Vista Complete PC Backup and Restore

[harry230]

Hi, this is my first post on this forum so hope all goes well.

A few months ago I upgraded my computer and with my new computer build I am
using Vista 64 Ultimate.

With the new build I have gone through a few iterations of hardware (two
faulty mainboards) and now the hardware side is solid I have now set up the
disk partitioning and software. I was planning on using Vista Complete PC
backup and restore and hoping I would have iterations of the backup to
restore from in the future or indeed while populating the software.

I have problems with building an iterative "complete pc and restore backup"
file. The initial WindowsImageBackup file builds ok (in this case image only
of the c:\ drive) and if I restore from Vista install disk it can be found
and restores ok. The backup is on z: partition which actually reverts to K:
when accessed by Vista install disk from complete pc restore option.

If I then install/add more apps and files to the C:\ partition (OS) and do
another complete PC and Restrore backup it increments the original build,
changes time/date file name etc and file size increases about 1.5gb (approx
size of change to OS partition). Does all the things it appears to need on
the original file.

BUT when I try to restore booted from the vista install disk all that could
be found was the original build (filename, time/date) but nothing of the
incremental builds (2) that had been added. I further proved this by actually
restoring and observing it only restored the original backup, none of the
incremental additions (files/applications) were included.

Also I am now using the wbadmin.exe command line to check what is going on
in the background. When I interrogate using the command line "wbadmin
previous versions" I do see the incremented versions, but not when trying to
restore using Vista install disk they are not in sight, just the first backup.

Is anyone else having trouble with incremental additions to the first
"complete and restore backup" Can it have anything to do with the chipset, I
am using the intel P45 chipset on a gigabyte mobo.

At the moment it appears I need to perform a seperate complete backup at any
given stage of populating a computer and saving several complete images.

I thought that further "complete pc backups" would increment the original
backup and allow a full restoration which doesn't seem to happen in my case
(I have tried 5 different rebuilds/backups/restores now with no joy).

Also should it be possible to see each incremental addition to the original
and be able to restore to any of the incremental stages.

I would like to persevere and get it right (if it can be righted) as the
concept within Vista seems good, and one of the reasons I bought Ultimate 64
was because of the pc imaging included.

I am hoping Vista 64 complete backup and restore will do it for me as my
Vista experience to date (prev XP sp2) has been quite good.

regards,

Harry...

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

I think part of the backup 'default function' is not part of your thinking
yet. A Complete PC Backup (CPB) is incrementally added to until it reaches
one month old, and then a new CPB is created. After you restore the CPB, you
then should see the option to 'restore files' based on version via the
'shadow copy' function.
--
Please use the Communities guidelines when posting.
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Use the "Ratings" feature. It helps the new users.
Mark L. Ferguson MS-MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Mark.Ferguson

 

[harry230]

Thanks Mark I may be missing something as the whole process seems so simple.

So are you saying I should wait a month and then I will see the increments
when I try to restore?? AFAIK the only time a "Complete PC Backup and
Restore" is added to is when I push the backup button in "Backup and Restore
Centre"

Where can I get some more info on the CPB 'default function' ??

Is there anything documented on this one month relationship to shadow copy.
I thought shadow copy changed each time a backup or restore is performed.

Thanks for your reply but I am still not getting what you are saying.

regards,

harry.

 

[harry230]

Well seeing as I didn't get a reply that addressed my problem, I figured I
should reply to myself and at least post findings in case someone else has
similar problems.

I have solved the puzzle of the missing incremental Complete PC backups.

In my desire to be "SAFE" I had copied the original windows complete backup
folder to another drive on my pc, so I then had a copy of the original backup
on S: drive and my normal backup on the Z: drive.

The backup on the Z: drive (as indicated previously) had been incremented
several times.

I couldn't see the increments on the Z: drive backup when I booted from
Vista install disk but it did find both available backups, ie. the backup
file on S: and the backup file on Z: (but these were renamed as D: and K:
under install disk).

I checked both and they both only showed the original backup and original
time/date, which was very disappointing.

