I tried again, this time it says Backup Failed after Step 2, "Backup failed with Error Code - 0x800423f4". Tried it without the GUI, did the DOS method, and it also gave the same error code. When I search the error code on google, nothing comes up. Sigh. I really want to use a backup program other than Windows 7 File Recovery, because I found out that it has a problem - when you restore you need to do it on the same partition you had when you backed it up. Paragon is a 3rd party, not sure if it is trustworthy?
Odd! Anything unusual about your backup destination? Where is your backup destination? Internal/external/what kind of drive/what interface, how's it formatted, and what cluster/sector size? I think Paragon is "trustworthy". I tried one or two of their products before, namely their partition manager. It didn't give me as warm and fuzzy feeling as Acronis Disk Director does, so I still use ADD. I mean Disk Director.
Nothing unusual, in fact, I tried the backup to another partition, still no difference. The backup destination(s) = same hard drive as the OS system, but this shouldn't be a problem. Internal drive, Western digital, SATA, formatted by default settings in Windows 8 installation (so I assume it is NTFS). No idea about cluster/sector... I'm going to give Paragon a go since it is free and is for Windows 8 specifically. Is there any free equivalent from Acronis, for Windows 8?
People on the interwebs told you that RecImg worked and clearly it didn't work for you, so do you really still trust people to tell you what works ? That said, it works for me, but YMMV. Question, you mention Windows 7 backup in one of your other posts, were you trying to run RECIMG on a windows 7 machine or windows 8 ?
I'm not trusting people to tell me what works, I am trusting people to say whether something contains malicious code or not. There are a lot of programs out there that contain spyware and crap, which I want to be careful of. Obviously I tried to run RecImg on a Windows 8 machine (tried both Enterprise and Professional). When I said Windows 7 I was talking about the utility in Windows 8 called "Windows 7 File Recovery". I don't know why they decided to call it "7", probably because it is a carry over utility from Windows 7, but it is a Windows 8 software here.
Gotcha, Macrium is 100% safe in that respect. On a side note, has anyone here tried copying the recimg.exe and mui's to Windows 7 and gotten results ?
RecImg Tool Lulz Edition Yes, anyone can make a GUI tool for the Windows 8 RecImg.exe utility, unless expressly forbidden by the laws of your country. Here is mine, it took me longer to create this post than the GUI, it will back up to D:\Backup or edit as needed. I made the button extra big so it works like a metro app. RecImg -CreateImage D:\Backup\ Code: #Generated Form Function function GenerateForm { ######################################################################## # # # ######################################################################## #region Import the Assemblies [reflection.assembly]::loadwithpartialname("System.Windows.Forms") | Out-Null [reflection.assembly]::loadwithpartialname("System.Drawing") | Out-Null #endregion #region Generated Form Objects $form1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form $button1 = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button $InitialFormWindowState = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.FormWindowState #endregion Generated Form Objects #---------------------------------------------- #Generated Event Script Blocks #---------------------------------------------- #Provide Custom Code for events specified in PrimalForms. $handler_button1_Click= { #TODO: Place custom script here RecImg -CreateImage D:\Backup\ } $OnLoadForm_StateCorrection= {#Correct the initial state of the form to prevent the .Net maximized form issue $form1.WindowState = $InitialFormWindowState } #---------------------------------------------- #region Generated Form Code $System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size $System_Drawing_Size.Height = 741 $System_Drawing_Size.Width = 1016 $form1.ClientSize = $System_Drawing_Size $form1.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0 $form1.Name = "form1" $form1.Text = "RecImg Tool Lulz Edition" $button1.DataBindings.DefaultDataSourceUpdateMode = 0 $System_Drawing_Point = New-Object System.Drawing.Point $System_Drawing_Point.X = 12 $System_Drawing_Point.Y = 12 $button1.Location = $System_Drawing_Point $button1.Name = "button1" $System_Drawing_Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size $System_Drawing_Size.Height = 717 $System_Drawing_Size.Width = 992 $button1.Font = "Microsoft Sans Serif, 150pt" $button1.Size = $System_Drawing_Size $button1.TabIndex = 0 $button1.Text = "RecImg Now" $button1.UseVisualStyleBackColor = $True $button1.add_Click($handler_button1_Click) $form1.Controls.Add($button1) #endregion Generated Form Code #Save the initial state of the form $InitialFormWindowState = $form1.WindowState #Init the OnLoad event to correct the initial state of the form $form1.add_Load($OnLoadForm_StateCorrection) #Show the Form $form1.ShowDialog()| Out-Null } #End Function #Call the Function GenerateForm
