Backup and recovery of multiple systems such as Windows 7

Case Phenomenon

The author's computer has two hard disks installed. One 160GB hard disk is divided into four main partitions, which are respectively installed with Windows XP (FAT32 format), Windows 7 X64, Windows Server 2008 X86. With Windows Server 2008 R2, another 1TB hard drive saves data.

Recently, after starting Windows 7, the hard disk has been frequently read and written. I found a hard disk test software and found that this 160GB hard disk has a minimum speed of 23.6MB/s and a maximum of 54.6MB/s, while 1TB. The hard disk has a minimum read/write speed of 88.2MB/s and a maximum of 108.3MB/s. After testing, the original 160GB hard drive is slow (about purchased in 2004), I want to replace this 160GB hard drive.

Then purchased a 500GB hard drive, the test minimum speed is 120.5MB /s, the highest 134.8MB /s, I would like to use this to replace the original 160MB hard drive. However, there are several problems:

(1) The original 160GB hard disk is a multi-system boot using Boot Magic, which requires at least one FAT or FAT32 partition. So there is a Windows XP in FAT32 format (although it is basically not used).

(2) The new 500GB hard drive is a waste if it only divides 4 primary partitions.

(3) The original installation of Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, etc., has been activated, and installed a lot of programs, do not want to install one by one. Because I use Windows Server 2008 is a serial number that can only be activated once, even if it is on the same machine, if it is installed again, it still cannot be activated (this is the serial number authorized by MSDNAA), so I want to directly directly transfer the original system. Clone to a new hard drive.

Solution 1

I tried to keep the FAT32 partition and use BootMagic boot. The new hard disk is planned as follows:

30GB-》, primary partition, reserved XP, install the boot manager

100MB" primary partition, do the boot partition. The original Windows 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 was cloned into a logical partition.

60GB-"Install Windows 7, clone directly from the original Windows 7

Do the remaining extended partition, and divide the two 50GB logical partitions, respectively clone Windows Server 2008 on the original hard disk With Windows Server 2008 R2.

This way, after cloning Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to the new hard disk, Boot Magic is still installed on the new hard disk, and Windows XP, Windows 7 and Boot partition are started in turn, and the Windows 7 partition is started. After that, use the Windows 7 installer to fix the boot environment and Windows 7 can continue to use it. After starting the 100MB boot partition, use the Windows Server 2008 R2 installation CD to modify the boot environment, you can find Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 on the extended partition, and add to the boot menu. In this way, multi-system recovery can be achieved.

Solution 2

Later, I don’t think I need to keep Windows XP. Because my current host is 8GB of memory, using XP is too wasteful to fully exploit the performance of the hardware. Therefore, the partition is re-divided as follows:

The first primary partition, 40GB, cloned the previous Windows Server 2008 X86;

Second primary partition, 60GB, cloned the previous Windows 7 X64 ;

The third primary partition, 50GB, cloned the previous Windows Server 2008 R2.

The remaining partition is divided into extended partitions and divided into logical partitions.

Then install SPFDISK and use SPFDISK to do the multi-system boot management program. I used SFDISK's multi-system boot, but I found that SFDISK can't manage 500GB hard disk (I used SFDISK after I divided the zone and cloned the system, but at this time SFDISK "thinks" that the 500GB hard disk does not. Partitioning, but SPFDISK correctly "recognized" each partition and managed it well).

Use SPFDISK, install the boot manager, install the hypervisor to the MBR, then boot each system separately and repair it using the installation CD. In fact, I used the Windows 7 X64 recovery disk made by Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset 6.5 to restore Windows Server 2008 X86, Windows 7 X64, Windows Server 2008 R2 and other systems.

Figure 1

After using ERD recovery disk recovery, when the current partition is restored to the current system, the other primary partition systems will also be added to The current boot menu, so after recovery, the default boot may not start, and then in the boot menu, select another boot menu, you can enter. After entering, execute msconfig, in the "Boot" tab, set the correct startup item to "default value" and delete other items, as shown in Figure 2, this is the Windows 7 system, but using ERD recovery At that time, Windows Server 2008 X86 of other primary partitions is restored, and the second startup item can be deleted.

View original image (larger image)

Figure 2 Added redundant startup items

[Description] If you need to install Windows 7 X86 and other systems later You can use Windows 7's "native boot" to install directly on the VHD virtual hard disk, so that the VHD can be created in the remaining extended partitions. Also, for some tests, it is better to use virtual opportunities. Currently, three systems are sufficient. If you need to install the system on the local hard disk, you can use PQ to divide the logical partition in the extended partition, install the system on this logical partition, and start, you can use any of the three primary partitions.