Windows 7: Problem with the USB/DVD Download tool and Repair Disk for USB

Hey there -

So long story short, I had a hard drive crash on me recently, and although I could back up my files to a secondary hard drive - I did it using the windows Backup and Restore utility - I can't find a way to access them.



Somewhere else on these forums, I believe I found a thread that said that combined use of the USB/DVD download tool and the Windows 7 64-bit Repair Disk could allow me to boot into my new hard drive and recover the files from my secondary hard drive.

However, I'm having a problem that I haven't quite seen answered in any form that seems applicable to my situation: that is, when I try to use the USB/DVD tool on the repair disk, I get a message saying that the .iso is not a valid ISO file.

How can I go about fixing this?

That tool is for the Windows 7 installation ISO only, and sometimes will only work if it ISO is downloaded from MS.

In your case I would download the Repair CD ISO here: System Repair Disc - Create

Then burn to CD by left clicking the ISO to use Windows Image Burner which is fine in Windows 7, or use ImgBurn at 4x speed.

If you need to use flash stick, best method I've found is to install Ultra ISO trial version, on File tab Open ISO, on Bootable tab Write Image, Format, then Write.

Here is how to copy out files using Repair CD: Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console

Or use Paragon Rescue CD: Rescue Kit Free Edition | PARAGON Software Group - free partition software, hard disk partitioning

Dragging and dropping is always the best method unless you're backing up on a schedule and want incremental backups of only what has changed. Otherwise you get way more than you want.

Awesome.

So I managed to get the ISO saved to my USB, but I've now run into the problem of my computer failing to boot from the USB, no matter what I've tried : I went into the Advanced BIOS and set the boot order as follows:
First : USB-ZIP
Second : CD/DVD?
Third : Hard Disk

And even so, it doesn't boot from the USB stick.

Does my USB stick need to be in a specific format? I tried in both FAT32 and NTFS, and there doesn't seem to be a difference.

How did you write the ISO to your stick exactly? What program did you use and exact steps? If Ultra ISO failed then try Win2Flash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srOoGhm-jcI

Is it possible your flash stick is listed as a HD in BIOS, as they sometimes are? Try booting it using the one-time BIOS Boot Menu key given on first boot screen. Look for it under HD's also.