Restoring Backup

[Rajesh Koothrappali]

Don't EVER trust backup utilities. This sounds dodgy as (not you, the process).

The only way I would ever trust a backup is if I move the file myself. I certainly wouldn't format a hard drive based on trusting the OS or OEM utilities. If it's an OS hard drive that won't boot, take it out and plug it in as a slave to another system, copy off it what you want and THEN format it and re-install the OS.

Sounds like you're screwed to me if the process you used can't find it's own supposed backup.

 

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

The Windows utility can't find the backup, I haven't tried any OEM utilities yet.

I don't have another system, that was the way I used to do it. I couldn't boot windows so I couldn't see any files. The only real important ones are photos. There are some on there that I don't think I have copies of. There are other files that I have for vinyl cutting that took a while to create, but they are more of an inconvenience than a necessity.

 

[Rajesh Koothrappali]

OK in that case I would buy a new hard drive for the OS. Build the OS on the new hard drive and then plug in the current one as a slave.

There are photo recovery utilities that work quiet well and recovering photos after a format.

 

[Jaymz]

The Windows utility can't find the backup, I haven't tried any OEM utilities yet.

I don't have another system, that was the way I used to do it. I couldn't boot windows so I couldn't see any files. The only real important ones are photos. There are some on there that I don't think I have copies of. There are other files that I have for vinyl cutting that took a while to create, but they are more of an inconvenience than a necessity.

Did the backup process look something like this:

If so, you will most likely need to use the HP Utility to restore the backup (the built in Windows backup software won't have a clue how to read the file)

Are you able to post the Make and Model of your HP PC? I can have a trawl through the HP software site and find the correct software to restore the files with.

There should be no issue with user accounts etc as the backup will have been created "outside" the operating system environment.

 

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Yes it did.

I got it sorted. I had another look last night and found that I needed to get 7 ZIP and then open each file with that. Then I could see the contents of each backup file to be able to save what I need. Haven't actually done that yet, but at least I can see the files now. With about 30 or so backup files, I didn't have time to go through them all, just opened a couple at random and I found I could see the contents. Thanks everyone for you input.

On another note, my vinyl cutter seems to have too much static build up and it's acting like it's possessed, another problem I am trying to fix. Earthed every metal part on the damn thing right to the power point, but still doesn't cut larger files. Only have 2 days to sort that before the 4WD comp as I need to do some stickers for my car....

 

[Jaymz]

Yes it did.

I got it sorted. I had another look last night and found that I needed to get 7 ZIP and then open each file with that. Then I could see the contents of each backup file to be able to save what I need. Haven't actually done that yet, but at least I can see the files now. With about 30 or so backup files, I didn't have time to go through them all, just opened a couple at random and I found I could see the contents. Thanks everyone for you input.

On another note, my vinyl cutter seems to have too much static build up and it's acting like it's possessed, another problem I am trying to fix. Earthed every metal part on the damn thing right to the power point, but still doesn't cut larger files. Only have 2 days to sort that before the 4WD comp as I need to do some stickers for my car....

Ah 7Zip, the great "open any file" program Glad to hear you found a work-around for the issue, and you have access to your files! I guessing the backup software had a setting to split the backup into smaller sized files which is why there is so many of them on the external drive.

Interesting issue with the cutter though, this might be a stupid question, but is the PSU grounded back to the wall?

 

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Yes it is. I have just found another article that says to find a screw on the cutter that has continuity back to the ground pin of the power cord and ground everything to that. But I have run a grounding wire to that pin anyway.

Another thing I did on my old cutter was to use a serial cable instead of USB. I might have to try that too.

 

[Jaymz]

I was having a read too, it seems to be an issue with USB as the static tends to travel back through the USB port which disrupts the data being sent to the printer/cutter.

Using serial will most likely solve the issue, but also reading they suggested that if the humidity is below 25% then the issues start to happen more, so another option would be to increase the humidity of the room. Another part of the article suggested using a spray on the vinyl as well?

This is the article i read through: Static Dissipation In A Vinyl Cutter | Cutterpros.com

 

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

It may not just be static either, I ran a design through without any vinyl in it and it still did the same thing. Unless this thing is building up some wicked static, I think it may be in the cutter settings also. I Had it set up before and it was working fine, only since I moved house it is being difficult.

 

[CoffeeMonster]

if you get all your drivers updated and apps installed you should make a backup using windows image backup. it's a good app, which will create a clone image of your hdd.