Windows Disaster Recovery and BootCamp

Resources

Currently Windows Disaster Recovery with Mac BootCamp is not supported as there are some isssues that prevent Retrospect from restoring everything properly. From our own testing after going through a Windows 8.1 DR the OS was able to be recovered but we did see a number of issues.

Known Issues.

During the restore process Retrospect is unable to restore the partition layout of the Windows volume and Retrospect is unable to restore the EFI System Partition (ESP). This means that if you were replacing the disk, you would need to do a restore of the Mac partition, then use the Boot Camp assistant to setup the Windows partition, and then go through the DR process.

During restore Retrospect may report the following errors:

After booting into the OS, the Metro Apps no longer work (there is no known fix).

The Recycle bin is reported as corrupted and asks to be emptied. After being emptied, everything appears to work correctly.

There may be other unknown issues although results may vary depending on the OS version being restored. For example Windows 7 does not have any Metro apps.

Best Practices

The steps below can be followed to attempt a disaster recovery restore of Windows on Boot Camp. If you are replacing your entire drive (both Mac and Windows install) you will first need to restore your Mac volume and then use the Mac’s Boot Camp assistant to recreate the Windows partition.

Use Retrospect for Windows to create a DR .iso file that can be burned to a DVD or create a DR bootable flash drive. This should be setup ahead of time before needing to restore the Windows volume. Watch our video tutorials:

To boot from the DR media, restart your Mac and hold down the option key to get a list of of your boot options. Choose the Windows DR media and then press any key to boot from the DR media. For more information, watch our video tutorial:

Go through the Retrospect for Windows Disaster Recovery wizard to perform a restore of the Windows partition. The

After the restore has been completed, boot into Windows.

Alternative: Restoring data over a new Windows Install

Because of the known issues, if you are recovering from a failed hard drive or corrupted Windows install, it may be better to go through the Boot Camp assistant and do a fresh install of Windows and your applications. Then use Retrospect to restore just your data.

Last Update: November 30, 2017