Unable to Restore

Hard Disk Manager 2008 Suite.

Though I have made several backups this is the first time I've needed it to recover and I can't get it to work.

You can see three screen captures here http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/6246962/1/paragon?h=b72645

I click on the buttonbar Protect System and Data, then on Restore and I get the screen in the picture Clipboard2. This is the backup of my system. I know from the date shown.

When I click the highlighted archive I get the screen in Clipboard3. This seems to lead nowhere.

The partition containing the system image exists. It's the one on drive 3 shown in picture in Clipboard4. It's the one on the far right with the letters Ba... for Backup.

I lost my entire system. This is the time a backup is supposed to do it's thing. We used to joke that backup products always talk about backing up, never about restoring. Please don't let the joke be true.

How do I restore my system?

 

On the restore wizard (clipboard 3), choose the archive you want to restore. Click next, then choose what partition you want it to restore. On clipboard 1 i noticed that your system drive was corrupted but the other partitions are fine so you only need to restore the first partition of your archive on your system partition.

 

This capsule is not listed/visible in the explorer-like screen shown in Clipboard3. That is, it cannot be "selected" It is only visible in the of Clipboard 2.

 

Use the restore wizard.
Choose an archive to restore
Click the file with the .pbf extension.
Click next.
Choose what partition (from the archive) you want to restore.
Click next.
Choose where do you want to restore the selected archive.
Click next.
Click apply changes.

In your case, restore the system partition to your root drive.

 

Hi jim,

In Clipboard3 click on the "Backup Capsules" on the vertical tab. Then you will be able to select the requested archive.

Panagiotis

 

Been there, done that. The result:

 

expand the folder arc.... and post a screenshot again

Panagiotis

 

Can't you click the file with the .PBF extension shown on Clipboard 2? You should be able to click it.

 

It took two screen shots to get the entire file list.

 

Yes, I can click it, but it gives the same result as clicking the folder. That is, it give Clipboard 3

 

Something is definitely wrong here.

from you screenshots I see that the image contains 3 partitions:
one very small *000p.000, another that contains data of 3-5gb (xp maybe?) *000l.000
and a third partition that contains at least 23-25gb of data *00p2.000

Please do the following:
when you get the error pop up select cancel twice and then select next. you should see a graphical interface of the disk when you took the image. Take another screnshot.
Then go back at the wizard and select to view all files. Then select the file _000p.000. click next and take a screenshot . Do the same for the file _000l.000 and _002p.000.

Then post the 4 screenshots here. I want to see how your disk was partitioned before telling you how to proceed.

Panagiotis

 

I cannot do the things you suggest as written.

I cannot click Cancel after getting the error. I must click Close. If I click Cancel twice after that I'm returned to the screen in clipboard2-- sometimes with an Aborted By User message, sometimes not.

After selecting a file (e.g., _0000P.000 not _000P.000) there is not Next presented. When I click Open I'm again returned to clipboard2. But, I can then click Next. For the files you name I get the screens in JPGs 171, 172 & 173 at the link above http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/6246962/1/paragon?h=b72645. There was some confusion so I'm not sure which is which. If that's important I can figure it out.

 

Ok. From what I see from your screenshots your disk had 3 partitions (as suspected). There are two ways to try to fix the problem.
- 1st method. Restore each partition manually:
_0000p.000 is for the first partition (15.6mb)
_0000l.000 is for the second (11gb)
_0002p.000 is for the third (124.9gb)

- 2nd method. Rename the files *_0002p.00* to *_0003p.00* (if you click a file once or twice, paragon should let you do it, just replace 2 with 3). In case because of a bug paragon had misnamed the source file in the archive index (the .PBF file), and renaming them to *_0003p.00* should fix it.

Or contant paragon support and tell them the problem

Panagiotis

 

I think I only need to restore the last one (_0002p), but I don't know how to do that. When I select that file and click Open it throws me back to clipboard2. If I right click on it nothing happens.

I emailed them last Sunday and have received no reply.

I can't tell you how sorry I am I bought this software. Earlier I tried to use their defragger. When they couldn't make it work they told me to get somebody else's. I found a free defragger (Defraggler) that has worked without a hitch for two years. Their software seems to be total crap, and their support the same. But, if their software won't work I guess they can't support it.

 

No, you should restore all of them unless you do not care about the other partitions.
When it throws you back to to clickboard 2, click next. Then you should be able to see your disk structure; same way you did it before:

There select to restore first the upper the partition of 16mb (primary).
After finished repeat the previous step and restore the second partition of 11gb(logical) to the unallocated space of your disk.
Then finally repeat again the procedure and restore the third partition of 124.9gb (logical) to the remaining unallocated space of your disk.

Panagiotis

 

I finally got it to try to restore. But, after I select the partition and tell it to Apply, it first goes to a screen where it says it's restoring. After whirring there for a while it throws up a screen that says something like 'Can't restore, a reboot is required for it to restore.' I click go ahead and it reboots.

During Windows startup it throws up a Paragon screen that says something like 'inventorying partitions' and starts some progress bars (I'm not sure exactly what it says because it doesn't continue long enough). It quickly stops with varying error messages. It gives different errors each time I retry this restore. Here are some of them:

o Not Enough Memory
o Cannot Open/Create File
o Bad Parameter or Function

After presenting one of these error messages it simply reboots into the Windows installation I created so I could investigate this problem and send email.

PS I still haven't received any reply whatever from Paragon and now I guess they've disappeared for the weekend. In the three years I've had this product I have sent them 4 problems and they haven't solved any of the four. Nothing I've ever used this software for has worked, except making this backup that I can't restore. If they don't reply for a week, when a customer is in my kind of trouble their help isn't very useful anyway.

 

I very much appreciate your trying to help me.

 

After much jacking around I was able to get a restore to start. It got 3/4 of the way through and quit. I had a archive of the temporary XP partition I'd created This so screwed up the drive that Paragon cannot list the archives. It just loops endlessly. Thus now I cannot restore this temporary partition. I have a copy of Windows 7 on the way. I will install it and throw the Paragon disk into the Gulf of Mexico.

Thanks again for all your attempts to make this piece of junk work, but I think the software is hopeless. I'm certain it created a corrupted backup archive. I'm amazed people depend on this product -- probably, like me, they've never had to actually try to restore.

 

Try the latest versions.

Oh, and when it comes to backing-up a partition, especially a system partition, it is best to do the backing-up before booting up the system. After backing-up, check the integrity of the back-up. I don't know if this feature is available on the 2008 version though.