Problem Restoring UEFI System Partition
Hi,
There seem to be a lot of threads on this general subject but they all seem to focus on using the built in W8 function. I've not been able to find one that addresses my issue. So, sorry if this has been asked before.
Using a User Profile tool and experimenting with copying profile settings, I managed to corrupt my W8.1 install. I thought, no, problem, I'd made images of the system partition and I would restore one of those.
Upon attempting to copy one of those image files back to the system partition, I found my machine unbootable.
I used Aomei Partition Assistant to create the image and to copy it back. Aomei though requires that the destination partition be deleted before it will copy and I think that's the root of the problem. I suspect that Aomei destroys the hidden UEFI partitions in the process which renders the machine unbootable. I did check with Diskpart and could see that I no longer had four partitions after the above which does indicate that Aomei did trash one of the other partitions.
I have now used my bootable install media to make a new windows 8 instal on the machine. I can see with Diskpart that the machine again has the four UEFI partitions.
So, now I'm ready to try again to copy my backup system partition to the new system partition. I had put in lots of work updating to 8.1, installing software, and customizing settings, etc. so I'd rather not reinstall everything again!
The question is how to do this without messing it up again. By the way, windows own "restore from image" function will not allow me to select my Aomei created drive image.
My thought right now is to find a different partition copy tool which will allow me to OVERWRITE the new system partition on the machine (as said Aomei Partition Assistant does not allow this). The old version of Norton Ghost would do that, but my only copy is floppy based and this new MOBO doesn't even have a floppy connector.
Two areas where I need advice:
Thanks!
Hi,
There seem to be a lot of threads on this general subject but they all seem to focus on using the built in W8 function. I've not been able to find one that addresses my issue. So, sorry if this has been asked before.
Using a User Profile tool and experimenting with copying profile settings, I managed to corrupt my W8.1 install. I thought, no, problem, I'd made images of the system partition and I would restore one of those.
Upon attempting to copy one of those image files back to the system partition, I found my machine unbootable.
I used Aomei Partition Assistant to create the image and to copy it back. Aomei though requires that the destination partition be deleted before it will copy and I think that's the root of the problem. I suspect that Aomei destroys the hidden UEFI partitions in the process which renders the machine unbootable. I did check with Diskpart and could see that I no longer had four partitions after the above which does indicate that Aomei did trash one of the other partitions.
I have now used my bootable install media to make a new windows 8 instal on the machine. I can see with Diskpart that the machine again has the four UEFI partitions.
So, now I'm ready to try again to copy my backup system partition to the new system partition. I had put in lots of work updating to 8.1, installing software, and customizing settings, etc. so I'd rather not reinstall everything again!
The question is how to do this without messing it up again. By the way, windows own "restore from image" function will not allow me to select my Aomei created drive image.
My thought right now is to find a different partition copy tool which will allow me to OVERWRITE the new system partition on the machine (as said Aomei Partition Assistant does not allow this). The old version of Norton Ghost would do that, but my only copy is floppy based and this new MOBO doesn't even have a floppy connector.
Two areas where I need advice:
- I'd appreciate advice on the best next steps. I do want to maintain the setup as UEFI and I'm wondering whether there's anthing else I need to know about UEFI installs that would suggest another approach.
- If indeed I can solve this by overwriting the partition (instead of deleting and creating a new one), I'd appreciate a recommendation for a bootable tool (USB or CD) that will help with this.
Thanks!
Last edited:
My Computer
System One
-
- OS
- W8.1
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop