Trying to restore to an image after wiping drive

[mccoady]

I'm really a novice at this but my son is using Macrium Reflect Pro 5.0 to backup to create images for a Windows 7 Dell XPX 8700 PC. He ended up with some corrupt files and I was told by a computer tech (he messed with his PC for an hour) that I either needed to wipe the hard drive and do a Clean Install, or try to restore to an earlier image. I had just done an image backup the day before the issues began so the tech wasn't entirely sure the image backup wasn't corrupted too but might be worth a shot. I do have another image about 6 months old that's not corrected guess that would be better than starting from scratch.

I always Optimize the drive before reinstalling Windows so I thought I could wipe the drive by https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91339-ssd-hdd-optimize-windows-reinstallation.html and then do the MR image restore but apparently I can't or don't know how. This computer has MR's "Boot Menu" option installed to make it easy to restore to an image.

Once I Optimized the drive I removed the Windows CD and rebooted thinking I would get the option of the MR boot menu but I don't. Guess this is how little I know about how this process works or just how dumb I am.

I'm thinking now my only option now to do a Clean Install... correct?

Say I would still like to try to restore to a backed up image after doing a Clean Install. What if I installed Macrium Reflect (with the Boot Menu option) then rebooted to the MR option and restored to an earlier image. Should this work?


Mike

[davexnet]

Perhaps you can use a 2nd PC to create the MR emergency CD; this allows access to most functionality when
you to boot from this CD. Presumably you have an image on a second drive somewhere.

[mccoady]

Perhaps you can use a 2nd PC to create the MR emergency CD; this allows access to most functionality when
you to boot from this CD. Presumably you have an image on a second drive somewhere.

davexnet are you saying a MR Rescue CD made on a different computer would work on my son's computer? I'm using MR 6.0 Home on my PC and my son's running 5.0 Pro don't know if this is an issue. But yes I believe I already have a MR Rescue CD made for mine.

[davexnet]

Perhaps you can use a 2nd PC to create the MR emergency CD; this allows access to most functionality when
you to boot from this CD. Presumably you have an image on a second drive somewhere.

davexnet are you saying a MR Rescue CD made on a different computer would work on my son's computer? I'm using MR 6.0 Pro on my PC and my son's running 5.0 Pro don't know if this is an issue. But yes I believe I already have a MR Rescue CD made for mine.

This may (but not necessarily) work using a newer release CD. It *may* recognize an older release image and work with it.
I don't think the fact its from another PC is relevant

[valvehead]

I'd be surprised if a v6 rescue disc could not restore a v5 image.

There may be issues with drivers though. When you make the rescue disc, it includes all of the drivers needed to run on that computer. If you put that disc in another computer, it may not run properly if there are missing drivers. It's worth a shot.

[mccoady]

I did forget to mention I'm running Windows 10 with 6 while he's using Windows 7 with 5. So the Rescue Cd is made not only with a different OS but different version of MR. Can it do any harm to try it?

My original question about doing the Clean Install, reinstalling MR, and then restoring from an earlier image should still work right?

[SameSelf]

IIWY and I was not 110% confident in any of the existing images, I would just do a clean install. Then, if there is anything on the old image that you need, hopefully, MR will allow you to retrieve data as needed (full disclosure, never used MR). And when you are doing the install avoid connecting to the net or installing dodgy programs. And, do yourself a favor. After you rebuild, make an image of the clean install to keep around for future problems. I rarely image my machine once I put it into service as I prefer to run it in a fairly clean state at all times. Also, one always needs a boot device (USB, CD, etc.) for installing an image on the boot drive. You don't want to be caught without one when disaster strikes. Sometimes these are called rescue disks which is a bad name, but you can't load an image or even image a boot drive properly without one.

EDIT: Lastly, it shouldn't matter what version of OS, or MR, the rescue disk was made with. All the rescue disk does is provide a pre-install environment and mount all attached drives from which to load MR to install the image onto the boot drive and make the drive bootable. The only hiccup would be if the version of MR installed on the rescue disc was unable to read the image file because it was made with a newer version and not compatible. Otherwise, image programs and rescue discs are somewhat agnostic. The main thing is making sure you load an image made of the machine you are trying to re-image. Images generally are not portable.

[mccoady]

Thanks for all the help guys going ahead with a Clean Install.

Did manage to find a MR Rescue CD for my son's computer I had made and forgotten about. Thought I was in good shape except when trying to restore a couple of images it would get to 2% and say there were corrupt files. I have no idea why suddenly my backup images are corrupt or whether the Rescue CD is the issue.

I will definitely do a backup after the Clean Install.

[Nelson37]

You have two different computers and it is not clear to which one you are doing what. That is problem one.

Image restore requires a bootable CD which can run the program. The bootable CD should contain the program the image was made with. NO, they are not agnostic. To clarify, the boot CD most likely is, but the program may or may not be relative to the image file you are using.

If you have an image file that is corrupt, either the original file the backup copied was corrupted in such a way that it could be read and incorporated into the backup image, but not able to be re-created from the image file, which is possible but unlikely, OR the version of the imaging prog used to make it is slightly incompatible with the version being used to read it, also possible but unlikely, and I will insert here easily avoidable and borderline moronic to have that problem, OR the image file was corrupted when written or became corrupt on the storage medium, knowing what this is would be helpful, this is the most likely possibility and if true, the whole image must be considered unreliable and a near-total waste of time.

Also, you mention doing a Clean Install, I will assume you mean of the operating system though you do not mention it, there is absolutely no need and no useful purpose to doing this when restoring from an image. An image backup is generally an all-or-nothing proposition, actually if files are selectable then it is not an image backup. However, since corruption has almost certainly crept into the image file, then the whole shebang must be considered corrupt and it should not be used. Data files and documents should be OK, but executables and system files should most definitely NOT be used.

You need better storage media, also consider a separate backup of data files, which usually constitute a small percentage of total drive space used and while susceptible to corruption. this is usually limited to individual files and is not capable of causing massive systemic problems, as corrupted OS and program files can certainly do.

Do not waste time doing an OS install before restoring the image, restore the image first, then delete the entire Windows directory, all drivers and all program files, THEN do an OS install and re-install all drivers and programs, unless you do not have any data files you really need, in which case chuck the image file altogether and just reinstall the OS and all drivers and programs.

[SameSelf]

NO, they are not agnostic. To clarify, the boot CD most likely is, but the program may or may not be relative to the image file you are using.

That is exactly what I said. Stop parsing my words.

And good job of repeating everything I said /sarc

[Nelson37]

If the rescue disk contains a pre-install environment, it may have drivers or parts of the program integrated into it, The program may or may not function from a simple boot disk. RTFM would reveal this, however it is simply not safe to assume. Just like the different versions of the prog SHOULD be compatible, but may very well not be.
Again a RTFM situation. IF you have the disk made by the program, and IF you are using the same version the image was made with, THEN you have completely eliminated these as possible problems. If everything goes well, great. If not, then you don't know, without that pesky RTFM, whether you created your own problem.

Now, when it is really, really freaking easy to avoid that problem, why not do that?

Also, **** you very much.

[SameSelf]

RTFM....Also, **** you very much.

ICSL clearly you are the one who can't read

(full disclosure, never used MR).