Restore Operating Sys. etc.

A couple of days ago upon re-boot I could not get to the desktop because the following message came up.

“Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt.
Windows\System32\Config\System
You can attempt to repair by starting Windows setup using the original Setup CD-Rom, select ‘r’ at first screen to start repair”

Doing as told did not work so it seemed a good place to put the Bootable Rescue Disk to work. In retrospect I think there was no reason to even bother with the Setup CD-Rom but instead have gone straight to the Bootable Rescue Disk to begin with. In using the Bootable Rescue Disk for the first time I think I was on the right path but used it incorrectly.

I went to Recovery and made the mistake of recovering everything back to my last full backup and inclusive incremental backups and it took about 8 hours. As a result I lost all work done for approximately 3 days in which time I had not done an incremental backup. I have an external harddrive dedicated to nothing but backups and the operating system is XP Pro.

Question #1
From the Bootable Rescue Disk TIv9 would it have been correct to go to the restore files area only area and JUST restore everything in the WINDOWS folder to fix the problem of the missing or corrupt Windows\System32\Config\System? If so it would probably have restored the operating system very quickly.

Question #2
From within the Bootable Rescue Disk could I have saved files, to a new folder, I had been working on that had not been saved in previous incremental backups.


Question #3
In the Bootable Rescue Disk is the MBR the path to be followed in Recovery in order to recover just the operating system?

Question #4
Is there a way in TIv9 to do a restore points as there is in Windows? I know that if you have TI the windows Recovery part can be disabled. I had tried the Recovery point in Windows from Safe Mode but it did not solve my problem.

Question #5
I see in TIv10 that it offers some special Outlook features. Is TIv9 not saving some Outlook things?

Question #6
BartPE, is this something everyone should have and be using. What does it have to offer over and above what TIv9 already does?

Question #7
Can you continue working while doing a full or incremental backup?



Sometime I think I understand and then I confuse myself
Thanks!

 

Roger,

The right way would have been to restore just the system partition (C: ). If the data you lost were stored on it, you should first have created a new image of the corrupt partition, restored the previous "healthy" image and then, with Windows running again, Mounted the last "corrupt" image to copy the files you are now missing from the mounted image (shown as an additional virtual drive) to a real drive. Then you would have unmounted the "corrupt" image. (I'm using quotes because the images themselves are not corrupt, the source is.)

A#1 You could have done that by Mounting the image, yes, but the results are not predictable. EDIT: I think the Mount tool is not available in the rescue environment. So that is feasible only if you are able to boot into Windows.

A#2 No. You cannot manage files from the Rescue CD.

A#3 The right way is to restore the system partition, sometimes the MBR and Track 0 has to be added to the restore or to be restored separately later, if the drive doesn't boot.

A#4 The TI equivalent of the Windows System Restore points are the TI system partition image files. The creation date of the image is the point in time to which you will restore. Restoring a system partition image within TI does a better job than restoring from Win System Restore, but you may loose the latest personal data if you are not careful.

A#5 It is, either within a whole partition image (the partition where the Outlook data are stored) or by setting up a properly configured files/folders backup. I don't have TI10, but I think that the Outlook option is just a shortcut, a convenience. I'm not sure, though.

A#6 BartPE will do the same things that the regular Rescue CD does. You need it if Rescue CD doesn't work with some piece of your hardware. The Rescue CD runs in Linux and some drivers may not work well for you. BartPE runs in a stripped down Windows OS, so drivers are usually no problem. If you can access all your drives from within the regular Rescue CD, you may forget BartPE.

A#7 Yes, many do. I do not, but I don't stop any processes running in background (antivirus, firewall...) either. Never had a problem.

 

To repair Windows without interfering with the programs and data the Repair you want from the install CD is the SECOND one - it comes up after the EULA page.

1) Not sure if this would work.
2) Yes, if you knew which folder they were in. Or just do another incremental.
3) Not sure about this.
4) I think this is what Incrementals are all about.
5) TI 9 saves whatever is on the hard drive.
6) BartPE will let you boot into a Windows-like Explorer environment from which you can copy and delete folders and files just as if you were in Windows Explorer. Some people combine BartPE with the TI Rescue CD. I haven't had a need to do this.
7) Yes, you can if you run TI from within Windows. I don't care for this method, preferring to run TI from the Rescue CD.