Rebuild vista

[Kinom]

Dear all

 

I have a question.

 

Is it possible to rebuild a computer with 2 existing partitions?

 

I will explain my self

 

The computers are set up with 2 partitions C and D.

Suddenly the operating system fails are there is something wrong with the operating system.

The user saved some data on the D drive, for example 80GB.

 

Is it possible to reinstall the operating system without touching the D drive?

[Tobie]

Hello,

 

Shure, that is not a problem. Just select your C partition when you are about to select which hardrive you wany to install your operating system on.

 

/Tobie

[Kinom]

Hello,

 

Shure, that is not a problem. Just select your C partition when you are about to select which hardrive you wany to install your operating system on.

 

/Tobie

I dont understand wat you meen

[Tobie]

When you're installing a new operating system on a computer you will be asked on which HDD and partition (if you have several) you want to install your new operating system to, just dont select that partition that the user have saved away files on.

 

Or am I misstaking your question? You want to reinstall the a compute with 2 partitions and to be shure that your files on the second driver dont be erased during this operation.

 

/Tobias

[Kinom]

When you're installing a new operating system on a computer you will be asked on which HDD and partition (if you have several) you want to install your new operating system to, just dont select that partition that the user have saved away files on.

 

Or am I misstaking your question? You want to reinstall the a compute with 2 partitions and to be shure that your files on the second driver dont be erased during this operation.

 

/Tobias

Thanks for the quick reply

 

 

That’s correct

Bud if I see the task sequence it will partition the disk and then it will install the OS.

 

 

1) restart in Widows PXE

2)Partition disk 0

3) Apply Operating system (It is there that I can select the partition and install the OS)

 

It is in the partition section that I have some questions.

Do I have to make 1 partition in this task sequence?

 

It is maybe a stupid question but I don’t have a clue.

[Tobie]

Ahh, damn im stupid, i didnt notice that you where posting in Deploy Vista, I though you where about to install a OS manually.

 

If you just have one computer that is damaged I recomend you to go to that PC and repair the existing OS manuelly. It's mutch faster that building a new TS for just that job. My knowledge about disk management in OSD isnt that high and I know that it's tricky some times to get it work.

 

But i know if you just select to create one partition, your disk will be wiped during OSD and you will loose all saved away files on that disk and I'm not shure if you can create a 2:nd partition but to let it be "untouched". Let's request some help mate.

 

Anyweb: could you be so kind and help us kinom out here.

 

/Tobias

[Kinom]

Ahh, damn im stupid, i didnt notice that you where posting in Deploy Vista, I though you where about to install a OS manually.

 

If you just have one computer that is damaged I recomend you to go to that PC and repair the existing OS manuelly. It's mutch faster that building a new TS for just that job. My knowledge about disk management in OSD isnt that high and I know that it's tricky some times to get it work.

 

But i know if you just select to create one partition, your disk will be wiped during OSD and you will loose all saved away files on that disk and I'm not shure if you can create a 2:nd partition but to let it be "untouched". Let's request some help mate.

 

Anyweb: could you be so kind and help us kinom out here.

 

/Tobias

 

Thanks Tobias for the reply

Anyweb, do you know how I can do this?

[anyweb]

the way you can 'backup' an existing partition or drive within Vista deployment is by utilising USMT (user state migration tool)

 

that's the supported way, but it's by no means easy

 

more info on USMT here > http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=231

 

you could possibly script it yourself but if it's only for one pc then why bother, or is this for more than one ? if so, USMT is the answer..

 

cheers

anyweb

[Kinom]

the way you can 'backup' an existing partition or drive within Vista deployment is by utilising USMT (user state migration tool)

 

that's the supported way, but it's by no means easy

 

more info on USMT here > http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=231

 

you could possibly script it yourself but if it's only for one pc then why bother, or is this for more than one ? if so, USMT is the answer..

 

cheers

anyweb

Thanks for the reply

 

It is not for 1 PC, there are more.

[wmmayms]

This is untested (just setting up a new SCCM env so will be able to try it out soon).

 

Think you could do something liek this:

I know you can create 2 volumes on 1 disk. However this should only be done if it hasent been done before (so the partition tables don´t get messed up)...should be able to fix this with a condition.

 

then you should be able to format only the primary partition and leave the extended partition unformated (which means no data that is saved on D:\ is lost)

 

However this would mean that the first time you deployed this task sequence you would have to format the D:\ manually. When this has been done one, you can then reinstall as many times as you want and D:\ should allways keep the data.

 

Atleast until the disk crashes

[Kinom]

I figured it out a long time ago but I was to busy to post the answered :-)

I just left the partition step out of the task sequence.

It starts to deploy on the primary partition and leaves the secondary partition like it is, after that you just log in with you account and you can access de D: partition.