Hey Brian/NightOwl
Hope this board is still active
I am running Win7Pro-SP1 x64
I have 2 identical internal HDD drives Western Black 1T capacity (not RAID) plus 2 optical DVD players.
My new replacement will also be a Western Black 1T.
For vars reasons its time for me to replace the primary boot drive.

This disk currently contains 4 partitions >
The separate no drive letter Windows7 System Recovery (SRP) area (500MB)
The Operating system and program files C\  (414GB)
The computer maker's Recovery image F\  (4.88GB)
A misc storage area E\  (512GB) - Nothing of value on it so I didnt image it but still want the partition on new new drive.

I have created cold images using Ghost SRDisk 15.0 and plan on using those to make a new replacement drive re-image.

I have never done this before but by following this board and my other questions answered here I think I have a grasp on how to proceed with the re-image unless there has been some new developments in the last 12 months.

So my Question is > since I would like to have the same 4 partitions and sizes on the new disk, do I have to create the partitions first and then restore each image into its partition?  If so, how? If not, pls explain why not and what to expect during the disk restoration.
Thx

PS: I do now have some additional questions regarding preparation of the new disk.
I assume I remove the old boot drive from the computer and install the new one in its place? Do I have to do anything to prepare the new drive as respects formating or addressing unallocated space?
If so, via the Ghost SRD? since I would not have access to Windows or anything since the primary drive has been removed.

Yes Desktop
Second internal hd and on a USB western passport
Think drive may be on its way out lots of reallocation  over time but no data issues yet.
Keep data on E drive- no, that's why I did not image  it but when done in the end I would like to have the new replacement drive to have 4 partitions/volumes.
Would like to keep F unless this creates a lot of additional re-image work.
No to bitlocker but if possible would like to reimage with keeping the SRP

I've been thinking also. Would it be easiest to only restore the SRP, C\, and F\. Then recreate the E\ space once back inside Windows?

Thx but some questions
Does the setup presented when in Ghost SRD change based on what Ghost detects during cd start up? As when i look at the options presented with my current hard drives, I do not see any of the options you are referencing.
When you say delete phantom partitions and instead restore into unallocated free space. What does that mean? What will I be looking at to do this? A check box to Delete? A graphic drive area similar to managing drives in windows to select an unallocated area?
So does Ghost know from the backup how large the partitions were on the backed up drive in order to restore the old partition size to the new disk?
Finally if that is the case what happens to the large partition that is currently occupied by E\ if I don't restore it via Ghost SRD?
Also no need to format anything? SRD knows what it should be?

Thank you very much for your responses.

Just for my broader understanding of what is on the SRD can you or anyone else reading in on this confirm the following:

Since my system is still intact with the original 2 HD's, when I insert the Ghost SRD and look at Restore, I can't find most of options you are referencing.
So does the SRD change the options presented based on what it detects when it is run?
ie: SRD currently detects 2 HD disks but also detects that they are already populated so SRD only provides options to restore to them. But if I take out the boot drive and install a new blank drive, upon SRD start up it will detect a blank, unformatted, unpartitioned drive and offer an entirely different set of options which you are referring to).

If so, that makes sense of why I can't see those options now. If not, as I said, I don't have those options when I currently boot up/from my SRD.

Thx again.

Brian - soooooooo sorry.
I was looking for the "Edit" at the bottom of the screen instead of above right on the screen.
So YES I do have the Options you discuss.

Not being so afraid of exploring, I selected each recovery file one by one and went into that "edit" screen to see what came up. While I now feel really comfortable with this - the procedure brings up some new questions.

You say after clicking Edit, to Delete a drive if you see a SRP type partition (the highlighted partition doesn't exist yet.) Also in the beginning : Delete them and restore into unallocated free space. (phantom partitions that are Ghost "suggestions")

When I enter the Edit screen it shows at the top, info regarding the "Drive to Recover" which is the one I had selected to begin with. Then above a listing box it shows "Select a Target Drive or Unallocated Space"
It then shows in black print all my drives that I created an image of as well as 2 of my drives on my second hd that I did not ever image. It also shows in grey print two unallocated entries both small in size 1.71MB and 2.71MB. Obviously too small to restore anything into.
However the SRD automatically selects a "target" that has the same drive letter and the exact same size of the partition that I would want to restore.
The "Resize drive after recovery" is always greyed out regardless of which of my 3 images I choose to restore.
When I click through to the last screen, SRD recaps the partition that I want to recover and the Target shows to restore to the same drive letter and drive size of the imaged one.

Perhaps being confused, in the Target listing I selected the black print entry that SRD had selected (for say System Recovery) and selected the Delete button thinking this is what you were suggesting. Up pops a warning which says: "Deleting this Drive will destroy any existing data. The Drive will be deleted when you click Finish at the end of the Wizard."

Needless to say I cancelled out of that one.

OK so in summary:
>It seems like the partitions that appear in the Target listing dont or shouldnt be Deleted.
>There is also no reasonable sized unallocated listing as an alternate choice and I dont see where someone can create any other alternatives.
>In each of 3 selections and times doing this, SRD always selected a Target that provided the same letter and partition size as the image to be restored.

So why ever fool with SRD Target selection and is it really "just" a suggestion since there appears to be nothing else to choose?

Also on each of my 3 restores, SRD pre-selected "Restore original disk signature" and "Verify recovery point before recovery"
You had no mention of these except the first one as respects the SRP restore.  Should each restore get these?

Thanks again for your time and interest.

Brian wrote on Jan 30^th, 2017 at 5:13pm:


Well bummer! Thought I saw it all.
Since I won't be able to see the screen options for this until I am already into the restore process, can you pls further explain in detail what these phantom partitions look like or what dialogue they will show?

What other choices as a Target will SRD present?
Will there be line entries just showing "unallocated" space? 
Different unallocated sizes or can I adjust to the size I want?
Will SRD also suggest any targets similar to what I have been seeing per above? (Drive letters and partition sizes?

I'm just now at a loss of what I will be looking at on the Target screen.


Thx again.

Brian wrote on Jan 30^th, 2017 at 5:54pm:


"only one with each restore" OK that's a relief 

Final questions (hopefully) -
OK so per my comments above, I now see Targets that show various partitions and several entries that just show "unallocated" (grey print). I can select any one of them (it appears).
So when I select Target will I see 1 phantom partition and 1 or more "unallocated" selections?
And if I can select any of the targets now, why do I need to Delete the phantom partition vs just de-selecting it?
Does it truely not exist or is it a selectable option?
Then upon selecting "unallocated space", what decides how large the new partition will be? SRD?
Could it use the entire unallocated new disk space?
Does it know how big the old partition being restored was and make it that size?

Also, I know to restore each partition individually starting with the SRP, then C, then F.
FMI when I get to the end of the selections process on each partition, I click Finished but no tick on Reboot except on the last partition restored. So does Ghost wait to do anything until that final restore and Reboot tick, or does it perform the restore of each partition onto the drive upon clicking Finish each time - just no Reboot until the end?

Lexus23

Have you restored the images to the new drive? Any issues?