How do I make a clone of the Boot camp partition?

Thank you for your very detailed instructions.

I still don't understand though, whether I am making a clone of the "whole computer", meaning the Mac HD and the Boot Camp (Windows) partition or I am just making a clone of the Mac HD (OSX) part when I follow the steps you give.

I have already made a clone of the Mac HD partition with Carbon Copy Cloner and know how to migrate that to the new computer.

On the other hand, if your instructions are for cloning the whole computer (Boot camp/Windows partition and all), then I am willing to give that a try if that is easier than cloning just the Boot camp partititon and adding that separately to the new computer.

After I follow all these instructions, should I have an exact clone of the old computer on the new one? Would I be able to boot into the Mac partition as well as the Boot Camp (Windows) partition the same as before?

I heard that WinClone doesn't work for restoring onto Lion. I used WinClone when I had Windows XP and it didn't work for me. I don't think the boot camp partition was formatted to the right one - NTFS or FAT or something.

With Paragon, can I just clone the Windows partition?

Also,do I need to buy a CD? Or can I just use an external hard drive? I don't have access to a computer shop easily and I don't have any CDs on me now.

I am not sure whether to go with Paragon or Casper. I lean toward Casper because I only need cloning and restoring of the Boot camp partition. But I do not know if the restore part can be easily done and in the way that I want (without having to install Windows 7). Do I have to create a starter disk if I am to do a restore like this with Casper? What is a starter disk? Is that an actual CD or is that just a virtual CD?

I bought Paragon just now. It cost me $49.95. It's for single use. Is that OK if I am restoring the clone onto a different computer? I need to send the first computer whose contents I am cloning to the repair center. They will probably need to delete everything so just in case I want to save the clone of the hard drive - Mac OSX and Boot Camp.

There is an option in Time Machine to clone the Boot Camp partition. Will this work? I don't think it clones everything, probably the files, and not the operating system. I am guessing I will have to install the install DVD Windows 7.

I have a legitimate version of Windows 7 and so that's not the problem. I reported to MS that my laptop broke down and can I please have help with activation on a different computer and they gave me a case number and said to call when I am ready to do the installation.

I don't want to do it like this because

1) it's inconvenient having to catch them during working hours and having to be on the phone while I do the activation

2) I don't know whether everything will be restored EXACTLY as the original Windows partition.

(My first laptop is a MacBook Air Snow Leopard, and the second computer is a MacBook Pro.)

I really want to just clone the Windows partition because the Mac HD has issues. When I migrated the Mac HD to the new computer, the new computer won't boot. That was the problem with the MBA, it wouldn't boot until I closed the lid. But when I closed the lid after finishing using the computer, it would stay on.

(So it looks like I will have to save all the documents, files etc separately, and re-install the operating software again on the MBA. But that is a question for another section.)

I had another look at Caspar and there is a note saying it doesn't work for Lion so I am stuck.

My question is:

Can I clone JUST the Boot Camp partition using the Paragon software or is that not possible.

The Mac HD has bad issues and it won't let me boot into the computer when I migrate it to another computer so it's affecting the Boot Camp partition.

I guess I will ring up Paragon Support and ask these questions too.

Thanks for any help.

Thank you, Dalstott. This was the information I was after. It reassures me that I can make just a clone of the Windows partition (to avoid getting contamination from the faulty Mac HD partition.) I had a look at the HTML version of the pdf manual, and it says I am able to make a backup of separate partitions. I am in the middle of downloading the software, and will follow the instructions on the Wizard.

Thank you, The hatter, for suggesting Paragon. After browsing the net intensively, I think this is the right choice for me. I will just keep my fingers crossed and hope the cloning and the restore goes smoothly.

Well, I tried and it didn't work.

Not for someone who has to create a new Boot Camp partition from scratch (on a brand new computer).

I bought the Paragon Hard Disk Manager but it left me high and dry after I had made the back up.

There is no way of making a new Boot Camp partition on a Mac without using a Windows installation disk.

If you already have a Boot Camp partition then you probably won't need the Windows installation disk but for someone like me, who doesn't have a Windows partition created on their machine, you need the Windows installation disk.

There is an option to create an image drive with Paragon instead of a backup but once again you run into the same problem of how to put that on the Windows partition if you have not already created a partition.

Is this right what I've written above or am I missing something?

It looks like I will just have to create a partition using telephone support tomorrow with MS and delay sending my laptop for repairs because I still haven't saved the Windows data.

