Can I do a windows system restore without losing Ubuntu?

bobbyxmacefight · 04-22-2009, 02:07 PM

I dual boot Ubuntu and Windows Vista, but I had a serious Vista crash and now I cannot boot into Vista (the computer restarts instead). I want to use my computer's recovery partition to do a system restore, but I don't want to lose Ubuntu. I'm not sure if that will happen, but I am hesitating to try it without knowing for sure that it is safe. Can I do this?

Rome5 · 04-22-2009, 05:29 PM

Both OSes are installed on the same hard drive? If so, no, you'll lose Ubuntu running the recovery since it will format the hard drive. You would need a Vista CD - actual Vista OS CD and not a recovery CD.

Your best bet is backing up Ubuntu. Do you have an extra hard drive available (be it internal or external)? This would make backup pretty painless. If not, there are other options as well, but if you can use another hard drive, we'll look at that first.

#NOTE: if both OSes are installed on separate hard drives; you can safely run the recovery.

bobbyxmacefight · 04-22-2009, 07:59 PM

yes I have a 500 gig external harddrive. I don't know anything about backing an OS up though. How would I do that?

**Bartender** · 04-24-2009, 07:38 AM

bobby -
I would strongly suggest that you make your recovery discs right now. AFAIC this is the first thing people should do when they get their PC home. Don't rely on the partition, make the DVD's. The manufacturer provides some path for making the discs. Seems like each manufacturer goes about this in a different way, but there will be some instructions somewhere for burning the DVD's and you oughta do that first.
Once you've made the DVD's the recovery partition is often (always?) rendered useless by the built-in recovery program. When I used the Acer recovery DVD's, the recovery partition was removed, freeing up extra space.

Store the DVD's in a safe place!

The term "backup" is used loosely. Sometimes people mean a bit-for-bit copy of the entire OS. Sometimes it means just your personal data - music files, documents, pictures, etc.
Would you prefer to back up every bit of Ubuntu, or just save the personal data and install a fresh copy of Ubuntu? The latest version (9.04) is coming out very soon if not out already.

If you're thinking of reinstalling, here's something to think about. Using your PC or anyone else's, download gparted liveCD (GPLCD). Burn the download to a CD. Set your PC to boot from the optical drive. Start up the PC with GPLCD in the tray. See if GPLCD appears to be working (sees the drive, recognizes it as "sda"). You can either get out of GPLCD to think about all this, or proceed.
If you already made your Windows recovery DVD's, you can use GPLCD to wipe the drive, then create a primary NTFS partition at the front of the drive (left hand side of the "map" in GPLCD) and a primary or extended partition, formatted as ext3, on whatever amount of space you left for Ubuntu to the right side of the drive. When you're happy with the layout, get out of GPLCD.
Pop in the first Windows recovery DVD. Windows will only recognize the NTFS partition and will install there, leaving the ext3 partition ready for re-install of Ubuntu.
I always use GPLCD. Even when I didn't plan to. Circumstances always push me back to using GPLCD to set up the drive first.
For instance, it's kind of confusing to set up /, swap, and /home partitions from within the Ubuntu installer. Things go smoother for me if I set those partitions up first via GPLCD, then mount them appropriately within the Ubuntu installation process.

neonjuice · 04-24-2009, 08:58 PM

Sadly we can not re-install Vista without losing Linux. It really is a shame, but what can we do besides make full back up discs like Bartender has already stated.

Do you use WUBI to install Ubuntu or a Linux DVD?.

Rome5 · 04-25-2009, 12:44 AM

A. almost forgot this thread - sorry.

B. There are advantages to both backing up the full system and simply backing up config and personal files. The full system backup will give you exactly that, the full system - a clone, basically. No need to reinstall programs, tweak settings, and so on. The config/personal backup will be quicker, use less space on the drive, and allow you to install Ubuntu 9.04 and still use the same configurations (for the most part). Either way, both are easy enough.

C. If you want the full system backup, you'll need the SystemRescueCD in order to use 'partimage'. Partimage is easy to use and works just fine. Not at all the only option, but good for a first backup.