I thought the whole idea of recimg is to run the restore from a Windows 8 environment. There is no need to make a bootup disk, you just run it, and it will "refresh" the Windows and reboot to the restored condition. (This is just my understanding, I haven't experienced it as recimg refuses to work on my computer)
My understanding is that it is *not* a complete backup program. It backups up Windows itself in it's current state and settings, and not sure beyond that although it seems to take 3rd party programs into consideration whether or not it actually backs the programs up without their settings as someone said. It is between a System Restore point and a complete backup, but closer to being a complete backup IMHO. It is made, for one, to make Windows functional, or repaired when damaged. You may not have to run it from a bootable disc other than your normal Windows installation, but probably can run one from the Windows 8 installation DVD (one reason to always have an actual burned copy even if you install/re-install from a mounted ISO instead), just in case your Windows isn't even bootable, which would be the ultimate reason to use this. In my limited use so far, it seems to be fairly quick and painless, easy to do and not resource-hogging. It technically does not replace a complete system image, however, and that's not it's intention of how it's to be used. A lot of people would probably be just fine relying on this (most people don't do any kind of backing up whatsoever so anything is better than nothing), as far as keeping Windows functional. For those of us with the knowledge, experience and resources, full image backups to completely separate hard drives, whether internal or external, would still be called for although perhaps not as often if using RecImg as well. I for one appreciate and definitely use multi-layered backup methods.
Is it possible anything else that you've installed or has happened to your Windows 8 installation is the cause of the RecImg failure on your setup?
Sorry for the triple post, I'm being lazy. I have not done a restore with RecImg yet. I know a backup solution is only as strong as how successful restores are, but due partly to my multi-layered backup schemes and my recent schedule, testing RecImg's restore function hasn't been a priority yet. That and just how experienced I am at reinstalling Windows, drivers and third-party programs I am. I used to reinstall Windows at least four times a year on my own PCs. I'd start getting wild in my software testing and unless I'm in an emergency, I usually just prefer to do a fresh re-install instead of restoring a backup or repairing somehow. This could change, however.
I just used Paragon Image Backup for Windows 8 to backup and restore a fresh install of win8 pro msdn and it worked perfectly, the activation (made by phone) was of course also restored. It took 13 mins to back up 13.4 go and 3 mins to restore it on a 20 go formated partition. It was also possible to restore the backup on a different partition on the same HDD without losing activation. However, I didn't try restoring my backup on a different hdd. It would be interesting to see if it works. I also tried using Acronis True Image Home 2013 beta but I got a kernel panic while loading it due probably to my mobo not being compatible. The good thing with Paragon is that you can create a bootable recovery media allowing you to restore your backup even if you are not able to boot into windows.
That's true that I haven't tried creating a bootable usb flash but only a bootable iso on cd. Maybe I should send you the iso I created so that you can test it on your laptop. Also do you have a ssd or sata drive? Maybe this would explain why it didn't work. Beside I'm not sure you can use the bootable cd to make backup/restore of other windows than win8 as I have not tried to do so. Now I only run win8 and I backed up my old win7 using acronis true image. I ordered a ssd to replace my old sata 3, I hope I will still be able to use this media.
So I gave acronis 2013 another try and I finally managed to get it working on one of my desktops (backup/restore), but on my laptop, it got stuck at "starting acronis loader..." even after I had burnt the bootable iso on two different cds. I think it's a nice program but some further updates are necessary to fix all the incompatibility issues. Anyway, I will keep an eye on it