Windows 10: Partitions after installation

Windows 10 Pro

My progressively failing defective motherboard caused a lot of problems, as can be imagined, including failed attempts at system re-installation, restoration of backup images, and boot corruption/failure.

After motherboard replacement, I decided to start from scratch on my 2 internal ssd's, with fresh OS installations on their respective 50 GB partitions.

In the past, the fresh install would result in a system partition, recovery partition, and a boot partition.

In this case, identical installation methods on both drives resulted in different outcomes; one drive with 3 OS partitions (system, boot, recovery), and the other drive with one C:\ partition.





Both installations were successful to the extent that everything seems to be in order,, and they boot properly.

Customarily, after a fresh install, I use tools like AOMEI backerupper and/or Macrium to create system image backups, based on the levels of OS customization that are developed over time; directly after a fresh install; fresh install + custom settings; progressive stages of the previous two methods in which also include third party program installations, windows updates, tweaks, etc.

So, here's the thing. Can I use a system backup created from the three partition disk to restore the system partition on the one partition disk (or vice versa) without messing up the boot operation, or anything else for that matter.

In the past I had no problem using a backup to restore on either disk, and I hope it still can be done, because the alternative would be two separate sets of backups and having to develop both OS partitions separately, instead of developing just one and restoring the backup to the other disk.

Sorry for long story, but I needed context for the question.

:)

 

Reinstalled Windows 8 but no system reserved partition

Recently, my windows 10 stuffed up where it gets stuck on a black screen with a flashing white dash on the top left corner. So i reinstalled windows and upgraded it to Windows 10. When i reinstalled windows, i deleted all the partitions because even after
i formatted each partition, it wouldn't let me install windows. I was following a guide on the internet showing me how to do a clean install and it said after i deleted all drives/partitions, it will automatically create it when i install windows back. I saw
before i reinstalled windows, there was a system reserved partition, a primary one and a OEM partition. After installing windows again, I have primary partition, a EFI system partition and 2 recovery partitions. did i stuff something up? is EFI system partition
the same as a system reserved partition?

 

Windows anniversary update dvd install

I do not know if you can make new partitions but if you do a Custom install and pick the partition to install into you can format that partition. Also as long as you have not continued to install you can pick another partition and format it.

Make sure you click on the System partition before you continue to install.

After installing you can download EaseUS Partition Manager free and do the adjustments to the partitions.

Easier than Disk Management.

 

Hi, you should aim to have all partitions (4 normally) for an EFI installation on the same disk.
(Disk Management doesn't show the 16Mb System partition)
That doesn't appear to be so.

- was this meant to refer to two separate installations?

(To create a screenshot you can use the Snipping Tool, for example)

 

The image captured all the visible partitions on both disks that were created during the fresh installations that were performed on both disks, one right after another.

Sorry, Im not sure I understand the answer. Does "aim" imply I had some control over the outcome? If so please explain.

As I said, both installations were conducted exactly the same way, and were successful to the extent that they both operate properly.

When you say "That doesn't appear to be so", can you explain a little further on what specifically you are referring to? I suspect if I used something like AOMEI Partition Assistant to display the disks, the 16 mb would have been on display there.

Thanks for pointing that out.

 

First - here's what happened:

During the first install on Disk 0, there was no system partition the computer was booting from, so Windows setup creates all the partitions it needs to boot. That includes the EFI System Partition (where the computer boots from), the OS partition (called the boot partition if that is the OS that is loaded). And not required to boot - the recovery partition.

During the second OS install to disk 1, Windows setup detects that there is already a partition present that the computer is booting from so it does not create a second system partition, instead it modifies the partition already present to add the option to boot the OS that is being installed onto disk 1. If you want to avoid Windows setup from modifying the original system partition you must physically disconnect the drive that it is on (drive 0) when installing the OS to drive 1. With drive 0 disconnected, there would be no system partition for Windows setup to detect, and therefore it would create a new system partition on Drive 1. The pro to that is that drive 1 becomes a self-contained drive, it does not need drive 0 to boot from. The con to that is that in order to dual boot you must either select which drive to boot from in the UEFI firmware, or manually set up dual booting from one single system partition - which is very easy to do.

In order to backup and restore a bootable OS, the backup image must contain at least a system partition and the partition the OS is installed to. If you want one backup image to contain both your OS installations and be able to restore a bootable system, it must contain, at a minimum, the system partition and the two OS partitions.

If you need to restore to a blank physical drive and make it bootable, you must restore a minimum of the system partition and the OS partition. Then you might need to run a boot restoration utility (such as the one included with Macrium Reflect) which will fix the system partition to point to the new location the OS partition is restored to. Which is why I would use Macrium Reflect to do your backup images - it can both restore the needed partitions and fix the system partition if required.

 

Thank you for confirming what I was thinking, but didn't want to get too ahead of myself when asking for advice. I was already too long winded in my OP, but I've had a miserable time lately with the motherboard issue and who knows how much the anniversary update contributed to the problems or perhaps, in hindsight, was primarily responsible for them.

I've regularly used Macrium for restore, but is this "boot restoration utility" in the free version of Macrium (I didnt see mention of it anywhere on the Macrium comparison page)? Does it have to be run separately, or does it do its job as the restoration takes place?

Or maybe were talking about the pe rescue disks??

 

When you boot the computer from Macrium Reflect rescue media, under the restore menu will be an option to fix Windows boot or startup problems. That's the utility I am talking about and you have to manually run it separately.

 

Ok, then the plan is back up the 3 partitions disk and restore it to the other drive.

Would you try to remove the Anniversary update first, or can it finally be trusted?

 

I've never had a problem with the Anniversary update.