System Image Recovery - Can't find System Image

Anonymous

I am trying to restore a backup system image to my repaired PC. It is wiped clean. I have the "Repair Disc Windows 7 64 Bit" that I created in Windows 7. Using Windows 7 Backup I have a system image backup on an external WD Essentiasl 1TB USB Hard Drive.

I insert the Repair Disc and start the system. Get to System Recoevery Options. I have the external Hard Disk with the system backup image connected. Select System Image Recovery option. Says "Windows cannot find a system image on this computer. Attach the backup hard disk or insert the final DVD from a bckup set and click retry. Alternatively, close this dialog for more options. Retry gives me the same message. Tried starting with drive attached, not attached, same result. Click cancel.

Next option selected is "Select a system image." No system image listed. Hit refresh, still nothing. Top of screen says "Click Advanced to add a network location or install a driver for a backup device if it does not show up in the list below." I click on the Advanced tab. Option to "Search for a system image on the network" or "Install a driver." I select install a driver. Find the right driver for the WD Essential hard drive (disk.sys and partmgr.sys) and when I click on them I get "The specified location does not contain information about your hardware." Click OK. Can't find how to load these drivers I am being asked for.

Funny thing is that on the screen where I search for driver I can see the WD Essential Hard Drive connected to the system. I can also see the system image files but when I click on them I get the same error message, "The specified location does not contain information about your hardware."

Please HELP. This is very frustrating!!!

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Anonymous

While in Repair Mode, you have an option to open a Command Prompt. From there try the following commands:

Mountvol

(This command will show you all available drives, including your external disk)

dir Q:

(Replace Q: with one drive letter at a time from the letters that the mountvol command showed you, e.g.

dir D:

dir E:

etc.

until you see a folder "WindowsImageBackup" on the screen. Let's assume it is F:\WindowsImageBackup.

dir F:\WindowsImageBackup /s

(This command should show you the contents of the image folder, with files totalling more than 10 GBytes)

Now perhaps this image folder is missing, incomplete or inaccessible.

I have to add that I am disappointed with the native imaging facility under Windows 7. It is temperamental and its functionality is extremely limited. I recently bought myself a copy of Acronis TrueImage 10 and its is to the Windows imaging tool like a fully functional motor cycle is to a child's tricycle. Other brand imaging tools are just as functional - just make sure that they are certified for Windows 7.

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95 additional answers

Anonymous

2014-02-19T22:57:19+00:00

This built-in Windows image system simply doesn't work. I have a brand new precision workstation and I have the system setup exactly how I want it. I have an internal drive (2TB Seagate Sata data drive) I run the utility and the WindowsImageBackup directory is created. I then create the recovery disk. Then I shut the machine down, pull out the OS drive and connect the exact model "new" drive (Samsung Evo 840 SSD) into that same connection.

When the recovery disk boots me to the select windows image step, Unable to find any image.

I feel that this must have worked in the past but since hardware has evolved or Windows update has installed patches, it broke the functionality.

For fun I decided to attempt running an image backup then try to restore -

3 different machines, on all of them Windows couldn't "find" any backed up images. On 2 I used external drives connected via USB 2.0 and on the third I used a USB Key.

I am sure it's a problem with onboard controllers or drive compatibility but I would think that Microsoft would load those drivers onto the recovery disk that I created during the image creation.

And to be clear, I didn't even get to the part of installing the image onto the new drive, that would be a whole new set of incompatibility and drive not being found etc.

I would be so irate if I had actually needed to restore my system.
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Anonymous

2014-02-18T21:44:10+00:00

There's no reason to be upset. This is perfectly normal behavior for Windows System Image Recovery software. If at any time you are able to restore a Windows machine using the built-in System Image Recovery then it's time to be shocked, as you've witnessed a miracle as rare as the Virgin birth.
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Anonymous

2014-02-18T20:45:24+00:00

On Tue, 18 Feb 2014 20:06:01 +0000, Steve_Briggs wrote:

After some head scratching, I discovered that Windows-7 does not play nice with an IDE drive on a USB cable.

I've done it many times, and never had a problem with it.
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Anonymous

2014-02-18T20:06:01+00:00

After some head scratching, I discovered that Windows-7 does not play nice with an IDE drive on a USB cable. I copied my System Image to a SATA drive then attached the same USB cable kit and the restore worked. Every I.T. guy I know has a drawer full of IDE drives and that's what I used for backing up machines I built. They always worked fine for XP restores. I just didn't try a W-7 restore until now. Who knew?
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