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

[GAR]

I have read about 50 threads in regard to the topic. I'm just looking for clarity here. I have a homebuilt system that got a virus Alureon.gen!k. Before researching it I let windows fix it. Computer won't open any applications now.
Decided to go to my Image to save time (NOT!). The image is on a USB external HDD currently attached directly to the computer. I can't get it to find the bleepin' Image!

The HDD was attached to an NAS over the network where it saved my windows images and backup files from the NAS. The drive's structure looks like this:

E: R6 Backup
Office Server
Office WindowsImageBackup MediaID.bin Data Drive Backup Files

Inside the Office folder are three items: Office, WindowsImageBackup, and a MediaID.bin. The Office folder has file backups. The WindowsImageBackup contains the expected image folders and files.

I understand from the threads that the WindowsImageBackup needs to be in the root of E: so I have done this two ways, neither of whiched worked. First I simply renamed the Root Office folder, and then I undid the rename and moved the WindowsImageBackup out of the Office folder and into the root of E:.

Windows sees the drive. Within the recovery you have the option under advanced to load drivers. I was doing this trying to use eSata to no avail so I switched to USB where you can clearly see the drive and all its contents. No matter, windows still won't recognize the image.

Is there anything I am missing here or is there a fault with Windows that is killing me? I will be using another tool Acronis or whatever in the future but as of right now it seems I am doing everything as I should. I guess I'm looking for conformation before a complete reinstall.

Thanks for whatever I get, unless it's someone telling me to use search for the answer which I did already for the better part of 1.5 days.

 

[GAR]

I installed Acronis after seeing someone's post about converting the Windows Image file to an Acronis and just booting from that, but it is telling me it won't work and possibly the windows file is corrupted. Has anyone seen this or been able to fix a so called corrupted .img file?

 

[Victor S]

Sorry you're not getting help here, and I don't have an answer.
The Win 7 imaging utility has been a problem for many, and you're not the first to encounter this problem.
All I can say is look into other imaging software for your future imaging.
Many here use free Macrium. I use Ghost 15.
I'm hoping somebody here with Win 7 imaging utily experience will jump in, but I can't recall seeing a solution to this. Hope I'm wrong about that.

 

[kado897]

Not sure whether this will help or not since Windows Imaging is a bit picky, but try moving the MediaID.bin into the root as well.

 

[Victor S]

GAR,
You might look at this.
http://www.sevenforums.com/backup-r...nise-my-backup-image-external-hard-drive.html

 

[SIW2]

You may be able to mount the vhd and image the mounted vhd with any imaging app.

I told whs about it along time ago.

He explains on that thread he tried it with disk mgmt and Macrium.

If you have any difficulty with that - let me know.

 

[Saltgrass]

Can I ask why you put the NAS hard drive directly on your system? Did you try recovering the image from the network first?

On my NAS, the drive is formatted as ext3, which doesn't work well with Windows. Maybe you just have an external drive connected to the NAS, and not in it.

But if the drive is a USB 3.0 device, the 3.0 ports may not work in the recovery environment.

Try leaving the drive off during the boot into the Recovery environment. After it searches for an image, turn on the drive and let it search again.

If you want to check the backup image, you can mount it by using Disk Management and the Action option to Attach VHD. Make sure you have the partition with the Windows Backup Image selected, but look for the .vhd file in one of the folders.

 

[whs]

If nothing helps, try this: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/210195-system-image-recover-broken-windows-7-system-image.html

 

[GAR]

Hi guys and thanks for the responses.
The NAS was not connected directly it was networked via ethernet on the router. My back up drive was connected to the NAS via usb.
Coincedentally my power supply on the NAS broke so I can't network to the back up drive. So, I connected the back up drive direct to the pc in question. It is connected via 2.0 and the drive can be seen in the advanced tab when working restore.
I will try moving the MediaBin file too.
I'm wondering if: IF the drive was connected to the NAS, perhaps it can only be recovered through the network? No way to tell until I get my replacement power supply from Iomega I guess.
I've never attempted to mount an image. Is this done and then recovered from there, or does the mounted image become your C drive?
Thanks agian

 

[Saltgrass]

I ran a test the other day where I moved a backup image from the NAS to my system and one from my system back to the NAS. Both images were still recoverable, so I don't think just moving it makes much difference. It does matter for a drive connected to your system, that the folder be on the root directory.

If you decide to use the networked NAS again, loading a driver for your Network Adapter using the Advanced button, is not hard to do.

I looks like now we need to determine if the Windows backup image is bad, or your drive is bad. I don't suppose you have a second internal hard drive you could copy the image to? Mounting the image using the VHD option would just see if you could read it. Someone else may know if you can do more.

You might test by renaming the current backup folder and making a new backup, assuming it would work. You certainly want to keep the system after a re-image using that, but you could test the external drive that way.

Have you ever used a image created on the external to restore your system?

I am not sure if I missed it, but how are you getting into the Windows Recovery Environment? If you aren't using an Install DVD to boot, something on your system may be involved.

 

[mjf]

Your WindowsImageBackup folder needs to have this structure.

The MediaId file is expected in the location shown.

