Windows 10 - Installing backup image? Any experts out there?

[Ben Brown]

Are there any Windows 10 experts who know anything about installing a backup image? I have a Windows 10 desktop that has suffered some sort of software issue, so it will no longer boot. It goes straight to the blue screen that says to use the repair tool. The repair tool can't repair the problem, so I decided could just use the other option provided and reload the most recent backup image from the backup drive (an external USB hard drive), since everything you read on the Internet says it's so easy. I only get the option of restoring from an internal drive on the computer, which doesn't have the backup files, or a network source. If I try to get it to look for other sources, like the external hard drive, it asks to install a driver for the source, which there isn't one for the external drive. So, how the hell can I get this thing to see the backup image Windows has been so faithfully saving for my computer every freakin' week?

And, for future reference, where are people storing these backup images that are supposedly so easy for Windows to get to? A partition on the internal hard drive, since that seems to be the only place the restore software can see? That would seem to defeat the purpose of having a backup, since a failure of that drive would take out the backup.

Thanks!

Ben

[Tomcat Trebor]

Hi, l had a similar problem with my Sony Vaio laptop in that l could not load the backup image (Windows 7) that l created on backup DVDs. Bit of background the laptop was Windows 7 and l used the free upgrade to Windows 10. The only way to get the backup image back on my laptop was to wipe the hard drive and put on a normal Windows 7 OS then load the backup copies from that. It meant l did not have Windows 10 which is not a great loss.

 

Robert

 

 

 

[Ben Brown]

Thanks. I think I'm going to have to do the same thing. I hate computers. 

[jpk]

There is a website I use for W10 issues, it is:

 

windows10forums.com

 

I'm not an expert but it sounds like your OS MBR (master boot record) may be damaged/corrupted for some reason, virus, malware, etc.. You may need to reinstall W10 first and then install your back up OS/data files from the device they are stored on. Currently it sounds like you cannot access other drives because of the corruption. Shouldn't be a big deal except the time involved. Is your hard drive partitioned to have stored a backup copy? Did you download a bootable copy of W10 from MS and save it to either a DVD disc or USB drive? If you did then it should be a simple W10 install then you can install the back up from an external drive once the OS has been reinstalled. Obviously any data not saved on your USB back up drive will be lost.  

 

If you can boot to safe mode (shift key) you might be able to install a saved earlier pre corruption image IF you recently saved one.

 

For those that still run earlier versions of Windows, there are sister sites to the W10 one and they are;

xpforums.com, w7forums.com and eightforums.com.  

I found them useful when I was using those OS's.

 

Addendum re: Partitions, If you have a single hard drive on your machine and you bought it preloaded with W10 or maybe another earlier WOS then updated, the drive is probably partitioned with the original OS backup copy located in that second partition usually named D:. If your OS becomes corrupted, the hard drive is still good it's just the software that is damaged in the C: partition. If it is your hard drive itself that is damaged then the drive is unusable and you would need to replace the drive. Sounds like yours is the former. You will need to reinstall from the D; partition.

 

I did the W10 upgrade from W8 and it went flawlessly. I did take the time to download a bootable copy of W10 from MS to a second separate hard drive in my machine as well as burning two DVD backup copies to have on hand for the situation you've described. W10 has been very stable and any issues I've had where I needed to reinstall the OS was of my own doing. I've had to do it once. Any other times I've been able to do a system restore from a previous good save. It also is helpful to keep in your records your OS key, especially if you installed an upgrade OS and you don't have any docs that came with the OS or computer.   

 

Edited February 26, 2017 by jpk

[Slartibartfast]

Hopefully you made a bootable image. It can be an optical disk or thumb drive. You will most likely have to jump into the BIOS to tell it which drive has the boot image.

[Ben Brown]

Thanks. The computer was one I built for my wife's business a couple of years ago and was upgraded from Windows 7 last December. 10 had worked flawlessly up until I had the boot issue this week. The problem has been getting the boot image to load. I ended up just reloading the OS, but it couldn't see the backup image on the backup drive, even though I was looking right at it in File Explorer. I'm just doing it the old-fashioned way and importing the files manually. I'm definitely going to look into a better backup solution for this computer and my own. I don't ever want to go through this mess again!

 

Thanks again for the suggestions!

 

Ben

[jpk]

Yes, I forgot about the bios. If your backup is a bootable copy on your USB drive you can reassign the boot drive to the USB drive. If not you will have to reinstall W10.