cannot restore system image from usb drive

[lordSnake]

I had to replace my HD so created a system image using windows backup to my external USB hard drive.

the problem is that when I boot into windows repair mode and choose to restore from my image, the usb drive is not detected, so I cannot restore.

The drive is visible from within Windows, and shows in the bios as a boot device, just not visible from repair mode.

This is a USB 2.0 drive

how can I get windows repair mode to see my usb drive ?

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there

The built in Windows system image is not a very good program and doesn't allow you to restore from an external device directly which IMO makes it a CACKHANDED and almost useless system.

What you CAN do

1) re-install Windows -- don't panic we only do this to get a working Windows. Don't bother with any applications or updates.

2) Now do the RESTORE - the installed windows should be able to access the external HDD. and overwrite your newly installed windows with your original backup.

Don't BTW activate on installation- Note W7 gives you 30 days before requiring activation - don't even bother with the updates -- you just want the OS up and running so you can restore your old image.

(cackhanded method I agree but is should work).

Now IN FUTURE - download something like FREE MACRIUM and create a bootable disc.
Backup and restore images using this is no problem.

I actually use a paid for piece of software -- Acronis -- since backup and data recovery is IMO worth MORE than the PC it's on (how much would it cost you in time and money to re-create Music / Video libraries again even if it were possible !!) the 45 USD or so is worth every penny I've spent on that software.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[lordSnake]

actually it does allow you to restore from an external drive just fine, I have solved the issue.
The problem is with USB 3.0, no drivers for USB 3.0 are installed by the system repair, so you have to plug devices into a USB 2.0 port

No need to re-install windows as you suggested.

I do also have some paid backup software (EaseUs TODO backup) which is very good, but my license was already in use on another machine.
I would never touch Acronis again, I used to have this software and it never worked properly, backups constantly failed and restore never worked and I lost my entire system by relying on this useless sofwtare. Their support was also lousy, the only answer they ever gave was "upgrade to latest version".

 

[jumanji]

actually it does allow you to restore from an external drive just fine, I have solved the issue.
The problem is with USB 3.0, no drivers for USB 3.0 are installed by the system repair, so you have to plug devices into a USB 2.0 port......

When I just read your first post that was my thought that you were perhaps using USB3 - which will kick in only after Windows boots. You found it yourself. Good going.

 

[BJB]

What you CAN do

1) re-install Windows -- don't panic we only do this to get a working Windows. Don't bother with any applications or updates.

2) Now do the RESTORE - the installed windows should be able to access the external HDD. and overwrite your newly installed windows with your original backup.

It is not possible to restore a system image to the currently active partition while still using it.

 

[RipSurge]

The problem is with USB 3.0, no drivers for USB 3.0 are installed by the system repair, so you have to plug devices into a USB 2.0 port

I thought I was onto something here from this and could provide some useful information, but since I can only edit and not delete my post here after realizing not, I guess I'll just mention that Windows 10 does support USB 3.0 hard drives for this purpose, but you cannot restore of a flash drive, which is what I was trying to achieve (even though there is a work-around to backup to an NTFS flash drive - you can't recover from it later it seems).