Maintenance :: Windows 8 Pro System Image Recovery Can't See Backup
Jun 25, 2013
I have spent most of the past 12 hours trying to restore my win8pro system from a system image. the image was saved to a usb hard drive. win8pro system image recovery won't see the usb hard drive. I tried copying the backup to a drive on my network, but recovery won't see that either, even when entering the exact path to the backup using the network option. I then tried to copy the backup to a second hard drive, installing that hard drive directly into the machine. no go, wouldn't even recognize the drive.
I've been dual-booting Windows 8 Pro and Windows 7 Ultimate, but a while back my Windows 8 kind of went "South" and wouldn't boot at all (I got an error message that a device was "not attached"). I have a recent system image on an external USB hard drive, but when I boot to "system recovery" using my repair disk it can't seem to find my USB drive at all.
The tutorials here mention installing a SATA driver to access disks that are not recognized, but this doesn't seem to be the case.
To ask what is probably well known amongst IT pro's; does a system image backup solution (and consequently a restore from that image if needs be) work on OEM PC's, like a desktop from Acer, actually work without problems, and would I get a proper bootable and working machine after restoration.
Brief scenario - I have used Acronis TI 2014 (Or even the Windows 8.1 system image utility) to create an image of my C: Drive/EFI Partition/Recovery Partition - and backed it up to an external USB HDD.
My OS crashes for whatever reason and I can't boot.
I then either use my Acronis bootable media CD (which I've tested and boots despite all the secure boot/UEFI/GPT mania going about users like myself) to reinstall the Acronis disk image.
OR I use a Widnows 8.1 bootable disk with the ISO (which I've tested to boot) to reinstall the Windows created system image. (I could also use the recovery drive I created in Win 8.1, which just to add, however irrelvanat it might be, includes my OEM factory default partition which was copied as part of the recovery flash drive creation)
Would either of those restore solutions give me a reasonably likely working PC again - taking into account all the stuff I don't understand like the Windows 8.1 OEM key being on the motherboard (which I would understand in terms of Windows activation and authentication could have a negative impact on restoring images over an OEM installed OS and it's partitions)....
I am trying to create a system image backup and I keep getting this error message
[COLOR=#FF0000]'Threre is not enough disk space to create the volum shadow copy on storage location. Make sure that for all volume to be backup up, the minimum disk space required for shadow copy creation is available. this applies to both the backup storage destination and volume included in the backup. Minimum requirement for Volumes less than 500 megabytes, the minimum is 50 megabyte of free space. for voulimes more than 500 megabytes, the minimum is 320 megabytes of free space. Recommended at least 1 gigabytes free of disk space on each volumes if volumes size is more than 1 gigabytes (0x80780119)"
I am backing it up to a external HDD with over a tb of free space but I understand its not letting me perform the backup because the hidden 100mb hidden system partition is full...if i create a larger partition how can I copy that system partition to it? if that is possible....
I'm having a problem with Windows System Image Backup just when I try to do a image backup it will say that it has failed and suggest to do a disk check. I've searched and some users say to use third party backup programs should I run the disk check first or just go with a different backup tool.
After upgrading to the Win 8.1 upgrade I can no longer find the full backup selection and clicking on the change backup settings only shows a little clock. Has the backup function been removed from win 8.1?
My system is dell xps 8300. I have upgraded from windows 7 ultimate(64bit) to windows 8 pro 64 bit. My system has
1) dell oem partition (no drive ketter 39MB), 2) recovery partition (ntfs no drive letter) 13.25 GB free 2.94 Gb, 3) C drive windows system partition 100Gb free 31,24 GB rest of the two partitions are 175 Gb each (logical drives).
Total my hard disk capacity is 500GB.
What is the difference of taking backup and which is better for recovering the system to original state just before the backup.
1) System image backup(recovery partition & windows system partition) using windows 8 system backup..ie using windows 7 file recovery menu under control panel. 2) Creating custom recovery image for refresh.(command: recimage -CreateImage)
I have done both and my backup location is external hard drive of 2TB capacity. I made system recovery disk(dvd) from the windows 7 file recovery menu.
The custom recovery image wim file is of size 22.GB
The recovery partition backup(vhdx) is of 9GB and the windows system partition backup is of 43GB.
