Re: [Bug-ddrescue] ddrescue and bad IPL

[Scott Dwyer]

Your problem is not with ddrescue, but with the fact that Windows 
partitions do not like to be moved. That specifically means that if the 
destination partition is not at the exact same sector offset on the disk 
that it came from, it will fail to boot. There is actually a registry 
entry that can be altered using a boot disk (such as Hiren's boot CD) to 
make a moved windows partition boot successfully. You also have to do 
something to the boot file (which may not be on the same partition) to 
add or change the entry.  I have done it before. But all that was too 
long ago for me to remember how. I do remember it was a big pain, which 
is why I have not done it in a long time. I use all virtual machines now :)

From what I remember, Linux partitions can be moved fairly easily 
without issues like this. Try copying the Linux partition and see if 
that works.

Regards,
Scott


On 1/25/2018 11:18 AM, Ole Reier Ulland wrote:
> It is not because I know that I have uncovered a bug in ddrescue that I send 
> this e-mail, but
> because it is the only way I know how to communicate with people who know 
> ddrescue well.
>
> I want to be able to make image files of my bootable partitions as back-up
> files. But for that to make any sense I have to know that I am able to boot
> them after using the image file again to restore the partition.
>   
> I have made a test. I use a computer with two harddisks. sda with Windows and
> sdb with Mageia Linux. I "ddrescue" the Windows partition to sdb3, primary
> partition, and use fdisk to set the boot flag for sdb3.
>   
> I have installed grub2 on both sda and sdb. grub2 probing finds both Windows
> partitions which now has the same UUID, but different PARTUUIDs. Both grub2s,
> trying to boot sdb3 just gives a blinking cursor in the upper left corner of
> the screen, and I have to shut down with the power button.
>   
> Reinstalling Windows bootloader to sdb and booting with it changes the result
> to "Bad IPL Any key to reboot", but I still have to use the power button the
> shut down.
>   
> 1. Is the cause of the problem with ddrescue?
>   
> 2. What is going on?
>   
> I would very much appreciate your ideas.