Had to do a system recovery, now need help with transferring the backup from external hard drive to

I can probably help you but I need some clarification. From what I understand. Your computer started going haywire, so you moved files from the computer to the external hard drive so that you could save them. After that you used a Recovery CD to restore windows. Windows is now restored, every thing is in a new state, right? Now you are trying to move the files you stored on the external hard drive to your computers internal hard drive. Correct?

Can you view the files from the external hard drive(I dont mean see them but interact with them, can you play audio file or view a picture)? If not the files may have been corrupted.


I noticed you said you put off upgrading vista. Save your money Vista is fine. It only has a bad reputation because it came out with allot of bugs, those bugs have been fixed. It all so has a bad reputation because manufactures wear it putting on computer's that could not handle it. They made allot of profit using old gen computers and marketing them as new.

Next time dont use the system restore disk. Windows has a built in restore system, just search system restore. It takes your computer back to a earlier date, so you get to keep all your files prior to when your computer first started messing up.

I have had a similar thing happen when restoring backups where it would restore a lot of the file structure but most of the files were missing even though I could see them in the backup software.

When you ran the Vista backup did you have it run a "CompletePC Backup" ?

If so you may have to mount the image it made (a VHD file) and copy paste the files directly, vista doesn't come with a built in way to mount vhd's though so you would need to download some software and it might be a bit of a headache.
.

Originally posted by Infi8nity
I can probably help you but I need some clarification. From what I understand. Your computer started going haywire, so you moved files from the computer to the external hard drive so that you could save them. After that you used a Recovery CD to restore windows. Windows is now restored, every thing is in a new state, right? Now you are trying to move the files you stored on the external hard drive to your computers internal hard drive. Correct?

It wouldn't even let me into the control panel...it was dead.
I always use an external hard drive for scheduled backups, so it's a habit for me.
And my system restore on the computer itself stopped working back in the summer. No matter what I did, it wouldn't save info...turned it off/on, no good.

Can you view the files from the external hard drive(I dont mean see them but interact with them, can you play audio file or view a picture)? If not the files may have been corrupted.

Not sure, never tried......

When it's supposedly transferring, I can see/read the saved data wizzing by but it just isn't being placed into the PC.

I just went to my computer file, saw Seagate, opened the file and it has several compressed zipped files where I tried to transfer the data earlier [I could tell by todays date.]
But when I tried to extract one, I got a message that said:
"Compressed zip folders unable to create the specified directory. Ensure that the directory does not already exist & that the path is valid...
Also, it says: "select a destination" ......

Next time dont use the system restore disk. Windows has a built in restore system, just search system restore. It takes your computer back to a earlier date, so you get to keep all your files prior to when your computer first started messing up.

I know about system restore, had to use it once about 2 yrs. ago. But this summer, I found out that it no longer worked when I had a software problem and there was no restore points listed. Ugh...

reply to post by Infi8nity


ETA: My bad.......never mind. Just had a oops moment......

Originally posted by snarky412
reply to post by Infi8nity

 

ETA: My bad.......never mind. Just had a oops moment......

edit on 6-2-2013 by snarky412 because: (no reason given)

I said this on a reply to another post a few days ago and it applies I think here.
Since it first came out, I had windows 98 and it was forever crashing that I took it for granted but got fed up with it in the end. Some guy came out with a new programme that would take an image of your PC and restore it from that. Cost me a bit to buy as it was just a new thing out and I patiently waited for it to arrive.
I made an image and did everything that was on the instructions of the cd I had been sent and next time it crashed I was able to restore to my time it was before I had problems. I can't remember what it was called but might be something like 'back in time' or something like that.
Now this was in the olde days when it was before broadband and we had to listen to the screeching of the phone before we got connected. Many times I fell asleep on the chair at the PC just downloading a small file that today takes seconds to do.
My point is, always always make an image for a restore, I make 2. I partition my hard drive and put one in there, then I put one on an external hard drive. If I feel I am having problems, I restore using the one on the PC as its quicker in my opinion, but if it fails I can always use the one in the external hard drive anyway. Reason also for making two is once I found that my image was corrupt but second one was ok.
Norton Ghost is one such programme that will make an image for you. It takes a 'snapshot' of your PC and restores it completely. You can't take individual files from it though but you can get everything back all in the one.
I always make a new backup very month or if I have installed something I really want to keep, I clean the PC out and defrag plus run a virus scan before I make an image.
Sorry to ramble on, but better safe than sorry as you have found out today...

reply to post by scotsdavy1

Norton Ghost is one such programme that will make an image for you. It takes a 'snapshot' of your PC and restores it completely. You can't take individual files from it though but you can get everything back all in the one. I always make a new backup very month or if I have installed something I really want to keep, I clean the PC out and defrag plus run a virus scan before I make an image.