I have also used macurium reflect pro to take backup of my recovery and windows partition using macurium rescue cd.
My windows 8 pro install messed up n i have almost 2.8tb of stuff on my drive on a 3tb hd. I have an identical hd as a backup which i have (an apparently successful) a backup of my system from a couple of weeks ago on. I had set the system to do scheduled backups of the system (set to backup a system image of efi partition and c. There were a few times where i was trying to get other things done and the systemwas running slow so i cancelled the backups when i noticed them running. The software stopped the backups (seemingly successfully).
As i say my system messed up - i came home to find out it was no longer downloading (as i had left it doing when i went to work) but was on a blue screen (bsod?) saying the system needs to be restarted. Since then it didnt work well at all and after dskchk reported that several sectors were damaged so it was moving data to spare sectors (or whatever it generally reports when this happens) there were a lot of files messed up or reported as deleted when doing a file recovery scan with recuvva.
So i decided to restore the backed up system image from the other hd. Incidentally i tried mounting the vhdx backup image from that hd via windows explorer which then reported "the disk needs formatting" and didnt get any success mounting via disk management either (it mounted in the app but didnt show up on windows explorer and if i tried to access info on it via disk management it reported the same"disk needs formatting prompt".
So when i booted my win 8 dvd it didnt work cos the dvd wasnt an efi booting version so i had to boot from a usb version with the efi bit included.
I formatted the system drive and chose to do an image restore. It started doing the restore (apparently) but every time i came back to it later i had the follwing error:
"Re-image your computer
The system image restore failed.
Error details: The requested system device cannot be identified due to multiple indistinguishable devices potentially matching the identification criteria Ox80073B92"
It took me so long to set up my system n i have a lot of my own data on there too. The system drive I formatted was created in diskpart and then re formatted with "format" command (as it created the disk in raw mode) so now it is ntfs mode (uncompressed).
I started to use the "Create System Image" of the "Windows 7 File Recovery" on my Windows 8 laptop. But after the screen which flashes the total size that would be required, when I ask it to start the process expecting it to prompt me for the 1st DVD, it flashes the message, - "The back-up failed. The system is not ready. (0x80070015) " . I am trying this on an out-of-the-box laptop with pre-installed Windows 8. Also tried it by disabling the anti-virus, but to no avail.
Then I tried to start the process with a 4.7 GB blank DVD already in place. Then it flashed the message "Insert a blank media bigger than 1 GB". Since I expected it take anywhere between 3-8 DVDs, I kept about 9 DVDs ready. I also inserted a USB pen-drive of 16 GB and tried to create the system image. Again it flashed the same message of insert a blank media greater than 1 GB in F: (same drive as USB) -??????? I mean the USB is already in place and has been assigned the drive letter as F:. How can I insert a blank media there ??
I am using Windows 8 Single Language. I was able create a repair disc without issues, though.
I can't get windows 8.1 system image to burn to my backup drive it says access denied for some reason or another, and i can't get it to burn to dvd-r ether. I want to do a image of my drive.
Trying to create a System Image Backup on a Windows 8.1 ACER laptop. My latest attempt is to a external hard drive with 3.63 TB free but the backup fails due to not enough disk .
I have attached the full error message.
New to the ways of Windows 8 and this is my first time trying to create a System Image Backup.
I recently got myself into a quandary. I installed 4 additional drives with the intent of creating a RAID volume that's supported by the BIOS. In order to do that I must change the BIOS setting for the controller which includes all volumes including my boot drive (which I don't intend to RAID.) The problem I have is that when I switch the controller from UEFI to RAID, Windows Recovery will not use the System Image that I made. It says the volume was created under a different setting (Bios vs. EFI).
What are my options? Is there a different backup setting that will preserve all my installed software? I'm not concerned about data which I can copy to an external volume but it would take several days to get all my software reinstalled. I'd like to avoid that. I assume I will have to reinstall Windows 8.1 Pro and then use a backup program to restore everything else. If that's the case, then I need to know which backup program will work. If there's a better way, I'd love to know. I see my options as either, get another backup program, get a separate controller card for either the boot drive or the RAID volume, or reinstall everything.