I have mounted the OS vhd, imaged it with Macrium then successfully restored as described here
http://www.sevenforums.com/backup-r...image-my-computer-problems-5.html#post1394148
Correction:
The Macrium Reflect V5 appears to have no problem imaging System Reserved partition (System active). So there should be no problems.

 

[whs]

I've never attempted to mount an image. Is this done and then recovered from there, or does the mounted image become your C drive?

Mounting a VHD is dead simple. It becomes a temporary volume in Computer and you can deal with it like any other volume you see in Computer. But it does NOT become your C partition. For that to happen you have to image and restore it.

 

[GAR]

Well, I guess moving it isn't a problem. Does it matter if there is another folder unrelated to restore in the root?

Okay, simple things first. I did go ahead with a clean install. Had a bit of problems getting all the updates to take, but somehow got it all done. (made another image after all the basics were installed to protect myself, LOL!)

Anyway I had previously tried restore through the windows installation AND off a boot disk.

So, now I have tried to get at the image again and its still not recognized. Taking some of your tips, I have moved the files back into the root of the drive and also moved the Mediaid.bin file to the root as well...but alas...nothing!

I can get into the folder through windows and see all the files and the structure seems to match the new image I made.

I have used this drive before to recover a year ago or more.

 

[GAR]

I am going to see about mounting it now. If I can see it and navigate it (assuming I mount correctly) then the image is solid and there is a different issue. First I'm going to relocate the MediaID.bin file to the location in the jpeg.

 

[Saltgrass]

Just in case, here is a graphic of my Backups. The only one useable is because it has to have that annotation for Windows to find it.

 

[Heist]

I am greatly interested in an answer to this as well. I've scoured the internet and various forums for the better part of 2 days trying to get a clear and concise answer to no avail. The one thing I have been able to reach concesus on is that Window's Imaging Back-up is a poorly coded, unreliable hunk of steaming poo and Windows should have never integrated and touted such a program if it had this degree of questionable integrity, especially considering the vital lifeline roll they knew it would play for users in the event of a system failure.

Now that my vent is over, I'll quickly layout the specs of my system:
- Win 7 Ultimate
- Seagate GoFlex running on USB 3.0 base.
- Dell D830 Laptop
- 3 month old harddrive
- Back-up Image is in the Root folder (F: )


My particular issue:
Late Friday afternoon my system would not boot into Windows. It would not even let me go into Safe Mode. After the BIOS screen, the screen would go black with a flashing cursor in the upper left.

Steps taken:
- I used my recovery disk to soft boot into the system and scanned everything which returned no errors.

- Next I ran a system rollback. No change.

- Subsequently, I decided to run a system restore from an image I backed up on my Seagate GoFlex External 3 months ago when I bought a new hardrive for this machine. Let's call this Back-up (Old)


NOTE: When I ran the image restore 3 months ago there was no problem. The system recognized the image and transferred everything with perfect calibration afterward.

- This time I was met with a roadblock; although I have used this very same image just 3 months prior on this machine, it refused to recognize the image instead asking me to install a driver, which is thoroughly confusing because if the drivers were not installed it ought not be able to recognize the external HDD.


- I suspected whatever had caused the original boot error might be the culprit, so I did a 'clean-all' wipe of the drive (All 0's) and reinstalled Windows 7.


- I re-ran the image restore. Again, no luck. It refused to recognize the image although I could see it in the file manager view.

- To test the restore function itself, I created a new back-up image of my new installed bare bones Win 7 (Let's call this Back-Up (New)) and mapped the destination to the external (F. When it was completed, I re-ran the image restore function and my machine immediately recognized Back-Up (New).

- I next attempted to trick the machine by moving all the files from Back-Up (Old) into Back-Up (New)'s directory. I restarted the restore function and it recognized the Back-Up (New) directory. I ran image restore but I could tell by how fast it completed the task, which barely lasted 2 minutes, it didn't take.

- Machine restarted and nothing changed. It's still a bare bones Windows 7 system.

I am utterly at a loss. Windows is asking me for a 'driver' in order to see the old/use the old image and I cannot think of any other way to force Windows to see the image.

Any help would be appreciated.


Please note: I am not super technical. With clear, layman terms instructions, and detailed steps I have no problem hacking my way around in DOS or the Windows environment itself.

Thx.

 

[whs]

If the F disk on which your image resides is an external disk, you can attach it to another system and salvage it with the procedure I outline here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/210195-system-image-recover-broken-windows-7-system-image.html

 

[SIW2]

There have been quite a few incidents like that with win sys img.

I can't answer why it happens.

If you really need it - best thing is to mount the .vhd and image the mounted .vhd with something else.

Then use that newly created macrium\paragon\whatever image to restore.

I did exactly that a few years back as a test. It worked fine, so I have been suggesting it as a workaround ever since.

 

[whs]

There have been quite a few incidents like that with win sys img.

I can't answer why it happens.

If you really need it - best thing is to mount the .vhd and image the mounted .vhd with something else.

Then use that newly created macrium\paragon\whatever image to restore.

I did exactly that a few years back as a test. It worked fine, so I have been suggesting it as a workaround ever since.

That's the approach described in the tutorial I linked.

 

[SIW2]

The tut is useful is useful for beginners who want step by step stuff.

Heist doesn't need that - he can understand what is meant just from my few words.