Cannot Restore image from external HD!

[hobiecatter]

For my inlaws computer, I had a fresh install of windows 7 and installed all the programs they needed. Put the pictures, mail, etc. all like they wanted. Then I did an image backup on to my external hard drive using the built in Windows 7 backup/restore. This way if they ever had a fatal issue, I could fully restore the computer to the point it was when I gave it to them.

Well, this fatal incident happened and to make a long story short another family member restored, but from the factory image that was on the bakup partition that came with the computer. So it is currently at Factory settings losing all files and folders they had on the system.

Now I have the computer and am trying to fully restore the system using the image on my external hard drive that I created. I can go to backup/restore and select to re-image and it reboots and lets me select the image correctly on my external hard drive. I can select it and start the process, however, it errors out after about 3 seconds with error:
"The system image restore failed. Error details: Recovery to the backup storage location is not allowed. (0x80780087)"

any idea where I'm going wrong? Have tried several times .

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello hobiecatter.



"Recovery to the backup storage location is not allowed"



I'm not really one of the "image" guys here at the forums; but from this it looks as if you are trying to restore the image to the same external the image is on, could that be the case?

 

[gregrocker]

Make sure the WindowsBackupImage folder is in the root of the external and not renamed or altered in any way.

If it still won't Recover Using An Image from booted Win7 DVD or Repair CD, then in Disk Management mount the VHD files contained within the WindowsImageBackup subfolder to copy out your data into their User files in your new Win7 installation.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/566-virtual-hard-disk-create-attach-vhd.html

 

[whs]

Make sure the WindowsBackupImage folder is in the root of the external and not renamed or altered in any way.

If it still won't Recover Using An Image from booted Win7 DVD or Repair CD, then in Disk Management mount the VHD files contained within the WindowsImageBackup subfolder to copy out your data into their User files in your new Win7 installation.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/566-virtual-hard-disk-create-attach-vhd.html

This is an excellent idea Greg, VR (virtual rep) for you because I still have to spread first.

 

[mjf]

Using Macrium Reflect free you can actually make a Macrium image of that mounted VHD. That works I know. Macrium will produce a verifiable image.
Only if all else fails to restore the windows image, you can try restoring the Macrium image made from the mounted vhd. I haven't tried a full restore this way (yet).

 

[Ztruker]

What an intriguing idea! Acronis would also work for this then. It would be fun to try except I never use Windows Backup

 

[hobiecatter]

SOLVED

Make sure the WindowsBackupImage folder is in the root of the external and not renamed or altered in any way.

Thanks! that was it. I was not aware it had to be in the root. I have other backup folders on my external drive and they are all in one "backup" folder. Why does MS always have to make at least one annoyance with something that should be super easy. Windows could of just warned me when making the backup. All I did was cut/paste to the root of my ext drive. Worked like a charm.

...thanks gregrocker

 

[mjf]

Renaming and moving to folders is a convenient way to keep multiple windows images on the same partition. Although I use windows imaging all the time I strongly recommend the use of another imaging program as well for safety (eg Macrium Reflect).
Your problem was a simple one others have problems when the image is exactly named correctly and in the root. Windows robustness in locating it's vhd files is a problem that needs work.

 

[gregrocker]

Make sure the WindowsBackupImage folder is in the root of the external and not renamed or altered in any way.

Thanks! that was it. I was not aware it had to be in the root. I have other backup folders on my external drive and they are all in one "backup" folder. Why does MS always have to make at least one annoyance with something that should be super easy. Windows could of just warned me when making the backup. All I did was cut/paste to the root of my ext drive. Worked like a charm.

...thanks gregrocker

Glad it worked.

Windows built-in imaging is in its infancy with Win7. We are hoping that it gains more flexibility in the future.

 

[wds7]

Make sure the WindowsBackupImage folder is in the root of the external and not renamed or altered in any way.

Thanks! that was it. I was not aware it had to be in the root. I have other backup folders on my external drive and they are all in one "backup" folder. Why does MS always have to make at least one annoyance with something that should be super easy. Windows could of just warned me when making the backup. All I did was cut/paste to the root of my ext drive. Worked like a charm.

