System image

[Ray]

I have added an external 1TB drive and did a Windows Image Backup which
appears as F Drive.
I wanted to see what it looked like in case I needed to access it to restore
my PC. When I click on it I get a list of files with blank boxes in front
of them. I do not want to mess around with something I'm not familiar with.
What do I have to do to restore the system?

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I have added an external 1TB drive and did a Windows Image Backup which
appears as F Drive.
I wanted to see what it looked like in case I needed to access it to restore
my PC. When I click on it I get a list of files with blank boxes in front
of them. I do not want to mess around with something I'm not familiar with.
What do I have to do to restore the system?

You didn't say what program you used to look at the backup, so I can't
be sure what you might be seeing. Normally in Explorer, if you've set it
up that way, the blank boxes are check boxes. Click in one to select a
file.

To restore, try Control Panel, and under System and Security, choose
Back up your computer. There's a place there to start a restore.

 

[Ken]

I have added an external 1TB drive and did a Windows Image Backup which
appears as F Drive.
I wanted to see what it looked like in case I needed to access it to
restore my PC. When I click on it I get a list of files with blank
boxes in front of them. I do not want to mess around with something I'm
not familiar with. What do I have to do to restore the system?

I am not familiar with Windows Image Backup, but aren't most images
compressed?? If it is, I doubt that it is readable as you would like.

 

[Paul]

I am not familiar with Windows Image Backup, but aren't most images
compressed?? If it is, I doubt that it is readable as you would like.

If the file type of the backup is .vhd, there is detail here on
how it is arranged. This is the "VHD Specification Download".
You can view this in MS Word Viewer, if you don't have MS Word.

http://download.microsoft.com/downl...29/Virtual Hard Disk Format Spec_10_18_06.doc

( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb676673.aspx )

Windows 7 can mount a .vhd file for you, but I've not tried that.
It looks like there's an option in Disk Management to do it.

http://s.online-tech-tips.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/attachvhdwindows7_thumb.png

The System Image function makes .vhd files, but I don't know what
other backup options in Windows 7 use. A .vhd file is quite
different from the older NTBACKUP format.

A .vhd file can also be accessed in virtual machines, which is the
other area it gets used in. And that's how I examine .vhd files
on my WinXP machine. While there is a VHDmount program available,
the limitations of that approach make Virtual PC seem more attractive
for opening a .vhd.

Paul

 

[Ed Cryer]

I have added an external 1TB drive and did a Windows Image Backup which
appears as F Drive.
I wanted to see what it looked like in case I needed to access it to
restore my PC. When I click on it I get a list of files with blank
boxes in front of them. I do not want to mess around with something I'm
not familiar with. What do I have to do to restore the system?

The top folder contains other folders, the most important being Backup
with the .vhd files and several .xml files. The icons used for these
(your "blank box") depend on system settings of which I still have the
Win7 defaults, and they're not blank.
The good thing about a full system image is that you can extract any
file you want from it by mounting it as a virtual disk in Disk
Management and then using Explorer in the usual way.

For restoring you have several options. You can do it from inside
Windows or you can do it by booting from a system repair disk.

The problem with taking another system image is that Win7 will just
overwrite the last one. So what I do is cut and paste it into a folder.
Win7 only writes to and restores from a saved image in the root of a
disk. Third party programs such as Paragon can put their images in
folders; and find them all with a boot and restore disk.

You might want details for these operations;
1. Mounting and extracting files from a virtual disk.
2. Best third party backup programs.

Ed

 

[Dave-UK]

I have added an external 1TB drive and did a Windows Image Backup which
appears as F Drive.
I wanted to see what it looked like in case I needed to access it to restore
my PC. When I click on it I get a list of files with blank boxes in front
of them. I do not want to mess around with something I'm not familiar with.
What do I have to do to restore the system?

To see the saved image go to disk management:
Right-click Computer > Manage > Disk Management.
From the menu Action > Attach vhd.
Browse to your external drive and find the large .vhd file (several G/B) in the
backup folder:

WindowsImageBackup\Your Computer Name\Backup(Date and some random number)

Click ok and the vhd file will be mounted as another disk drive with its own
drive letter. You can now browse the disk and see what's there.
To unmount the drive right-click the icon in the notification area and select
Eject Msft Virtual Disk.

When you created the image Windows would have asked you if you wanted to create a
system repair disk. If you didn't do so at the time, go back to Backup and Restore
and create a system repair disk.
To restore your computer boot from the system repair disk, plug in your external
drive with the saved image on and follow the prompts to restore the computer from
a saved image.

 

[Ray]

"Dave-UK" wrote in message

I have added an external 1TB drive and did a Windows Image Backup which
appears as F Drive.
I wanted to see what it looked like in case I needed to access it to
restore my PC. When I click on it I get a list of files with blank boxes
in front of them. I do not want to mess around with something I'm not
familiar with. What do I have to do to restore the system?

To see the saved image go to disk management:
Right-click Computer > Manage > Disk Management.
From the menu Action > Attach vhd.
Browse to your external drive and find the large .vhd file (several G/B) in
the
backup folder:

WindowsImageBackup\Your Computer Name\Backup(Date and some random number)

Click ok and the vhd file will be mounted as another disk drive with its
own drive letter. You can now browse the disk and see what's there.
To unmount the drive right-click the icon in the notification area and
select
Eject Msft Virtual Disk.

When you created the image Windows would have asked you if you wanted to
create a
system repair disk. If you didn't do so at the time, go back to Backup and
Restore
and create a system repair disk.
To restore your computer boot from the system repair disk, plug in your
external
drive with the saved image on and follow the prompts to restore the
computer from
a saved image.

Thanks, Dave. I saved and followed your instructions and all went well.
A system repair disk was made when the vendor sold me the PC. Does it
matter how old it is?

 

[Anthony Buckland]

Thanks, Dave. I saved and followed your instructions and all went well.
A system repair disk was made when the vendor sold me the PC. Does it
matter how old it is?

If it's still really the same computer (same hardware),
and the disk still works, and you can deal with starting from
scratch and updating to the present, no.

 

[Dave-UK]

"Dave-UK" wrote in message








Thanks, Dave. I saved and followed your instructions and all went well.
A system repair disk was made when the vendor sold me the PC. Does it
matter how old it is?

It shouldn't matter how old the disk is. But if you have a spare blank CD lying around
I would burn a current copy and check that it boots ok and you can access your saved
images without any problems.

 

[Ray]

Thanks, Dave. I saved and followed your instructions and all went well.
A system repair disk was made when the vendor sold me the PC. Does it
matter how old it is?

It shouldn't matter how old the disk is. But if you have a spare blank CD
lying around
I would burn a current copy and check that it boots ok and you can access
your saved
images without any problems.

Thanks again.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I am not familiar with Windows Image Backup, but aren't most images
compressed?? If it is, I doubt that it is readable as you would like.

Most imaging programs (it better be *all* programs!) provide a way to
mount the images they create as virtual drives.