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Home  > Startup Version  > Restore Data from an Image

Restore Data from an Image


Restoring data to a system or other locked disk:

Note: This help page describes the operation of the TUI startup version. Go to the Restore Data from an Image help page for the GUI version and to the network drives help If necessary.

You cannot restore data to the system (the disk from which Windows starts) or other locked disk the same way you do that to any other disk. You need either to restart R-Drive Image in its startup mode, or start your computer from another computer local disk or from specially created startup disk(s) .

We recommended that you print out this topic and have the hardcopy on hand while you are performing this action.

If there is a non-IDE disk controller in your system, or you plan to use network disks or external hardware devices , first check the List of Hardware Devices Supported in the Startup Mode .

If you plan to use any external device, turn it on before starting the system.

If the image to restore is located on cloud services or other places that may be unavailable to the startup version, copy it to some other location that R-Drive Image can reach.

If the motherboard in your computer supports the Serial ATA (SATA) devices, but IDE disks are also present, only the SATA devices should be set to the Enhanced Mode in BIOS.

Please, note that the startup version of R-Drive Image can restore data only to fixed-provisional Windows Storage Spaces. You may read more about thin-provisioned or fixed Windows Storage Spaces in Microsoft's Storage Spaces Overview .

We recommend you stop all other programs before you start restoring data on a partition.

2 Select Restore Image on the Action Selection panel and press the N key
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Action Selection Panel

Use the arrow keys to switch between the options.

3 Select the file with the image on the Open an Image File panel and press the Enter key

 

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Open an Image File Panel

 

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Open an Image File Panel

R/O

Read-only disk. You cannot create images on such disks.

Use the Tab key to switch between the control areas and the arrow and Enter keys to navigate within the File area.

You may also connect network drives.

4 S elect the object in the image file on the Select an object panel you want to restore data from and press the N key
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Select Source Object Panel

Use the arrow keys to select the object.

5 Select time and data of the data to restore on the Select Image Date/Time panel and press the N key

Use the arrow keys to select the object

6 Select the destination for the data on the Select a target for copy/restore operation panel and press the N key
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Select Target Object Panel

Use the arrow keys to switch between the target objects.

H

Hard drive

P

Primary partition

L

Logical disk

U

Unallocated space

7 Specify restore parameters on the Copy/restore options panel and press the N key
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Copy/Restore Options Panel

For restoring/copying one or several partition(s):

Restore Options

Free space before

You may specify the size of free space that will be left on the hard drive before the beginning of the partition.

Partition size

You may specify the size of the partition to be restored. Should be between the minimum and maximum partition size.

Partition type

Primary(Active)

Primary

Logical

You may specify the type of the partition to be restored. Do not change this setting unless you have serious reasons to do so.

For restoring/copying an entire hard drive to another hard drive:

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HDD Copy/Restore Options Panel

HDD Copy Method

Raw disk copy

R-Drive Image writes sector-by-sector the data from the original drive or its image to the target one making an exact copy of the original disk regardless of its partitioning method. Can be used if other methods create a non-bootable disk due to incorrect  detection of drive's geometry or non-standard loader.

Drawback: partition sizes cannot be changed.

Copy all partitions onto original places

R-Drive Image copies all partitions to their original places. If R-Drive Image detects the drive's geometry correctly, and there is no non-standard loader, it makes the same result as during Raw disk copy .

Realign partitions

R-Drive Image will copy the partitions on the disk with a 512KB alignment. This is very useful for SSD and advanced- formatted disks. If there are empty (non-used) spaces between partitions, those spaces will be removed taking into account the alignment.

Expand/Shrink partition to whole disk

If there are empty (not-used) places between the partitions or they occupy less or more space than the target drive, R-Drive Image proportionally expands/shrinks them to occupy the entire target drive. Otherwise it is similar to Copy all partitions onto original places .

Fixed active partition

R-Drive Image preserves the original offset/size of the active partition (in case the loader has links to it).

See Support for Various Disk Partition Schemes and File Systems for details.

When you restore data from an image of a system disk , a disk signature collision may occur. In this case, the Disk Signature Collision panel will appear. You may specify the way to resolve this collision on this panel.

Disk Signature Collision Resolving

Same signature for both disk

R-Drive Image will create an identical copy of the source disk with the same signature. To avoid disk signature collision , you'll have to disconnect one of the disks and restart the computer, if necessary. Use this mode if you clone a system disk for another computer or only the target disk will be used in yours.

Different signature on the target disk.

R-Drive Image will write another disk signature to the target disk. Don’t use this mode if you clone a system disk, Windows won’t start from it. To get access to the target disk after cloning, you’ll have to restart the computer or re-connect it if it’s an external USB disk.

Change the disk signature on the source disk.

R-Drive Image will change the disk signature on the source disk. Use this mode if you want to start Windows from the target disk, but be warned: the computer won’t start from the source disk anymore.

8 Verify that the information on the Confirm operations panel is correct and press the N key
> R-Drive Image will start restoring the data from the image file to the selected destination

The Progress window will show the progress of the current operation and overall process. When the image is restored, the Operation completed successfully message will appear.

9 Verify that the information on the Processing panel is correct and click the Start button
> R-Drive Image will start restoring the files from the image file to the selected destination.

When the image is restored, the Files restored successfully message will appear.

The Disk Actions chapter explains basic disk actions.

The Startup Version chapter explains how to perform disk actions using the R-Drive Image Startup Version .

The Technical Information chapter gives technical information on Supported CD and DVD Recorders and List of Hardware Devices Supported in the Startup Mode and another useful technical information.

Follow this link to obtain R-Drive Image Contact Information and Technical Support

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