Hi,

Background:

I have a Windows 7 System, running off an SSD, with two additional HDDs installed.

Earlier this week, my system crashed and failed to reboot with MBR Error 1.  After trying my Windows 7 Rescue Disk ("which cited "missing drivers"), my Macrium Rescue Disk ("Fix Windows boot problems"), and "bootrec /fixmbr", I was finally able to get my system going again after entering BIOS Setup to reestablish the boot order.  Presumably the rescue attempts had worked but upset the boot order in the process (the SSD had dropped into 2nd place).

Current Problem and Solution:

I have been taking a weekly Macrium Image backup of my SSD ("System Reserved" & C-disk partitions). This now fails with the message,

         XML Validation:   Error - '<disk>''1''<partition>' 1' is not valid

I understand from previous (V5) forum comments that this may have been as a result of the disk ID having been changed in the course of the recovery activity, and that the backup problem can be solved by deleting and recreating the Backup definition.  

Questions:

1) If I recreate the backup Definition (by editing and finishing?), can Macrium still maintain the existing backup set, or will it start a new full backup set (necessitating some additional space planning)?

2) If Macrium starts a new backup set, will the previous backup set (presumably with outdated disk ID) still be usable against the disk?  Could that backup set still be restored in part or in its entirety?  Or is it now just wasted space?

3) Is the MBR the same as the MSR (Microsoft Reserved Partition) described as "1 - System reserved (None)" in the Restore View of my backup contents?   If not, is it nevertheless saved with the disk image?  And could I have recovered just the MBR and disk ID by somehow restoring it from the backup set, to enable consistency with the backup set?

Bill R

Questions...

1. The new definition will start a new backup chain... plan for space.

2. The old backup set is fully usable against the current disk configurations, and may be mounted for perusal, if necessary, as well as used for restoration, if needed.

3. The MBR is the 1st block on your disk... used to define your partition structure and the initial BOOT path for your System.  The MSR is a small, separate partition created by the Windows build that contains some multiBOOT information as well as the System Recovery image, if needed.  It also knows where the Windows partition is located.

With your image description above, both the MSR and Windows partition were saved as well as the MBR (and its following 62 disk sectors) which is always saved with each image.  During the restore of an image, one of the "Advanced options" asks whether you want to restore your MBR... it is ON by default.  So... when you restore an image without changing your restore options, it does restore not only the partitions in the image but also the MBR that goes with it.

Froggie, thanks very much for your explanations. That's just what I needed to know.

Can I deduce that I could have repaired my MBR by just recovering the MSR Partition (1) from the Macrium Image backup, and that, in fact, I could still do that, and then maintain my current backup set?

My only concern is whether the MSR is essentially unchanging, or at least so in the absence of major configuration changes.  I.e., can I safely restore the MSR without restoring the corresponding C: partition containing the system? (Logic suggests to me that I should be able to do that, but Microsoft seems to be adept at confounding logic ...)

Bill R

Bill, when restoring either an entire disk image or just one of the partitions, restoring the MBR associated with that disk is controlled in the "Advanced options" LINK.  Restoring just the MSR with the MBR will do as you expect.  The MSR doesn't change very much unless you're messing around with a lot of multi-BOOT changes or possibly during a major upgrade of the OS... other than that, it's pretty static.  Usually the changes are only multi-BOOT oriented or MicroSloth replaces its Repair Environment with a newer one.

As far as original MBR restoration and your original backup set, you could do that and TEST with your original DEFINITION file... I believe it should work (don't hold me to it  )

Froggie, Thanks again.  I will be trying the restore of the MSR to see if it has the desired effect.  However, it now will be next week before I can give it a go, so I'll report back then ...

So, my plan was to restore just the MSR (+MBR), to reset the Disk ID in the MBR so that it was consistent with Macrium's Disk Image - thus overcoming the XML Validation error message, and enabling me to continue adding to the current Macrium Image backup set.  Sad to say, it didn't work.

Instead, the Windows Boot Manager complained with error status code 0xc000000e - "The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible".   (Thinking about it, I had gone through the "Add Recovery Boot Option ..." process. Maybe this put the C: disk Windows System out of step with the backed-up MSR/MBR?).  Fortunately, after rebooting from my Macrium Rescue disk, Macrium's "Fix Windows Boot Problems" process (with all Boot Code options selected), sorted out whatever was wrong with the MBR / MSR, and I was then able to reboot successfully back into Windows.

I don't like not knowing what the problem was, but didn't really want to experiment further with what is once again a working system. So instead, I have addressed my space problem, have rendered the Backup Definition file functional again, by just respecifying the backup's contents,  and have started a new full backup set.  And all, at the moment, seems to be well ...

Thanks as before,
Bill R