BACUP & RESTORE

[Guest]

After setting up Vista and using it for a while I backed up the whole drive
with the vista backup program to an external driver. Then I suffered a
computer crash, A virus.

PROBLEM:
When I try to restore my backed up drive with the vista backup/restore tools
it says it cant find any backup archives to restore.
I have tried it also with the setting restore from a backup made with
another PC but to no avail. I can see the backup I made on the external drive
but vista says it is not there
Can anyone please advise ne what to do to recover some very valuable files
please

 

[Guest]

Are you booting from the install DVD??? and doing the restore from there???

 

[Guest]

I have used the vista CD To Recover complete computer and it fails to find
any archives on any of the hard disks installed on the computer. I have
checked the bios to see if the external hard drives are there, they are, and
have even tried making the one with the backup on it the second boot choice
to see if that would help find it but so far no luck.
thanks for your reply

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

Was your backup a Complete PC Backup or was it a file backup? When I see
these types of posts it's usually due to backing up using one app and trying
to restore using the other.

 

[Guest]

I have the same problem, but I'm not sure whether it was a virus or not.
Basically, my MSDN Vista install from the January 07 discs worked for about
three or four weeks. Then, it wouldn't reboot into anything except safe mode
without BSOD's (Stop codes 0x0000007E, 0xC00000005, 0x00000000, 0x9D8B2264,
0x9D8B1F60).

In any case, I then attempted to do a Complete PC Restore using the Vista
install DVD. Before Vista scans for backups, I place the first of four DVDs
created with Vista's PC backup tool into the drive. Vista's scan returns a
message saying, "No valid backup location could be found". But, it doesn't
give me the option of choosing the backup location like I have seen in a few
images online! What gives - why can't I tell it where to find the backup VHD
image? Just as a test, I repeated the process after xcopying the entire disk
contents to my D drive from the F (DVD) drive.

This is day four of dealing with this problem, so any help would be
appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Well, would you believe that five minutes after posting this I tried one last
ditch effort that seems to be working as I type this. If you encounter the
same (my PC Backup was split across 4 DVDs), try this:
When Vista is about to scan for your backup DVD, place the last backup disk
in the drive instead of the first one. I had been placing disk 1 of 4 in the
DVD drive and Vista refused to recognize it as a backup. On the possibility
that I might have mislabeled them, I started trying the other disks...#2
nothing...#3 nothing...#4 Vista found the backup.

I guess that makes sense in that Vista could write out summary information
on that last disk that it may not have known originally while filling up all
preceding disks. But, I didn't come across that instruction in anything I
read on the Complete PC Restore process. Although, after a few days of
trying to recover from the Blue Screen of Death perhaps I overlooked
something.

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

Paul, there is a tiny little note in the restore procedure in Help and
Support that says "Insert the last CD or DVD of the backup set when prompted
to do so." I'm guessing that the word "last" is easily overlooked here and
in the UI. I will talk to the Complete PC Backup team about perhaps updating
the error message (when you insert the first disc) to suggest inserting the
last disc.

Glad you got this working.

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

Paul, we are looking at two error messages that can appear in this case.
Both of them mention the last backup disc, but we are looking for a way to
improve this text. Can you confirm that you saw one of the following
messages? If these are indeed what you saw, do you have suggestions on how
to make this clearer?

"A valid backup location could not be found. Windows cannot find a backup on
the hard disks or DVDs on this computer. Attach the correct hard disk or
insert the last backup DVD and then click Retry."

"Windows cannot find a backup on the hard disks or DVDs on this computer.
Attach the correct hard disk or insert the last backup DVD and then start
the restore process again."

 

[Guest]

Hiya, I have a similar problem . I have saved my PC backup on my external
HDD and windows cannot find it, any ideas??

 

[Olivier Jadot]

Maybe it could be better to say "... or insert the last part of DVD backup
...." ?