> is made? Any idea how to create that partition and
> tools myself? (So i can create an image of the system
> and place that in the partition with the needed tools..)
>
> Or could someone give me any details about the
> System Restore partition? (Filesystem, size, tools,
> the image used) and possibly send the tools to me?
> -i can create the image myself-


You should be able to do that with what you have -
Ghost and WinXP Disk Management or Partition Magic.
Instead of putting a cloned image on another hard disk,
just put it on another partition on the same hard disk.
You can make the 2nd partition using Disk Management
or Partition Magic. Use Ghost to make the clone on
the new primary partition (which the OS calls a "local disk").
Adjust the boot.ini file in the clone system so that the
boot.ini file (under the "[operating systems]" line) points
to the new clone partition, or add another entry under
the "[operating systems]" line that points to the new
clone partition and select the system named in that line
with keyboard input at boot time using XP's built-in
multi-boot feature. Put a file icon with a distinctive name
(like "Backup System") on the Desktop so you can
recognize it when it loads.

When your system crashes, go into the BIOS setup
and adjust the boot priority (i.e. "boot sequence") so
that the backup partition is booted instead of the crashed
partition. Then re-boot, and the new clone partition
should appear with the "Backup System" file icon on the
Desktop.

To restore the original system, clone the clone system
back to the original partition. (If you don't use the multi-
boot feature of XP, remember to re-adjust the boot.ini file
in the restored system so that it points to its own partition.)
Then readjust the BIOS boot priority and re-boot to the
restored system. BTW, this is the same procedure that I
use to copy the original system to another hard drive to
create multiple clones of the original system, one per
primary partition on the 2nd hard drive.

The only drawback that I can think of in using this
method is that the clone partition is the same size (i.e
not compressed) as the original partition. You can
defrag it and then use Partition Magic to shrink it down
to remove unused space, but you have to remember to
do the same in reverse when you restore it.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, this is not really the way i'd like it
to be. My hopes are that someone has a ghost image or other image/backup of
the 38mb Dell Utility partition, and an image of the 4gb Dell System Restore
(DSR) partition.
That way it's possible to check if Dimension 8400 (and other new systems)
has other content than my Dimension 8300 in the 38mb Dell Utility partition.
(something that triggers the restore process/Ghost when pressing CTRL+F11)
And, what content is on the 4GB System Restore partition other than the
image itself. (Ghost, for instance, etc), the image itself is not important,
but details as:
Partition Filesystem, size, content in Util and DSR partition related to
restore, command lines used by ghost..
If that is no option, the best would be a partition (maybe hidden) with a
manually created Ghost image of Win XP and possibly an option in the
bootmenu/boot.ini to recover the system.
Like:

---------
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home
Edition" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="System Restore" -place of
Ghost.exe-
---------

But i'm not sure, if and how this could work. I only use it for dual boot,
but i guess with the right commands it should work..
However, if boot.ini/Windows fails it doesn't work..

Thanks,

Nils Bolhoven.

"Timothy Daniels" <TDaniels@NoSpamDot.com> schreef in bericht
news:hYOdnSae7I7hB7LcRVn-sA@comcast.com...
> "Nils Bolhoven" wrote:
> > I have read about the System Restore partition, and am
> > very interested..
> >
> > I really missed it on my Dimension 8300, could have
> > used it after my first serious system crash.. Luckily, i
> > had a recent Ghost image but it would be usefull to
> > have that restore option integrated in the system..
> >
> > Any idea what programs are used? How the image
> > is made? Any idea how to create that partition and
> > tools myself? (So i can create an image of the system
> > and place that in the partition with the needed tools..)
> >
> > Or could someone give me any details about the
> > System Restore partition? (Filesystem, size, tools,
> > the image used) and possibly send the tools to me?
> > -i can create the image myself-
>
>
> You should be able to do that with what you have -
> Ghost and WinXP Disk Management or Partition Magic.
> Instead of putting a cloned image on another hard disk,
> just put it on another partition on the same hard disk.
> You can make the 2nd partition using Disk Management
> or Partition Magic. Use Ghost to make the clone on
> the new primary partition (which the OS calls a "local disk").
> Adjust the boot.ini file in the clone system so that the
> boot.ini file (under the "[operating systems]" line) points
> to the new clone partition, or add another entry under
> the "[operating systems]" line that points to the new
> clone partition and select the system named in that line
> with keyboard input at boot time using XP's built-in
> multi-boot feature. Put a file icon with a distinctive name
> (like "Backup System") on the Desktop so you can
> recognize it when it loads.
>
> When your system crashes, go into the BIOS setup
> and adjust the boot priority (i.e. "boot sequence") so
> that the backup partition is booted instead of the crashed
> partition. Then re-boot, and the new clone partition
> should appear with the "Backup System" file icon on the
> Desktop.
>
> To restore the original system, clone the clone system
> back to the original partition. (If you don't use the multi-
> boot feature of XP, remember to re-adjust the boot.ini file
> in the restored system so that it points to its own partition.)
> Then readjust the BIOS boot priority and re-boot to the
> restored system. BTW, this is the same procedure that I
> use to copy the original system to another hard drive to
> create multiple clones of the original system, one per
> primary partition on the 2nd hard drive.
>
> The only drawback that I can think of in using this
> method is that the clone partition is the same size (i.e
> not compressed) as the original partition. You can
> defrag it and then use Partition Magic to shrink it down
> to remove unused space, but you have to remember to
> do the same in reverse when you restore it.
>
> *TimDaniels*