restore from external HDD

windows does not find my WD external hard drive with the restore point on it...

any ideas?

If you are saying that Windows does not recognise the Ext HD then try unplugging it switching it off. Plug it back in and then power it up.You should get the "Windows found new storage medium" message or similar.
If this doesn't show go to Start then "Computer" and see if the ext HD is listed!

i can see and access the external drive. it's even given a letter. When I get to the recovery window, it tells me to plug in an drive which has a backup on it, but it never finds the drive.

Can you not define the path to the back up? It should show a drive letter for the Ext HD. Just navigate to the back up!

I go to system restore, then check the box that says "show more restore points" and I can see the one I want to use at the bottom, called "System Image Restore Point" "Type: Backup" . I select that restore point and click next, then I get a message saying that "The backup drive could not be found. System Restore is looking for restore points on your backup. Make sure the backup drive is on and connected to this computer and then click OK" ...I click OK and then I'm in an infinite loop where I keep getting this message.

My only thoughts are that the drive is password protected, so maybe I'll disable that for now.

SOLVED: When using the Western Digital Passport to retrieve a backup, you must disable any security on the drive. I'm talking about the Western Digital security software that comes with the drive.

BTW, it still didn't work because I believe that malware is interrupting the sys restore process, but sys restore did find the backup on the drive.

Thx for your help!

Set your bios to boot first from CD/DVD.

Make a System Repair Disc.

Insert System Repair Disc.

Connect your external usb drive.

Leave the System Repair Disc in your computer.

Turn off your computer.

Boot up your computer.

You will get an option to restore your system from a system image.

START | type System Repair | Enter key | Create Disc button



RESTORE A SYSTEM IMAGE BACKUP
· Boot from the System Repair CD you created.
· Connect the external drive with the backup image
· NEXT button (change language if desired)
· Restore your computer using a system image
that you created earlier radio button
· NEXT button
· Use the latest available system image radio button
· NEXT button
· Format and repartition discs checkbox
· NEXT button
· FINISH button
· YES button