Recommended Full System Backup Strategy

Boot into a Linux live USB environment.

① Backup the GPT Partition Table

sgdisk --backup=/media/xxx/DiskBackup/gpt.bin /dev/nvme0n1

✔ Includes both primary and backup GPT headers
✔ Very small file
✔ Mandatory

This preserves your exact partition structure.

② Backup the EFI Partition

Assuming EFI is p1:

dd if=/dev/nvme0n1p1 of=/media/xxx/DiskBackup/efi.img bs=4M status=progress

EFI contains your bootloader and UEFI boot files.

③ Backup the MSR Partition (16MB)

Assuming MSR is p2:

dd if=/dev/nvme0n1p2 of=/media/xxx/DiskBackup/msr.img bs=4M status=progress

⚠ Takes about 1 second
⚠ Technically optional
⚠ But since it’s tiny, backing it up completes the snapshot

④ Backup C: Using partclone

partclone.ntfs -c -s /dev/nvme0n1p3 -o /media/xxx/DiskBackup/c.img

✔ Only backs up used NTFS blocks
✔ Much faster than dd
✔ Image size is significantly smaller

Full Restore Procedure

If the system ever fails:

1️⃣ Restore GPT

sgdisk --load-backup=gpt.bin /dev/nvme0n1

2️⃣ Restore EFI

dd if=efi.img of=/dev/nvme0n1p1 bs=4M

3️⃣ Restore MSR (Optional)

dd if=msr.img of=/dev/nvme0n1p2 bs=4M

4️⃣ Restore C:

partclone.ntfs -r -s c.img -o /dev/nvme0n1p3

5️⃣ (Safest Step) Rebuild Boot Files

Boot into Windows recovery or installation media and run:

bcdboot C:\Windows /f UEFI