RnR Recovery from Disc Failure

[loyukfai]

Recently I did a RnR backup to DVD discs and then replaced the HDD of a X41T due to bad sector found.

After installing Windows and other software on the new HDD, I began to restore personal files from the discs, and then, I ran into a problem.

Since I only want to recover selected files, I choose the option "Recover individual files" in RnR.

However, if I choose to restore a folder (and implicitly, also the files in the folder), then the recovery process will fail (see below screen clip). Therefore, I have to select individual files one by one, which I've done so for some critical files for now. But I still have lots of files not yet recovered because of the time required to select them all.

FYI, if I try to restore any folder, RnR will say "Cannot create a file when that file already exists".

http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/uploa ... rerror.JPG

To make the matter more complicated (and interesting), I tested by making a new backup to a USB drive and then restoring from it, and RnR has no problem recovering folders from that backup.

Any idea...? Thanks very much in advance.

Reference: http://tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=36318

[GomJabbar]

You could try several things. It would be a good idea to make a backup of your new Windows installation before trying the things below.

1) Move or delete the files in the common folder on your hard drive, then copy the folder from your backup.

2) If that doesn't work, rename the common folder on your hard drive, then restore your backup. After restore, copy any necessary files from the renamed folder to the restored folder.

3) If that doesn't work, copy any necessary files from the common folder to a temporarary folder, next delete the common folder, then restore your backup. After restore, copy any necessary files from the temporary folder to the restored folder.

[loyukfai]

Thanks for your advice first. By "the common folder", do you mean "My Documents"?

In fact, I've tried removing the folder before restoring it, but still failed.

Right now, I'm considering copying the discs' content to the USB drive, and see if RnR can recover from it.

Don't have time to try until later this week through.

One thing I found interesting is that, when I tried to recover from the discs, the size was kept at zero even if I have selected the files/folders. That's not the case when I recovered from the USB drive.

[loyukfai]

Finally get it done, here's how in short:

A few things you need:

- RnR installed
- USB HDD (a network or 2nd drive may work...?)

The process:

1. Use RnR to make a Base backup on the USB drive
2. Delete the \\RRBackups\C\ folder of the Base backup on the USB drive
3. Copy the discs' \\RRBackups\C\ folder to the USB drive
4. Use RnR to recover the files

Below is the long story:

I first tried to copy the entire discs content to the USB drive and then make a restore, but RnR could not see the backup at all.

Then I checked the Registry, and found that RnR stores some basic backup information under \My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Lenovo\Rescue and Recovery\Backups.

Therefore I created the Registry keys under \USB based on the \Optical version. After that, RnR showed the USB backup when I clicked "View all backups", but when I tried to restore the files, nothing is shown after choosing "USB", and the record in the Registry is deleted.

After more try and error. I found that I had to use a fresh \RRBackups\Common folder created by RnR, and then cover the \\RRBackups\C folder with the disc contents to make it work.

Wish it was easier then... @_@

Thanks alot for your advice, have a nice weekend.

BTW, there's an update for RnR, which solves a conflict between RnR and the latest Windows patches.