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BartPE, Macrium Reflect, and SATA optical drive

vipejc

By vipejc
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vipejc

vipejc

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Just a couple questions about BartPE, Macrium Reflect, and SATA optical drives...

1. BartPE supports slipstreaming only storage or network drivers. Does that mean I can't use a SATA CD or DVD drive to run BartPE because SATA devices require third-party drivers in Windows XP and BartPE doesn't support slipstreaming removable media drivers? Or does BartPE consider an optical drive a storage device and I just need to slipstream the SATA controller driver into my BartPE build?

2. Macrium Reflect v4.2 doesn't natively support restoring an image to a smaller partition. However, if you use Robocopy.exe and Roborestore.exe, this isn't a problem. It says Robocopy is a robust file copy program that uses an existing file system. Can I copy both Robocopy.exe and Roborestore.exe to the same folder on my USB drive with the FAT32 file system and restore my Macrium image to a smaller partition that way?

Edited by vipejc
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bphlpt

bphlpt

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2. Macrium Reflect v4.2 doesn't natively support restoring an image to a smaller partition. However, if you use Robocopy.exe and Roborestore.exe, this isn't a problem. It says Robocopy is a robust file copy program that uses an existing file system. Can I copy both Robocopy.exe and Roborestore.exe to the same folder on my USB drive with the FAT32 file system and restore my Macrium image to a smaller partition that way?

A safer, more flexible way might be to shrink your partition to the minimum size that will hold the data in it before making your Macrium image. That way you can more easily restore it to any partition that will hold the data.

Cheers and Regards

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jaclaz

jaclaz

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@vipejc

1.

What are called "storage" are actually not drivers for the "storage devices" (which are "standard" and already included in any PE or Windows System), but drivers for the "storage controllers", i.e. what you may miss if you don't add it to the build could be the SATA/AHCI controller driver, the controller to which BOTH SATA hard disks and SATA CD/DVD drives are connected to.

2.

I guess you might find some interest in reading this thread:

it seems like you have not (yet ;)) very clear the difference between cloning, imaging and backup/restore. (don't worry it is seemingly very common because even the terminology used is often "vague" or "mixed").

Macrium Reflect is essentially an imaging solution (disk or volume/filesystem oriented).

Robocopy is a robust file copy (file based).

jaclaz

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vipejc

vipejc

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2. Macrium Reflect v4.2 doesn't natively support restoring an image to a smaller partition. However, if you use Robocopy.exe and Roborestore.exe, this isn't a problem. It says Robocopy is a robust file copy program that uses an existing file system. Can I copy both Robocopy.exe and Roborestore.exe to the same folder on my USB drive with the FAT32 file system and restore my Macrium image to a smaller partition that way?

A safer, more flexible way might be to shrink your partition to the minimum size that will hold the data in it before making your Macrium image. That way you can more easily restore it to any partition that will hold the data.

Cheers and Regards

This isn't an option, as I have a new blank smaller hard disk that I need to restore my Macrium Reflect image to. The saved partition is 250 GB and the new one will be 160 GB. A 250 GB hard disk to a 160 GB hard disk. Can you please answer my original question about using a USB flash drive and Roborestore through BartPE, and keep with this strategy? Thank you.

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vipejc

vipejc

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@vipejc

1.

What are called "storage" are actually not drivers for the "storage devices" (which are "standard" and already included in any PE or Windows System), but drivers for the "storage controllers", i.e. what you may miss if you don't add it to the build could be the SATA/AHCI controller driver, the controller to which BOTH SATA hard disks and SATA CD/DVD drives are connected to.

2.

I guess you might find some interest in reading this thread:

it seems like you have not (yet ;)) very clear the difference between cloning, imaging and backup/restore. (don't worry it is seemingly very common because even the terminology used is often "vague" or "mixed").

Macrium Reflect is essentially an imaging solution (disk or volume/filesystem oriented).

Robocopy is a robust file copy (file based).

jaclaz

1. That's what I thought. Not a problem. I'll just slipstream my RAID/SATA controller driver into my next BartPE disc, and I'm sure the SATA optical drive will work just fine.

2. Can you please help me with this? Can I copy both Robocopy.exe and Roborestore.exe to the same folder on my USB drive with the FAT32 file system, click Roborestore.exe in BartPE's environment, and configure the GUI version to restore the image to a smaller partition? Or must I use the command prompt in BartPE and run Roborestore.exe and Robocopy.exe?

