More tech help! (Win 7 Pro 64 bit)

Armistice

Armistice

Son of Yoda
So I've always used Windows Backup utility to back up my entire PC - via USB 3.0 to two separate external hard drives (ie. I do the same full back up twice...).

I'd do this weekly but as I'm not currently creating music, haven't done it in over a month. In that time I've installed various Windows updates and bought and installed a USB wifi adapter.

On Sunday when I went to back up again, I get an error in the backup screen that Windows Backup can't find the drive to back up to, which naturally is plugged in. The drive is visible and operable via Windows Explorer but does not show up in the list of available drives to back up to. Change to the other drive - same thing.

Went back to a restore point before the USB wifi adaptor to see if that did something, but no.

I've googled "Windows Backup doesn't recognise my external drive" and seen various suggestions re. changing drive letters, deleting services (yikes!) etc. and done what I feel safe doing, and no change.

Both these drives have multiple previous back ups on them - they're not new. I could actually restore from one of them probably - the files are there and the restore function appears to be functional - but I don't want to go there yet.

I'm thinking one of those pesky Windows Updates has fucked something up, but what, exactly...? Was thinking maybe to do with the USB 3.0 drivers which I believe aren't "native" to Windows 7 but then they wouldn't show up in Explorer. Or work. I presume as USB 3.0 capable drives I can't just plug them into a USB 2.0 slot (or can I?) to see if I can "see" them in Backup that way..

Was also thinking I'll just get a new backup utility if an upgrade has broken the Windows one, but I don't particularly want to do that until I've done further investigation here... and if it's a USB 3.0 issue, it's not going to work anyway.

Anyone have any ideas?
 
Have since discovered that you can put a USB 3.0 drive into a USB 2.0 port. But it makes no difference. Drive still can't be found by Windows Backup.:mad:
 
If you have your projects on a separate hard drive to Windows, I'd be tempted to backup the system drive using the Windows disk image utility, then separately take a backup of your Reaper Media folder by simple drag and drop.

You can restore from a cloned drive image by inserting a Win7 install DVD and selecting to restore an image (can be from a USB or network drive, I beleive) - then you're straight back to your up and running system. Then you just drag and drop your Reaper Media folder back to get your projects back, although your projects drive is unlikely to go down at the same time as your system drive.

How do I create and use a Windows 7 System Image to recover from a crash? - TechRepublic
 
Thanks jonny... in the end I couldn't be buggered trying to work out what exactly had gone wrong so I bought Macrium, the pro version, and I'll back up that way from now on...
 
Just out of curiosity, what was the drive make? Your issues seems rather, well important. You will probbaly get better back ups with the software you purchased (more options like doing delta's, by week, complete by month, that sort of thing), but this is an interesting issue.
 
Wow, never heard of the drive not being recognized being a service problem. I wouldn't think that's a gig I'd bet on. You say you went back to a previous version. I'm assuming you went into Computer Management and ensured the drives in Disk Management. If your drive is 3.0, it's probably NTFS. If so, make sure that quota sharing did not get turned on by some process or program that you installed. Check this through Computer Management/Disk Management/right click the drive/Quota tab/ensure the Enable quota management is unticked. My first guess.
 
Second guess. make sure that your partition has not become "Active". In Computer Management under Disk Management. Look at the drive image (where they are listed Disc 0 - Disc 9). It should say "Healthy (Primary Partition)" If it instead reads "Healthy (Active, Primary Partition) here we GO!

1. Click Start Orb
2. In search box, type cmd
3. Right-click on cmd.exe, and choose 'Run as Administrator'

In the elevated command prompt type in the following commands:-

Diskpart
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK n (where n is the number of the HDD in question)
LIST PARTITION
SELECT PARTITION n (where n is the number of the Partition that holds G)
INACTIVE
Close the window.
 
DM60 said:
Just out of curiosity, what was the drive make? Your issues seems rather, well important. You will probbaly get better back ups with the software you purchased (more options like doing delta's, by week, complete by month, that sort of thing), but this is an interesting issue.
Click to expand...

There were several drives - different makes. It's not the drives. The drives are recognised by Windows, just not Windows Backup and Restore. Seems to be a known issue but getting to the bottom of it was too much hard work for me.
 
BroKen_H said:
Second guess. make sure that your partition has not become "Active". In Computer Management under Disk Management. Look at the drive image (where they are listed Disc 0 - Disc 9). It should say "Healthy (Primary Partition)" If it instead reads "Healthy (Active, Primary Partition) here we GO!

1. Click Start Orb
2. In search box, type cmd
3. Right-click on cmd.exe, and choose 'Run as Administrator'

In the elevated command prompt type in the following commands:-

Diskpart
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK n (where n is the number of the HDD in question)
LIST PARTITION
SELECT PARTITION n (where n is the number of the Partition that holds G)
INACTIVE
Close the window.
Click to expand...

I'll actually go in here and have a look Broken H - I wouldn't mind knowing what the issue was, but needed to get a backup strategy underway in the meantime. Cheers
 
Armistice said:
I'll actually go in here and have a look Broken H - I wouldn't mind knowing what the issue was, but needed to get a backup strategy underway in the meantime. Cheers
Click to expand...

Let me know. These are only guesses from a guy who can't see your system, based on what info you've given. I know the tech, but I probably don't have 100% of the info.
 
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