topic Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ? in Other Norton Products

Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

rd1 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:35:52 GMT

hi guys, just bought ghost 15 and installed it today,

my hdd has 4 partitions on it, all standard stuff (hidden recovery, win7-100mb boot hidden, Win7-OS, Data)

Ghost backed up these 4 partitions like this on my external drive:

MSI.sv2i

MSI_BIOS_RVY0-1_Drive.v2i = the standard MSI recovery partition (hidden, no drive letter)

MSI_System0-2_Drive.v2i = the special win 7 boot partition (100mb, also hidden, needed for boot)

MSI_C_Drive.v2i = OS_Install

MSI_D_Drive.v2i = Data partition

Ghost backed up all 4 partitions, i can see the v2i files on my external drive. But when i went to recover my computer, Ghost didn't show me the MSI_System0-2_Drive.v2i partition in the list and in fact did not recover it at all !

1) i opened the MSI.sv2i with a text editor and i can see the name of the partition in it MSI_System0-2_Drive.v2i (attached the file here for programmers to verify this)

2) i loaded the file MSI_System0-2_Drive.v2i in the Recovery Point Browser and i see 2 folders: Boot and System Volume Information and 1 file bootmgr.

So it looks like a valid backup file and the backup set looks complete.

But after recovering, at each reboot i'm shown the windows repair menu but can still boot in windows, just fyi.

The partition is indeed missing.

i even tried with the downloadable iso i found in the knowledge base: NGH1501_AllWin_English_SrdOnly.iso

i'm only doing tests but i hope there's a fix for this in a future liveupdate. if something were to happen i'd like to trust that i can recover my computer exactly how it was at backup with all partitions and recover them intact with the partition alignment as before.

i'm using Ghost 15.0.1.36526 on Windows 7 - 64bits.

Let me know if you need more info.

Cheers

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

DStain — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:47:01 GMT

If Ghost has copied all 4 partitions then in the "recovery Point Browser" all 4 .v2i files will be listed.

Run a quick validation (Verify) using the browser and the 100 mb and small recovery partition then recover each partition in the correct order one at a time.

We had a similar post to this the other day and I always highlight all partitions to recover and have no problems but some people do as BrianK pointed out.

Deric

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

rd1 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:24:45 GMT

Hi Deric, thanks for replying,

>If Ghost has copied all 4 partitions then in the "recovery Point Browser" all 4 .v2i files will be listed.

yes they are all 4 in the backup folder.

>Run a quick validation (Verify) using the browser and the 100 mb

i verified all the files twice, once manually by double-clicking in explorer and again by going through norton ghost tools "run recovery browser",

All valid. but the interesting thing is when i run the recov browser from ghost's tools, it asks if i want to open the set, i click ok, but only 3 partitions are displayed !

i backed up all 4 in 1 go, it should show them all in that same set.

even the .sv2i file has the missing file in it.

so its a bug int he recov procedure. and considering its that specific boot partition, which would break the normal booting process each time, asking if i want to boot windows or go in the repair tool, every time, its just not a true recovery yunno?

and i don't have a windows cd to repair it, so don't suggest it plz. 99% of computers don't come with one, all we get is a recovery partition and we have to make due with that. its the reality of today.

if it were my data partition i wouldnt mind as much recovering windows 1st then booting in it and using ghost in it to recover the rest (still not the best idea but better than what i have now) atleast i could use my external on usb 3 port instead of just usb2 (something in the bios i think) but that's not the case.

>and small recovery partition then recover each partition in the correct order one at a time.

that is precicelly the problem.

if i would want to recover my computer i'd have to do the 1st partition alone, recover the 100mb (and is this where i'd have to "edit" and change the options there and which ones, mbr too? Too complicated, so many steps guys !)

Then the other 2 partitions in a 3rd process.

Not only that but there's some incompatibility with the cd in my blueray on the laptop that makes the booting process alone with the recovery cd take 10minutes to load.

>We had a similar post to this the other day and I always highlight all partitions to recover and have no problems but some people do as BrianK pointed out.

good to know that Symantec is aware of the problem.

Hope there's a fix in the works?

Thanks,

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

Brian_K — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:08:54 GMT

rd1,

Can you post a screenshot of Disk Management? That should help us in deciding what has happened.

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

rd1 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:13:24 GMT

sure, where do i find that?

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

rd1 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:17:20 GMT

do you mean from the windows installation i just backed up with ?

i simulated a crash by deleting all partitions,

is there a specific file or set of files you want? i can access the backup files from here

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

DStain — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:23:18 GMT

If you right click on "My Computer" icon and click on "Manage" then "Disk Management" that will show the info we need to see.

Deric

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

Brian_K — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:25:15 GMT

Yes, the system that has the missing 100 MB System Reserved Partition.

You right click Computer, Manage, Disk Management.

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

rd1 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:33:23 GMT

sure, here it is

this is from my SSD before i backed it up.

