I cannot restore any system image which was created in Windows 10 v1709 using Backup and Restore.

fg2001

Thanks for your patience with this -  I think I've nearly got it

Just to clarify

The existing system HDD is indeed Disk 0 named C:

The WD Enterprise that will replace it is Disk 1 and named Z:

The WD Black that will hold the SIB is Disk 2 and named J:

I will create the USB recovery disk after the backup

The system image is on Disk 2 J:

I remove the duff original HDD named C: and replace it in the same physical SATA port with the new Enterprise currently named Z:

I boot up from the USB stick and choose the SIB on J:

I assume now that Z: becomes C: with the system on it

The spare drive named J: will stay where it is and be used for future SIBs

I will keep the USB stick for future repairs

You mention 16299.125 which I presume is the last build that SIB worked with until the very latest build fixed the problem

I apologise for my wariness on this as I don't have anything to practice on - I hope that it doesn't happen

Thanks again

Keep in mind that the letters assigned to the drives may change when you boot from a recovery or an installation disk.

Make sure you verify which disk is which, going to cmd prompt, diskpart- 'list disk will' give you the list of the installed disks and 'list volume' will give you the list of the volumes and the letters assigned to them, 'select disk n' and  'list partition' will show you the partitions after you select the disk you want to see .

As for the build 16299.125 it is just the latest installation disk level for 1709 that you can download from Microsoft, it is not related to the level that fixed the system image backup.

The fix for the backup was on build 16299.214 and above, the restore can be done with the installation disk 16299.125 or 16299.15, you will see these levels when you boot from the installation disks and go to cmd prompt.

The current level of update on a running windows 10 system is 16299.334, but that has nothing to do with the level of the recovery disk or installation disks which will have the level of the time they were released.

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.16299.334]

(c) 2017 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

I've been following this discussion with interest as I'm trying to decide what is a good strategy to try and mitigate the effects of a potential primary HDD failure. My HDD is > 5-years old, a 500-Gb Seagate Barracuda and to date three other Seagate's have failed. I have also been through the grief of having BSODs and having to have Win 10 repaired, which got my files back but then had to spend weeks recovering/getting it back to the way it was ("it" is a desktop PC with Asus MB, Intel i5 Win 10 Pro upgrade from Win 7 Pro 64-bit which was a clean OEM install in 2012). It also contains a lot of work going back many years.

I'm not in any way computer literate (C++ coder), but have so far been totally confused by cloning, mirrors, images etc. I do a file history type backup onto a NAS device routinely (that had two of the failed Seagate's until changed to WD Red).

My gut instinct was to go for a system image and recovery medium on a USB stick. But, there seem to be as many opinions on exactly how to do it as the number of Google searches done to date.

I have installed a second HDD (Western Digital Gold Enterprise SATA 1-Tb which is ready to go.

I have looked at Acronis TI Western Digital edition, but despite all the flack directed at MS, I thought by now, they should know how to safeguard their own operating system etc.

I always wondered why I was being directed to Win 7 for SIB and having seen "deprecated", "not supported", the doubts crept in.

However, having seen fg2001's items, I am more encouraged to use the Win 10 SIB.

From settings info on my PC

System type 64-bit OS, x64 processor

Edition Win 10 Pro

Version 1709

OS build 16299.309

I would be grateful for any advice on how to go, general strategy, third party methods. Re-boots scare me, but I just about know how to go through the BIOS settings, so the less stressful the better.

Thanks

Are you running Legacy Bios or UEFI ?

At your level of OS the Win 10 SIB should work fine with either one.

Since you are replacing an HDD perhaps you should have considered a 500 or 512GB  SSD to get a much better performance, but it is your choice.

From control panel File history, Create a windows system image backup on an external USB drive, make sure it is big enough to contain all you have on your current system drive.

Once you have the Image created, replace your current drive with the new WD.

Boot from a windows 10 Installation Media (build 16299.15 or 16299.125 DVD or USB) and use the repair your computer-troubleshoot-system image recovery to restore the image to the new drive. 

