Backup and Restore (Create a system repair disc)

[DonnaB]

Could someone explain this to me please?

See link: Creating and Using a System Repair Disc (Windows 7)

Can I use this to repair registry damage?
Where does the image come from if I create this disc?
The recovery partition?
Can I use it to restore back to Factory condition?

Found this on my Win7 HP and it is a 2nd hand lappy. The disc's were created from the Recovery Manager (which I have) but I was wondering if I could use this to create even more disc's in case mine become damaged, etc.?

Edit: There is/was a one time chance to create the recovery disc's which has been done.

Thank you,

Donna :smile9:

 

[Ztruker]

Hi Donna, fancy meeting you here :lol:

If you look at the section titles Using the system repair disc you'll see it's just the repair tools that are available.
You can do a System Restore that may or may not fix a registry problem, depends on when the problem occurred and when the restore point was created.

I suspect there is no image, the program that creates the disc probably collects the stuff it needs from windows folders. It would be interesting to know how it does this though.

 

[DonnaB]

:hysterical:

Well fancy that! Do I know you?

I was reading under where it displayed System Image Recovery:

A system image is a personalized backup of the partition that contains Windows, and includes programs and user data, like documents, pictures, and music. System Image Recovery replaces all data on a drive partition with another image of the drive partition. You must have created a system image beforehand to use this option.

Is that more like a cloning of the drive such as a program like Macrium Reflect is for??? I assume that if the partition is corrupt you couldn't create an image after the fact.

It states it contains Windows!?!?! So....... Will that recover Windows?

 

[Tekno Venus]

System image recovery is the built in equivalent of Macrium Reflect. As long as the PC was healthy when you cloned the disk, you can restore to that moment in time by recovering from the system image. Presuming the hardware itself is sound.

 

[NoelDP]

Actually, a few years ago, I had to mess around with an HP system to try and create a new recovery set when the creation of the first failed for some reason (can't remember why now) - it turned out that the files were all still present, just that access was switched off by a setting in (IIRC) a .ini file in the burner app.

It'd be worth tracing the disk creation shortcut back to the appropriate folder(s) and seeing if you can track it it down, assuming they still use the same system or an upgrade of it (which they probably do, being slow-moving behemoths).

I haven't looked in that sort of detail at an HP Win7 machine, though, so can't say where to start looking except check the Program Files folder(s), the AppData structure, and the ProgramData structure

 

[writhziden]

I suspect there is no image, the program that creates the disc probably collects the stuff it needs from windows folders. It would be interesting to know how it does this though.

On Windows 7 systems, a Winre.wim Windows Imaging file exists with the system recovery options saved within that image. I imagine the system repair disc is created using that image. I have repaired the boot configuration in the past so it correctly points to the Windows Imaging file to allow users to access the Repair Your Computer option in the Advanced Startup Options screen.

If you ever need help resetting paths to that .wim file, let me know. Sometimes the advanced boot options screen does not list all possible options and the boot configuration has to be manually restored.

 

[DonnaB]

Thank you for confirming my thoughts, Techno Venus!

@NoelDP:

Actually, a few years ago, I had to mess around with an HP system to try and create a new recovery set

HP's offer a one time only chance to create recovery disc's from the Recovery Manager. They are an exact copy of what you would find in the Factory_Image (recovery partition) and from what I understand, if used will restore back to factory condition. Once those disc's are created, that's it! You don't have the option to create a second set.

I have been trying to follow the instructions in this where peppa in the 5th post stated:

One hpcd.sys was located in the root of HP_RECOVERY partition and second in C:\Windows\SMINST\.
It's necessary to rename/delete them both!

I have searched and can not find these locations to rename/delete to see if I can achieve this. I even have Show hidden files and folders enabled yet nothing is found. If I click on D:\ Recovery it is totally inaccessible. Shouldn't there be an option in the registry someplace where I could rename/delete some file?

I just realized the link above is 5 years old and I am assuming that maybe HP has changed things since to prevent the creation of a 2nd set of disc's.

PS: Nil Carborundum Illegitemi --- :thumbsup2: I like that better than, "I love my supervisor, repeat as needed"

@ writhziden:

If you ever need help resetting paths to that .wim file, let me know. Sometimes the advanced boot options screen does not list all possible options and the boot configuration has to be manually restored.

Thank you for the offer and the link. Added to my "must read" folder in bookmarks!

I'd like to find a way to trick the system into allowing me to create multiple sets of disc's. I'm starting to think that once the disc's are created that path to where ever the "image" is created from is deleted instead of blocked.

Thanks for the replies gentlemen. Gives me plenty to think about.

 

[jcgriff2]

I have yet to ever clone/ image back-ups. <20 min fresh install via USB stick does it for me.

