Vista Restore Doesn't Find Backup Image

[Guest]

I performed a complete backup using the Vista backup option to copy
everything. I backed up to a USB HDD. When I then try to do a restore I get
a dialog stating that there is no backup on this PC. I get the same message
if I put the backup on the C drive itself.

I am trying to move to a larger HDD and it seems I'll need to use a 3rd
party tool instead of Vista.

Any suggestions on how to accomplish this w/o 3rd party tools?

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

Can you clarify which type of backup and restore you are doing--are you
doing a Complete PC Backup and Restore or a File Backup and Restore? I'm
wondering if you're mixing and matching the two.

 

[Guest]

Jim,

Thanks VERY much for responding. I am running RC1. I used "Complete PC
Backup" to create the image and I do get a directory on the USB drive named
"E:\WindowsImageBackup". I then used "Restore Files" to try the restore. Am
I using this incorrectly?

Mike

 

[Guest]

Jill,

I'm so sorry. I was not paying attention and just typed "Jim" in error.

Mike

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

No worries about the "Jim" incident!

You are trying to use the File Backup tool to restore a file on an image
created by Complete PC Backup. Since these are two different tools, what
you're trying to do won't work. The Complete PC Backup creates an image that
can be used to restore your computer should disaster strike (hard disk
failure, for example). It's not really meant as a day-to-day file backup and
restore tool, though some savvy users do use Complete PC Backup for that
purpose and we are working on a blog post on this to give guidance.

Savvy users have already figured out a way to mount your .vhd file (created
by Complete PC Backup) as a volume and get your file from it. I'm pasting
two links below on the subject:

http://blogs.technet.com/migreene/archive/2006/09/02/453652.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2006/09/01/734435.aspx

The big "BUT" here is that the download to Virtual Server R2 SP1 Beta
doesn't seem to be available anymore. So....what you need to be using is the
File Backup tool (the button called "Back up files") in the Backup and
Restore Center. This will create a series of .zip files from which you can
restore individual files by using the "Restore files" button.

A good resource (in addition to the online Help) is our blog (link below).
We are always for hot topics for these technologies so we can blog about
them.

http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.


Take care!

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows Server file and storage technologies? Visit
our team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.

 

[Guest]

Jill,

I finally figured out I needed to use the Repair option from the install
disk. It performed a "complete restore" of the image to my new HDD, which is
larger than the old one was. Problem is that the new C drive will not boot
and the repair startup problems says it can not fix the problem.

Here's what I am trying to do:

"clone" my old Vista C drive to a new larger drive. Any suggestions on
doing this would help.

Mike

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

HI Mike, we need more details how the restore was done and the output for
diskpart as follows:


list disk
sel disk 0 (then 1, 2 if there are more)
list part (for each disk)
list vol

I believe there is a command prompt option when you boot from DVD and choose
the repair choices.

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows Server file and storage technologies? Visit
our team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.

 

[Guest]

Jill,

Sorry I din't respond sooner, I was in a meeting all day yesterday. I can't
get what you are asking for as I reverted back to my original HDD since I
needed use of the laptop. I can describe what was done which may shed light
on the situation. My original C drive was a single partition, NTFS with MBR.
It was a 60GB drive. I did an image copy backup using the Vista utility
from the GUI to a 120GB, single NTFS partition. I had to use this drive,
which was to then become the target for the "restore image" as there was
insufficient space on the old HDD. I then removed the old c drive and
installed the new one into the laptop. I used the Vista install disk to
restore the image to the new drive. I did NOT select the "Format" option as
I figured that would wipe out the backup image. I then did the restore onto
the drive the image was stored on. Upon rebooting it complained about
missing a boot file. I then did the repair startup and retried the boot. It
complained again and when I tried to use the repair startup the second time
it said it could not repair the drive. That's when I stopped, reinstalled
the old c drive and started doing my work again. Today I am going to try to
clone the c drive using SyClone.

I think it would be extremely useful if Vista had a GUI-based utility to
migrate to a larger drive using an externally connected drive, USB, 1394,
etc. as the target. It could deactivate itself on a timed fuse to give the
user a chance to ensure the new larger drive works properly before losing the
old one. This has been a real hardship for a long time. When you have a lot
of applications installed it is not an easy matter to re-install them anmd
then getting on the phone to explain why you need to be able to reactivate
when you have already activated the apps. I run a large IT shop and this is
a very painful subject.

Thanks for lending an ear,

Mike

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

Mike, just so I'm clear, you no longer have access to the old drive to put
the machine back in the state it was? If you can put the other drive back
in, we'd like you to perform some steps and send us some log output.

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows Server file and storage technologies? Visit
our team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.

 

[Guest]

Jill,

I have the original drive, though it has now been reformatted using Vista.
I also have the original image that I created on a USB drive. I have
installed a new, larger drive in the laptop and performed a fresh Vista
install. If there is a way to restore the image to the new larger drive that
would actually do what I was attempting in the first place.

Let me know and we can proceed from there. If you want to switch to direct
email let me know and I'll give you the address.

Mike

 

[Guest]

Jill,

Here is an interesting scenario I ran. I have my new C drive installed in
the laptop with a fresh copy of Vista installed. I have 2 USB drives
attached - one has the image of the old C drive and the other IS the old C
drive after being formatted. I used the DVD and chose to restore the entire
drive. I was given the original image as a choice for the source and used
it. The system said the target would be C, HOWEVER after completing the
restore and rebooting, the installed internal C drive was unchanged. After a
little head scratching I examined the original, reformatted C drive that was
now attached via USB. To my complete surprise that is where the restore went
and when I inserted this HDD into the internal slot replacing the new HDD the
system booted to what it was befre I started anything. Apparently the
restore will hunt down the original drive and if it can find it, even after
it has been formatted, that's where the restore goes!!! If the original is
not to be found it restores to the internal C but then has errors on booting
due to a missing boot information file.

This is a very unobvious and peculiar behavior. I would think I would have
the option of restoring to a different drive, i.e. to recover from a crashed
drive in the first place. This scenario seems to obviate being able to
recover if yu have an image but the original drive has a hardware failure and
can not be used. It also leads me to ask how I can upgrade to a larger
internal C drive witout having to reinstall Vista and all of the
applications???

Thanks and let me know if you want more data,

Mike