You won't need any additional CD's/programs to backup your personals and config files. You can simply use tar which is pretty easy.

#NOTE: tar is also a very effective method of backing up a full system and the backup itself is painless. The only thing is when restoring, you'll have a little extra command line work to get things up and running.

D. The external hard drive, do you have free space available or do you have a linux partition (using ext3) on there? I'd suggest creating one if you don't. Partimage will write to NTFS, but I don't know how well that works. Have you created a partition before?

**Bartender** · 04-25-2009, 08:02 AM

bobby -
With a genuine Windows install CD you can try certain things to repair the installation without wiping everything else off the drive.

But who gets a genuine Windows CD anymore? Nobody that I know of. All we get is these stupid "recovery partitions". And all those things do is wipe the drive, then reinstall the factory installation. There's no repair options. It's all or nothing.

The manufacturer saves a few bucks per unit by doing it this way. But it's not in the consumer's best interest.

There's one advantage to using the recovery partition or discs, if you can call it an advantage: the original drivers are installed, saving you the chore of getting new drivers from the manufacturer's website. But chances are the manufacturer's website has newer, better drivers than your recovery partition, so it's a good idea to get the new drivers anyway.

I think that at the least, they should go back to giving you recovery discs along with the PC. Tossing all the data on the hard drive is a cheesy shortcut. What happens if the hard drive fails? A lot of people don't know that they should burn the data to DVD's first thing, then store those DVD's in a safe place.

04-22-2009, 02:07 PM	#1 (permalink)
bobbyxmacefight Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 7 OS: vista dual boot with ubuntu	Can I do a windows system restore without losing Ubuntu? I dual boot Ubuntu and Windows Vista, but I had a serious Vista crash and now I cannot boot into Vista (the computer restarts instead). I want to use my computer's recovery partition to do a system restore, but I don't want to lose Ubuntu. I'm not sure if that will happen, but I am hesitating to try it without knowing for sure that it is safe. Can I do this?

04-22-2009, 05:29 PM	#2 (permalink)
Rome5 Alternative Computing Team Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Denver.CO Posts: 311 OS: Arch linux	Re: Can I do a windows system restore without losing Ubuntu? Both OSes are installed on the same hard drive? If so, no, you'll lose Ubuntu running the recovery since it will format the hard drive. You would need a Vista CD - actual Vista OS CD and not a recovery CD. Your best bet is backing up Ubuntu. Do you have an extra hard drive available (be it internal or external)? This would make backup pretty painless. If not, there are other options as well, but if you can use another hard drive, we'll look at that first. #NOTE: if both OSes are installed on separate hard drives; you can safely run the recovery. __________________ Arch64 ~ PekWM

04-22-2009, 07:59 PM	#3 (permalink)
bobbyxmacefight Registered User Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 7 OS: vista dual boot with ubuntu	Re: Can I do a windows system restore without losing Ubuntu? yes I have a 500 gig external harddrive. I don't know anything about backing an OS up though. How would I do that?

