Problems after a macrium restore

einstein1969 · Jun 3, 2022

Hello everyone,

I recently faced a problem with a blue screen crash for wdfilter.sys

On that occasion I made a backup.

Today I tried to restore from that backup by selecting only the C: drive (windows 11). But after the restore I could no longer find the windows recovery partitions and a partition where I had a windows 10.

How can I recover or rebuild them?

The Vital Data fortunately remained on another partition!

Megahertz · Jun 3, 2022

We need more information.
- Did you replace only the Win 11 drive partition with the Win 11 Macrium image partition?
- Did you kept the EFI partition?

Bree · Jun 3, 2022

einstein1969 said:
after the restore I could no longer find the windows recovery partitions and a partition where I had a windows 10.

How can I recover or rebuild them?

Does the Windows 10 partition still exist, just it is no longer available to boot from? If so, then boot the Macrium rescue media and run its 'fix Windows boot problems' tool. This can find your Windows installs and recreate their boot entries.

einstein1969 · Jun 3, 2022

Megahertz said:
We need more information.
- Did you replace only the Win 11 drive partition with the Win 11 Macrium image partition?
- Did you kept the EFI partition?

I only selected the partition with windows 11.
I think the efi partition is left but I don't know well give you an answer.

A strange thing. If I run macrium reflect it doesn't see me other data partitions as well. From explorer.exe instead I see them.

einstein1969 · Jun 3, 2022

Bree said:
Does the Windows 10 partition still exist, just it is no longer available to boot from? If so, then boot the Macrium rescue media and run its 'fix Windows boot problems' tool. This can find your Windows installs and recreate their boot entries.

I can't give you an answer because from explorer and disk management I see partitions and with macrium I see others.
In the boot menu there are 1) Win11, 2) Win10 and 3) Macrium RE as it was before the restore

Zardoc · Jun 3, 2022

einstein1969 said:
I can't give you an answer because from explorer and disk management I see partitions and with macrium I see others.
In the boot menu there are 1) Win11, 2) Win10 and 3) Macrium RE as it was before the restore

You might not see the partitions depending on the boot disc that you made. If this is the case, create a new USB using WinPe with latest version of Macrium. Then you should see the Macrium partition to recover. (If that's the case)

Bree · Jun 3, 2022

einstein1969 said:
from explorer and disk management I see partitions and with macrium I see others.

It would be helpful if you posted screenshots of your Disk Management and Macrium screens so that we can see what you are seeing.

einstein1969 · Jun 3, 2022

here they are

einstein1969 · Jun 3, 2022

these are taken with boot from USB (macrium)

Bree · Jun 3, 2022

einstein1969 said:
here they are

Thank you.
By design Disk Management does not show the 16MB Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR) that is usually found on a GPT disk between the EFI and C: partitions, while Macrium Reflect will show it.

Microsoft Reserved Partition - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The first and third partitions in your Reflect screenshot are identical in size to the EFI and C: partitions in Disk Management and the reported used/free space reported by each for C: matches, so it is safe to assume that Macrium is showing them correctly. In addition, Macrium is showing (as expected) the 16MB MSR partition that Disk Management always hides. From your screenshots:

Why Macrium does not show your G:, E: and M: partitions is a puzzle. Macrium is showing unallocated space where the three further partitions should be.

Bree · Jun 3, 2022

einstein1969 said:
these are taken with boot from USB (macrium)

They are showing the first three partitions correctly, but none of the three further partitions. As this is booted from outside your installed Windows then it's not your installed Windows that's causing this. It suggests the partition table has somehow become damaged. If so, then I'm not sure how to check for or repair that. @NavyLCDR may have some suggestions...

Zardoc · Jun 3, 2022

Bree said:
They are showing the first three partitions correctly, but none of the three further partitions. As this is booted from outside your installed Windows then it's not your installed Windows that's causing this. It suggests the partition table has somehow become damaged. If so, then I'm not sure how to check for or repair that. @NavyLCDR may have some suggestions...

