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Macrium Reflect Created C:\boot !!



 
 
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  #1  
Old November 7th 15, 02:36 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Cy Burnot
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Posts: 163
Default Macrium Reflect Created C:\boot !!

What is this C:\boot?

It contains one folder, macrium, that contains two folders, drivers and
WA10Kfiles

Drivers ahs three folders -- disk (empty), network and USB (empty) --
and two files -- Macrium.oem (empty) and SearchPaths.txt.

WA10files has three folders -- fwfiles, media and mount (empty) -- and a
file called DrisversHash.bin

c:\boot takes up about 300MB. Do I need to keep it? Can I move it to
another drive?
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  #2  
Old November 7th 15, 02:52 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Paul
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Posts: 18,275
Default Macrium Reflect Created C:\boot !!

Cy Burnot wrote:
What is this C:\boot?

It contains one folder, macrium, that contains two folders, drivers and
WA10Kfiles

Drivers ahs three folders -- disk (empty), network and USB (empty) --
and two files -- Macrium.oem (empty) and SearchPaths.txt.

WA10files has three folders -- fwfiles, media and mount (empty) -- and a
file called DrisversHash.bin

c:\boot takes up about 300MB. Do I need to keep it? Can I move it to
another drive?


Best guess.

http://www.macrium.com/webhelp/Windows_Boot_Menu.asp

The folder would be intended for supporting an additional
item in a Windows Boot Manager menu. It's effectively
the Macrium boot CD, but stored in C:\boot instead,
and needing a hook in the boot menu, for a user to be
able to use it.

Paul
  #3  
Old November 7th 15, 09:04 PM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
VanguardLH[_2_]
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Posts: 10,881
Default Macrium Reflect Created C:\boot !!

Cy Burnot wrote:

What is this C:\boot?

It contains one folder, macrium, that contains two folders, drivers and
WA10Kfiles

Drivers ahs three folders -- disk (empty), network and USB (empty) --
and two files -- Macrium.oem (empty) and SearchPaths.txt.

WA10files has three folders -- fwfiles, media and mount (empty) -- and a
file called DrisversHash.bin

c:\boot takes up about 300MB. Do I need to keep it? Can I move it to
another drive?


Did you configure Macrium Reflect to provide a boot-time recovery
option?

Some backup programs usurp the boot code in the MBR. This has the
advantage of loading the program from outside any partition. You can
resize or even delete partitions but the MBR boot code will still be
there. The MBR is not in any partition, especially because it contains
the partition tables to define the partitions. The first sector of the
first track cannot be assigned to any partition. The advantage of using
a recovery program in the MBR's code area is that it is safe from
partition or file corruption or deletion. The disadvantage is the MBR
boot area is only 446 bytes in size (but there is a trick of using the
rest of the first track because it also cannot be assigned to a
partition). I have seen a rescue program (I think it was one of
Powerquest's products) that used both the MBR boot section which loaded
files in the OS partition to provided for a bigger program; however,
those would be susceptible to partition or file corruption or deletion.
Usurping the MBR boot code means the rescue program not only has to
provide its functions but also the boot functions.

Some boot programs instead use Microsoft's dual-boot scheme (where
'dual' was used incorrectly and should've been 'multi'). The BIOS loads
the boot code in the MBR which then determines which partition is marked
'active' and loads the code in the boot sector of that partition. The
boot sector code loads the rest of the OS in that partition. Back in
Windows XP, the boot sector code would look in boot.ini see what OSes
are listed in there. The info there pointed at the start of the OS or
at an image file. For example, if you installed the Recovery Console
for Windows then an entry is added in the boot.ini file and shown as a
choice in a menu for the timeout configured. It pointed to \Cmdcons to
a bootsect.dat file under there which was an image of Windows loaded
when you selected Recovery Console. As of Windows Vista, Microsoft
reeingeered the boot scheme and switch to using a database (BCD = Boot
Configuration Data). Then EFI replaced BIOS and the scheme changed
again. You never mentioned if your mobo uses BIOS or [u]EFI.