04-24-2009, 07:38 AM	#4 (permalink)
Bartender Mentally divergent Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Chehalis, WA, USA Posts: 1,285 OS: W2K, Ubuntu 8.04	Re: Can I do a windows system restore without losing Ubuntu? bobby - I would strongly suggest that you make your recovery discs right now. AFAIC this is the first thing people should do when they get their PC home. Don't rely on the partition, make the DVD's. The manufacturer provides some path for making the discs. Seems like each manufacturer goes about this in a different way, but there will be some instructions somewhere for burning the DVD's and you oughta do that first. Once you've made the DVD's the recovery partition is often (always?) rendered useless by the built-in recovery program. When I used the Acer recovery DVD's, the recovery partition was removed, freeing up extra space. Store the DVD's in a safe place! The term "backup" is used loosely. Sometimes people mean a bit-for-bit copy of the entire OS. Sometimes it means just your personal data - music files, documents, pictures, etc. Would you prefer to back up every bit of Ubuntu, or just save the personal data and install a fresh copy of Ubuntu? The latest version (9.04) is coming out very soon if not out already. If you're thinking of reinstalling, here's something to think about. Using your PC or anyone else's, download gparted liveCD (GPLCD). Burn the download to a CD. Set your PC to boot from the optical drive. Start up the PC with GPLCD in the tray. See if GPLCD appears to be working (sees the drive, recognizes it as "sda"). You can either get out of GPLCD to think about all this, or proceed. If you already made your Windows recovery DVD's, you can use GPLCD to wipe the drive, then create a primary NTFS partition at the front of the drive (left hand side of the "map" in GPLCD) and a primary or extended partition, formatted as ext3, on whatever amount of space you left for Ubuntu to the right side of the drive. When you're happy with the layout, get out of GPLCD. Pop in the first Windows recovery DVD. Windows will only recognize the NTFS partition and will install there, leaving the ext3 partition ready for re-install of Ubuntu. I always use GPLCD. Even when I didn't plan to. Circumstances always push me back to using GPLCD to set up the drive first. For instance, it's kind of confusing to set up /, swap, and /home partitions from within the Ubuntu installer. Things go smoother for me if I set those partitions up first via GPLCD, then mount them appropriately within the Ubuntu installation process.

04-24-2009, 08:58 PM	#5 (permalink)
neonjuice Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Minnesota Posts: 113 OS: Vista Ultimate 64 bit SP1. Linux Ubuntu, XP Pro	Re: Can I do a windows system restore without losing Ubuntu? Sadly we can not re-install Vista without losing Linux. It really is a shame, but what can we do besides make full back up discs like Bartender has already stated. Do you use WUBI to install Ubuntu or a Linux DVD?.

04-25-2009, 12:44 AM	#6 (permalink)
Rome5 Alternative Computing Team Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Denver.CO Posts: 311 OS: Arch linux	Re: Can I do a windows system restore without losing Ubuntu? A. almost forgot this thread - sorry. B. There are advantages to both backing up the full system and simply backing up config and personal files. The full system backup will give you exactly that, the full system - a clone, basically. No need to reinstall programs, tweak settings, and so on. The config/personal backup will be quicker, use less space on the drive, and allow you to install Ubuntu 9.04 and still use the same configurations (for the most part). Either way, both are easy enough. C. If you want the full system backup, you'll need the SystemRescueCD in order to use 'partimage'. Partimage is easy to use and works just fine. Not at all the only option, but good for a first backup. You won't need any additional CD's/programs to backup your personals and config files. You can simply use tar which is pretty easy. #NOTE: tar is also a very effective method of backing up a full system and the backup itself is painless. The only thing is when restoring, you'll have a little extra command line work to get things up and running. D. The external hard drive, do you have free space available or do you have a linux partition (using ext3) on there? I'd suggest creating one if you don't. Partimage will write to NTFS, but I don't know how well that works. Have you created a partition before? __________________ Arch64 ~ PekWM

04-25-2009, 08:02 AM	#7 (permalink)
Bartender Mentally divergent Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Chehalis, WA, USA Posts: 1,285 OS: W2K, Ubuntu 8.04	Re: Can I do a windows system restore without losing Ubuntu? bobby - With a genuine Windows install CD you can try certain things to repair the installation without wiping everything else off the drive. But who gets a genuine Windows CD anymore? Nobody that I know of. All we get is these stupid "recovery partitions". And all those things do is wipe the drive, then reinstall the factory installation. There's no repair options. It's all or nothing. The manufacturer saves a few bucks per unit by doing it this way. But it's not in the consumer's best interest. There's one advantage to using the recovery partition or discs, if you can call it an advantage: the original drivers are installed, saving you the chore of getting new drivers from the manufacturer's website. But chances are the manufacturer's website has newer, better drivers than your recovery partition, so it's a good idea to get the new drivers anyway. I think that at the least, they should go back to giving you recovery discs along with the PC. Tossing all the data on the hard drive is a cheesy shortcut. What happens if the hard drive fails? A lot of people don't know that they should burn the data to DVD's first thing, then store those DVD's in a safe place.