How do I restore Windows 7 from a System Image to a Boot Camp partition without formatting?
I had a 70GB Boot Camp partition on my iMac that I wanted to increase the size of, so after creating a system image (.vhd) on an external FW drive of the Boot Camp partition using Windows Backup and Restore, I removed the Boot Camp partition from within OS X and re-created one that is now 140GB.
When I go to restore the system image using the Windows 7 installation disc or the repair disc, it says that when restoring the image, the entire [physical?] disk is going to be erased and formatted so that the image can be restored to it. (I don't see any options to choose just a partition!)
I've considered that there may be a command line utility on the Windows 7 install disc to restore the VHD to the partition, but can't find any documentation for such. Is there a cost-free way to just restore the system image backup to the new partition while preserving the OSX partition?
EDIT:
Basically what I am saying is that when installing Windows 7, there is an option to install to a specific partition on the physical disk, but when restoring, I do not see that option...
UPDATE: (bounty)
I am still looking for a way to restore a VHD image to an NTFS formatted partition on a hard drive. Specifically a boot camp partition on a Mac.
I really don't understand why Windows won't allow this, although it allows installing to a partition...
I would suggest to first install Windows 7 on the new partition as a new installation.
Then, within Windows 7, Restore your computer from a system image backup using Control Panel -> Recovery -> Advanced recovery methods -> Use a system image you created earlier to recover your computer, and then follow the steps.
If worse comes to worst, you can always mount the .vhd in Disk Management to retrieve your data.
EDIT
I have found new info from this article using Acronis True Image Home 2011 (trial version available):
Restoring Windows 7 VHD Backup Files with Acronis True Image Home 2010.
The article says:
Windows 7 has a special System Reserved Partition, which is hidden and contains boot files. This partition can be viewed in Windows Disk Management (Start-Run -> diskmgmnt.msc).
When making an image of your Windows system using the Windows 7 Backup tool, it will create a separate .vhd file for each partition that is in the system, including the System Reserved Partition.
If you choose to restore your system partition from the created Windows 7 Backup .vhd files, you will need to restore the whole disk where this system partition is.
Solution
- Boot from Acronis Bootable Media and select Acronis True Image Home (Full version)
- Click Recovery, browse to your Windows 7 Backup .vhd files and select any of the files
- Once selected, right-click on the .vhd file and select Recover
- Select Recover whole disks and partitions and click Next
- Check the partition to recover
This approach has failed if you are warned that all data on the
destination disk will be erased:
Your Mac OS X system should be intact. Windows 7 "see" just bootcamp partition as HDD. Is there size of hard drive? to help you figure out?
usually bootcamp partition looks like last with BOOTCAMP name on it. If your restore will be unsuccessful, Install fresh copy of windows 7 to partition what you created. try to use virtualbox (virtualbox.org) or this method to access your files: http://www.gilsmethod.com/how-to-mount-vhd-files-without-virtual-pc
Next time use winclone free software to change win bootcamp partition Or Paragon (trial or buy)