...thanks gregrocker

Glad it worked.

Windows built-in imaging is in its infancy with Win7. We are hoping that it gains more flexibility in the future.

It was a great job Greg.
That bring up another question ..how do we keep more than 1 windowsImagerecovery
in the same external HDD ..
Apparently we have to rename them so we know which 1 belong to which pc..?
(Did not mean to hi-jack)

 

[mjf]

Read the forum tutorial on the subject.

 

[whs]

Read the forum tutorial on the subject.

What a mess just for keeping more than one image. Who in his right mind could have invented that facility. Any other imaging program can do better.

 

[SIW2]

+1 whs

 

[mjf]

Read the forum tutorial on the subject.

What a mess just for keeping more than one image. Who in his right mind could have invented that facility. Any other imaging program can do better.

Come on - it's not that messy.
But it is an answer to a specific question often asked - "Given I use the inbuilt MS imaging how do I create multiple images etc."
Don't use Windows imaging is not an answer to the question.

I use Macrium as well and admit it gives you the ability for flexible image placement but still uses obscure naming. It also gives you flexibility in partition choice and appears robust in locating images. However, reimaging can be much slower than Windows imaging when restoring a medium size image say 40GB to a large partition 450GB (by a factor of 4!). It appears that Macrium wants to write to the remainder of the partition.
The only imaging I tried and got rid of was Paragon.

After looking at many MS imaging problems, incorrect image folder and or name is a trivial one to fix. Could MS have made their product more flexible in this regard - of course they could. This is not the big issue with MS imaging. The big issue is it's lack of robustness in locating valid vhd files. Have one 16 byte MediaID file foul up and you've had it.

I find it interesting if you criticize MS imaging, that's ok (as it should be). Criticize MS indexed search and all the fans come out screaming (like MS imaging many have problems with it).

 

[Ztruker]

Move each one into a separate folder.

That's what I do with Acronis. I have 4 folders and a neat little gem called Chain2Gen which runs before Acronis starts it's backup. It manages the folders for me. The backup always goes into Set0 and Chain2Gen renames and deletes as needed so I always have 3-4 weeks worth of backups (I run mine every night).

 

[gregrocker]

I keep a backup folder for each of our computers on external, place the latest image backup in it until it needs to be used, then spill it into the root of the drive.

Besides the latest image backup, in each folder I keep an original baseline image from right after install and setup which I rename to WindowsImageBackup.Baseline, then rename it properly before placing it in root for reimaging. This is in case I discover the OS in the latest image is in any way corrupted.

 

[mjf]

Keeping an image [WindowsImageBackup] in the root is the way windows wants it. Step one of the Image Restore tutorial shows how you can easily move and rename the image after booting from the system repair disk. As long as it is a folder with valid image contents it can be named and located what and where you like. Even when you need to boot from the System Repair disk.

 

[whs]

Move each one into a separate folder.

That's what I do with Acronis. I have 4 folders and a neat little gem called Chain2Gen which runs before Acronis starts it's backup. It manages the folders for me. The backup always goes into Set0 and Chain2Gen renames and deletes as needed so I always have 3-4 weeks worth of backups (I run mine every night).

The problem with Win7 imaging is that you cannot do that. As I think Greg said, that imaging is in it's infancy.

 

[mjf]

The problem with Win7 imaging is that you cannot do that.

I'm not really sure what you are saying. I cannot comment on Chain2Gen - know nothing about it.

What I have tested is renaming a W7 Image folder, moving the folder (within a partition) and going back again to a root folder called WindowsImageBackup and it has worked. These are all as I understand it simply directory entry changes. If someone else has actually tried this and it hasn't worked let us know.

I am not advocating copying W7 images or moving across partition boundaries which involves a physical file movement. Why
1) you are moving large amounts of data. This would certainly not be a normal image file management practice. I would only consider this in exceptional circumstances.
2) I've never tried this so I couldn't comment on the risk.

 

[SIW2]

It's a pretty long infancy - 6 years so far.