I need creating a recovery image of my system. I would like to create an image recovery drive with just the barebones needed for Windows 8 to run. I all ready have a recovery partition created. I just don't know how to create a recovery image for usage whenever something happens to the system.
I am now getting an Event ID 513 log every time I create a System Image backup using Macrium Reflect Free; however, it doesn't seem to affect the restoral because everything seems just fine after same. Since I have never noticed these logs when running Win 8.0, I'm wondering if this is a brand new issue with 8.1? So, here is my Macrium Free version information and a copy of the Event ID 513 error log. Seeing this log on 8.1 or can confirm it is not present after an 8.0 backup.
I am trying to get a handle on how these 2 functions are related. I assume the Recovery disk would be needed if you can't boot to the computer (assume the OS needs to be present) and does the Recovery disk replace the boot files that may be damaged and then after you get booted up I assume the System Image (is that is referred to as a "backup")?? would be ran to get the computer back to the working order when the Image was taken. Assume that the Recovery disk would take place of the OS installation disk if it were not available and you couldn't just reinstall the OS and so you could load the Image.
Windows 8.1 64 bit pc48 GB RamIntel i7 - 3960X CPUBoxxTech ComputerDrive C: SSD - 446 GB
When I first got my new personal computer in January, I created a System Image using Microsoft's utility. I typically use Acronis for my backups, but after major changes, I use both Microsoft and Acronis.
Now, I am attempting to complete a System Image Backup using Microsoft's utility so that I can fix my SecureBoot concern, knowing that I have a safety net in place. Unfortunately, I am unable to complete a backup. BoxxTech suggests that I use Microsoft's utility.
I begin with the File History in the Control Panel as shown below. Note, that I have plenty of room on my FreeAgent F Drive (standalone USB drive). Yet, Microsoft's utility believes otherwise.
Only the three items that shown to be selected are selected. In other words, there are no other drives or partitions off-screen that are selected.
Thinking that it might be a problem with my external USB hard drive, I look at using one of my internal drives, T.
I get the same error message as shown earlier.
why I am unable to back-up my personal computer using Windows 8.1?
I'm running Windows 8.0 Pro 64bit in UEFI mode & I have successfully taken a Windows System Image of my PC in preparation for upgrading to Windows 8.1.
So now I'm testing that I can actually restore my system, so I go to:
PC Settings -> General -> Advanced Startup -> Troubleshoot -> Advanced Options -> System Image Recovery
On the next screen I select my PC Account name (the only account listed) and then enter my password. However, I always get "Password Incorrect. Please try again".
I am 100% certain that I am entering the correct password.
I can restart the PC and login to windows using the same Account & password without any problems. In User Accounts there is only 1 User Account listed which has administrator rights. Nor have I tried to change the password since the System Image was taken.
I have been routinely backuping my OS and important files using Windows 7 backup on a NAS. It just so happened that I needed to re-image my OS drive and I got into the Windows 8 recovery boot sequence.
Under the Advanced tools I selected the System Image Recovery and tried to look for the system image on the network path. Although the prompt said it was connecting to the network , the network share was not found. the command prompt couldn't ping google.com and netsh wlan <SSID> command did not work in hopes of connecting to my local wifi.
Is there a way to connect to the wifi network where my NAS is connected to in order to re-image from the system image found on the NAS? Luckily , there was an older image on a separate local HDD that I could re-image from but I would prefer if I could connect to the NAS during the recovery process.
I have a Lenovo Z710 laptop(see spec's)and want to make a recovery USB and also setup a backup system. This is a new machine and I don't want to make a mess of it.
I have a 32GB USB drive to make the Recovery on.Lenovo refers me to this method to make a Recovery USB :Methodology to create Recovery Media and reload a Lenovo Think system with Microsoft Windows 8 preload
Is this a good way to do this or is there a better way ?
I also need to setup a backup system, what is the best program to use for this, paid or not ?
I have a 1TB HDD in an external enclosure with 3.0 USB cable to use for the backup's.
I recently upgraded to Windows 8.1 from the Microsoft Store. Everything went well (so far) and I want to create a system image backup.
I have a 1 TB external hard drive with plenty of space, but there are some mp3 files on it. I'd like to know if storing the disk image on this drive will affect the mp3's (i.e., are they safe?)
