Restore will not see WindowsImageBackup

Hi

My Core2duo died a lingering death but before it died I made a backup using the W7 backup feature which created a directory called WindowsImageBackup containing 64Gb of stuff. I bought a new motherboard and cpu, reloaded the OS (32bit and later 64bit) and tried with both 32 and 64 to recover the backup. The WindowsImageBackup is on an external HDD and I can't get the system to see it. I go to the backup and restore your files feature and it wants me to make a backup but it doesn't readily offer me a restore/recover option. I see 'Restore' at the bottom and 'Select another backup to restore files from,' I get a 'looking for backup devices' message and then a screen saying select the backup you want to restore and there's nothing there and I can't see a way of forcing it to look at the external drive. What am I doing wrong?

TIA

Hi

See here screen clips of what I see and ending up a dead end.

What am doing wrong?

TIA

Note: The top line on the first screen saying backup cancelled is where I recently started a new backup to my external drive in the hope that doing that might set that as the systems default location.

whs said:

Since you installed a new mobo, the image will not be useful for a restoration. But if you want to recover files from it, you can mount the VHD and open that. Steps 1 and 2 of this tutorial will explain how you can do that: System Image - Recover a Broken Windows 7 System Image

Thanks I'll try what you suggest.

I am surprised that an OS has a backup facility that doesn't work if my machines breaks down, what's the point in having a system that only works when you don't need it?