System restore from a USB stick does not work

Dali362 · 26 Mar 2013

Well, just to round it off, it never occured to me that the WIN number sticker could peel off the laptop, I guess it was caused by frequent putting it inside a tight cloth "box" and taking it out during our trip, it should not have happened - but that´m my usual bad luck - the glue on the sticker must have been of inferior quality. I understand that if I ever manage to boot from the recovery dic, then I can find the WIN code number for the machine, there´s a software for it. Still, too late to cry over spilt milk now, just to keep my fingers crossed that the recovery disk will work eventually.
Thanks for all your efforts and patience, I wish I could send you a bottle of wine... and good night.

Kaktussoft · 26 Mar 2013

Dali362 said:

Well, just to round it off, it never occured to me that the WIN number sticker could peel off the laptop, I guess it was caused by frequent putting it inside a tight cloth "box" and taking it out during our trip, it should not have happened - but that´m my usual bad luck - the glue on the sticker must have been of inferior quality. I understand that if I ever manage to boot from the recovery dic, then I can find the WIN code number for the machine, there´s a software for it. Still, too late to cry over spilt milk now, just to keep my fingers crossed that the recovery disk will work eventually.
Thanks for all your efforts and patience, I wish I could send you a bottle of wine... and good night.

WIN product code in RECOVERY partition that's installed is not usable fro normal reinstall!! It's a generic one from the laptop manufacturer. It can only be used with that manufacturer and model laptop.

PS: Send the bottle of wine by email please ;-) red merlot is fine

Dali362 · 01 Apr 2013

Hi again, Kaktussoft,
I´ve actually managed to recover the WIN 7 product number. First, after an advice from an "expert" in Finland on the line of netbooks produced by the same manufacturer, - he was sure that the unsuccesful recovery depended on a damage of the manufacturer´s recovery disk, so he adviced me to mend it using toothpaste (I was skeptical, how can toothpaste repair a damaged DVD disk?) but to my surprise it worked and I could re- install the system o .k. The manuf. rec. disk also re-stamps the WIN product code no. on the machine, so with the help of a key finder, I found it and wrote down , so I´d not be in the same fix next time something happens. Also, as soon as the 200 odd downloads and updates are done, I´ll make an image of the disk, to add additional security - the "expert" warned me the repaired recovery disk might not work the next time when the small residuals of the toothpaste that did not get washed away during the cleansing process , harden.
However, the manuf. recovery disk does NOT install a recovery partition - is there any procedure for installing a recovery partition with a reserve system? My netbook has no internal DVD and I use it a lot during our travel, so in case the OS goes wrong again , I´d like to have a partition with a rescue OS on ithe PC - I can´t carry an external HDD dureing travel. Or is it something that only the PC manufacturer can do?

Kaktussoft · 01 Apr 2013

The productkey is useless when doing a clean install. It's a generic code from manufacturer. Don't know why toothpaste sometimes fixes an unreadable dvd. It can remove scratches. Make a dvd copy asap.

Why do you want a recovery partition? A good system image is enough in case of severe problems. I understand you're not carrying an external disk on travel. Please give me output of diskmanagement with all fields visible. Then I give you advise how to create an extra partition, make a backup image to that partition. And how to make a bootable usb stick with backup recovery software so you can restore that backup image in case of problems. Of course if your harddisk dies ... restore doesn't work as well.

Dali362 · 01 Apr 2013

I was under the impression that if one had a product key, in case everything else goes wrong, an ISO image for the same OS and language could be downloaded from Digital River, burned, installed and the authorised by the WIN product code number? Am I wrong perhaps?

I´ll work on the disk mangement output and will post it as soon as it is ready.

Kaktussoft · 01 Apr 2013

Dali362 said:

I was under the impression that if one had a product key, in case everything else goes wrong, an ISO image for the same OS and language could be downloaded from Digital River, burned, installed and the authorised by the WIN product code number? Am I wrong perhaps?

I´ll work on the disk mangement output and will post it as soon as it is ready.

That's not how it works with OEM keys! What manufacturer is it?

Kaktussoft · 01 Apr 2013

4FG99-BC3HD-73CQT-WMF7J-3Q6C9 is the product key you got with product keyfinder? If not.... don't post real key!!

Dali362 · 01 Apr 2013

It seems that I´ve got thing wrong with the OEM WIN product number? Anyway, the key number I got by the keyfinder is NOt the same as the number you list.

My netbook was prodecued by Acer.

Here´s the image of my netbook´s disc management, I hope it is o .k. so?

I may not be able to reply any more today, my neighbour was taken ill and I will probably have to take her to the hospital and have no idea how long time it will take, so if I can´t be here any more today, I´ll check again tomorrow (probably in the afternoon).

Sorry , I forgot to resize the disk image, things are a bit hectic here with my neighbour, but I hope you can see everything clearly.

System restore from a USB stick does not work-disc-management-image.png

Kaktussoft · 01 Apr 2013

CD Keys for Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (OEM-8992687)

VQB3X-Q3KP8-WJ2H8-R6B6D-7QJB7 --- XXXXX-OEM-8992687-00006 --- ACER/GATEWAY/PACKARD

that's you key you have?

Kaktussoft · 01 Apr 2013

First step (prior to making backup) to do is:

Install all needed windows updates
Install applications you need
Configure options
Test if all is working fine
How much disk space is used now?

Why is C so small and do you have 111GB free space?
When all has been installed and all is working fine. Report back then.

Make a recovery partition. Size about 50GB . Put it on the end of disk.