Skip to main content
Solved

Bootable clone of a Windows OS


Forum|alt.badge.img

Is it possible using Veeam to create a bootable clone of a system disk to a second local drive? I don’t want to have to use recovery media to restore the OS.

I have a server with two physical spinning disks that are not RAIDed (can’t rebuild the server to do this) so I want to create a bootable clone. There are numerous free tools out there, but as we already use Veeam I thought I’d find out if it can do this first.

 

Thanks

Best answer by Chris.Childerhose

There is no facility in Veeam to do this that I am aware of and you require the bootable media to restore an OS from backup.

View original
Did this topic help you find an answer to your question?

6 comments

Chris.Childerhose
Forum|alt.badge.img+21
  • Veeam Legend, Veeam Vanguard
  • 8400 comments
  • Answer
  • January 9, 2025

There is no facility in Veeam to do this that I am aware of and you require the bootable media to restore an OS from backup.


AndrePulia
Forum|alt.badge.img+5
  • Veeam Legend
  • 318 comments
  • January 9, 2025

@sparrowhawk have a look at this article, I think it will be useful for your needs. https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/agentforwindows/userguide/volume_restore_disk_mapping.html?ver=60 


lukas.k
Forum|alt.badge.img+8
  • Influencer
  • 186 comments
  • January 9, 2025

I agree with Chris. What I did in the past - this is clearly experimental - was creating an inidiviual multi-boot ISO with a “menu” that made you able to select between multiple boot images. The first one was the recovery media from Veeam, the second one was a Windows ISO.

 

Basically you don’t come around a recovery media as far as I know.


Dynamic
Forum|alt.badge.img+8
  • Influencer
  • 361 comments
  • January 9, 2025

maybe also an option for you:
Nico Stein has written an article about integrating the Recovery Media into your boot menu - in this way you dont have to create your media in case you need it, you could access it, on every boot:

Veeam Agent Recovery Media Boot Integration | Nothing a Jameson can't fix


Forum|alt.badge.img
  • Author
  • New Here
  • 1 comment
  • January 9, 2025

Thanks for all the information guys, this is really helpful. ​@Dynamic’s suggestion is interesting and is probably the closest to what I’m looking for. We don’t have easy physical access to the server so I was looking for a way to have a bootable backup ready to go with minimal downtime.

But I’m now thinking that as this server is providing DHCP, that configuring DHCP failover would be a better way of minimising the impact of drive failure.

I’m still reading up on recovery strategies using Veeam though, but I see that some form of recovery media is required.

 

Thanks all!


Dynamic
Forum|alt.badge.img+8
  • Influencer
  • 361 comments
  • January 10, 2025

Thanks for your reply ​@sparrowhawk!
It would be nice, if you could mark the post that helped you the most as the Best answer, this would help others to find similar solutions. 

 


Comment