After doing some digging around I found the system image backup under windows 7 file recovery. Then I go to create system image and everything goes fine and then I get an error message after about half way through the back up . Error message will say something like not enough space on drive to create image and I am doing this on a 2TB external hard drive . I did notice one time I accidentally created 500 MB of unallocated space on this drive but I was getting this this error message before I did that and I am not even sure how I created it. I have another PC with windows 7 and don't have a problem with the scheduled image and data backups being performed weekly. Had this problem with windows 8? Also how do eliminate the 500 MB of unallocated space on my 2 TB External HD which is not really a problem but should not be there . I have my files backed up on this HD although I don't use windows data back up utility which I prefer Sync Back to perform instead .
I tried to start windows 8.1 this morning and it was stuck in a boot loop. System tried to carryout repairs to no avail.
I re-installed Windows and I have some drives that are setup in a raid configuration which has a system image I created some time ago after I performed a fresh install of windows 8.1. However, I can't seem to get recovery to locate it.
Is there a way of restoring from this backup to save my having to install each programme from scratch? The file is 141 gig and is an ADI file with an XML and disk image text file.
I have 3 partitions on my main boot drive. XP SP3, win 8.1 32 bit and win 8.1 64 bit. I ran system image backup in the 64 bit version at 7pm and it took an hour to back up these 3 partitions to another hard drive on my system.
I made some changes to the 64 bit OS so decided to update the image, and ran from the file history window with the same 3 partitions, this time it only took half an hour. I was given an overwrite warning but the last drive to be imaged the 32 bit win 8 seemed to complete very quickly.
If the partition hasn't changed will system image skip it and not overwrite the partition image? I notice there are 3 60gb files on the backup hard disk presumably each partition. I even checked the backup log to confirm the first took one hour and second only took half an hour. Using the get items command for wbadmin it says all three partitions are available for bare metal recovery.
Win 8.1 ProThe system allows system image backup done on either external hard drive ( which I do every week ), or on DVDs. Why it does not allow USB flash drive ? I tried to use a 32 GB flash and it refuses to do backup on it.
I am new in Windows 8, Secure Boot, UEFI bios, etc.
I have a Windows 8 Single Language (SL) based system (Notebook Acer), that uses Secure Boot in UEFI Bios and has Windows Product Key recorded at BIOS by factory.
I have a 500GB HDD partitioned in drives C: (228GB), E: (40GB), F: (40GB), G: (78GB) and H: (64GB) and Windows is installed on C: partition.
I installed and configured all programs that I use and now I want to do an image to be used in cases of HDD damage, Windows crash or other cases that I need install OS and apps again. I want to earn time with this and don't have to install the apps one by one.
What is the best option (method) to do backup and restoration of the system?How I use the Boot DVD generated by the backup feature (Windows 7 File Recovery)?Can I do image only of partition C: or I need to include all other partitions?Do I need change the BIOS UEFI to LEGACY BIOS to boot with Windows Boot DVD generated?Do I need to format the C: partition before restore the image? What kind of format I need to use? NTFS? FAT32? GPT?
I have a lot of friends that are using Windows 8 now and all of them have the same doubts that I have.
Is it possible to create a new step-by-step tutorial of Backup and Restore process in Windows 8?
I created a custom refresh image the day before upgrading to 8.1. I am having shut down and sleep issues with windows 8.1 that I don't have time to troubleshoot any longer and I wish to go back to win 8 for now. I went to check that my image was there and active and this is what i get:
It showed successful when I created it? I can find in in the location that is it supposed to be:
and:
Now I'm stuck. I don't want to use the factory image and reinstall everything, and I can't cope with the bsods and hangs when trying to sleep or shutdown ( I have tried every option in that massive thread about windows 8.1 not sleeping ) ...
I have a the Dell 15R SE 7520 which came preloaded with windows 8 . Recently I upgraded to windows 8.1 . My questions are -
1. What should I create - a rescue disk or a recovery disk ? 2. If I create a recovery disk, will it recover my windows 8.1(not windows 8) in case my OS gets corrupted . 3. I also couldn't find the product key for my OS. So , If someday I have to repair my laptop using my recovery disk ,it will not stay genuine?
