Would it be possible for someone from Symantec to explain how Ghost actually handles BCD entries when doing an SRD restore of a Windows 7 partition? I've seen various BCD issues danced around in other posts (cloning, etc.), but I have not seen any entries which clearly explain what Ghost does. Let me explain the reason for the question.
I am re-installing Win7 on a new disk on an existing machine already running Win7. I am controlling which Win7 image boots by changing the drive boot order in the BIOS settings. So in this example I have Win7 images on physical drive 1 and drive 2. Additionally, because the appropriate drive was marked as the boot drive when installing windows, each physical drive also has bootmgr and a BCD in the active partition. What I have found is this:
With the Ghost 15.0.0 SRD:
- Assume drive 2 as the bootable drive. Restoring a Win7 partition on drive 2 results in changes to the BCD on drive 1.
- The changes to the drive 1 BCD cause existing entries (formerly pointing to drive 1 partitions) to now incorrectly point to drive 2 part's.
- The same type of thing happens when drive 1 is bootable, and a drive 1 partition is restored, only in reverse.
With a Ghost 15.0.1.3xxxx SRD (obtained with some resistance from support):
- In the above scenarios, restoring results in additional entries being added to both BCD's on each restore. The new entries point to the correct drives and partitions. The existing entries appear to remain intact.
Clearly the situation with the 15.0.1 SRD is better, but still not quite right with the accumulating BCD entries, and need for cleanup.
Therefore, if someone could explain how this works, or point to a post which already clearly states the process, it would be appreciated.
Additionally, if Symantec could verify the latest available level of the SRD, and the correct procedure for obtaining it, it would also be greatly appreciated.
Thanks...Walt