Good morning Jeannie, I put the corrupted drive into a bare drive enclosure and then plugged it into my backup PC using the USB port. There was no autoplay/autorun. It is not recognized by Disk Management either. As a result, I cannot get into it to see if anything is on it. Any suggestions as to how to get into it?
Dennis, Therefore I uninstalled KB3068708)
* Type KB3068708 in the search bar
* Wait until found
* Select Uninstall.
There are remnant files: _diagtrackrunner.exe in two locations_.
* C:\Windows\winsxs\amd64_microsoft-windows-a..xperience-inventory_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7601.18868_none_e83d75d9e59ba1ea
* C:\Windows\System32\CompatTel
_Do not delete diagtrackrunner.exe in either location as SFC will ID the missing files_
Also, there are two of three services that I stopped:
Start Services by Typing into the Search window: "services.msc" (not the quotation marks!)
Locate the following services as they are related
* Diagnostic Policy Service _Automatic - Started_ (leave this alone)
* Diagnostic Service Host _Stop it_ then _Disable_ it
* Diagnostic System Host _Stop it_ then _Disable_ it
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A bit late replying back on this. I uninstalled kb3068708 on my backup PC but MS updates keeps trying to install it even though I had not checked to update it. I uninstalled it again and this time hid it from the update list. It's gone! So far so good. I can't stop and then disable the Diagnostic Service or System Host. Right now, since backup PC is my only contact with the outside world, I do not really want to do anything further about KB 3068708. Still trying to resurrect the corrupt drive.
Yes, but you aren't going to like it. At this point, most likely, you will have to shell out serious shekels to have a recovery specialist attempt to recover your data. This typically can cost anywhere from $500 to well north of $1k (with the higher figures being more common). And there is no guarantee that the attempt at data recovery will be successful at anything other than costing you beaucoup bucks. Many people will suggest various homebrew cures, such as putting the drive in the freezer, etc., or using various recovery programs on it but the sad fact is those "cures" are far more likely to cause more data loss. The only other practical (and far more affordable) solution is to accept you have lost that data and move on.
Thee only way to reasonably guarantee your data will be safe is to maintain at least two, identical backups—one local and one offsite—and frequently update them. I know this doesn't help you now but you need to keep this in mind for the future to avoid repeating the grief you are experiencing now.
That's what I was afraid of! I usually do a Clone at least once a month before the MS Updates. I alternate between two different drives. That way I always have one for just in case. I guess I got a bit too complacent recently and just made a Clone on one drive and didn't bother to alternate them. Bad move because the older Cloned drive is from October! I'll have lots of program updates etc.
I will put the drive that the Image (GQ0T) was created on, back into the PC and then attempt to transfer to the bare drive and keep my fingers crossed that not only the transfer works but that most of the data is there. Any thoughts on doing this?
Deaf Dave,
Consider (if all else fails) to do a bare-metal install (Google/Bing it). There are many definitions of this technique. One of those definitions contains the concept of using a disk image from another relatively-similar computer and permits Windows to attempt to reconfigure itself for the hardware on the receiving machine. I have never done this - yet.
Years ago practically no one in their right mind would knowingly attempt this. But good-accidents may/did happen. If it ultimately works, you have saved yourself from installing/transferring/configuring registered/licensed applications and all of your user files.
Windows install has gotten brighter over the years. BTW, I did mention, if all else fails first!
Dennis
Dennis,
If all else fails - think, of which I've been doing a lot of lately! Seems you have as well. Thank you! I ran across something I thought I'd try "if all else fails". It may not be applicable to my problem though.
Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10 is designed to scan, disinfect and restore infected operating systems. It should be used when it is impossible to boot the operating system. This can be run from a CD or flash drive.
A bare-metal install sounds as if it could work in my case because both the Image (that might be ok) and the PC drive it was made from, are both from the same PC. I'll have to (Google/Bing it) and take a look at it. :)
Strange that shortly after the failure, I was able to get into the corrupted drive and change the drive letters that Acronis changed and thought I was home free. Then I ran chkdsk C: /R /. It replaced bad clusters and made corrections to Bit Map. Ran sfc /scannow. Found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them (most likely those MS updates). A couple days later I noticed drive letter changes (how - I have no idea) and couldn't get it to boot! And that's where I'm at.
I'm still thinking. About two weeks now. I don't want to make mistakes like MS or Acronis did!
Seems that the "perfect storm" occurred. Microsoft screws up updates that prevent Clones from being done because the Clone software can't read the corrupted MS updates! Then, Acronis Cloning software not only fails to Clone, it erases three partitions on the drive being Cloned to, and also changes the drive letters and who knows what else in the drive being Cloned from! Cloning software should never screw up the info on the drive it's copying the info from. Never - never!! Macrium, even when it failed to Clone at least didn't screw things up. All that happened was that the Clone process terminated!
Thank you for your time and help. I'll keep you posted.
Dave
Give it a try as it is next to last in the sequence "if all else fails."
Good luck!
If your old image is a clone and was made on same PC, then you should be able to just plug it in and boot from it. I make monthly clones with Acronis and verify the clone by booting with it.
Also there are ways to get an installation working on a dissimilar hardware. Like Microsoft built-in Sysprep. If somehow your PC is unbootable, you can still use Make Windows 7 bootable after motherboard swap.
Also want to add, I have daily imaging done with Acronis and didn't have any issues back when the Windows Updates (falsely) corrupted those 2 files.
Important to a "bare metal" install that I did not mention is that all of the drivers for the different hardware on the receiving machine may not be available on the source drive image. Therefore, the user may have to provide those drivers that windows cannot "find." That is why it is a good idea to run something like Belarc Advisor that documents the drivers necessary for your computer's hardware. Keep a current-printed and/or a .pdf file handy for each of your computers.
Of course a very similar challenge may occur when SysPrep is used. Essentially, SysPrep is analogous to copy/pasting everything above the belt (Software; Settings; User-files) on top of new hips/legs (hardware and drivers.) SysPrep though, is intensively tech-heavy and easy for the average user to mess-up. Many users will have a much better chance of success with a "bare metal" install than with SysPrep.
Update: Cloned drives are a solution but they take, at least, an entire partition. Also the chance of the clone-to drive having the same issues (infections) as the clone-from drive is typically high. Disk images tend to be smaller (bytes-stored) therefore more historical versions can be made - very useful for finding files the user deleted with good intentions but now regrets.
Update2: Stopping the services mentioned above needs to be done in sequence. In my case, I did nothing to the 1st-listed as it is necessary for other processes. Stop the 2nd listed then Disable it.
Stop the 3rd listed then Disable it.
Update3: Disabling the services has nothing to do with the success of cloning or creating/restoring disk images. My opinion is that I do not wish to enable big-brother's desire to capture my keystrokes or track my personal (computer-related) information thus I disabled those services. I do check to ascertain if Updates turn them back on.
Dennis
Last edited by DennisCPA; 23 Jun 2015 at 19:36.
We have a tutorial for using Sysprep in this regard - Windows 7 Installation - Transfer to a New Computer
If one can clean install an OS, s/he can sure do Sysprep. It is not like extra drivers are needed. Just the ones for your hardware.
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