WINRE Restore failed ... IFD worked. GPT problem?

[tas3086]

Install of Windows 160x version today corrupted my c: drive. Used my WINre recovery for IFW3.05. Winre 3.05 was able to see all drives and partitions except the partitions on a GPT drive. I was not able to restore. I tried Booting IFD and the BIBM install disks image3.05 and was able to see the GPT partitions where my backups were installed. The IFD 3.05 Restore from BIBM install disk completed without error.

I tested ifw3.05 restore under native window install, and it was able to see GPT disks and partitions. Winre 3.05 tested again and was not able to see them.

Is there a setting, driver, or option that I am missing in the winRE setup?

It should also be noted that under winRE and TBOS using the GETHDINFO function, that I was able to see all partitions on all disks, even the GPT ones. It was just imagew that was not able to see them. I hope that this helps.

UPDATE: I just tested my 2.99 winPE recovery disk to see if it saw the GPT partitions. The drive partitions were not listed in the top (normal) part of my restore selection screen where all the partitions are listed, but way down at the bootom of the screen were HD0, HD1, Hd2, Hd3, HD4, HD5 selection options. I expanded those options and was able to see the missing GPT partitions. I assume and hope that a restore selection form those areas would have worked. I also assume that those same selectables would be available in the winRE enviromnemt, bit I have not verified that as yet. So some faith in IFW is restored.

[mjnelson99]

I wonder how IFL would work.
Mary

On Sun, Jan 22, 2017 9:11 AM, tas3086 wrote:
> Install of Windows 160x version today corrupted my c: drive. Used my WINre recovery for IFW3.05. Winre 3.05 was able to see all drives and partitions except the partitions on a GPT drive. I was not able to restore. I tried Booting IFD and the BIBM install disks image3.05 and was able to see the GPT partitions where my backups were installed. The IFD 3.05 Restore from BIBM install disk completed without error.
>
> I tested ifw3.05 restore under native window install, and it was able to see GPT disks and partitions. Winre 3.05 tested again and was not able to see them.
>
> Is there a setting, driver, or option that I am missing in the winRE setup?
>
> It should also be noted that under winRE and TBOS using the GETHDINFO function, that I was able to see all partitions on all disks, even the GPT ones. It was just imagew that was not able to see them. I hope that this helps.
>
> UPDATE: I just tested my 2.99 winPE recovery disk to see if it saw the GPT partitions. The drive partitions were not listed in the top (normal) part of my restore selection screen where all the partitions are listed, but way down at the bootom of the screen were HD0, HD1, Hd2, Hd3, HD4, HD5 selection options. I expanded those options and was able to see the missing GPT partitions. I assume and hope that a restore selection form those areas would have worked. I also assume that those same selectables would be available in the winRE enviromnemt, bit I have not verified that as yet. So some faith in IFW is restored.
>
>

[TeraByte Support]

in simple operations mode, you only see drives, not partitions. You restore
entire drives as well, not partitions.


"tas3086" wrote in message news:13152@public.image...

Install of Windows 160x version today corrupted my c: drive. Used my WINre
recovery for IFW3.05. Winre 3.05 was able to see all drives and partitions
except the partitions on a GPT drive. I was not able to restore. I tried
Booting IFD and the BIBM install disks image3.05 and was able to see the
GPT partitions where my backups were installed. The IFD 3.05 Restore from
BIBM install disk completed without error.

I tested ifw3.05 restore under native window install, and it was able to see
GPT disks and partitions. Winre 3.05 tested again and was not able to see
them.

[tas3086]

Sorry, I am not using simple mode (that I know of). As I stated, partitions are showing in the top part of the restore from list, and at the bottom are HD0,HD1,HD2,HD3,HD4,HD5 unexpanded drive selections that show partitions as well. WinRE was not intuitively obvious that my restore from location was available.

WinRE and native imagew do not have the same operational experience with regards to GPT. If WinRE defaults to SIMPLE mode, how do I change that operation?

In the WinRE makedisk.cfg file I see some options:
UDF=1
GPTTARGET=1
EFITARGET=1
could the GPTTARGET be defaulting incorrectly?

[TeraByte Support(PP)]

Don't change the options in the makedisk.cfg file (those deal with creating the boot media). Simple Operations mode is a feature of IFW (the setting would be in the ifw.ini file). The option is in Settings on the General tab (top of checkbox list) and can be toggled as necessary from IFW.