On OEM systems, does the image include the recovery partition too?

 

[NoelDP]

@NoelDP:

Actually, a few years ago, I had to mess around with an HP system to try and create a new recovery set

HP's offer a one time only chance to create recovery disc's from the Recovery Manager. They are an exact copy of what you would find in the Factory_Image (recovery partition) and from what I understand, if used will restore back to factory condition. Once those disc's are created, that's it! You don't have the option to create a second set.

You didn't used to, either - you had to manually hunt down the right file and entry, and change the switch from a 1 to a 0 (or vice-versa) and save it back to the HD.
You can try chasing it using ProcMon or such if you can get the recovery disk creation routine to start at all.

 

[DonnaB]

I have yet to ever clone/ image back-ups. <20 min fresh install via USB stick does it for me.

On OEM systems, does the image include the recovery partition too?

Hm. Does the image include the recovery partition too? I was wondering that myself. Is it an image of the whole HD or just the C:\drive. What about the D:\ drive which is the recovery partition!?!?! What exactly is included in the image!?!?!

If you clone the "drive", you're cloning the whole drive which would include the D:\ drive. Right?

I created the repair disc yesterday on my Win7 HP prior to finding the instructions in the link in my first post. What would I look for to find out if the recovery partition was included? Is this just the repair tools as pointed out by Ztruker above? I think it's just that, the system files needed for repairing windows.

Now here's where another daft question comes into play.

Oh this is so embarrassing but I have to ask, is what was burned to the disc an image? Mirrored image keeps coming to mind, meaning as the system is at that time and not how it would appear if you accessed the recovery partition to restore to factory condition. To me the term clone would be as is at ths moment in time.

I have created many disc's in my limited years of experience with Windows, as opposed to everyone's experience who has been gracious enough to share their knowledge in this thread for my desire to learn more.

From my experience with OEM's:

My Gateway Recovery disks had the Recovery Partition included on the disc's that came with the laptop and on the disc they sent me via mail when I requested them.

I created the Recovery Disc's on my son's ASUS from the Recovery Manager and when we used those to re-install after a ZA infection that Corrine helped to annihilate (more to that story than I'm sharing) the recovery partition was included when we used the disc's and I was still able to create a second set of disc's after the disc's were used to restore the system.

On my HP, I do have the disc's that the original owner had created though I never took the time to try them to see if the recovery partition is included. I'm sure it is.

Thank you NoelDP, I think you hit the nail on the head when you stated:

" if you can get the recovery disk creation routine to start at all"

 

[jcgriff2]

Hi Donna. . .

Sorry about the way my question was stated. I could see the image I wanted to post in my mind yesterday, but could not find it until this morning.

I would agree with you about an image being an image; if both the OS drive c: and Recovery drive d: are selected, that should do it.

However, the HP document for using the "Windows Create a System Image" function contains this very ominous warning:

​

It's under #4 - http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c02053303&lc=en&cc=uk&dlc=en

When this HP laptop was Vista in 2008, I did create (burn) a set of HP Recovery discs and successfully used them to restore to factory default settings. As I recall, the recovery DVDs restored the HDD like an image would because I had 4 partitions before the restore; 2 after - including a fully functional Recovery drive d:

I don't know how or why the "recovery information" would be corrupted. Interesting to note they did not use the word "partition", as if to imply the potentially corruptible recovery information is not on d: (and maybe not on c: either!). IDK, just a theory and perhaps I'm reading way to deeply into their choice of words.

Regards. . .

John

 

[writhziden]

John, I believe that warning is to prevent users from saving their backup to the recovery partition. Saving a backup of the recovery partition does not cause any problems afaIk.

 

[jcgriff2]

I think you're right on that one, Mike.

I mis-read the warning.

 

[MJF]

The System Repair disc (SRD) allows you to run repair functions as mentioned. The automatic Repair option is often used but you do have access to a command prompt where you can run commands such as "Bootrec". The SRD also very importantly allows you to restore a windows image (made using the inbuilt Windows imaging) which would typically be stored on an external HDD.
In terms of factory recovery. You can also use (free) Macrium Reflect to image every partition including the recovery partition. You can then restore everything, including the recovery partition, even to a new HDD if your existing one fails. As long as you have a working recovery partition you can do a factory recovery.

Edit: I'm not sure if this helps with your questions. I can add that if you have a set of Factory Recovery (Not System Repair) discs then you can easily duplicate them using a free program like Imgburn. You simply insert your factory recovery discs one at a time and use Imgburn to create ISO files (the disc to file option which you just click on). Once you have the ISO files you can store the files away somewhere. To make new physical factory recovery DVDs just fire up Imgburn, insert a new blank DVD and select the ISO files for burning.