Restore Options for Drive Image

[Jester]

Drive Image 7 provides a couple of options from the recovery
environment (PQRE) as follows:

1. Restore original disk signature.
2. Restore MBR.

It also (unhelpfully) says that these are for advanced configuartions
only. It lists some operating systems that require these to be set -
but does not specifically list Windows XP.

I have tried to look up some additional detail for when these should be
selected and have not found anything useful!

I have three questions (both for Windows XP):

1. Do either of these options need to be set if restoring to the same
disk from which an image was made?
2. Do either need to be set if restoring to another disk (say as part
of a disk upgrade)?
3. In general when are these options required/useful?
Thanks in advance for any pointers.

Jester.

 

[Rod Speed]

Drive Image 7 provides a couple of options from the recovery
environment (PQRE) as follows:

1. Restore original disk signature.
2. Restore MBR.

It also (unhelpfully) says that these are for advanced configuartions
only. It lists some operating systems that require these to be set -
but does not specifically list Windows XP.

I have tried to look up some additional detail for when these should be
selected and have not found anything useful!

I have three questions (both for Windows XP):

1. Do either of these options need to be set if restoring to the same
disk from which an image was made?
2. Do either need to be set if restoring to another disk (say as part
of a disk upgrade)?
3. In general when are these options required/useful?

Basically when the drive you are restoring to doesnt have the
correct MBR or disk signature on them. That would normally
be when the image is being restored to a different drive to
the one it was created from, but can be when you have
deliberately wiped the drive using something like clearhdd etc too.

The MBR is normally relevant to the very earliest part
of the boot, if you have an unusual loader of some kind.

The signature is normally used by OSs that keep
track of physical drives by signature, so you can
move them around on the cables etc and it can
still see which drive is which from the signature.

 

[Jester]

Basically when the drive you are restoring to doesnt have the
correct MBR or disk signature on them. That would normally
be when the image is being restored to a different drive to
the one it was created from, but can be when you have
deliberately wiped the drive using something like clearhdd etc too.

The MBR is normally relevant to the very earliest part
of the boot, if you have an unusual loader of some kind.

The signature is normally used by OSs that keep
track of physical drives by signature, so you can
move them around on the cables etc and it can
still see which drive is which from the signature.

So, if I understand this correctly, I do not need to restore the
signature or the MBR if restoring to the exact same disk configuration
from where the backup was made?

Thanks for your comments.

Jester.

 

[Eric Gisin]

So, if I understand this correctly, I do not need to restore the
signature or the MBR if restoring to the exact same disk configuration
from where the backup was made?

If the disk has no signature and the following is true, the boot volume will
become C: and it should boot: the drive's adapter is enumerated first by kernel
(chipset IDE is first); the drive is first on adapter; the OS volume is marked
active; the original drive is not installed.

 

[Rod Speed]

So, if I understand this correctly, I do not need to restore
the signature or the MBR if restoring to the exact same
disk configuration from where the backup was made?

Its not that absolute. There is still plenty of flexibility
with the MBR and signature not being restored, but
just what you can get away with depends on the OS etc.

The MBR hardly ever needs to be restored unless you
have a boot manager installed that uses its own MBR.

There isnt any tidy rule about when you need to restore them.