IFW v4 restore problems

I've had an issue restoring every image I've tried with IFW v4. It's odd. These are all full image created and then attempted to restore right after. The popup comes up in my boot menu entry and UEFI boot entry. Those are not the same ISO. I've never had any errors with IFW v3. The resulting restore was not bootable; winload.efi error. The MBR couldn't be fixed by restore the MBR and UEFI partitions from what I know to be good backups. I had to use Hasleo to restore it and get a bootable system.

Any ideas?

 

Nate,

I don't think you are but are you excluding files/folders from the backup? Using exlist?

Do you get the same errors if you create/restore with IFU and IFL?

 

I don't exclude any files that IFW doesn't exclude by default. IFL gave the same errors, but I never tried, never use, IFU.

 

It's definitely a TeraByte Support question.
I've never seen anything like it.

 

Yeah, me neither. The only thing I can think of is delta restore. That would be the only reason I can think of why IFW says I'm excluding files.

 

Interesting. If you have a chance, do a restore without any switches at all. Apart from the defaults.

 

The odd thing is that I used both methods; normal (with no options) and automatic. Both resulted in the same error and a non-bootable system. But, it gets worse. After trying v4, which I had to use because images are not v3 backwards-compatible, and getting the error and boot issues, no other image app was able to help either with a straight restore. The partitions needed to be deleted and then restored, with anything by IFW v4.

This is a very strange, but very concerning problem. For me, v3 was rock solid.

 

So other imaging apps have issues too. They can restore to Free Space but not to a partition. Is that correct?

IFW will not restore to Free Space or to a partition?

I assume you have backup images created by V3 IFW. Can you restore these with V3 IFW boot media?

 

I'm not sure if other imaging apps have these issues too, or it's it's just a matter of IFW v4 fubaring (F-ed up beyond all recovery) things up. I've never experienced anything like this until IFW v4. That error is new to me.

 

@Brian K Have you done a successful restore with v4 yet? I haven't. I'm just wondering if n8chavez's problem is isolated or widespread.

 

I've done dozens. IFW, IFL, IFU.

 

I meant have you had strange issues with other imaging apps?

 

That's well tested.

 

No. Never. Nothing like this.

 

I must have misunderstood. I thought you said other imaging apps would restore to Free Space but not to partitions. That's strange.

 

Here's the log from a restore attempt where I got the error, and unbootable machine. This was a normal restore, not automatic. The only thing I've edited was the password. I had to use a uefi winpe, else I couldn't get the log if I used their winre. The error comes up on my system drive, and the log says I've excluded files, but I have. Or at least I haven't intentionally.

I was able to restore the same image, in the same session directly after this, using automatic mode. Everything then went fine.

 

Nate, thanks. The exclusion errors are VSS related. In IFW, click Settings, PHYLock/VSS tab.
In VSS Settings, remove the second and third ticks. Exclude Files To Not Backup and Exclude Files to Not Snapshot. Click OK.
I ran my IFW for a few years without those ticks.

Now do a backup and restore and see if it works.

 

I forgot to mention /trim cancels the benefit of /wco
I never use the combination as /trim forces all sectors to be written. Not just the changed sectors.

 

Hi @Brian K

I've always thought that they should remove the word "Not" from these two settings.
Exclude Files To Not Backup
Exclude Files To Not Snapshot

If you're excluding them to backup, you're not backing them up. If you're excluding them to not backup, you're backing them up.

This is the registry key it refers to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToBackup
So, everything under that registry key is excluded if the two options are selected.

I haven't manually edited anything on my computer, but there is still quite a bit in there by default.

 

I agree. The wording is confusing

 

That's just sooo odd. I've never had though exclusions options checked before. I even checked my v3 images, and extracted ifw.ini had no such options. Anyways, as always, thanks @Brian K.

As for the trim option, I remember someone on the terabyte forums once told me that if I had an SSD the trim option needs to be set to 1. But I trust @Brian K more.

 

I don't know what other language translations look like, but in English, it's wrong.
My two options are ticked, by the way.

 

Nate, Did the backup/restore work?

That always worries me. I tend to use IFL when I see that message in TBWinRE.

Why /t ?

The MBR isn't used in a UEFI system.

 

Well, n: if my uefi drive. I had to use that because I couldn't save the log in the WinRE. I expected that lock warning. But it's not a problem because the entire uefi was in ram, so who cares if it's being overridden. As for /t, having IFW write a standard MBR. I was just trying to see what didn't work.

Imaging/Restoring right now. brb 5 min...

 

The restore of all partitions went perfectly! I'm MBR+UEFI and everything was able to boot and run just fine. I have no idea what those two vss settings "Exclude Files To Not Backup and Exclude Files to Not Snapshot" even are. I did not set them. Maybe it's a default v4 thing?

The restoring went great. But there was an unrelated error strictly in v4 WinRE.wim. I've built it several times and each time I get the following popup. The functionality of the WinRE is not affected , but it still shows up in ever v4 WinRE.