I learned a while back about disc cleanup/ defrag...and always run a virus program.

Didn't know about Norton Ghost, will read up on it. Thx.

Sorry to ramble on, but better safe than sorry as you have found out today...

No, you're not rambling, I appreciate your help.

I just found out that my backup restore did transfer the data from my Seagate HD but it saved it to a folder in a zip format. Before my computer could open it but it's saying it's unable to create the specified directory...
What's hell, is my stuff is there but now I can't open it .....yet.

Also, thanks to ATS format, I realized I needed to re-download Java, so that's what I'd been doing and my Google Chrome returned with my same settings/bookmarks......YAY!!

I'm slowly getting every thing back to normal.
Having Chrome back helped my feelings alot!!

Originally posted by snarky412
reply to post by scotsdavy1

 

Norton Ghost is one such programme that will make an image for you. It takes a 'snapshot' of your PC and restores it completely. You can't take individual files from it though but you can get everything back all in the one. I always make a new backup very month or if I have installed something I really want to keep, I clean the PC out and defrag plus run a virus scan before I make an image.

I learned a while back about disc cleanup/ defrag...and always run a virus program.

Didn't know about Norton Ghost, will read up on it. Thx.

Sorry to ramble on, but better safe than sorry as you have found out today...

No, you're not rambling, I appreciate your help.

I just found out that my backup restore did transfer the data from my Seagate HD but it saved it to a folder in a zip format. Before my computer could open it but it's saying it's unable to create the specified directory...

What's hell, is my stuff is there but now I can't open it .....yet.

Also, thanks to ATS format, I realized I needed to re-download Java, so that's what I'd been doing and my Google Chrome returned with my same settings/bookmarks......YAY!!

I'm slowly getting every thing back to normal.
Having Chrome back helped my feelings alot!!

Well, once you have everything back to normal and the way you want it, make a back up.......please?

Originally posted by scotsdavy1

Originally posted by snarky412
reply to post by Infi8nity

 

ETA: My bad.......never mind. Just had a oops moment......

edit on 6-2-2013 by snarky412 because: (no reason given)

I said this on a reply to another post a few days ago and it applies I think here.
Since it first came out, I had windows 98 and it was forever crashing that I took it for granted but got fed up with it in the end. Some guy came out with a new programme that would take an image of your PC and restore it from that. Cost me a bit to buy as it was just a new thing out and I patiently waited for it to arrive.
I made an image and did everything that was on the instructions of the cd I had been sent and next time it crashed I was able to restore to my time it was before I had problems. I can't remember what it was called but might be something like 'back in time' or something like that.
Now this was in the olde days when it was before broadband and we had to listen to the screeching of the phone before we got connected. Many times I fell asleep on the chair at the PC just downloading a small file that today takes seconds to do.
My point is, always always make an image for a restore, I make 2. I partition my hard drive and put one in there, then I put one on an external hard drive. If I feel I am having problems, I restore using the one on the PC as its quicker in my opinion, but if it fails I can always use the one in the external hard drive anyway. Reason also for making two is once I found that my image was corrupt but second one was ok.
Norton Ghost is one such programme that will make an image for you. It takes a 'snapshot' of your PC and restores it completely. You can't take individual files from it though but you can get everything back all in the one.
I always make a new backup very month or if I have installed something I really want to keep, I clean the PC out and defrag plus run a virus scan before I make an image.
Sorry to ramble on, but better safe than sorry as you have found out today...

Making "images" of your drive is a good and sane practice. I do it for free for all my private clients--mainly as a matter of self-defense, so that I have something to go back to the next time they mess it up. I've always taught my students: "Everytime you do something smart, SAVE. That way, when you later do something dumb you'll have a good base to go back to."

Anyway, it's definitely worth the time and effort to partition yourself another drive and occasionally update your image--even if you have to hire your stupid neighbor's smart kid to do it for you (that advice is for the OP). I recommend Acronis True Image (there's a free "Home" version), although there are many good ones available. Virus, OS failure, corrupt registry--doesn't matter; restore from your backup image in about 10 minutes and you're back in business. Just be sure everything is absolutely clean and in working order before you do your image.

And that's all I have to say on that....

reply to post by scotsdavy1

Well, once you have everything back to normal and the way you want it, make a back up.......please?

Ummm................................................okay.