Under Windows XP, the boot loader is NTLDR and the boot config data was
in \boot.ini. Under Vista, and later, the boot loader is bootmgr and
the boot config database is under c:\boot\bcd. Macrium also puts its
boot config data under there but under \boot\macrium. A short tutorial:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...t-how-use.html

and more info:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/...=ws.10%29.aspx
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/...=ws.10%29.aspx

Even as an admin-level user, you may not see all or any files under
there. Maybe if you changed permissions or ownership then you could see
the files under there but I won't monkey with them. It's a protected
path and for good reason. There are protected paths that not even
admins are allowed to go so they won't show up when using the file
system under Windows' control. Use the allocated tools (bcdedit,
msconfig) to look at and modify the boot config (and possibly shoot
yourself in your foot making changes).

bcdedit, a console-mode command, lets you edit the BCD database but
you'll have to do some reading to figure out how to use it. I never
bothered digging that deep into this muck, plus I believe a multi-boot
manager should NOT be within the OS partition or within any partition
(the BCD is in the OS partition and defined in the registry there).
msconfig still works but is more limited to only show the boot config
data (the list of OSes) with the options to set one as the default and
to delete. Load msconfig.exe and look at its Boot tab where is listed
each OS configured with Microsoft's dual-boot scheme however employed in
the OS. Macrium Reflect adds itself as another entry to the boot menu.
Alas, because its rescue files are inside the OS partition, any damage,
corruption, or deletion of that partition could mean you cannot load any
OS listed in the boot menu, including Reflect, and why you should create
the bootable rescue media for Reflect.

So now that you know Reflect gets added into the boot menu using
Microsoft boot scheme, where does the loader get the image to boot?
Reflect doesn't create another [hidden] partition from which it loads.
It resides in the same partition as the OS. For the Recovery Console, a
..dat image file is stored in the partition and the boot entry points to
that. To see the active entries in the BCD database, in an admin-level
console shell (cmd.exe run as admin), run (with no parameters):

bcdedit

Each OS loader gets listed in a section. Some of the info is what is
recorded in the registry under:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\BCD00000000

For me, Reflect's identifier is d103951b-7c0f-11e5-bc3b-001167d1ba49 and
listed under:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\BCD00000000\Objects\{d103951b-7c0f-11e5-bc3b-001167d1ba49}

winload.exe is the loader for the OS image. I created a PE3 image so
the boot.wim file gets loaded (into a ramdisk). The Windows Automated
Installation Kit (WAIK) provides a .wim image of Windows into which the
rescue program gets added (and optionally with drivers you add). The
modified PE image (boot.wim) gets loaded when you select Reflect in the
boot menu. I haven't delved into this much but it looks to me that
selecting the Reflect boot menu entry will use or put boot.wim under
C:\boot\macrium\... to load into a ramdisk. Since Reflect's creation of
the boot.wim image file including the Reflect rescue program, boot.wim
loads its image into memory (ramdisk) where within Reflect runs.

Also, if you need special drivers to support hardware for the Reflect
rescue program to work (that you did not include when building the
boot.wim PE image) then they get stored under C:\Boot\Macrium. See:

http://www.macrium.com/webhelp/Adding_Drivers.asp

Could be if you don't store special drivers under that path the C:\boot
is a remnant folder when you have booted normally into Windows. But I
wouldn't touch it. Since that article says you can copy or install
files to a subfolder under the \Boot folder, looks like admins can go
under there and see, create, modify, or delete files. That is, the
\boot folder might be a remnant from prior use; however, I wouldn't
delete it since, one, it will get reused if you ever boot to any of the
alternate entries, like Reflect, in the boot menu and, two, deleting it
might interfere with apps expecting it to be there rather than them
creating it if not present.

I used to use a payware version of Acronis True Image. Gave up on it
when 5 out of 8 restores it whined about not finding its backup store in
the hidden Acronis Secure Zone partition. Of the failed attempts,
several would finally work after retrying the restore several time.
Apparently it may take several attempts by ATI to access its specially
enumerated partition type that is hidden (no drive letter). Nice
program if its restores were more reliable. Uninstalling ATI left
behind a C:\Bootwiz folder (https://kb.acronis.com/content/1583). Most
uninstall programs are dirty (they leave crap behind). So it appears
although ATI claimed it usurped the MBR boot section (you hit F11 after
the POST screen but before any OS loader gets loaded) and that it ran
from there, it still loaded an image stored within the OS partition.
The 446-byte MBR boot section is way too small to store an image file
for an OS to use under which the rescue program runs. My current
computer uses BIOS, not UEFI.

Bet you now know a lot more than you wanted to know. There is still a
lot about Microsoft's boot scheme that I don't understand. It's still a
lot of FM to me.
  #4  
Old November 8th 15, 01:39 AM posted to alt.comp.os.windows-8
Cy Burnot
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Posts: 163
Default Macrium Reflect Created C:\boot !!

VanguardLH wrote on 11/7/2015 3:04 PM:
Bet you now know a lot more than you wanted to know.


My head is spinning! But I appreciate your detail and your thoughtfulness.
 




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