Restoring with an external hard drive.

[Bonto]

Just recently, my main 1TB internal hard drive crashed and is not bootable. I luckily backed up my hard drive about a month ago on an external 500Gig hard drive. Though, I am having trouble finding how to restore from my from my back up hard drive. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pparks1]

What type of backup did you perform? Was it just a data backup, meaning you would have to reinstall the OS, then all apps and finally data from External, or was it an image style backup where you would restore the whole machine from the backup file?

 

[gregrocker]

What have you tried to get Win7 started? Have you booted into System Recovery Options to run Startup Repair? http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/668-system-recovery-options.html

Hopefully you backed up a Win7 System Image. If so follow the steps here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/675-system-image-recovery.html

Once reimaged you can copy in the latest files if you backed them up separately.

 

[Bonto]

From what I remember, it was a total data back up. So I assume, I would have to reformat my internal HDD, then reinstall windows, then use the external to restore my data?

Note: I already attempted some of the steps in System Image Recovery. Both my main unbootable drive and external backup drive doesn't appear in the list to restore. I also tried running the startup repair tool.

I do really appreciate the quick responses.

 

[Bonto]

Just to make sure before I reinstall, where would be image file be located on the external hard drive and how would I go about about finding it? Thanks again.

 

[gregrocker]

The file is named WindowsImageBackup and would be in the root of the External. It needs to be there to be detected by the Repair CD or DVD.

If you want to repair the current install, can you provide more detail about what happened. Have you tried running System Restore from DVD Repair console or Repair CD? Have you made sure Win7 is marked Active before running Startup Repair as it must be to repair? http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/71432-partition-mark-active.html

Do you have a factory Recovery partition or disks which could be used to restore to factory condition?

If not, do you have access to a Win7 Install DVD for your version to clean reinstall using the Product Key on COA sticker? Here are tips for getting a purrfect clean reinstall of factory OEM: http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/125874-re-install-windows-7-a.html#post1086729

 

[Bonto]

I do have the Windows 7 64-bit OEM disc.

I do not have the factory partition because I bought my hard drive OEM.

I am attempting to Mark the partition as active as I type this.

Update: After attempting to make my primary partition on my primary hard drive active, it will not let me select it's partition. I type "select partition 1" and it states "no partition is selected".
Note: There is an "*" next to Partition 1 when I list it. I don't know if that is an indicator of something.

I can do a clean install but I'm trying to avoid that if possible.

 

[gregrocker]

You want to mark 100mb System Reserved partition Active first (if you have it) to try repairs. If it won't repair, try marking the Win7 partition itself.

Does the repair utility find an installation to repair when you boot into it?

You can get a graphic picture of what you're doing while marking Active, post back a camera snap, and from it's Disk tab Rebuild MBR using free Partition Wizard bootable CD. http://www.partitionwizard.com/download.html

If you want to repair the current install, can you provide more detail about what happened. Have you tried running System Restore from DVD Repair console or Repair CD?

 

[Bonto]

I'm just going to run a clean install of Windows and restore in the OS from my external hard drive. It seems that its the best bet I have on getting my computer back up and running. Thank you very much for the help you have provided me.

 

[gregrocker]

If you've got anything else you need copied out you can use this method: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/93347-copy-paste-windows-recovery-console.html

Be sure to wipe the HD to overwrite any corrupt or infected code. The steps are in the Clean Reinstall tips I posted earlier.

 

[Bonto]

Currently cleaning my primary 1TB HD with command prompt. Going to create a partition and install Windows.

 

[gregrocker]

Clean All (one set of zeroes) is about an hour per 300gb.

Be sure to unplug your external HD.

Best to create a smaller partition to install Win7 onto to avoid install problems. Use Custom install>Drive Options to create New and Format so it creates the 100mb System Reserved boot partition which conveniently places the Repair console (normally on Repair CD or DVD) on the F8 Advanced Boot Tools menu.

 

[Bonto]

Clean All (one set of zeroes) is about an hour per 300gb.

Best to create a smaller partition to install Win7 onto to avoid install problems. Use Custom install>Drive Options to create New and Format so it creates the 100mb System Reserved boot partition which conveniently places the Repair console (normally on Repair CD or DVD) on the F8 Advanced Boot Tools menu.

I assume I'll be waiting a good amount of time until my HD is done cleaning. To get this strait, I should use the partition wizard to create the 100MB partition and the main partition?

 

[gregrocker]

No, boot the Win7 DVD, choose Custom install, then use Drive Options to create your partition(s), format before installing Win7 to first partition. Ignore the 100mb SysReserved partition the installer creates.

It is all shown with pictures here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

 

[Bonto]

No, boot the Win7 DVD, choose Custom install, then use Drive Options to create your partition(s), format before installing Win7 to first partition. Ignore the 100mb SysReserved partition the installer creates.

It is all shown with pictures here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

Alright, done cleaning my HD. On the install screen and am wondering if there is a certain sized partition you would recommended I make for the install. Sorry to bother you again. You've been great help.

 

[gregrocker]

Depends on how many programs you have and whether you want to store most files in User folders. I'd say 100gb to start, but go bigger if you want.

 

[Bonto]

Depends on how many programs you have and whether you want to store most files in User folders. I'd say 100gb to start, but go bigger if you want.

Figured as such. Is there an advantage to not partitioning the entire drive? (excluding the 100 MB partition) In other terms, would not partitioning the entire drive help avoid the crash I had today because it all wouldn't become corrupted?

 

[gregrocker]

The only reported problems are when a 1tb Drive is not partitioned smaller.

We never got requested details of your crash earlier today so can't say what caused it.

 

[Bonto]

Once again thank you for your help. Installing Windows now.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello Bonto.



You can always extend the Windows partition to include the remaining unallocated space on the Hard Disk Drive or create additional partitions after the installation completes if you choose.

If you need additional partitions, use Windows disk management to create the 3rd Primary partition and the fourth partition Windows will create is an Extended partition that can be used to create as many Logical drives (within the Extended) as there are available drive letters, if you need more info on Extended partition / Logical drives, post back and we'll help you out.