Wrong time showing on system images

This isn't stricktly "installation and setup" I don't think, but I can't find anywhere else it fits either, so hopefully it is OK here.

I have made a couple of system images using W7's own native system image creator, but they automatically identify themselves with the wrong time and date. My OS clock is correct and my BIOS clock is correct AFAIK (i.e. going into the pre-boot settings where you can shuffle up the boot order and checking it in there) but my images are created showing that one made at 14.00 was made at 3.40am if using the disc and searching for a system image to restore from, and if I go into the backup and restore centre within W7 it tells me the most recent system image was made at 12.40!

It also puts them all in a folder with today's date, I had a heart attack thinking it had overwritten my previous backup despite saying that would not happen on an external hard drive (but would on a network) but when I go into the startup repair booting from the disc it does indeed offer me both options, albeit with strange times on them. Is that normal and is there a way I can force it to place each image in a separate folder without that complicating the restore process?

Oh, as an aside the "create a system repair disc" thing doesn't work for me, nor did it ever work when I had Vista. I can write the disc, it simply doesn't boot. Not too annoying because the installation DVD has the same tools on it, but just another part of the process that is not working.

Any idea what is causing this bizarre mislabelling? It's very confusing when trying to find the correct image.

richc46 said:

The image is incrmental. The time is the time the first image was made.

I don't understand how that relates. I didn't make either image at 3.40am, the computer was powered off at 3.40 am and I was asleep. Why would it have picked up the label saying it's been done at 3.40am?

Does the image *have* to be incremental, or can you force it to be a full new image each time, without deleting the previous one? The help seems to imply you can, but rather vaguely, lots of what "may happen" and not a lot of commitment.

richc46 said:

I was just trying to explain the way it works. I do not know what happened, specfically, in your situation.

Thanks, I am afraid I don't get it though. Do you mean that it should be that the time will always show from the very first image you made, so if you made one at 12.00 on 12th and one at 15.00 on the 18th it will always show that the image was made at 12.00 on 12th? Cos that makes a bit of sense, but unfortunately the folder with the images in it is showing as made at 3.40am on 16th, and the only images I have ever done are 14.00 on 16th and 23.00 on 13th. But neither image shows either of those times.

So does that mean the label is definitely wrong? What I am not sure of is if you are saying this is how it's meant to work therefore mine has gone wrong but you don't know why, or that you are saying it is not wrong I just don't understand why it's meant to be like that. If that makes any sense...

Thanks. I already use more than one image maker but since I had a meltdown with Acronis last time I tried to use it (validated the archive OK, then went on to go "deleting partition, no problem, replacing data - sorry, no chance, mate") I wanted to use the Windows one too, just so that I have more than one option to try before having to resort to losing everything and starting again.

richc46 said:

The only way to make another full image is to delete or put the second image on an external hard drive etc.

I tend to leave things where the system likes to put them so that when it comes to updates or using the restore process everything will be default and it will work like a charm (famous last words!) - so I can take my image files out of where Windows put them and stick them in another directory and it will just do another full backup for me, it won't get its knickers in a twist cos it's trying to do an incremental and the previous version isn't there?