Image not recognised after reset to factory settings

N

Nine hills

New Member
I have had a few problems and followed ACER advice as the laptop is still under warranty. They advised to conduct a complete PC backup then restore the PC to factiry setings. I backed up the image on D Drive (a partition) and and external hard drive.
When I went to restore the image it doesn't recognise it. I can find both images when I search. I have been through the forums and the advice seems to be to load the last disk first when looking to reload the image, however if it is on a hard drive I can't do this.
All advice and instructions seem to assume the files will be found.
I have wasted a day trying to hunt this down. Is there anyone who has a simple solution?
 

My Computer

System One

What did you use to create the image ? ?
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Intel Q6600
    Motherboard
    ASUS P5K MBoard.
    Memory
    4G OCZ PC2 8500 Platinum
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 8800GTS Vid Card
    Hard Drives
    500G Seagate SATA
    200G Seagate SATA
    100G WD Caviar SATA
    80G WD Caviar IDE
    PSU
    OCZ Elite 800W PSU
    Case
    RaidMax Smilodon Case
    Other Info
    Lite-On dual layer DVD burner X 2
    Dos 6.2;Win2K;XP; &
    Vista Ultimate 64Bit.
I used the standard Vista Complete PC Backup image tool. I spent 2 hours on the phone to an administrator last night (admittedly not skilled in Vista) and his final position was to get Acronis as he can't see another way to get the system to recognise the image.

My C Drive appears to have a partition D Drive used for these backups etc and I can see the image there, however the system can't find it. He though I could copy this image to C Drive, however C drive seems to have this amount of space used and after checking all files including hidden files we couldn't locate what was taking up this space. Whatever it is, it uses so much memory I can't copy the image across to C Drive.

I was going to burn a copy to disk and try putting the last disk in, as was suggested in some earlier posts, however if Acronis works I will have an ongoing solution.

If you have any otehr suggestiond it would be appreciated. It just doesn't seem to make sense. I have followed the instructions to the letter, as have all people getting into this situation. It just seems to be a fatal flaw.
 

My Computer

System One

A quick update. Acronis failed to reinstate the image in C Drive. I am desperate for a solution. I have read every forum on the web. There doesn't seem to be a solution I can implement. There are suggestions about disks. Mine was OEM installed. There are suggestions (when using disks) that drivers may need to be installed. There was a suggestion related to virtual server.
 

My Computer

System One

hello Nine hills
and welcome
so you are saying that this was created by vista's backup tool correct?
can you confirm this as i did not understand...
 

My Computer

System One

darkassain said:
hello Nine hills
and welcome
so you are saying that this was created by vista's backup tool correct?
can you confirm this as i did not understand...
Click to expand...
Thanks for looking Darkassain,
To confirm and hopefully make it clear this time. . .
Vista Business has a backup feature called complete pc backup. This creates an image of the system with all settings etc. I used this function.
This should be able to be reinstated after a catastrophic failure. I didn't think resetting to factory settings would be a big issue with this image being reinstated straight away.
Unfortunately the restore operation is not recognising the image and I simply don't understand why. I saved the image onto an external hard drive, whilst most demos on the web save to disc. There are examples of people using hard drives, so this isn't the issue. The hard drive is working.
As an extra check I ran another complete pc backup after the reset to factory settings (being careful to copy my original and put it in a safe place so it wasn't over-written. The system couldn't even find this one.
Perhaps it is the factory settings and a flaw in this.
Not sure, but I have a tech coming tomorrow to try to recover the data in the image, but it would be good if had a solution prior.
I have also tried Acronis (after the fact) just by trying to save the image and reinstall, this failed. I am currently following a lead where I may be able to extract data using a virtual server. This will not reinstate my machine, but I will save my data I hope.

Very happy to get suggestions from anyone, however my technical ability is not great so please keep it relatively simple.
 

