Windows_7 Bootcamp Partition Back Up?

You can use any Windows backup software to backup the Windows volume to an external drive appropriately formatted NTFS. You can restore from the same drive.

That said OS X installers only work on the OS X volume so they would not affect the Windows volume.

Most Windows backup utilities only backup certain files such as user files but don't do a cloned backup. So you usually have to make a recovery disc with the backup software so you can reinstall Windows and then restore your data from the backup.

There are a few utilities that will do full disk backups. Acronis and Eseaus (sp?) are two that do.

Hi,

at this moment, I don't know a tool, which is able to produce a secure, restorable backup of a bootcamp partition.

Formerly winclone did, but it doesn't work no more with snow leopard.

I have heard, that Acronis will do, but until know I didn't read a confirmed report, it works in reality.

So, winclone, we are missing you ...

Best regards

Ralph

Ralph below are reproduced a bunch of Bootcamp cloning comments previously posted on this forum.

I collected these so I would have a ready reference to the topic if needed. I give credit to and thank all the individuals who made these comments even though I do not have specific names recorded.

If Acronis 2011 w/ Plus Pak would work; Casper 6 does seem to work; Windows 7 has its own built in system image + backup + Windows Easy Transfer - but doesn't work with AppleHFS/MNT (that HFS read-only which confuses Windows 7 backup).

WinClone was handy for XP users but doesn't for instance check for errors during the backup only during restore (was how I found I had two bad sectors though).

Known? as I said it has been around and results using are mixed (everyone is different).

"Some" Windows clones? multi license etc? there are better tools for deploying Windows.

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Acronis 2011 w/ plus pak, didn't work well previously, and they had complaints and issues with Windows 7 - on PC hardware. Check their forum

Casper 6 - known to work

Paragaon - they looked like their "Boot Camp Support" might, and they have CampTune; NTFS for OS X; and other products but backup/restore?

Ghost 15 - probably not, and they didn't like my comment so lost my userid there.

Windows 7 system backup and restore - Apple's goofy HFS read-only interferes with system and file backup so have to rename AppleHFS and AppleMNT to use. Also, MacDRive8 probably better if you need read and/or write ability to HFS.

People have used Linux CD (which is what Acronis and others use) on Mac and to update firmware etc on drives and graphic cards.

Obviously you want to test and have good backups.

If you are willing to reinstall, then all you need is Windows Easy Transfer (hidden folders like AppData need to be Custom/Advanced included) before and after; and all your updates etc. Then reinstall programs.

Ah, I don't see how backup of Windows that can't be restored is of any value or use! the whole purpose for backups is to restore files, OS, partitions, etc.

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Yes, Windows 7 SP1 may be more sensitive but people clone Windows all the time.

I Use and recommend Paragon Hard Drive Suite 2011 because it works great on Mac Pro doing Windows to clone to/from SSD or any other drive. They have separate programs for Boot Camp too

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I have restored from DU, CCC, SuperDuper and TM, they all worked, TM was slower but not a lot, you can boot from the others, which I prefer.

I have also used Casper, Clonezilla and Paragon but less regularly, Casper failed a few times, I stopped using it, Clonezilla worked but took forever (for me) Paragon (which I have only used twice) was the best but my sample is limited.

I have been searching for a long time for a reliable Bootcamp backup as well, and followed all the discussions and taken part in most. In the past I have had mixed success with Winclone, CopyCatX, Paragon Drive Back Up (early version) and Drive Genius (device copy mode).

All worked sometimes but none was cast iron. Winclone has worked well for me under a limited set of circumstances but I hear it won't launch in Lion. The device copy methods are clunky, slow and require a lot of HDs. Paragon sometimes worked but only after doing a repair install.

This week I took another look at Paragon, this time Hard Disk Manager 2011 Suite, after seeing Hatter recommend it recently.

I have spent three days imaging and restoring various scenarios. I have made five images and done six restores, working with an HD that had OSX and Bootcamp partitions, and an HD that had Windows partition only. All testing with Windows 7 x64 on a early Mac Pro. Tests included resizing down.

Every restore has booted first time and has apparently been completely successful. Both restored Windows and Mac OSX volumes boot OK. All restores are activated.

All my testing has been done booted from the the Paragon Recovery HD. When you buy and download HDM2011 Suite, you get two files, one of which is the full installer to install HDM2011 on your Windows OS, the other is simple disk burn utility to create the bootable CD version. There is no need to install HDM on you Windows OS at all, if you don't want to. Booting from CD gives the same interface and tools as the installed version.

However this version does now support VSS so if you do install it, you can make the back up images while booted from Windows. But I haven't tried this at all.

