Windows 7: System Image Not Found on External USB HDD with Image as Root Folder

Well ladies and gentlemen, I am back up and rocking although my method was certainly the exception and not the rule. I consider myself highly fortunate in the regard that I had my old hard drive, the one from which the original image was captured and then transplanted to my new hard drive.

I retrieved the old hard drive, installed it in an old laptop - hooked up my external and ran a new backup image (Or 2nd copy as it were).

Here's where things get a bit strange:
When I went back to my primary machine and ran the Microsoft Restore application, VIOLA! it immediately recognized not only this latest back-up, but also the old back-up (the one which I was originally attempting to install), and the "trick" back-up I ran yesterday.

The stranger part is that these were in exactly the same root folders which Windows had previously deposited them (F:\WindowsBackUpImage) so again, I cannot understand why Windows was unable to recognize the VHD and continually asked me to install a driver.

Be that as it may, I learned a valuable lesson the last 72 hours and will NEVER trust my back-up to Microsoft's Imagining Software ever again.

Congratulations Heist, but I'm still not so fortunate.

Partion Recovery did work, holy hell.
It recovered the partition, then I detached it in windows Disk Management.
I brought Disk Management back up and re-attached it and it shows used space and everything else.

So I've made progress...I'm back to my original problem I diverted from this morning....Access Denied.

What security settings do you think need changing to start?

I use Windows Imaging as my primary imaging software and Macrium as a backup and to perform things Windows can't do.
Windows imaging has never let me down on 2 PCs with at least 30 image restores to existing and brand new HDDs. I never rely on restore points - I just reimage.

@Heist
If you restore an image from within Windows then your USB 3 drivers are already installed. If you restore from the System Repair Disk then you need to manually load your USB 3 drivers. Was this your problem??

@GAR,

well, that is progress.

Rt click the mounted image and see what it tells you about the drive - is it read only - what do the permissions say?

MJF -
I attempted both methods, both from within Windows and the System Recovery Disk. Either way I was met with the Recovery environment asking me to install a driver from the same directory and external it was already mapped to.

Very queer and enormously frustrating.

I can understand the frustration. I know some people lose confidence in Windows imaging. The good thing is there are alternatives like Macrium.

I mainly use WD USB 3 externals. Another issue is that sometimes these HDDs "go to sleep". I unplug the power and USB then reattach and it's back to life and images recognized.

If you are using a USB 3.0 drive, or any other, I suggest you switch it to a 2.0 port when not in Windows. On some boards, the USB 3.0 ports are inoperative if not in Windows. You may get a driver to load, but moving the plug is just so easy.

You wouldn't want to buy those boards.
If you have a USB 3 ext HDD drive then moving back to USB 2 will be painfully slow. To make and restore an image to a USB 3 takes me ~10minutes using a USB 2 it takes ~30min+.
It is easy to check if you can connect to the USB 3 port and load the drivers. Boot from the system repair disk and
Problem recoverying from backup via USB 3.0 external drive
A similar process for Macrium if you haven't incorporated the USB 3 drivers into the Recovery pe disk.

I'm not sure where to start with the security questions.
My error is: J:\ not accessible. Access Denied.
When going through my external drive and start with the Office folder in the root of the drive.
Office: Attributes; read only Security; Everyone full control
WindowsImageBackup: Attributes; read only Security; Administrators/Everyone full control
Office: Attributes; Read only Security; Administrators/Everyone full control
Backup 2012-05-05 030014: Attributes; read only Security; Administrators/Everyone full control
.VHD file: Attributes; nothing checked Security; Everyone; Full control

There is a user in the folders; WindowsImageBackup through Backup 2012-05-05 030014 that is strange also has full control. The user is ; S-1-5-21-4269836154-2317595803-432792064-1001 The icon next to it is a person with a red question mark. Anyone have anything like this at all ever?

It appears the user S-1-5-21 is some kind of security id (SID)from windows. Thought maybe it had something to do with a virus but it appears okay. FYI