Acronis Rescue Boot CD and MBR

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Will restoring the MBR from my C: [O/S TIB] backup cause me to lose any data on the second partition which is on the same drive?

Restoring the MBR shouldn't cause any problems and doesn't affect the partitioning data.

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Originally Posted by budachild

Can the Mbr be accessed/edited at anytime through Windows as a file/command? Or does it exist on the hdd outside of the OS?

It resides in the first sector of the disk, outside of any of the partitions on the disk. There are various programs that can be used to access and change the MBR including disk editors and the like. Normal Windows file operations won't work since the sector is not part of any partitions on the disk.
If you're curious, here is a site that has graphical illustrations of the contents of the MBR along with detailed explanations of the purpose of each and every byte. The color illustrations are very helpful in understanding the different functions that are included in this first 512-byte sector on a hard disk.
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I just used Acronis True Image v10's Rescue Boot Cd to restore a Tib image for the first time, which I had of my O/S partition on my primary drive. During the restoration I was asked by the boot cd to select what to restore from the Tib image I had. I was given two choices:
[ ] C: System ------ Primary, Active
[ ] MBR / Track 0

 With TI 2009, if you check everything it switches to an Entire Disk Image restore and you lose control of resizing, etc. You can restore multiple partitions in one setup, but you can't do the MBR/Track 0 with them -- something must remain unchecked.
In Post #1, it's stated that TI 10 is being used. If that's correct, then you should be able to check the Disk # checkbox to select both the partition and the MBR/Track 0.

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Originally Posted by seekforever

I looked at TI2009 and it is different from my recollection of previous versions - it does let you check both the partition and the MBR/Track0 at the same time! So TI2009 appears to be improved in this regard. I assume it would have done it, I didn't do the actual restore.

In Version 2009, if you choose both Partition 1 and MBR/track 0, then it becomes a Disk option restore with no resize option. As K0lo mentioned in post @2 & #7 and MudCrab in post #8, you can restore both but they must be run separately. Either can be first. Restore the MBR & Disk ID to the target disk and then return to main menu and repeat the restore of C which will give the resize option. The resize option is not readily apparent but it is there. You can change any default listed by TrueImage. Many times the default value is NOT the correct selection and must be changed by the user. You can click change default option and see what TI is offering. It may be only a few MB since you are restoring only the first partition of a two partition disk.

Attached Images

 

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Originally Posted by budachild

...Why is there an option to resize and did I do the right thing by leaving the default size picked that it had preselected for me?

This is actually a very useful option to have. In your case you were just restoring the operating system to eliminate a problem, so keeping the size the same was the right thing to do.
Where this comes in handy is if you restore your image to a new, larger hard disk. The resize option will let you make the partitions larger to fit the new disk.

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I have an image of my C partition from a drive that has several partitions. If I select only restore C or restore C and the MBR together I still have the limited resize capabiltiy. As far as I can tell my resize capabilty (make smaller only) is the same regardless of whether or not both boxes are ticked simultaneously.

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Originally Posted by seekforever

I have an image of my C partition from a drive that has several partitions. If I select only restore C or restore C and the MBR together I still have the limited resize capabiltiy. As far as I can tell my resize capabilty (make smaller only) is the same regardless of whether or not both boxes are ticked simultaneously.

It's because you have multiple partitions. The problem happens when all the entries are checked. In this case, the Disk # box is checked and it becomes a Disk Image restore (you can only select a destination drive).

For example, using a backup image of a drive with two partitions:
[x] C:
[x] D:
[x] MBR and Track 0
You can't resize any partitions.

[x] C:
[ ] D:
[x] MBR and Track 0
You can resize the C: partition.

[x] C:
[x] MBR and Track 0
You can't resize the C: partition.

[x] C:
[ ] MBR and Track 0
You can resize the C: partition.

In addition, if your backup image did not consist of all the partitions on the drive, you can select them and still resize.
This problem only seems to affect backups that included the entire drive (Disk # box checked, all partitions). So, if you create a backup image of C: and your drive consists of C: and D:, you will be able to check the C: partition and the MBR and Track 0 entry and still resize the C: partition.

It can get confusing. In my opinion, it would have been better to allow everything to be checked in both scenarios and still allow for resizing (as previous versions did).