IN the meantime because of this problem with Vista Complete Restore and
Backup I tried a trial version of Acronis True Image Home 11 and it appeared
to be a very good program, backed up nicely, allowed a view of backed up
files and easy restoration from within Vista. This looked really good so I
decided I would create the Acronis boot disk to check that I could restore
whenever I wanted (after all that is the main aim of the program)

Hmm, Acronis is not good for restoring from boot disk if you have all SATA
drives, it can't see them, it will see standard IDE and I have one of those.
After very little web research seems like a lot of folks have the same
problem, and on forums is actually acknowledged by Acronis support team. This
is not very good for a program which has recently upgraded for Vista, you
would expect it to be able to handle SATA from bootdisk!, so Acronis didn't
look like a good substitute.

I went back to the drawing board with Vista Complete Backup and Restore.

Even though Vista Complete Backup and Restore allows (and checks for more
than one backup file) I decided to disable the copy(just renamed temporarily)
and reboot and try again, have to say I didn't think this would have any
effect at all.

Wow!! is Vista Complete Backup and Restore a great program, found my one and
only backup with all the increments so I can set my computer to any previous
increment (shows time/date for each increment to select from), have proved it
works ok and is quite easy and complete.

So what appears to have happened is; if Vista Complete Backup and Restore
sees more than two backup files (maybe they have to have the same original
build) it wont show any increments past the earliest. In this case it would
only show the original backup(for both backups found), AND, wouldn't allow
the increments to be shown if selecting the later backup.

Not sure this is a bug on my PC but I think not, so the moral of the story
is (for me at least) keep any backup copies hidden and only have one backup
available for Vista Complete Backup and Restore to discover, as all
increments are then shown.

Works as good as I would have expected, I would like to submit this problem
to MS to test if anyone can advise how it is best accomplished.

Thanks if you were considering a reply, hope this makes sense, but all ok
for me now.

regards,

Harry

 

[harry230]

Well seeing as I didn't get a reply that addressed my problem, I figured I
should reply to myself and at least post findings in case someone else has
similar problems.

I have solved the puzzle of the missing incremental backups.

In my desire to be "SAFE" I had copied the original windows complete backup
folder to another drive on my pc, so I then had a copy of the original backup
on S: drive and my normal backup on the Z: drive.

The backup on the Z: drive (as indicated previously) had been incremented
several times.

I couldn't see the increments on the Z: drive backup when I booted from
Vista install disk but it did find both available backups, ie. the backup
file on S: and the backup file on Z: (but these were renamed as D: and K:
under install disk).

I checked both and they both only showed the original backup and original
time/date, which was very disappointing.

IN the meantime because of this problem with Vista Complete Restore and
Backup I tried a trial version of Acronis True Image Home 11 and it appeared
to be a very good program, backed up nicely, allowed a view of backed up
files and easy restoration from within Vista. This looked really good so I
decided I would create the Acronis boot disk to check that I could restore
whenever I wanted (after all that is the main aim of the program)

Hmm, Acronis is not good for restoring from boot disk if you have all SATA
drives, it can't see them, it will see standard IDE and I have one of those.
After very little web research seems like a lot of folks have the same
problem, and on forums is actually acknowledged by Acronis support team. This
is not very good for a program which has recently been upgraded for Vista,
you would expect it to be able to handle SATA from bootdisk!, so Acronis
didn't look like a good substitute.

I went back to the drawing board with Vista Complete Backup and Restore.

Even though Vista Complete Backup and Restore allows (and checks for more
than one backup file) I decided to disable the copy(just renamed temporarily)
and reboot and try again, have to say I didn't think this would have any
effect at all.

Wow!! is Vista Complete Backup and Restore a great program, found my one and
only backup with all the increments so I can set my computer to any previous
increment (shows time/date for each increment to select from), have proved it
works ok and is quite easy and complete.

So what appears to have happened is; if Vista Complete Backup and Restore
sees more than two backup files (maybe they have to have the same original
build) it wont show any increments past the earliest. In this case it would
only show the original backup(for both backups found), AND, wouldn't allow
the increments to be shown if selecting the later backup.

Not sure this is a bug on my PC but I think not, so the moral of the story
is (for me at least) keep any backup copies hidden and only have one backup
available for Vista Complete Backup and Restore to discover, as all
increments are then shown.

Works as good as I would have expected, I would like to submit this problem
to MS to test if anyone can advise how it is best accomplished.

Thanks if you were considering a reply, hope this makes sense, but all ok
for me now.

regards,

Harry