sglee
asked on
Restore Windows 7 From Windows Backup
Hi,
I have a complete backup of my windows 7 OS in an external USB HD.
I wanted to test "a complete restore from the USB Drive", so I created Windows 7 Recovery disc on a DVD. I connected an another hard drive to the same computer, put the recovery DVD in the DVDROM, and started the computer.
I loaded recovery process, choose keyboard, display "System Recovery Options" windows where I choose "Restore your computer using a system image that you created earlier".
It scans the computer and finds "FreeAgent Drive (E:) dated 11/26/2013" as "latest available system image(recommended) and I click Next. It displays additional restore options such as Exclude disks, Install Drivers, Advanced and I click Next.
On the "Re-image your computer window", it says "Your computer will be restored from the following system image:
Date and Time: 11/26/2013 ...
Computer: XXX
Drives to restore: \\?\Volume{17b 18 1a9 ....}, C:
When I click [Finish], it display a warning message "All disks to be restored will be formatted and replaced with layout and data in the system image. Are you sure you want to continue?". When I click [Yes], it say "The system image restore failed. No disk that can be used for recovering the system disk can be found". There is a detail button. When I click it, it displays 3 possible reasons/suggestions.
What have I done wrong?
I have a complete backup of my windows 7 OS in an external USB HD.
I wanted to test "a complete restore from the USB Drive", so I created Windows 7 Recovery disc on a DVD. I connected an another hard drive to the same computer, put the recovery DVD in the DVDROM, and started the computer.
I loaded recovery process, choose keyboard, display "System Recovery Options" windows where I choose "Restore your computer using a system image that you created earlier".
It scans the computer and finds "FreeAgent Drive (E:) dated 11/26/2013" as "latest available system image(recommended) and I click Next. It displays additional restore options such as Exclude disks, Install Drivers, Advanced and I click Next.
On the "Re-image your computer window", it says "Your computer will be restored from the following system image:
Date and Time: 11/26/2013 ...
Computer: XXX
Drives to restore: \\?\Volume{17b 18 1a9 ....}, C:
When I click [Finish], it display a warning message "All disks to be restored will be formatted and replaced with layout and data in the system image. Are you sure you want to continue?". When I click [Yes], it say "The system image restore failed. No disk that can be used for recovering the system disk can be found". There is a detail button. When I click it, it displays 3 possible reasons/suggestions.
What have I done wrong?
ASKER
@Frosty555
HD size: both 160GB
HD Type: both SATA
Blank: No, I partitioned it for160GB partition
Computer: it is the same computer, just different HD with the same size (formatted/partitioned)
"if it has system partitions on it that Windows is unwilling to delete." ---> This may be the case. Let me delete the partition on 2nd HD and will try to restore.
HD size: both 160GB
HD Type: both SATA
Blank: No, I partitioned it for160GB partition
Computer: it is the same computer, just different HD with the same size (formatted/partitioned)
"if it has system partitions on it that Windows is unwilling to delete." ---> This may be the case. Let me delete the partition on 2nd HD and will try to restore.
ASKER
I tried to restore after deleting a partition off 2nd HD, but I ended up with the same error.
When I click [Exclude] button, I see my 2nd 160GB HD (Disk 0) listed under "Select disks to exclude from the restore process. These disks will not be formatted or repartitioned." Also at the bottom, it says "The disk "Seagate FreeAgent Desktop (Disk1)' is already excluded as it contains the system image to be restored".
So theoretically it should work and use that 2nd un-partitioned/un-formatte
When I click [Exclude] button, I see my 2nd 160GB HD (Disk 0) listed under "Select disks to exclude from the restore process. These disks will not be formatted or repartitioned." Also at the bottom, it says "The disk "Seagate FreeAgent Desktop (Disk1)' is already excluded as it contains the system image to be restored".
So theoretically it should work and use that 2nd un-partitioned/un-formatte
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
Yes I have larger HDs that I can try.
Let me ask you this. Should the new HD be in certain condition like unformatted, unpartitioned, Basic vs Dynamic, GPT ... etc? or it should not matter it will partition and format before recovery begins?
Let me ask you this. Should the new HD be in certain condition like unformatted, unpartitioned, Basic vs Dynamic, GPT ... etc? or it should not matter it will partition and format before recovery begins?
ASKER
@Frosty555
I tried to restore it to 1TB HD and it worked. There must have been something wrong about that 160GB HD even thought the size did match.
It was very simple. Love Windows backup.
Thanks for your help.
I tried to restore it to 1TB HD and it worked. There must have been something wrong about that 160GB HD even thought the size did match.
It was very simple. Love Windows backup.
Thanks for your help.
160 GB drives may vary in size. You would need to know the number of bytes, because for some, 1GB equals 1 billion (=10^3)^3 bytes, for others (that "like it binary") it equals (2^10)^3 bytes, which is roughly 7% more.
ASKER
Did not know that. Thanks for the info.
Usually this error means that Windows for one reason or another considers your new hard drive to be unsuitable for restoration. Sometimes this can occur if the target disk is smaller than the original, if it is some unsupported technology like a motherboard-RAID without proper drivers present, or if it has system partitions on it that Windows is unwilling to delete.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-system/no-disk-that-can-be-used-for-recovering-the-system/e855ee43-186d-4200-a032-23d214d3d524