It should see the image to restore on your USB external drive where you saved it. Once the restore is complete it will boot on your new copied system.

Thanks for replying and hp2159m

fg2001

Systeminfo is showing BIOS  mode as BIOS (legacy) and Disk management is showing "Healthy" for the source and target HDD, so I take that to be not UEFI.

Ref the SDD vs HDD choice, I'm happy if it just works, so the possibly more reliable WD Enterprise was a compromise.

Just as an aside, working with EEPROMs in microcontrollers, where 100k write operations are the limit, I was wary of SDD's, but if I had a spare PC, I will try one. However, looking at the platter of  a dead Seagate which looks like the rings of Saturn, shows what can go wrong.

I find that the interminable delay in getting going after the last (3-2018) cumulative update was dumped on me far outweighs read/write speeds, but I take your point.

Just to clarify, I was proposing to put the recovery medium tool on a USB stick, and the SIB on the WD HDD - the WD is connected internally to the motherboard as a SATA drive. The only booting from a USB stick I have was installing Ubuntu on a dead Vista laptop.

Hopefully, it will not be needed, but with data going back to at least Win 98, I like to be prepared as best I can.

One other thought, can you hedge your bets and have say, Acronis TI and Win 10 SIB on the same target disk, or would there be a conflict?

Even with all the files I have, I'm only using about 33% of the C: drive (according to File Explorer properties).

Grateful for the help and restoring some faith in the MS product.

You cannot put the SIB or any other backup on the same drive where you plan to restore it.

The restore will reformat the drive based on the original configuration so it would destroy your SIB.

Unless you plan to use 2 WD internal Sata, one for the Backup and a second one to replace your original Seagate system disk.

I don't know about Acronis, I had problems with it, in some cases I used the free version of Macrium to copy a drive to another or to save an Image and the restore it to a different drive, but you will need to prepare a Macrium bootable media (Based on Win PE) to restore the image.

Hi Travis,

For us to isolate and provide you an accurate resolution regarding your concern with 1709, we would like to know the following:

• What is the exact issue are you experiencing with 1709?
• Are you getting any error messages? If yes, what is the exact error message?
• To make sure that we have not missed on anything, what troubleshooting steps have you done so far?

We look forward to your response.

Can you please stop asking stupid questions like an idiot and read all the comments and questions people have posted here... the user who posted this question has clearly mentioned the error message and the error code....

Give us answers for your faults and bugs without asking damn stupid questions...

We have paid for all these and when we lost everything I will sue MS for the loss of my data if I cannot recover my data back...

Your post was back on Nov 8 2017, we are now on Feb 28th 2018. Many changes since then.

The image backup/restore has been fixed with build 16299.214 and 16299.248.

Unfortunately if your backup was taken with build 16299.192 or earlier you will not be able to restore unless you use some workaround method which you may find on this thread. 

If you look at the beginning of page 5 in this thread there is a description of a workaround method to restore your disk C from a image backup .vhdx file.

I had your problem and I followed the suggested procedure by rwb1012, it worked for me.  

Since then I updated my windows 10 pro 1709 to build 16299.248 and now the image backup/restore works fine.

MS never described what was changed in those 2 updates that made the SIB work again. I just hope that Microsoft does not break it once more on the next build.

I have image backup v1703 that can restore via repair disk or disk v1607 successful.(disk v1703 cant restore)

after Restore Successful I update v1703 to v1709 via Windows Update Assistant (Windows10Upgrade9252) I create image backup again. 

It can restore via repair disk or Disk v1607. 

But

If I restore from v1703 and update to v1709 via windows update and backup again

It cannot restore I received a VSS error 0x80042302.  but during backup progress im sure the VSS is running.

Hi Dan,

This issue might occur due to a damage in system files or interruption while restoring. For us to determine if there are any third-party programs/apps that is causing the issue, we suggest that you perform a clean boot.

We would appreciate it if you could get back to us and provide us your feedback.