Actually, I do back up, I just never actually had to use it before until now.
I see that it transfers the saved data in a zipped file......now I have to find a way to open it, never was a problem before.
If I remember right, I think Agarta said something about what to do, what to download in the GIMP thread...that was for opening a zipped file for a certain font I believe.
Going to see now.....

Thanks again~
snarky

Acronis True Image is also good to use, but to each their own. As long as the PC is recovered is what matters. No food crying if the worst happens and their is no back up to fall on. I usually do it when I have free time and let it do its stuff. Wouldn't ever put it on DVDs though, not just because it would take a lot to so, but they have a tendency to not work half way through or not at all.
My wife and I have a laptop and I have a trusty oldish desktop PC that I hardly use now, but I make a backup for each one on the same day when I do it. Just habit,now I suppose, but helped me more than once I can tell you.

Originally posted by snarky412
reply to post by scotsdavy1

 

Well, once you have everything back to normal and the way you want it, make a back up.......please?

Ummm................................................okay.

Actually, I do back up, I just never actually had to use it before until now.
I see that it transfers the saved data in a zipped file......now I have to find a way to open it, never was a problem before.
If I remember right, I think Agarta said something about what to do, what to download in the GIMP thread...that was for opening a zipped file for a certain font I believe.
Going to see now.....

Thanks again~
snarky

Try free version of winzip to open it. My files are always in winrar though.
Wasn't nagging when I,said to make a back up, but think you will be ok from now on. If you ever need any help then just send me pm anytime.
All the best..

In 12 years, Ive never backed up anything...but I do constantly put everything in "C" drive... over to a external drive outside the computer. Either a 500 g drive, or/and flash drives 4-8-16-32 or 64 gig drives.Never wanting to deal with "backing up files" and restoring all softwares and such....Ive have always saved copies of the HD.

My laptop (new 1 year ago) constantly reminds me that my files are not backed up....over and over and over again. The FIRST thing I did was copied all files at the start of using the comptr...over to another inexpensive external dr.and threw it in a drawer.

I can always just restore Windows with the discs....and then copy and paste my files back in. (I just looked and I have 89,000 personal files-documents, photos, videos and music)...all copied to a storage drive-not the computer.

Now-a-days everyone should have an external drive. Not only can you take anywhere and plug in all your stuff around the country, vacations, friends house etc...but you always have things stored separately and can literally take your whole comptr files with you in a pocket or purse.
Good luck

Originally posted by snarky412

Call me a dummy, maybe I'm just to frustrated and over looking some thing simple but I'm not getting the data transferred.

Never had to do any thing like this before, so not sure what I'm doing wrong.
I hope it's just a oops "damn I'm stupid" moment....

I got a new laptop a while back which runs windows 7 and had a simuliar problem trying to load my data from an external drive which came from my old laptop that was running vista.

After kicking alot of rocks and pulling my hair till my toes hurt, I found out that my vista data was in 32bit format while my '7' program is in 64bit.

I'm okay now other than my toes still hurt. Good luck.

edit on 7-2-2013 by geo1066 because: format

It appears that your seagate backup is either corrupted, or compressed in such a way that you need the software that made the backup, to restore the backup.

when talking backups, it can get confusing. Just copying a file manually over would be considered a "back up" but not by your software.

Software deals with full or incremental backups. A proper backup strategy is to do a full backup of the entire system at a point where you are happy with it. Then, your backup software will do an incremental backup, only adding stuff to the backup image that has changed since the last backup.

If you don't have the full backup, and somehow all you have is the incremental, you will have a nice zipped up piece of crap you can't use, as it can't just restore itself, it has to restore to the files it's looking for, which you mentioned, might be an issue as it's erroring out referring to an invalid destination.

Do you know how to take a screen shot? ALT+PRNTSCR should capture the current active window, prntscrn should capture the entire window. It would be very helpful to see the actual file you are referring to as a backup, as well as the actual error it produces. It might be confusing and meaningless to you, but will help us understand your problem better.

Anyways, for future reference...

A restore CD supplied with your computer is rarely actually a restore. In fact, what it actually is, it a boot disk that boots up to a hidden partition your computer manufacturer placed on your harddrive, with your OS and applications as well as their bloatware, stored in an image. When talking windows, that's called sysprep, the system is fully installed, but all unique identifiers are stripped away, so when it boots, there is no actual install to deal with, you just input the details for your user and location. I do this daily at work on a scale of hundreds or even thousands, ours is fully automated but it's the exact same system dell, hp, lenovo, or whomever, would be using.

This means, your "restore" cds aren't really restoring anything, none of your settings or installed software will be there, just what the computer shipped with.

