I've just bought a new PC which is UEFI/GPT with Windows 10 Pro pre-installed on M2 SSD. Up to now I've only ever used IFD/IFL/BIBM on MBR systems. I want to basically understand what I need to back up and briefly how I would go about reinstating the system if the SSD failed and I bought a new one. I'm using IFL.
So far I've shrunk the C drive to give me a data drive for system images (which will also be backed up externally). According to IFL, the PC has 4 partitions : EFI System Partition 300 MB , C: Windows OS 123 GB NTFS, D: Data 341 GB NTFS, Recovery 450 MB NTFS. I've backed up each partition separately.
First question is do I need to keep backing up the EFI System Partition and Recovery every time I take a new image of C?
Second, if I replace the M2 SSD with a new blank one, can I just use IFL to restore the partitions and expect the machine to boot as if nothing had happened since the image was taken? I realise I'd have to recreate the D drive afterwards.
Is there a guide on UEFI/GPT which would get my knowledge up to speed?
Overview of UEFI/GPT full disk restore
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TeraByte Support(PP)
- Posts: 1646
- Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:51 am
Re: Overview of UEFI/GPT full disk restore
rustleg wrote:
> So far I've shrunk the C drive to give me a data drive for system images
> (which will also be backed up externally). According to IFL, the PC has 4
> partitions : EFI System Partition 300 MB , C: Windows OS 123 GB NTFS, D:
> Data 341 GB NTFS, Recovery 450 MB NTFS. I've backed up each partition
> separately.
If possible, you may want to consider putting the Data partition at the end of the drive and leaving the Recovery (WinRE) partition next to the Windows partition. Windows updates may create a new WinRE partition or may expand the size of the existing one. With them separate you're more likely to end up with multiple scattered around (you can always clean them up manually).
[EFI System][Windows][Recovery][Data]
> First question is do I need to keep backing up the EFI System Partition and
> Recovery every time I take a new image of C?
I prefer to keep them all together and back them up that way. They can still be restored individually, but having them together lets you restore them as a group, which is easier in some cases (like to a new drive). The extra partitions are small so not much space is wasted by including them. Also, usually no changes (or only minor changes) so differential/incremental backups don't often see any increase in size.
> Second, if I replace the M2 SSD with a new blank one, can I just use IFL to
> restore the partitions and expect the machine to boot as if nothing had
> happened since the image was taken? I realise I'd have to recreate the D
> drive afterwards.
Correct. And this is one of the main reasons to include all the normal Windows partitions in one backup. If partitions are restored individually you may need to restore in a certain order, use option to update boot partition, etc.
> Is there a guide on UEFI/GPT which would get my knowledge up to speed?
There is some general information in this KB article:
https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=619
> So far I've shrunk the C drive to give me a data drive for system images
> (which will also be backed up externally). According to IFL, the PC has 4
> partitions : EFI System Partition 300 MB , C: Windows OS 123 GB NTFS, D:
> Data 341 GB NTFS, Recovery 450 MB NTFS. I've backed up each partition
> separately.
If possible, you may want to consider putting the Data partition at the end of the drive and leaving the Recovery (WinRE) partition next to the Windows partition. Windows updates may create a new WinRE partition or may expand the size of the existing one. With them separate you're more likely to end up with multiple scattered around (you can always clean them up manually).
[EFI System][Windows][Recovery][Data]
> First question is do I need to keep backing up the EFI System Partition and
> Recovery every time I take a new image of C?
I prefer to keep them all together and back them up that way. They can still be restored individually, but having them together lets you restore them as a group, which is easier in some cases (like to a new drive). The extra partitions are small so not much space is wasted by including them. Also, usually no changes (or only minor changes) so differential/incremental backups don't often see any increase in size.
> Second, if I replace the M2 SSD with a new blank one, can I just use IFL to
> restore the partitions and expect the machine to boot as if nothing had
> happened since the image was taken? I realise I'd have to recreate the D
> drive afterwards.
Correct. And this is one of the main reasons to include all the normal Windows partitions in one backup. If partitions are restored individually you may need to restore in a certain order, use option to update boot partition, etc.
> Is there a guide on UEFI/GPT which would get my knowledge up to speed?
There is some general information in this KB article:
https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=619
Re: Overview of UEFI/GPT full disk restore
TeraByte Support(PP) wrote:
> If possible, you may want to consider putting the Data partition at the end of the
> drive and leaving the Recovery (WinRE) partition next to the Windows partition.
