Backup & Restore

Hi,

sorry to say I twisted my nickers again!!, I backed up my 160gb Maxtor HD into an external storage HD but forgot the program I used, Macrium Reflect or what other.

Below you can see the type of files in the backup (53 of them @ 80 odd gb), & none seem to execute the Restore.

Can anybody enlighten me on how to restore from that backup?

PS. since I made another backup with Macrium & shows like this "Maxtor2Nov-00-00.mrimg" & this is recognised for restore by Macrium.

 

Did you use Paragon instead? That .pfm extension might be it

 

Thanx Cudni,

I'LL check, but if it is Paragon how do I go about activating the restoring of the HD. .........nick

 

I would suggest that you install the program and use the manual.

 

Thanx,

found free version 9 & created a recovery CD.

The program v9 has Recovery option, do I use that or the recovery CD ..nick

 

I got the "Paragon Backup & Recovery™ 10 Home Special Edition" , I have never used though. However the program I have it has also a "recovery option" which sort of seems like the newer "Norton Ghost" restore from Windows , provided that things work as they should you should be able to restore that way.
But there is an awfull lot of ifs.
You do not state why you need to restore. If you need to restore because of a virus or something then it could be that the best approach would be to "Recover" from bootable media . Have you checked that the Bootable "recovery CD can see your external drive containing the backup ? , if so then even if your attempt to "recover" via "Recovery option" should fail you should be able to recover from the external drive - that is provided that that is what your "recovery CD" is for and that the software is up to the challenge.
Also you must be sure if attempting recovery that the software that you use are atleast as new a version as that which created your backup.
Before attempting any recovery operations at all then you ought at least attempt to make a simple file copy backup of any important content that you might not want to loose if your recovery operation for one reason or the other should fail. (forgive me it's not that I'm negative , I just have the attitude : better safe than sorry !)
The PFM extension should be Paragon (Paragon Backup Image Descriptor) as I found this description :

PFM file is a Paragon Backup Image Descriptor. Paragon's Drive Backup is a backup tool that will backup an image of either your entire hard drive or a partition. PFM files are supplementary files that are used by the Image Explorer utility for faster navigation within contents of an image.

P.S.
Also just found this link (doesn't know if the software is compatible with your backup !!!) :
Backup & Recovery 2010 Free Advanced

 

I tried the restore of v9 without completing it & it seems to see accept my backup in the storage HD.

Actually my 260gb HD died suddenly & was hoping that recent backup may bring a new HD back to what the old one was.

Now I realise that on a new HD I will have to use the recovery CD, & will have to format the HD but to what, to the five partitions I had or just one whole partition & the restore will devide it as the old HD was?

Do you think that's what happens, restores fully the system including registry, the five partitions I had with programs etc, without the need to reinstall windows & start from scratch?

thanx ...........nick

 

What you have to do manually and what the backup program will do automatically/semi-automatically for you will (of course) depend on what you took backup of - that you know and I don't.
If you took backup only of your drive C: Windows partition then then that is all you got backup of (but that will ofcourse include registry), if you took a full drive backup of all 5 partitions then of course that is what you got and then that is what ought to be be restored (provided that your new drive is large enough to contain the data).
If you got only backup of the Drive C: partition then, if you wishes for more than one partition, you might have to pre partition your drive with either your backup program, if it contains a partition manager, or your drive manufactures diskmanager program, and then you can put your backup back.
On the other hand, if you got only backup of your first partition (Drive C: ) then most backup programs ought to be able to write that to your harddrive in a partition size of your wish and then when you boot windows you should be able to partition the rest of your drive by using windows.

 

OK, am sure I did this amount so hopefully I'll get it all restored.

Thanx a lot ..........nick

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/3083/backupgj.th.jpg

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Yes , it looks like a full drive backup , so with a little luck you should get your data restored (otherwise perhaps data might be extracted from your backup if needed)
Please let me know how things turn out.

Good luck....

 

thanx again, will see when I get a new HD.

 

Well for a trial I tried to restore the 76gb backup Reflectf ile, of my busted SATA HD (160gb), on a PATA 80gb HD, intending to leave out one or two partitions depending on available space on the smaller HD.

The restore would only allow one at a time of my 5 partitions, so picked the first "C" & of 3 choises Active, Primary & other I guessed "Primary" instead of Active as I had 4 other logicals to restore. Perhaps should have chosen "Active"?

Also chose the boot data of the restoring one instead of a "Standard" one?.

When it finished restoring the PC would not boot either in Safe or Normal mode.

I tried my Maxtor Maxblast CD but would not work although it showd that the old HD No. existed.

Then the Paragon boot CD did not work, was hoping its HD manager will show the partinion.

The BARTPE CD worked & showed the "C" partition with all its files, desctop etc.

Finally decided to restore one more small partition just to see what happens.