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

rd1 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:36:50 GMT

when i practiced the recovery on another drive, the 100mb just wasn't included in the set, so the Os_install was fully expanded to cover the 100mb that it would've taken.

i can go through the recovery process again to get you that screen shot too if that's what you meant.

oh and here's a screenshot of the recov browser so you can see the partition is indeed missing from it.

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

Brian_K — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:45:58 GMT

rd1 wrote:

i can go through the recovery process again to get you that screen shot too if that's what you meant.

Can you repeat what you did the first time where you had...

MSI.sv2i

MSI_BIOS_RVY0-1_Drive.v2i = the standard MSI recovery partition (hidden, no drive letter)

MSI_System0-2_Drive.v2i = the special win 7 boot partition (100mb, also hidden, needed for boot)

MSI_C_Drive.v2i = OS_Install

MSI_D_Drive.v2i = Data partition

And restore as you did before.

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

DStain — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:47:32 GMT

Looks like 4 healthy partitions and 1 unallocated,I think the 100 mb srp is in the wrong position,and 2 of them could be merged.

It looks a bit messy to me we will have to rely on BrianK and DaveH to sort this one out.

Deric

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

rd1 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:53:33 GMT

What i did was remove my SSD, put in my WD scorpio (test disc), used my msi recovery dvds i made when i got the laptop.

so now i was up and running with a fresh install. i had these partitions you see in the screenshot in my previous post.

so i installed ghost (liveupdated it too) on that freshly installed windows and backed it all up, like anyone would.

Then since its just a test hdd, i deleted all 4 partitions.

now if i recover you won't see the 100mb but you'll see os_install next to bios_rvy.

i can show you that if you want.

ps: we really need a full disc backup not just selecting partitions 1 by 1. i did check the hidden drives otherwise the bios_rvy wouldnt be backed up either. logical since its hidden too.

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

DStain — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:08:06 GMT

Just to clarify what you are saying, when you got the laptop you had 5 partitions on Disk 0 or was it 4?

Deric

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

rd1 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:13:58 GMT

what you see in the windows disc management screenshot is the original installation.

norton ghost backed up all 4 partitions. but can't recover the 100mb one, which is win7's memory test and emergency boot partition.

ps: we need a full disc backup options not just seperate partitions and click a box to show hidden ones.

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

DStain — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:35:10 GMT

Disk 0 partitions should have been showing as follows:-

P1 = 100mb, P2 = C: P3 = D: and P4 = Recovery, in that order and if you used Ghost to backup the partitions you will see those 4 .v2i files in the backup folder placed on to your external drive plus the 5 file (sv2i.) produced with a "Hot" backup.

Just bear with me It might seem obvious to you but we need to know exactly what you have done to make it clear to BrianK and DaveH when they are back on the case.

Deric

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

rd1 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:54:17 GMT

hi derec,

>Disk 0 partitions should have been showing as follows:- P1 = 100mb, P2 = C: P3 = D: and P4 = Recovery,

sorry but i don't think all computer vendors work like that, "should" or not. it is their product. and it is actually smart to have the recovery partition placed 1st, if you want to expand your other partitions later on, you can easily wihtout moving that 10gb of data, reducing wear on your ssd and/or hdd.

if ghost was expecting them to be in that order, that's not always going to happen. you just have to adapt for every possible situation.

Actually, the order of partitions is not important at all, ghost needs to back them up and recover them exactly as they are for a successfull recovery later.

including setting mbr, bootable partition etc etc, the whole kit'n'caboodle when in recovery mode.

thanks for understanding, we'll wait for a fix and give it another try.

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

rd1 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:57:25 GMT

ps: let me know if there's testing needing to be done for this issue.

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

DStain — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:15:14 GMT

You can probably tell that I am not into "complicated" partitions and laptops, I just stick with the desktop versions and simple drive arrangements.

I prepare my drives from scratch and install the O/Ss, for example on my multiboot machine disk 0 is partitioned into 4 and each one has an O/S (XP, Vista, Win7 and Win7(2). I highlight all 4 partitions together and run the backup, I recover in the same way, highlight all 4 and recover, see pic.

Ghost will recover them all in order without any failures and I have to do that on a regular basis when testing.

Deric

Re: Ghost15: missing boot partition on win7 64 ?

redk9258 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:17:19 GMT

I haven't looked at your pictures. Please use the button to insert pictures in a post.

There are a couple of possible problems. One is a bug in Ghost 15 that switches the partition order when you do a recovery. You must make sure they are listed in the same order that they originally were in Disk Management.

The second is probably not affecting you. When you have more than one harddrive, Windows 7 does not always give it the same number. If the drive has a letter, no problem. If there is no letter assigned (SRP) and Windows assigns a different disk number Ghost will not back it up as an incremental. Of course, it shouldn't matter for the SRP because it rarely changes.