Edited by vipejc
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submix8c

submix8c

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DOH!!! Roborestore is the Macrium Reflect software(?).

Look here at another person with the same scenario. Seems that it answers your question as well. ;)

Link inside points to here.

Do I need to use RoboRestore?

No. In most cases you can use the normal disk image restore wizard. A tutorial for restoring with the Linux CD can be found here:

<snip>

RoboRestore provides an alternative method of restoring a disk image by copying the files in the image to an existing file system. Use RoboRestore if you want to restore to a disk that is smaller than the original or has a different partition alignment.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

More info?

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=24225

Edited by submix8c
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vipejc

vipejc

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DOH!!! Roborestore is the Macrium Reflect software(?).

Look here at another person with the same scenario. Seems that it answers your question as well. ;)

Link inside points to here.

Do I need to use RoboRestore?

No. In most cases you can use the normal disk image restore wizard. A tutorial for restoring with the Linux CD can be found here:

<snip>

RoboRestore provides an alternative method of restoring a disk image by copying the files in the image to an existing file system. Use RoboRestore if you want to restore to a disk that is smaller than the original or has a different partition alignment.

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

More info?

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=24225

I had all that information. It doesn't answer my question. The question is Can I copy both Robocopy.exe and Roborestore.exe to the same folder on my USB drive with the FAT32 file system, click Roborestore.exe in BartPE's environment, and configure the GUI version to restore the image to a smaller partition? Or must I use the command prompt in BartPE and run Roborestore.exe and Robocopy.exe? And if so, what is the syntax to run Robocopy? That's all I need to know.

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submix8c

submix8c

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You didn't actually read the links or links-in-links, did you?

1 - YES YES YES YES (duh!!!) NT OS-based and Filesystem is... IRRELEVANT!

2 - ROBOCOPY /? (duh!) Did you even TRY to google

robocopy syntax

BOOM!!! All answers right there. Try harder next time. ;)

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vipejc

vipejc

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You didn't actually read the links or links-in-links, did you?

1 - YES YES YES YES (duh!!!) NT OS-based and Filesystem is... IRRELEVANT!

2 - ROBOCOPY /? (duh!) Did you even TRY to google

robocopy syntax

BOOM!!! All answers right there. Try harder next time. ;)

Yes, I did visit and read every link you gave. It didn't answer my question, which is why I asked again. After many more hours of research, I finally found my answer.

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vipejc

vipejc

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After many more hours of research, I finally found my answer.

Which was?? (For other's benefit, it is the Christmas season after all. :) )

Cheers and Regards

The answer is you can use robocopy from within an emergency boot CD and restore the partition to a smaller drive. It's a lot of command line work, but it does work.

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bphlpt

bphlpt

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Did you find a tutorial that spelled out the steps involved that you can share the link to, or, just for future reference, can you enumerate further?

Cheers and Regards

Edited by bphlpt
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vipejc

vipejc

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Did you find a tutorial that spelled out the steps involved that you can share the link to, or, just for future reference, can you enumerate further?

Cheers and Regards

There's no point. Version 5 of Macrium Reflect supports restoring an image to a smaller drive by default. No sense in making things harder than they need to be. As for me, I'm stubborn and never upgrade unless I have a want or need. I'm not going to 5, because I HATE constantly making a new BartPE every time they change something. Maybe I'll just skip robo and shrink my existing XP partition with GParted from 250 GB to, say, 40 GB, and then it'll never be an issue.

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jaclaz

jaclaz

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The answer is you can use robocopy from within an emergency boot CD and restore the partition to a smaller drive. It's a lot of command line work, but it does work.

NO, you cannot.

You can restore the contents (files/directories) to a NEW (smaller) partition, using robocopy, which AGAIN is short for robust FILE copy.

It copies files, and NOT filesystem/partitions/volumes.

Namely you will lose:

  1. Volume Serial (you are not restoring a partition, you are restoring the contents of the old partition to a new one)
  2. PBR/bootsector code (unless the original has the "standard" code of the OS you are creating the NEW (smaller) partition
  3. Any contents of the "reserved sectors"
  4. more likely than not creation date/times of folders (it depends on version of robocopy and of course on the switches used)

Of course if it is just a data partition this may have no consequences whatsoever.

You are doing FILE BASED save and restore, NOT partition/volume/filesystem based save and restore (they are NOT the same thing).

jaclaz

Edited by jaclaz
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