> Windows updates may create a new WinRE partition or may expand the size of the
> existing one. With them separate you're more likely to end up with multiple scattered
> around (you can always clean them up manually).
> [EFI System][Windows][Recovery][Data]
>
So can I just delete the Data partition, restore the Recovery partition from a copy on a USB stick to the top of my shrunk Windows then use the rest of the space to create the Data? If I was using BIBM in a MBR system I'd have to modify the Boot Edit in order to get the MBR right. So how does the boot process (or Windows) know I've moved the Recovery partition?
> There is some general information in this KB article:
> https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=619
Thanks. I already read that one. I found some articles on the web about UEFI booting but they were either too simplistic or too detailed. With the MBR system I know I can fiddle about with partitions and then organise the entries in the MBR with BIBM's Boot Edit. Maybe I need to study the manual for Bootit UEFI? I haven't bought Bootit Collection for this computer, since I don't want to multiboot here. I have a copy for my personal machine but I haven't needed to use the UEFI version since my machine is MBR.
> If possible, you may want to consider putting the Data partition at the end of the
> drive and leaving the Recovery (WinRE) partition next to the Windows partition.
> Windows updates may create a new WinRE partition or may expand the size of the
> existing one. With them separate you're more likely to end up with multiple scattered
> around (you can always clean them up manually).
> [EFI System][Windows][Recovery][Data]
>
So can I just delete the Data partition, restore the Recovery partition from a copy on a USB stick to the top of my shrunk Windows then use the rest of the space to create the Data? If I was using BIBM in a MBR system I'd have to modify the Boot Edit in order to get the MBR right. So how does the boot process (or Windows) know I've moved the Recovery partition?
> There is some general information in this KB article:
> https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=619
Thanks. I already read that one. I found some articles on the web about UEFI booting but they were either too simplistic or too detailed. With the MBR system I know I can fiddle about with partitions and then organise the entries in the MBR with BIBM's Boot Edit. Maybe I need to study the manual for Bootit UEFI? I haven't bought Bootit Collection for this computer, since I don't want to multiboot here. I have a copy for my personal machine but I haven't needed to use the UEFI version since my machine is MBR.
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TeraByte Support(PP)
- Posts: 1646
- Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:51 am
Re: Overview of UEFI/GPT full disk restore
rustleg wrote:
> So can I just delete the Data partition, restore the Recovery partition from a copy
> on a USB stick to the top of my shrunk Windows then use the rest of the space to
> create the Data? If I was using BIBM in a MBR system I'd have to modify the Boot Edit
> in order to get the MBR right. So how does the boot process (or Windows) know I've
> moved the Recovery partition?
I would probably delete the Data partition and then slide the Recovery partition (you can use Partition Work in IFL, for example). It shouldn't have any affect on booting Windows or WinRE. The GUID for the partition won't be changed so the references won't be broken.
> So can I just delete the Data partition, restore the Recovery partition from a copy
> on a USB stick to the top of my shrunk Windows then use the rest of the space to
> create the Data? If I was using BIBM in a MBR system I'd have to modify the Boot Edit
> in order to get the MBR right. So how does the boot process (or Windows) know I've
> moved the Recovery partition?
I would probably delete the Data partition and then slide the Recovery partition (you can use Partition Work in IFL, for example). It shouldn't have any affect on booting Windows or WinRE. The GUID for the partition won't be changed so the references won't be broken.
Re: Overview of UEFI/GPT full disk restore
Slid the partition as you suggested and it worked perfectly. Also took your other advice and imaged all partitions except the data partition (since I put the images on it).
I gather the partition signatures (GUIDs) are held in the GPT (table) so software recognises the partition wherever it is. From Wikipedia it seems certain GUIDs are reserved for special partitions by different OS's. So all Recovery partitions for Windows 10 have the same GUID and Windows doesn't need the GPT to tell it which is the Recovery partition. Hopefully this makes sense.
Thanks for your help, much appreciated.
I gather the partition signatures (GUIDs) are held in the GPT (table) so software recognises the partition wherever it is. From Wikipedia it seems certain GUIDs are reserved for special partitions by different OS's. So all Recovery partitions for Windows 10 have the same GUID and Windows doesn't need the GPT to tell it which is the Recovery partition. Hopefully this makes sense.
Thanks for your help, much appreciated.