Cannot restore .vhd or .vhdx files w/True Image
Hey, I created a backup of my SSD in Windows 8 prior to doing a secure erase of my SSD in order to fix a slow write issue I was having.
I used the tutorial linked to below in order to back up my disk image.
(http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-creat…)
Everything went smoothly using the Win 7 tutorial because Win 8 has "Windows 7 File Recovery" built into it. However, the "Windows 7 File Recovery" which is built into Win 8 does not create .vhd files... it creates the newer .vhdx format instead. I was unaware that Microsoft kept the same name for their backup software yet decided to change the file format that it outputs.
Anyway, I tried to use the tutorial below for restoring using a "System Image Recovery" via the backup image I created in Win 8 with the "Windows 7 File Recovery" manager.
(http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/675-system-image-recovery.html)
However, whether I use the recovery console from the Win 8 or the Win 7 disc, the recovery console tells me that it can't locate a backup and to make sure the drive that that backup is on is plugged in. The link below is a link to somebody else's thread on another forum, explaining the exact issue I'm having with the windows recovery console.
(http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/33085-Win8-image-restore)
So I installed True Image and I followed the tutorial below for restoring a .vhd file using True Image.
(http://kb.acronis.com/content/3648)
But True Image doesn't seem to be compatible with .vhdx files which is what Windows 8 now uses.
So I used the Hyper-V Manager (a component of Win 8) to convert the virtual disc images from .vhdx files to .vhd files using a tutorial I found on a tech blog. It was easy to convert the files.
I then put the .vhd files in the same location in the windows backup folder structure as the .vhdx files - I named the files exactly the same which is fine since they are different file types.
I rebooted into my USB thumb drive containing the True Image bootable media files. I continued on with the tutorial from the Acronis forums.
I'm not sure how to post images here but I have a detailed description of my problem with the True Image software and my .vhd backup images linked to below. It's a link to Overclock.net where I usually go for PC help, I have a thread already started there which eventually led me to this issue I'm now having..
(http://www.overclock.net/t/1352361/samsung-830-slow-writes-reads-505-wr…)
Basically, when following this tutorial (http://kb.acronis.com/content/3648) everything goes smoothly up until step six "6.As the destination disk select the disk that has the System Reserved Partition, which is your system disk. When warned that all data on the destination disk will be erased, click OK." when I click OK it just goes back to step five and I cannot ever go onto step seven "7.Click Proceed to start the recovery." to finish the process.
Maybe somebody can read over my entire thread (a lot to ask) over at Overclock.net and let me know if they can spot where I went wrong. Perhaps when I convert the files using Hyper-V Manager, I should convert the .vhdx files to .vhd fixed partition instead of dynamic? Dynamic was the default option and the backups were created as "dynamic" according to their properties when I checked them prior to converting the images using Hyper-V Manager. I have backups of the original .vhdx files and can try converting as fixed partitions to see if this helps if anybody can confirm that may be the cause of my issues.
Not sure why True Image keeps looping on step 6, but any help is MUCH appreciated!!
Josh,
Have you tried converting the VHD back to a tib image, that might fix the looping when you try to recover. I have a feeling converting from VHDX to VHD causes a minor difference in the file information which windows is happy with but True Image isn't (as yet).