Allright guys, I'm pretty savvy, but have limited experience with boot information. I want to create a recovery partition for my Vista x64, using the complete pc backup in the control panel. I've created a WinRE image, and I know how to integrate it into my F8 menu, but only from the c: drive. What I need to know, and where my knowledge is lacking, is how to boot from another partition without any of the boot record being on the root partition. Let's say I have a partition: Recovery [R:]. I need it to be COMPLETELY self-sufficient. I want WinRE on r: and I want it to boot from r:, not from c:.
The point is to be able to completely overwrite every other partition, including c:. If I'm booting WinRE from the c: drive, then the restore won't work because I'd be trying to overwrite WinRE's boot information, which would be in use. I have a 500Gb SATA hard drive partitioned as follows: Vista [C:] @ 120Gb, Data [F:] @ 300Gb, and Recovery [R:] @ about 40Gb, all in that order. Do I need to move the recovery partition so that it's before c:, or can I leave it where it is? What is the Mb/cylinder limit to where a partition is no longer bootable? I can resize r: down to under 20Gb if I need to.
Let me know if there are any other details you need. Thanks for the help!
What I DON'T need:
-I don't need any suggestions on third party partitioning programs. I have Acronis, but I only want to use Vista's built-in app.
-I don't need any suggestions to boot from the cd. I already know I can boot from the setup disc, I don't want to do that.
-Also, I don't need any suggestions to back up to DVD's, I don't want to do that either.
Basically, if you're not answering any of the specific questions above, then you're not helping. I know what I want to do, I just need some help on how to do it correctly. Thanks again!
Jason
