BleepingComputer.com: Linux and Restoring Windows Image

Good day or good evening, o brilliant bleepsters.

A couple days ago, the hard drive in one of my computers had a power cable come unplugged for reasons unknown, and I fear that as it loosened it may have caused an arc or short and fried the drive.



What I'm wondering is this:

I have a backup/image of said drive, containing Windows 7 x64 and a lot of precious data. It's on an external drive.

If I put Linux (I'd most likely use PCLOS, possibly Zorin) on a good drive such as the one I'm using right now, would I/should I be able to recover that image to said good drive containing a Linux distro?

As in, could I install my distro of choice to my current drive (which is running Win 7), letting the live CD partition it as dual boot, or should I wipe my current drive running W7, install PCLOS or Zorin, make a Windows partition and restore the W7 image from my external drive to that partition? OR could I just install one of said distros to a drive, and recover my W7 image directly to that drive with no partitioning?

I don't really mind losing what I have on the drive I'm currently using, IF I can for certain (as certain as anything can be with computers ...) restore said bad drive's data/programs from said image on said external drive. I'd be willing to use this current drive in conjunction with installing a Linux distro in whichever manner you recommend.

Thank you very, very much!

floridaze

This post has been edited by floridaze: 18 March 2012 - 09:22 AM

Recover data info: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/15761/recover-data-like-a-forensics-expert-using-an-ubuntu-live-cd/

Ubuntu-based rescue distro: http://www.bootmed.com/index.html It's main goal is to help the average Windows user to recover a computer that will not boot.

More data recovery info: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-ubuntu-live-cd-to-backup-files-from-your-dead-windows-computer/

Hope these help?

Richard

Hi Richard, thanks a lot for your time and trouble in looking up those links.

However, I'm not sure that they'll help at this point after looking them up. While I haven't used Ubuntu to try to recover that drive, I've used Mint 8 with Gparted, and it didn't detect the drive. What's worse is that my BIOS is not recognizing that the drive exists, not even with some programs from Hirens. So maybe we should put that drive to rest, at least in this thread.

I'm mainly wondering if, disregarding that faulty drive now, I can install a distro onto another, fully functioning drive, and then restore my Windows 7 backup/image to that good drive which would now have PCLOS or Zorin, or Ubuntu if you recommended Ubuntu on it? I'm using that good drive (also Win 7) right now, so I know it's functioning fine.

If I can do that by installing one of those distros to the drive now with Win 7 already on it, or by wiping the drive as I don't think I could have two copies of Win 7 even on different partition - this presuming that I COULD restore the image onto a Linux drive - (MS would think I was a hacker in the bad sense if I tried to put Win 7 on the same drive twice and I think they'd make it impossible), per my question above, could I restore my faulty drive's image which is on my external drive to the Windows partition on the drive which now would contain a Linux distro? I hope that makes sense ...

Thank you very much!

floridaze

You should have made a boot disc that would enable you to move the
backup image to a new drive in the same computer that the image was made from.
Did you?

Well I made a backup/image of that Win 7 drive using the backup tool included in Win 7, so I think/hope that means yes? I also have my original Win 7 retail disk and the recovery disk which Win 7 prompts one to make immediately upon install, and I've seen the restore from backup options on those disks, yes. I posted about this in the Win 7 forum also, about recovering the Win 7 image. That shouldn't be a problem, just restoring the image to my good drive.

BUT what I'm really hoping to hear from you friends over here is that it's OK to recover that image to a drive which has a Linux distro on it? I really want to have both Linux (again, mostly likely PCLOS or maybe Zorin) and my recovered Win 7 on the same drive, and I want to have said Linux distro on the drive first, before recovering my W7 image. When I've installed distros like Mint before, it partitioned the hard drive automatically to contain a Windows partition. So I'm hoping to hear confirmation that I can recover my W7 image to a drive which has been partitioned by PCLOS/Zorin. Yes, maybe, no way no how? I just don't want to put myself behind before I even start.

Thanks a lot.

I'm not sure how you go about putting W7 back on, but when you do it will overwrite the Linux bootloader (Grub) if Linux is installed first .... 'cos Windows just does that!!
You'll have to recover Grub thus https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RecoveringUbuntuAfterInstallingWindows

But if you install Linux after Windows, Grub should 'see' Windows & add it to the boot menu.

Hope this helps?

Richard

I believe that will help, yes. I was hoping to be able to create a Windows partition with an install of Linux (first), or with my Gparted disk or some such, but that's OK. Come to think of it, I'd probably want to wipe my good hard drive with DBAN or some such prior to anything, and THEN do whatever.

If Windows just "does" wipe out GRUB, then phooey on Windows. lol I'd like to solely run Linux anyway, at least on my main computer someday in the near future.

Thanks! And I LOVE your avatar.

I can't recall where the avatar came from

Let's name him Tony Squirprano!

AND I think I've come up with a new-yet-related question. I'll have to think on how to word it coherently though.

Thanks, all!

floridaze

Good name!! Cheers.