Cannot Restore from old Drive Image

Computer operation has become very slow, and I planned to save documents, browser data, etc. and return to an earlier image. This approach worked fine with win XP and 7, but not with 10.

I initially had win7, and upgraded to 10 (with Microsoft's unexpected help). I made an image file at that time, and it no longer works. I tried an image made about February, 2017 and it worked - sort of. The desktop appeared, and the computer worked slowly, but drive light was on continually. After about four hours, I gave up. I tried a third made about a few weeks ago and it worked fine, but of course still have the bloat.

I have decided old win10 images just don't work. You really need to have the old win 10 on a second drive. Use BIOS from time to time to switch to it and update, not a desirable approach.

Has anyone else experienced this problem?

What did you use to make the image? Microsoft's own 'make a system image' in Backup & Restore (Windows 7)?

Microsoft's own 'make a system image' has been known to be unreliable and temperamental (I know, I use it myself). Most here recommend Macrium Reflect (free) for making system images.

Even Microsoft now say it's a deprecated feature...

Microsoft said:

System Image Backup (SIB) Solution
We recommend that users use full-disk backup solutions from other vendors.

Features removed or Deprecated in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

Your best bet is to download the latest win 10 ISO from ms and do a clean install

I disagree. Windows system image is a useful feature. I have never known it be unreliable or temperamental. Any problems you may have heard are almost always between the chair and the keyboard. Shame if MS get rid of it.

Bree said:

What did you use to make the image? Microsoft's own 'make a system image' in Backup & Restore (Windows 7)?

Microsoft's own 'make a system image' has been known to be unreliable and temperamental (I know, I use it myself). Most here recommend Macrium Reflect (free) for making system images.

Even Microsoft now say it's a deprecated feature...
Features removed or Deprecated in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update

SIW2 said:

I disagree. Windows system image is a useful feature...

Actually, there's little to to disagree with - I did say that I use it myself :)

You do have to be careful though or it breaks. I've learned the hard way not to rename images, or mix W10 and W7 images in the same WindowsImageBackup folder, for example. My test PC (System Two in 'My Computers' below) uses it exclusively (and regularly) to swap between system images.

For backups I use Terabyte Unlimited Image for Linux, and it has always worked fine. Macrum is a good choice (probably more user friendly and more bells and whistles), but have not made the change.

An ISO is the easiest choice, but I don't have one, and I think it costs $100-200 to purchase from Microsoft. Cheaper versions are available online, but am fairly certain I would be fiddling around with an old upgrade - and be paying for my current problems.

There is another possible solution which I'm looking at. My current computer is a refurbished Dell T3500. A little later, I purchased another T3500 for my wife and daughter. They use it for little more than playing very simple computer games and checking for shopping bargains from Von's, etc., so no bloat or other problems and updates are current. I made an image file of it, and installed it on a second hard drive and used it with this computer. After some "getting device ready" statements, it ran fine, and I thought Microsoft didn't notice the difference until I installed an email client. A pale blue box appeared, saying (I think) that I need to activate. There are plenty of links online telling how to change the listed product key to that applies to the computer, but if I remember correctly, I already have the correct product key listed. I'm not sure what to do, try activation and see what happens, or.... Both computers started with win7 and had the free upgrade to win10, which probably doesn't help.

About that time, I experienced the 0xc000000e error code problem, where using an ISO and starting fresh is the best solution. I used an image file, but wonder if there are hard drive problems that might be fixed using chkdsk. The drive came out of my collection of drives, and I don't know it's past. I had the same problem with a new Seagate, but think think a noticeable percentage of new drives are bad. Both drives seem to be fine now. That's where I stand at this moment.

I'll end with another question: Has anyone successfully used a win10 image file that was made 6 month's or so earlier?

Jim

Jim8080 said:

An ISO is the easiest choice, but I don't have one, and I think it costs $100-200 to purchase from Microsoft.

Don't confuse obtaining an ISO with purchasing a key. You can make an ISO or bootable USB for free. This will be the latest version (currently Creators Update). You can make one by downloading the Media Creation Tool from Microsoft. See:

Download Windows 10 ISO File

You can use this to do a clean install to a replacement hard drive. If you have already had Windows 10 running and activated on this PC you don't need a new key, you would already have a digital licence tied to the hardware of this PC stored on Microsoft's activation servers. Provided you install the same edition (Home or Pro) it will activate automatically from the digital licence. A replacement hard drive doesn't count as a significant hardware change.

If you have ever upgraded this PC from Win7 to Win10 it would have activated and got a digital licence. If you never upgraded it but cloned windows from another system it wouldn't have activated. In that case you need to buy a key.

Jim8080 said:

I'll end with another question: Has anyone successfully used a win10 image file that was made 6 month's or so earlier?

Yes. I've just successfully restored a system image made on 2nd. January 2017. Your problems restoring may be down to a faulty destination drive rather than the image being restored.

I ususally suggest Aomei Backupper as an easy to use imaging program. I find it simple, fast and reliable.

Best Free Backup Software for Windows 10, Windows 8.1/8, Windows 7, Vista, XP

There are others.

You might like to try O&O Diskimage 11 Pro - they are doing a giveaway. Some unusual features -exclude selected files/folders from backup image for example.

They send an email which contains a hyperlink - click it and another email arrives with the reg key.

Registration
Registrieren Sie sich hier kostenlose Vollversion von OO DiskImage 11

Download (English)
Free Download: OO DiskImage 11 Professional

Bree: Thanks for the useful information. I'll check further tomorrow.

It looks like the ISO would have a more recent version than is currently available. Settings>windows update says win10 Creators Update is on it's way. What is the current version called?
Jim