My Computer

System One

Nine hills said:
darkassain said:
hello Nine hills
and welcome
so you are saying that this was created by vista's backup tool correct?
can you confirm this as i did not understand...
Click to expand...
Thanks for looking Darkassain,
To confirm and hopefully make it clear this time. . .
Vista Business has a backup feature called complete pc backup. This creates an image of the system with all settings etc. I used this function.
This should be able to be reinstated after a catastrophic failure. I didn't think resetting to factory settings would be a big issue with this image being reinstated straight away.
Unfortunately the restore operation is not recognising the image and I simply don't understand why. I saved the image onto an external hard drive, whilst most demos on the web save to disc. There are examples of people using hard drives, so this isn't the issue. The hard drive is working.
As an extra check I ran another complete pc backup after the reset to factory settings (being careful to copy my original and put it in a safe place so it wasn't over-written. The system couldn't even find this one.
Perhaps it is the factory settings and a flaw in this.
Not sure, but I have a tech coming tomorrow to try to recover the data in the image, but it would be good if had a solution prior.
I have also tried Acronis (after the fact) just by trying to save the image and reinstall, this failed. I am currently following a lead where I may be able to extract data using a virtual server. This will not reinstate my machine, but I will save my data I hope.

Very happy to get suggestions from anyone, however my technical ability is not great so please keep it relatively simple.
Click to expand...

hello nine hills and thanks for confirming
as i believe (meaning you said before) you have a OEM copy of vista correct (it came installed with it)
and you have no Vista DVD correct?
ok the reason why you cant do get it from acronis is because you have a file that is made specifically for Vista Backup..."
heres what you do
go here
Windows Vista Recovery Disc Download — The NeoSmart Files
download which architecture you have (x32 or x64...)
if you dont know check your properties (right click my computer and click on properties..
it should say whether its 32 or x64
after that the instructions are there in that post...
including how to download it and burn your disc...
once done (please make sure you made a backup on a external HDD or a flash (if its able to...)
boot from the disc
and then click repair my computer
after that should include complete pc restore and there is where you click find the place you put it and there you go...
follow the prompts
you should be able to restore your computer with this backup
sorry if this is a little hazy as i have restored a image about a 3 months ago...
 

My Computer

System One

Hazy or not it is the best news I have had in 3 days. I will give it a go and advise the outcome.

If it works I will be one tired but very relieved person. If it doesn't I am still very grateful for your attempt.

Will keep you posted.
 

My Computer

System One

Nine hills said:
Hazy or not it is the best news I have had in 3 days. I will give it a go and advise the outcome.

If it works I will be one tired but very relieved person. If it doesn't I am still very grateful for your attempt.

Will keep you posted.
Click to expand...

ok please do...
also i should have given you a better link...
its here Download: Windows Vista x64 Recovery Disc — The NeoSmart Files
this one includes instructions on how to download...
just be advise it is a big file...

(All torrents are being seeded by 100mpbs servers, they should be blazing fast).

Instructions

Download the appropriate .torrent file from above that corresponds to the version of Windows Vista you have installed.
Download and run µTorrent.
Open the .torrent file you downloaded with µTorrent. (File -> Add Torrent)
Select where you want µTorrent to save the Vista Recovery Disc.
Wait for it to download.
Burn the .iso file that µTorrent downloaded to a CD using these instructions.
When you want to use the recovery center, put the CD in your drive and boot from it. This is usually done by pressing F8 at startup, or changing the boot drive order in the BIOS.
Click to expand...
 

My Computer

System One

Hi Darkassain,
The disc formed well and worked, but I quickly realised it is not the solution. I had access to winRE, so could already do all the disc enabled. It is good to have the disc, so not time wasted.

For some reason my system doesn't recognise the files it created when using complete pc backup.

I am still at a loss, but thanks for trying.
 

My Computer

System One

For anyone who experiences trouble with the complete PC Backup facility in Vista, here is a quick rundown on how to recover your files.

The file is held as an image. it is a .vhd. Whilst most info on the web will point you to virtual pc and virtual server, the easy option is to download winimage. This program is slow, but allowed me to recover all files apart from a few when virtual pc and virtual server wouldn't even mount the file.
Good luck and for those who are planning to provide support services to Vista it is a cheap and handy program to have in your carry bag.
 

My Computer

System One

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