Backup Utility in Windows XP - RESTORE problems.

I

Ian

I installed a new (and larger) hard drive. I had backed up the old drive to
a USB external drive, backing up the C:\ drive and the system state.
After removing the old drive and inserting the new drive, I reinstalled
Windows XP Professional and SP2, including activating Windows through the
internet (using a LAN connection). I rebooted, as required.
I then used the Backup Utility to try restoring the system state and C:\
from the USB drive. It told me that the USB port was not a high-speed port -
but it is! The restore ran (slowly) until it stalled, and eventually gave a
message about not being able to do a delayed write. I cancelled the restore,
and it showed the status as cancelled, but the backup utility window did not
go away, and would not close. Task Manager showed no applications running,
and the computer would not shutdown, so I turned off the power!
After rebooting, I used the Utility again to restore the system state only.
This seemed to do fine, but at the end it gave a message about chages to
system files and called for me to insert my OS CD, which I did and it seemed
happy. It called for a restart, which I did, and then it wanted Windows
activated and could not do it over the internet, so it was done by phone. I
got error windows about 2 files it could not find, C:\WINDOWS\INF\wmpll.inf
and C:\WINDOWS\System32\mscories.dll. I rebooted.
I then again used the Utility, to restore C:\, taking the option to not
replace existing files. This seemed to do well, showed as complete, but then
I got 3 error windows complaining about system files that had been changed
and for which it could not find the original files to undo the change, 2 from
SP3 (rtcdll.man and dxmrtp.man)and 1 from SP2 (rtres.man). I put the SP2 and
SP3 CD's in my CD and DVD drives, but they were not recognized and I had to
close the error windows by using the button to Ignore the error.
I have five users on the computer. Four of them look to have restored
nicely. The fifth, the administrative user under which the backup and
restores were done, is a different case.
For this use, the file and folder display perferences were gone. I had to
reinstall the printer (and, of course, the preferences for it). The quick
start icons for this user are gone. And Outlook is not configured for this
user.

Where did I go wrong? Why do I get messages about changes to system files,
especially when restoring the system state. Surely such changes are
expected! Why were the fifth user's settings not preserved?
 
L

Leonard Grey

Why did you not use the software and instructions provided by the drive
manufacturer for copying the contents of your old drive to the new
drive? You still can...and you'll be up and running in 30 minutes.
 
L

Leonard Grey

Had you purchased a retail version of your hard drive, you would have
received instructions, software, a data cable and screws.

Fortunately, the software and instructions are free and available on the
hard drive manufacturer's website. Drive manufacturers also offer free
support for upgraders.
 

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