As for the WinRE issue (I assume TBWinRE), were the partitions in question assigned drive letters (partitions without assignments won't show in certain areas)? Also, GPT disks can behave differently regarding drive letter assignments, depending on disk/partition settings. You could check if the partitions show up in TBLauncher (Tools | Drive Letter Assignments...). You may just need to assign letters for normal access (right-click on partition).

Otherwise, could you post a screenshot showing the issue?

[tas3086]

I am a frequent user of BIBM image and native windows imagew restore fumction. This was my first real test of TBWINRE. I do not use, and do not want to use SIMPLE OPERATION in any implementation of image. Because my main drive got corrupted by a windows 1607 update, I thought it best to use TBWINRE. Whatever drive letters are assigned in TBWINRE, my I_DRIVE drive letter was missing, and I have no idea how to specify it in TBWINRE. It should be noted that it showed up just fine using IFD under dos and under BIBM image restore, just as it does in native windows. I was surprised and disappointed that it was not as obviously visible in TBWINRE. Attached are the pictures that you requested, and the answer to your tools.. Drive letter question.
[attachment=0]Native Windows.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=1]TBWINRE.jpg[/attachment]

[TeraByte Support(PP)]

The drive letter assignments are done by WinPE/RE and not specifically by TBWinPE/RE. Apparently, WinPE/RE isn't automatically assigning a letter to the partition. This could be because the partition is flagged to not assign. You can check this in DISKPART (GPT_BASIC_DATA_ATTRIBUTE_NO_DRIVE_LETTER) by viewing the details for the partition. The "help gpt" command lists the available attributes.

To assign a drive letter using the Drive Letters dialog, right-click on the volume entry ("I_DRIVE" in your picture) and select the "Assign Drive Letter" option.

[TeraByte Support]

Sounds simply like Windows (WinRE/PE) didn't assign a drive letter so you
can just go directly to the partition like you do with File Direct in
IFD/IFL. (the interface is just a little different).


"tas3086" wrote in message news:13171@public.image...

I am a frequent user of BIBM image and native windows imagew restore
fumction. This was my first real test of TBWINRE. I do not use, and do not
want to use SIMPLE OPERATION in any implementation of image. Because my
main drive got corrupted by a windows 1607 update, I thought it best to use
TBWINRE. Whatever drive letters are assigned in TBWINRE, my I_DRIVE drive
letter was missing, and I have no idea how to specify it in TBWINRE. It
should be noted that it showed up just fine using IFD under dos and under
BIBM image restore, just as it does in native windows.

[tas3086]

In a panic, having determined that a windows update corrupted my boot drive, I grabbed my TBWINRE disk to restore from my last nights backup. More shocking, I found that my restore-from drive was not immediately visible in TBWINRE. Now in a greater degree of panic, and as a last resort, I booted from my IFD restore disk, and glad to see that my restore-from partition was clearly visible, and was not destroyed. The restore completed normally.

The purpose of this post is to inform the Terabyte community that TBWINRE has a different look than the native windows version that they are used to, and that in a panic situation, you may not take the time to research all the options and terminology and thus, make some bad assumptions. My immediate thoughts were that the windows update also clobbered the restore drive, and that all was lost!

I understand what has happened, and I am glad that had I looked a little deeper and scrolled down that restore from location, that a TBWINRE restore may have been possible. I've used IFD/IFW for 7 years, done thousands of backups, and fewer restores, and never needed to notice that HD0,HD1,HD2...etc options were available. I am disappointed that TBWINRE let me down, for whatever reason, when I needed it the most.

ps: for those concerned, I do have an out-of-box clone of my restore-from drive ... just in case of a real disaster.

THE END

[Brian K]

tas3086 wrote:
> I found that my restore-from drive was not immediately
> visible in TBWINRE.

tas3086,

I can boot a TBWinRE partition on a GPT disk. That partition isn't assigned a drive letter when TBWinRE loads. As Paul mentioned above, "The drive letter assignments are done by WinPE/RE and not specifically by TBWinPE/RE."

You haven't mentioned IFL. I'm surprised. I find it does the fastest restores on my computers and you don't have missing drive letters because there aren't any. IFL is almost twice as fast as IFD (my hardware).