There is only one small cloud on the horizon. When I run a boot-time CHKDSK on a restored Windows volume. It completes the process and at the end reports that "Second NTFS boot sector is unwriteable". There is no error code or message with it. Googling ths message leads to the suggestion that it is connected with bad sectors and HD failing, but I have used two different HDs and got same message. I understand that the second NTFS boot sector is some kind of reserve or back up boot sector. Since if required it would presumably be read from not written to I am not worrying too much about this, in absence of any other symtoms. I have asked Paragon about about this but not had a reply yet, (although generally I have found their support good, but not instant).

Can any one else using Paragon reproduce this? You have to really look for it. The message is on the screen for about two seconds before the boot continues. I use a camera to photo it. BTW if I run a File System Check from the Paragon disk it does not give this message.

Message was edited by: Mike Boreham

Hi Dalstott,

thanks for your hints. I personally tried Paragon Partition Manager Pro V10 + V11 (this suite includes Backup) and Acronis Backup & Restore V10 + V11. Also Norton Ghost V15 which doesn't work. On both systems I'm using (MacBook Pro 6,1 17" i7, and iMac 10,1, 27 " i7) the backup programs were not able to securely backup all partitions. I've got a lot of error messages (partitions locked, etc.) and I was wondering because this happened instead of booting the backup software from a DVD.

Actually I'm backing up MAC OS with time machine and Windows with Acronis Backup & Recovery V11, knowing that a full system crash will lead me to a new installation without loosing my personal data.

Since using MAC's I've done one successful restore on a former MacBook Pro and this happened under Lion with WinClone. After this ... none!

Best regards from Germany

Ralph

I have discovered what was causing the "Second NTFS boot sector is unwriteable" message in CHKDSK on my otherwise successful restores.

I was making images of a Bootcamp HD which had a single Windows 7 partition on it, no OSX. If I restore this to a whole HD ....no message. If I restore it to a partition on an HD which also has an mac partition, I get the message.

So I need to re-install my Mac Operating system from scratch, but don't want to lose my Bootcamp. Shouldn't I just be able to just make an image of Bootcamp using 'Disk Utility' on an external drive. Then after re-installing Mac OSX, make a partition and copy the Bootcamp image back?

Hi Mike,

When using the Paragon software, do you need the Windows OS discs, or does the bootable CD have everything you need. I have a licensed version of W7, but not the discs.

nmz027 wrote:

Hi Mike,

When using the Paragon software, do you need the Windows OS discs, or does the bootable CD have everything you need. I have a licensed version of W7, but not the discs.

No, you don't need the Windows disks. The Windows OS is all in the image you made (not the bootable CD). Make sure you make the image of the whole HD, not just the C drive when you select what to image. It will be obvious when you get there. Ditto when restoring.

Message was edited by: Mike Boreham

Can you save the Win7 image file on your OSX drive and back it up via Time Machine? If so this would be the ideal solution.

I think the manual for Paragon says somewhere that the image can be written to either NTFS or HFS+ but when I tried writing to HFS+ it didn't work, can't remember detail now (and it was when I was new to Paragon so possibly user error) but I have stuck to making the Paragon images to NTFS, which TM won't back up.

I editted this post to delete a whole chunk I wrote when I thought I was replying to a different thread on same subject.

Message was edited by: Mike Boreham

Paragon more than likely you have to burn a Linux recovery CD to do the whole imaging.

They do have Windows only backup and clone to another Windows hard drive.

Also,

WinClone Lion version roaringapps app:904

I have been reading these postings with some interest and I see there are multiple options for doing what I want to do - I'm just trying to figure out which is best.

1) I have been using Time Windows to back up my Mac HD and recently restored from it successfully. However it appears I may have a hard drive problem and I am going to purchase Disk Warrior in order to see whether I can solve it without reinstalling the operating system. I did this once earlier this week but the problem came back again and Disk Utility says it cannot repair the drive. However my Bootcamp partition is intact and I don't appear to have lost more than a handful of files from my Mac HD.

In any case, I have read suggestions that I should have Disk Warrior and also Super Duper to make a bootable clone on an external hard drive. But, Super Duper cannot handle the bootcamp partition, therefore...

2) although Winclone is free, it appears that Paragon has a solution with its new Hard Disk Manager 2011 Suite, and that this can back up and clone the Windows drive on the bootcamp partition.

The question is, if I go with Paragon will it do for me whatever Super Duper would have done on the Mac side? I don't mind spending the money once for a good product. I'd rather not buy two pieces of software (actually three, if you include Disk Warrior) if I don't need to, but I'd rather have something easy to use than waste a lot of time with more complicated processes.

What would be our recommendation?