I'm still not sure if it's what I had seen the past. I created a backup when I had win 10 installed Win 11, then tried to restore and the macrium would not see the backups. I then created a Winpe USB rebooted and all the backups were listed. But like I said is this the same issue? Not sure.

cereberus · Jun 4, 2022

Bree said:
Thank you.
By design Disk Management does not show the 16MB Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR) that is usually found on a GPT disk between the EFI and C: partitions, while Macrium Reflect will show it.

Microsoft Reserved Partition - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The first and third partitions in your Reflect screenshot are identical in size to the EFI and C: partitions in Disk Management and the reported used/free space reported by each for C: matches, so it is safe to assume that Macrium is showing them correctly. In addition, Macrium is showing (as expected) the 16MB MSR partition that Disk Management always hides. From your screenshots:

View attachment 30674
View attachment 30675

Why Macrium does not show your G:, E: and M: partitions is a puzzle. Macrium is showing unallocated space where the three further partitions should be.

No it just means you never backed up these drives, so Reflect has no information about these drives, so it is shown like that (just blank - it does not say unallocated). This is quite normal.

Bree · Jun 4, 2022

cereberus said:
No it just means you never backed up these drives, so Reflect has no information about these drives, so it is shown like that (just blank - it does not say unallocated).

If you look at the whole of OP's screenshot it is not showing the contents of any backup, it is clearly showing the tab for the Local Disk (Dischi locali) and the partitions it can see on it. The same can be seen when booted from a Macrium rescue usb in post #9.

Bree · Jun 4, 2022

cereberus said:
(just blank - it does not say unallocated).

That is how Reflect always shows unallocated space on a Local Disk.

einstein1969 · Jun 4, 2022

It's like bree says. If I wanted to backup partitions G: and M: for example, it won't let me do it. I can't choose them.

einstein1969 · Jun 4, 2022

cereberus · Jun 4, 2022

einstein1969 said:
It's like bree says. If I wanted to backup partitions G: and M: for example, it won't let me do it. I can't choose them.

Hmmm - it looks like a bug to me due to presence of unallocated space in middle on your pc.

You could try moving the three partitions at end to the left so no unallocated space in middle using tool like minitool partition wizard free.

Then see if Reflect sees the partitions.

Another thing you could try is create a partition in unallocated space.

Bree · Jun 5, 2022

cereberus said:
Hmmm - it looks like a bug to me due to presence of unallocated space in middle on your pc.

I thought it might be that too, so I deliberately created unallocated space in the middle of my disk for the screenshot in post #15. No bug there. That was an MBR disk though so I've tried the same on a GPT disk, with the same result.

glasskuter · Jun 5, 2022

@einstein1969 We are not ignoring your dilemma. I think it's that we've run out of ideas. Like @Bree I believe it has something to do with your partitioning table and you do have a space problem. You have had ideas thrown at you right and left which you have dealt with admirably.

I know you want to make everything work as is, but I would bite the bullet and do exactly what I did with my secondary PC. I would remove that drive and install another drive (preferably a ssd) to clean install Windows 11 on. You can get a Crucial 2.5 inch 480 gb sata III ssd for $45 on Amazon. (In your case you would use one of the readily available tutorials on how to install on incompatible hardware.) Getting a good working Windows 11 is first and foremost, even though a clean install is a pain in the posterior but the installation process builds the boot drive partitions for you in the proper order.

I would then install the old drive in a usb 3.1 hard drive enclosure which costs about $20. At this point you could move any of the data used on a regular basis (small data) back to their corresponding folders on C: because you have plenty of space. Using Minitool Partition Wizard boot flash drive I would deal with the partitions on the external drive, one at a time. Minitool is great for removing and resizing partitions when there is non-consecutive space involved.

You end up with a good clean installation of Windows on a fast ssd and space to play with on the usb drive. With 2 drives you can more easily manipulate the size of your partitions, keeping the secondary drive for obscure stuff and backups of your primary drive.

Before I would start this endeavor, I would lay it all out on paper so it makes sense and deal with it one thing at a time, all the while hoping that bullet doesn't break my 2 front teeth off.

Nah, not really. It not hard, just time consuming.
This worked for me. I leave the external drive plugged in all the time. I wish I had something else to offer. Best of luck to you.