Vista Backup

[ken07734]

I recently upgraded to a new MB,Processor and HD. before I did I backed up the entire HD. Now that I have the new one running I cannot access the old backup. anyone know why or how I can get my old infor back?

 

[smah]

What form of 'backup' did you use? And did this 'upgrade' require you to reinstall windows? What error do you get why you try to access the backup?

My guess is that you need to take ownership, but without knowing the other questions, it could be something else.

 

[ken07734]

the backup is from a previous install of Vista. I backed the entire system and then reinstalled Vista on a new computer that I built. after going thru the whole calling MS and reactivating I tried to restore my old data. the message that I have to create a backup comes up. I pu the backup on an external drive, I already have ownership. are previous backups incompatable?

 

[smah]

So, did you use the backup utility that is included with the retail version of Vista? Which version of Vista? (they don't all have the same backup capabilities). Also some OEM's have their own backup utilities in addition to all the third-party utilities. If you use the same back & restore utility on both systems, they should be compatible.

 

[linney]

Have you hit a similar problem to what is described in this thread?

How do you rebuild 'mediaid.bin'?
thread1583-1453338

 

[ken07734]

Actually, the previous backup is not recognized by Visat Ultimate. I put all my trust into Microsoft to have a working backup and restore process. All my information is gone now. the only way I can get it back would be to put the old system together. what a pain that would be. I can't understand why M$ would not allow a backup of the same vista version to be restored....I thought that was what Backup /Restore was used for. maybe I'm wrong. I never had this problem with XP.

 

[smah]

Are you referring to the full image backup? Since you won't tell us exactly what backup you used originally, can you describe the file & folder structure of the backup? If you used the full image type backup, it can't be restored with the restore utility- that is for a different type of backup. You'd need to boot off the Windows CD and restore the image that way (which might not be what you want with new hardware).

 

[linney]

What about this if you have saved the backup as a .vhd file?

Accessing Windows Vista backups with Virtual PC or Virtual Server

http://searchwincomputing.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid68_gci1294231,00.html

Virtual PC 2007

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...3199-48a3-afa2-2dc0b40a73b6&displaylang=en&tm

 

[ASG0856]

Can you run the backup program by right clicking and running as administrator?

 

[harebrain]

This is Vista Backup and Restore's behavior on the less-than-ultimate versions. This weekend I reinstalled Vista Home Premium (again) and did a backup ahead of time. After reinstalling Vista clean, I tried to restore my files and it said it was not the same computer! There is an option, however, to restore files from another computer (I think you have to do an "advanced" restore) and it works.

Now the bad news: when you use the low-end version of Vista Backup and Restore and tell it you want a full backup, you DON'T get a full backup. It decides which "documents" it thinks are yours, and backs up those. There are a load of files, including .exe, that it doesn't backup.

Luckily for me, I had done a complete robocopy of my C: drive a week ago, so I wasn't completely screwed. I did get burned, though, on software downloads like ZoneAlarm that install with an .exe kicker.

Moral: If you want a full backup, Vista (Home Premium) Backup and Restore full backup doesn't do the job.

 

[ken07734]

I wasnt that lucky. Vista said it could not find a backup even when I point it too the backup. I have given up on that anyway. not enough time in this world for the nonsense.


I thank you all for the help.

 

[smah]

That's because you made an image, not a backup. You should find a .vhd file that can be opened with VirtualPC or any virtual hard drive reader that can read .vhd files.