A 3rd party backup program, including windows backup, can be told to backup everything, and this is the type of backup I suggest you do from now on.

An even better solution is something like acronis, ghost, clonezilla, fog... etc.. These programs let you take a snapshot of your entire system, which you can make bootable recovery disks or usb keys from, as well as store that image on a network. They may seem complicated, but I assure you they are not.

reply to post by mysterioustranger

My laptop (new 1 year ago) constantly reminds me that my files are not backed up....over and over and over again. The FIRST thing I did was copied all files at the start of using the comptr...over to another inexpensive external dr.and threw it in a drawer.

backup software would compress that data so you aren't wasting a bunch of space.

Never had to do any thing like this before, so not sure what I'm doing wrong. I hope it's just a oops "damn I'm stupid" moment....

Yeah, well.......guess you could say I called that one.

With me worrying and being very nervous and not to mention cautious being as I never had to do this kind of thing before, I kinda, sorta um, well discovered it was more of a "oops" moment.

I was outside doing some work and kept going over every thing in my mind. I was content the way my computer was but I'm not one to give up and throw in the towel.

So with extreme embarrassment and humility, I will say what it was that was so simple that I had over looked....

Man this is sooo embarrassing...

[big sigh.... down/ shoulders slumped]
I forgot to make sure that the network sharing folders were "ON" [face turns red]

I know, pretty bad for a simple task as that to stump me......dumbazz!!
I wasn't thinking about the settings were back to the default settings.
On the other hand, at least it wasn't any thing major....[trying to overlook my mistake]

I checked my folders and although they are a mess, every thing seems to be there.
The download stuff for my printer was all jumbled, some files were empty so I just downloaded all new software.

Thanks to you guys for your help. I will have to check into the "image shadow" suggestions.
I have kept notes of what to do in case this happens again. In bright red ink is 'make sure network sharing is ON.' LOL.

And on that note, I will humbly exit with tail between legs and go back into my hidey hole.

Thanks to all~
Much respect

snarky

Originally posted by snarky412

Never had to do any thing like this before, so not sure what I'm doing wrong. I hope it's just a oops "damn I'm stupid" moment....

Yeah, well.......guess you could say I called that one.

With me worrying and being very nervous and not to mention cautious being as I never had to do this kind of thing before, I kinda, sorta um, well discovered it was more of a "oops" moment.

I was outside doing some work and kept going over every thing in my mind. I was content the way my computer was but I'm not one to give up and throw in the towel.

So with extreme embarrassment and humility, I will say what it was that was so simple that I had over looked....

Man this is sooo embarrassing...

[big sigh.... down/ shoulders slumped]
I forgot to make sure that the network sharing folders were "ON" [face turns red]

I know, pretty bad for a simple task as that to stump me......dumbazz!!
I wasn't thinking about the settings were back to the default settings.
On the other hand, at least it wasn't any thing major....[trying to overlook my mistake]

I checked my folders and although they are a mess, every thing seems to be there.
The download stuff for my printer was all jumbled, some files were empty so I just downloaded all new software.

Thanks to you guys for your help. I will have to check into the "image shadow" suggestions.
I have kept notes of what to do in case this happens again. In bright red ink is 'make sure network sharing is ON.' LOL.

And on that note, I will humbly exit with tail between legs and go back into my hidey hole.

Thanks to all~
Much respect

snarky

Please check your messages , thanks

reply to post by winofiend


I was going to ask you a question since you seem to be in the know......

Ever since I've had this computer, I've run TrendMicro for virus and never had a problem.
After I did this complete system overhaul, I wasn't able to download my TM software due to a problem with the driver.
So I downloaded Microsoft Security Essentials since it was free.

My question is this, now that I have every thing up & running right, would you suggest staying with MS Security Essentials or going back to my original TrendMicro?

Just curious.....free vs. pay
Is one better than the other....

Much respect ~
snarky


ETA: Or do you have better suggestions.....

reply to post by scotsdavy1


I was going to ask you the same thing I asked winofiend.......

I had to use the Microsoft Security Essential anti-virus until I could get my TrendMicro software to load.....
One is free, the other is not.

Question I have is are they both pretty much the same or is one better than the other?
My yearly subscription with TM is about to expire and wasn't sure whether to re-new it or just stick with the freebie..
And no, I've never had a virus while using it.
[I also use Malwarebytes........free version]

Thanks for any suggestions~
snarky

I have always used Norton Internet Security and only had the odd virus because I clicked on a site it warned me might be no good. Was tired and didn't notice until too late but just used my back up to restore which tool all of 20 mins for a clean machine again.
You get what you pay for, or not in this case....