Restoring Windows 7 VHD Backup Files with Acronis True Image Home

To restore your system from Windows 7 Backup, you need to restore the whole disk where the system partition is

This article applies to:

• Acronis True Image Home 2010
• Acronis True Image Home 2011
• Acronis True Image Home 2012

Introduction

Windows 7 has a special System Reserved Partition, which is hidden and contains boot files. This partition can be viewed in Windows Disk Management (Start-Run -> diskmgmnt.msc):

When making an image of your Windows system using the Windows 7 Backup tool, it will create a separate .vhd file for each partition that is in the system, including the System Reserved Partition:

If you choose to restore your system partition from the created Windows 7 Backup .vhd files, you will need to restore the whole disk where this system partition is.

Solution

1. Boot from Acronis Bootable Media and select Acronis True Image Home (Full version):
   
2. Click Recovery, browse to your Windows 7 Backup .vhd files and select any of the files:
   
   
3. Once selected, right-click on the .vhd file and select Recover:
   
4. Select Recover whole disks and partitions and click Next:
   
5. Check the whole disk that has the System Reserved Partition for recovery:
   
   (!) The drive letters displayed from Acronis Bootable Media do not coincide with those of Windows. See Acronis Bootable Media Displays Wrong Drive Letters. After the restore the System Reserved Partition will be hidden and the system partition will have the correct drive letter.
6. As the destination disk select the disk that has the System Reserved Partition, which is your system disk. When warned that all data on the destination disk will be erased, click OK.
   
7. Click Proceed to start the recovery.