If I had been told that it's not possible to create a new Boot camp partition without using a Windows installation disk I would have contacted the Windows people more urgently and I could have saved a lot of time.

If I am wrong about what I've written, please tell me.

PS. There is ONE avenue left open to me, and that is to clone EVERYTHING, the Mac HD and the Boot Camp HD as in the second post, by dalstott. That way I avoid having to use an installation disk. I hope it works!

I didn't use this method because I thought the Mac HD I was cloning had issues with booting and that the issues would carry over to the new computer causing a major headache but it seems the booting issues have resolved themselves and that it's more a hardware problem on the old computer.

(I couldn't get the new computer to boot up after migrating the Mac HD but after I took it to the Apple Store, it boots up fine now. I have NO idea what happened and why it spontaneously fixed itself.)

So I will try this method and hope it works. Otherwise I will just call MS tomorrow and get the activation code from them. (Such a headache! I gripe about Apple a lot but nowhere near as bad as Windows. I just have to experience Windows for one day before I realize how good Apple is ... teehee).

HDM 2011 can do either offline or online backups, the difference is that with an offline backup, the entire partition (or disk) is unallocated. In an online backup, the backup utility is running against a partition that may be making changes to itself. When you run CCC or SD! in OS X, you're running an online backup. However, I would recommend (at least for the first backup) that you boot from the HDM recovery CD to do an offline backup. This will ensure that you have an *exact* copy of the parition/disk.

Since this is you first time backing up your partition, I would suggest using one of the Backup Wizards. They'll guide you through the backup process and keep you from doing something wrong Similarly, use the Restore Wizard to restore your partition/drive.

HDMS 2011- back up a dual-boot Mac to an external USB drive, do:

1) Boot from the Recovery Disk (I'm assuming that the backup hard drive is attached before you reboot)

2) Select Paragon Hard Disk Manager

3) Launch the Backup Wizard by selecting Wizards > Backup Wizard

4) Select the Mac hard disk (not the partition) where it asks "what to backup"

5) On the Backup Destination page, select "Save data to any local drive or a network share"

6) Hit the radio button for the "Save to local drive option" (unless you got a boatload of DVD's )

7) Select the external USB drive as the backup destination

8) Look over and correct the name and comments

9) Hit Next to start the backup

When it's done, you have an entire copy of your Mac's HD saved to external media.

If you need to recover your HD, just run the Recovery Wizard and reverse the process.

I think I have to buy the Recovery Disk for this. I didn't buy it. I just bought the Paragon Hard Disk Manager.

Is this Recovery disk a physical disk like a CD or something? That's why I didn't order it. If I need to wait for it, maybe two or three days, I will just use Windows phone activation.

On the other hand, if it's a download, then I can do it today. It doesn't say much on their website.

How can I use Paragon Wizard to restore if I do not have a Windows partition already?

It's a catch-22 situation: you need to have a Windows partition available to you already to use the Wizard to restore everything but that is the reason why I doing the restoration like this in the first place, to avoid using a Windows installation disc to create a partition on the new computer (I am restoring to a different computer, one that does not already have a Boot Camp partition).

Or am I misunderstanding the process?

I think Paragon Hard Disk Manager is good for restoring backups and clones onto an ALREADY created Boot Camp partition but it doesn't restore your Boot camp partition on another computer if the Boot Camp partition has not already been created on it.

The Paragon Hard Disk Manager Wizard only works in a Windows environment so you cannot use it if you are in the Mac OSX system.

I will just use this program for making periodic backups of the Windows partition but will take note that the possibilities for restoring the data are limited.

The native Windows 7 back up and restore utility is meant to be very good and is free.

Unless you have the Family version of Windows 7 or have many unused disks of this software lying around the house somewhere, you have to always get another Windows 7 installation disk (or get phone support activation) every time you do a restore to a newly created Boot Camp partition (or really one you are trying to create).

I think these are the steps I will follow:

Contact MS and get support person on the line.

Create a new partition and when it comes to activating the Windows 7 software get a new activation number from the support person. Finish creating the partition. Once this is created, download the Paragon software again. Use the Wizard to restore the partition.

If I get the old computer back from repairs with the data wiped off because of software issues (that is they've done a clean install), I have to go through this process again (I only have the single computer use Windows 7 installation disc).

I tried Paragon. Windows 7 installed fine on the second computer, I used the same disk I had before and didn't need a new activation number. Paragon restore did not work at all. I threw away $50. Stay away from Paragon.