Best way to restore Windows environment

I wanted to prepare for restoring a corrupted Windows environment without touching any of the user data on the same drive. This would need to include all of the installed programs, registry, the desktop, preferences etc. I restored from my C: drive image backup. I did a specified files/folders restore specifying Documents and Settings, Program Files and Windows. Now Windows XP SP3 will only boot into safe mode. What is the proper way to backup/restore everything needed by Windows XP without affecting the rest of the drive?

 

In the Backup process, put the check mark against Disk 1. This will make a Backup Image of the entire hard drive.

 

Actually making a whole disk backup and restore will not repair a damaged Windows environment. It can however give you an extra copy to work with if you make the restore to a new hard drive.

I would suggest you proceed in this order, using the old drive or the new copy.
1. Run CHKDSK/ R on the whole drive. This may be all that is required.
2. Run the Windows system file checker, SFCscannow. It will replace any damaged system files from the XP installation disk. It can also be pointed to i386 to find undamaged copies I believe.
3. Run a Windows repair install.

None of the above should affect your data or settings though a copy of them elsewhere is always good insurance.

Xpilot

 

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Hi. 3 suggestions, some learned the hard way. Despite that, Acronis is a truely superb product, and saved my a** countless times:
1) Always do backups via booting from the CD. Same for restores. (I've experienced Acronis flakey behavior when it didn't work as advertised, while backing up when running Windows. --- Don't do it! )
2) ALWAYS make TWO backups! I've used Acronis a long time, obviously not just it's latest version, and I've had the misfortune of having seen a backup in the Acronis Zone report that it was corrupt, when I attempted a restore.
Moral of the story... Don't bother with the lengthy verify, nor take chances on a single backup. Make 2 backups. ! in the Acronis Zone, and the other outside of it, instead of doing a lengthy verify.
3) Select the backup option to backup your Disks (and partitions). That is the appropriate backup to use when you want to restore your entire system.
(Hope my suggestions will be of some future use to you.) - Regards, - T2 -

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I may be trying to exceed True Image's capabilities. I assumed that if I had a full drive image backup available - there would be some combination of files and folders that could be restored to bring Windows back to tip-top shape.

 

Yes

That depends on the state the files were in when you imaged them. If you take an image of a corrupted installation, as you indicated, then the restore will contain corrupted files. The ATI image may be accurate, but it will accurately restore the corrupted files. If you take a photograph of a broken glass, the photograph may be perfect but the glass is still broken.

 

My original backup is perfectly good. I have it available for when Windows becomes corrupted.

 

Hello norcodragontamer,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for delayed response.

Please be aware that it's not recommended to restore operating system files only separately, as it rarely results in a properly working system. We may recommend you the following course of action: back up your user data (using Acronis True Image, or just copy it elsewhere) from the partitions you want to restore; then restore the partitions as a whole from your good image. Then you can just copy all needed user data back.

You can find the detailed instructions on how to use Acronis True Image Home in the respective User's Guide.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

Thanks