Windows 7: Image backups

I have made several image backups on an internal HHD.When I attempt to restore Windows 7 cannot find them. What am I doing wrong?

Did you make the images with the GUI, or with the command prompt?

If you used command to make the images, you may need to find them from command too.


Boot up 7 dvd/recovery disc/wim , whatever, go to command prompt, type:

diskpart

lis vol

( find the drive letter for the partition you stored the backup images on )

exi.

wbadmin get versions -backuptarget:<drivelleterwhereyoustoredtheimages>:

I made 2 of them from the GUI and one from the command line. Cannot find any of the three from either the Repair Disk or GUI and browse is not offered, I get a message that the backup device must be attached ( it is a hard wired internal Hdd) and do a RETRY. I haven't tried the command lines you suggested yet.
Just did the "Wbadmin get....." and the error was can't find the backup or not an authorized backup location.

Using the native Windows 7 backup and restore has become too complicated. I reinstalled Acronis TI Home 2009. It makes an image and schedules easily. Next thing is to try Restore. If that works I'm home free.

One thing I do here when creating system images is to add something like the date to the end of the folder the backup goes into to keep it separate from the next to come. That prevents it from being overwritten which may be what happened to you there seeing one replace another.

One way to find out just how many there besides one main folder would be to browse through drive/partiion where backups were directed to see if you find more then one "WindowsImageBackup" folder.

For restoration provided you are still able to boot into Windows you simply go back into the "Control Panel>Backup & Restore" section there to browse for the image you want to restore without a need to boot off of the 7 dvd. This will start up the main restoration tool and clean the drive off entirely in order to see the image unpacked onto the drive.

Note any data, files added since the image was created will be lost if not backed up first.

That's the best idea Bill.

Whatever works for you.

Didn't work. When I browsed the image some folders were empty. Unsat. I'll look elsewhere.

You're having a lot of issues making and restoring images. Is there something unusual about your system?

If this was a recent install of 7 being seen you may have had a bad install and have to start over fresh. That would be explaination for not finding anything when performing a backup.

For a test now try renaming the existing backup folders and start a new one using the "create system image" option in the Backup & Restore section. Your specs show an 80gb and 500gb likely for storage. If 7 is on the 80gb select the 500gb as the destination selecting only the C and system partitions. Right off you should the size of the image being created.

Run the backup which shouldn't take more then about 25-30minutes total and then look inside the new "WindowsImageBackup folder on the 500gb drive after. You should be seeing a second sub folder with the name of your user admin account there. If no sub folder is found that points to a real problem with the present installation.

I always move the WindowsImageBackup file I want out of it's folder and into the root of the C drive of the external I've connected. If you're trying to reimage over the network, it gets really tricky with file path so having it in C root saves even more trouble.

It won't find it in a folder - has to be in the system root.