It may be that my choice of boot data was wrong, BUT how can I correct that? ...........nick

 

As long as your original backup files are safe on the external storage HD then all problems with the "PATA 80gb HD" harddrive is a smaller problem because you can restore again (or perhaps extract).

For a harddrive installation to work there must be a Primary boot partition and this boot partition must be set as active , if the primary boot partition is not set as active then harddrive will not boot.
So you must either remove all data from the drive and restore again using the correct settings, or if you are in luck and you both did "the rest" right and can find a tool that will work then you can just use the tool to set the primary boot partition to active.
(Actually you can, by special tools set the computer to boot from other partitions by the use of a "boot-loader", but that is more advanced matter)

Since you reports that neither "Paragon boot CD" nor "Maxtor Maxblast CD" would work then I am not sure what program will work or not. (I guess that "Ghost's GDisk utility" would work but that is not free) (GDisk switches can be seen here)
I found a program you could try , it is called "Super Fdisk 1.0" , try that and if it works then use it to set your primary partition to active.

If it does not work for you then perhaps I can find a tool that will, or you could try to restore your backup again and use setting "Active".

P.S.
I also found a program called "Partition Logic" but it says that it does not work with all sata drives but you could try it any way - it is free, from "Partition menu" use "set active".

 

I restored 2 more partitions & all showed up with BartePE.

None gave option to make C Active.
Super FDisk hopeless, Partition Logic found some error & asked to repair it & eventually when I tried Paragon boot Cd it worked but only one 76gb partition showed, asked to repair MBR but still could not boot up.

Now am restoring again "C" but as Active with Reflect hoping will do it. Takes 2-3 hrs & will report again.

 

Since that you use "Bart's PE" I would just like to add that you can put "EASEUS Partition Recovery" on the "Bart's PE".
Software here , instruction here.
Not sure that it will help you here but then at least you get it for another time.

Hopes that your restore attempt works...

 

Alas still does not boot.

I can get in Safe mode, the desktop is as before & both C & D partitions have all programs/files accesible, even fires FSX.

When had troubles before by going in Safe & reboot it started OK.

Is there anything I should do in Safe mode to correct things?

 

You say that you can go into "Safe mode", this I interpret as you can actually boot on your harddrive into Windows "Safe mode" but that you can not boot into standard startup mode ! , would that be correct ?
If correct then problem is more hard to diagnose, typically when Windows will not boot into standard mode it can be a sign of corrupted files or a hardware problem, depending also on the exact symptom that you experience.
If you can boot Windows into "safe mode" but not into standard mode you could attempt a repair install by using your Windows disc. A repair install , if it works, might give other problems if replacing certain sys files, and it is not even sure that it will solve your problem but it should be worth a try since you still got your backup.
The problem probably could also be caused by a combination of backup program quality not high enough and the fact that you use a different make and model of harddrive, some backup programs will handle most such situations like that better than other !!!

 

That is correct, it boots as normally goes to the MS logo, the blue lines shuttle L to R a few times then it goes to the black screen asking to start Normal or Safe mede etc, if I choose Normal it returns to the black screen again, but if I choose Safe mode it gets there.

Tried the Repair but it goes to the MS XP Logo & restarts all over again.

With all the factors involved for a good restore, the amoubt of work I put in it, & yours trying to help, I could have installed XP & all progs I had. Provided one has his vital files & downloads save on a spare HD or DVDs this is best.

Thanks for all the help, but if you think it can be done let me know ....nick

 

I think you are right, there have been spend a lot of time on this already.
I don't know if your backup program is too poor to function/restore correctly within the frames of what you are trying to do. It might be that the backup program would function better if you tried a full restore of the whole "old drive" "drive backup" to another large drive that could contain the whole backup, but we do not know if it would work or not and as you have written yourself then a lot of time has been spend on this already.
But like I wrote earlier then if you can not restore then you can probably extract files from the backup by using one of Paragons B&R programs.
So it is probably quickest for you just to re-install Windows and then extract whatever files you need from the backup. I don't know if "Backup & Recovery 2010 Free Advanced" can extract files from the backup type you got but if not then another (like the one you used to create the backup) ought to be able to do it.


B.t.w. : I often keep working with problems myself until I have solved whatever problem I am facing, I would probably be seen only as extremely stubborn but actually I have gotten extremely experienced because of this and learned a lot about computers, Windows and programs.
If you want to you can keep your "old backup" on the external drive if you wish and then if you feel like it and should get another harddrive to "play with" you can always disconnect your then present harddrives and connect your "harddrive to play with" and see if you then can "solve the mystery" about "the backup that would not restore".

 

I used Macrium Reflect & true I did this now as a trial trying to beat the system, one day I'll have another go, it is a learning experience.

Probably is more of finger trouble than the program.

 

Well.. , good luck then !!!