Restoring VHD following HDD Crash

Aeolwind · 31 May 2011

I'd backed up my HD with a VHD file in Win7 pro, HD crashed, I had to go on vacation that same weekend so I dropped it off with a guy I actually trust to fix rigs. I had him reinstall my XP Package since my Win7 was an upgrade version and doesn't quite ever install correctly prompting phone calls to Microsoft.

Long and short, when the new HD was installed, I discovered my VHD files were intact, along with at least a dozen other back ups. Now, I asked on the official MS forums, and they kept giving me solutions for restoring Win7 from Win7; I need to be able to reimage a drive, while running XP, with a VHD file however.

I spoke with Acronis, they said it would work with True Image, but he as well kept saying Windows 7, and I'm a little skeptical at the answer of yes. Thoughts of cheaper alternative?

Bare Foot Kid · 31 May 2011

Hello Aeolwind, welcome to Seven Forums!

Have you seen the methods outlined in this tutorial at the link below?

Do a Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

Aeolwind · 02 Jun 2011

I'm not seeing a section that refers to reimaging a drive with a VHD file... Am I missing it?

Bare Foot Kid · 02 Jun 2011

Aeolwind said:

I'm not seeing a section that refers to reimaging a drive with a VHD file... Am I missing it?

I guess I wasn't clear, I didn't mean there was a 'how to' for the VHD restore, I was showing that a clean install can be done with an Upgrade version without installing the older version first.

mjf · 02 Jun 2011

The ease of restoring images from your "vhd" files depends if they exist within a valid WindowsImageBackup folder structure.
I believe Acronis can pickup Windows imaged vhd files directly but haven't tried it. It could be risky.

Once you have a Windows 7 installed, attaching the vhds and extracting data should be straightforward.