Windows restore point messed up my file search function

Paul Black said:

Hello @JRT10,

Do you think this might be worth a try before clean installing? . . .

> How to Do a Repair Install of Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

I hope this helps.

I've already used the media creation tool to load windows on a usb-c nvme drive, so installation will be a piece of cake.

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dalchina said:

Good you're using disk imaging.. use e.g.
Initial I(base image)
+ differential 1
+ differential 2
+ differential 3

say, using your backup job created when you create the initial image.

Or incrementals if you prefer.

Then you can create a diff. or inc. image every few days, say; the backup job hopefully can, like Macrium Reflect's, manage the space on your backup drive (if that's what you use) automatically.

Creating such an image from an SSD over USB3 might take, say, 9-12 mins... not inconvenient.

That way you're reasonably up to date.

Complement that with a daily scheduled System Restore point (Tutorial).

Add to that specific data backup of anything fast changing- I use a program so that runs if I just plug the backup drive in, so nothing to think about.

many times i've thought about running the backup software that way, but I get nervous about possible errors.
years ago I was laid up for a couple of summers, so I spent a lot of time on a computer forum similar to this, just trying the help people out. along the way I noticed a lot of major problems from people who used various backup solutions. once in a while you'd see someone who lost a bunch of data because of a glitch. even raid cards fail now and then.
I would be devastated if I lost a bunch of key files, so I made the decision to manually backup every single file to a pair of backup drives, which both get backed up to a remote drive. It's a lot more work, but it eliminates some of the possible points of failure.

dalchina said:

Backing up files is fine, but you have to think about protecting your entire O/S - and other partitions if you wish.

With a recent disk image you can recover from
- failed disk
- stolen PC
- ransomware
- uncorrectable recent problem including non-bootable PC
etc

And the image files can be mounted so you can access your files using file explorer.

Can save a clean install.

if I had a drive failure, that would be better than nothing. but i've been doing it this way for so long that I really don't mind anymore. and best of all, it really is foolproof. i'm kind of fanatical about my pc. I've even got a spare motherboard and psu that was purchased when I built this pc, just in case of failure. one day when I upgrade, i'll pass the new spare onto a friend.