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Newbis

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How to restore Windows 7 image from external drive without drivers (catch 22)

Hi,  I made a Windows image (has some VHD files and a bunch of other things, made from Windows 7 control panel).  I want to restore the whole image to my GoFlex hard drive, not just files from the image.  I've been told that the only way to restore the image is to boot into the System Repair utility or from an external boot disk.  The only problem is, when I do that, the drive is not recognized (obviously, since the drivers are in Windows, so there wouldn't be any way for it to recognize the drive...duh).

In the Repair menu, there's an option for the command prompt.  If I use that, I still can't see the drive, but if I go to MountVol, it does "see" it.  But if then I try to access it, it says "Device not ready."

Is there some way around this catch 22?

Since the drivers for the external drive are on the internal disk, is there some way that I could get those drivers into memory somehow from the command prompt?

Is it possible to copy the entire disk image to my internal hard drive, and then somehow do a system restore from the internal hard drive to itself?

Any other way to get around this?
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jcimarron
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Newbis

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Getting it from Control Panel / Recovery is a brilliant idea.  Unlike the other times, it gives me the opportunity to browse and point it to where the driver is.  Now I just have to find out where is the driver that it needs....
Newbis--
What are these drivers for?  The external hard drive?  Go the manufacture's site and see if drivers are offered.  Can you now open the external drive?  Is the drive recognized in Device Manager?  If so, you might get the drivers from there.
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Newbis --Glad to hear all is well.  Thanks.
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ASKER

I found out what the issue was.  It's really important to try to plug it into all USB holes, not just a few of them.