File-Based Restores from "Complete PC Backups"

Hi everyone!

In Just the Computer Essentials, I talk about a couple different types of backups built into Windows Vista that I recommend you do on your computer. One is using the “Complete PC Backup” which will create an image of your computer that, in the event of a minor catastrophe, will allow you to get your computer 100% back to the way it was at the time the backup was performed within an extremely short amount of time. The “Complete PC Backup” is designed more with the disaster in mind and on restoring everything that was on your computer all at once.

The second type of backup is called “Back Up Files” and is designed to backup your important files (finances, photos, music, and any other critical data). This type of backup easily lets you pick and choose to restore individual files that you may need to recover (in Just the Computer Essentials, I also discuss the possible use of “Previous Versions” for this purpose).

So what happens if the only working backup you have is a “Complete PC Backup," but you only want back maybe a handful of files? If you restore the “Complete PC Backup” image, you’re now stuck writing over everything – including other files you didn’t want to restore. So what’s a computer user to do???!!!

I’ll tell you what! Again, the “Complete PC Backup” is designed for entire system restores, but Microsoft did something pretty smart. You may have heard the buzzword “virtualization” floating around. You’re welcome to read the technical definition of server virtualization from Webopedia or Wikopedia by, but in a nutshell it allows you to have a physical computer with multiple other computers on it running “virtually.” The virtual computers act just like regular computers. Picture your computer and then think about if you had two other Windows computers running on top of it. Here’s a screenshot to help you visualize it…

(click to see the image enlarged in a new window)

Now, why would anyone want to do this? Well, think of the cost savings – I now have only had to buy one (beefed up) physical server and then I can have multiple virtual machines running on it. Each one thinks it’s its own separate entity and anyone on the network connecting to it thinks it’s a separate computer as well, but they can share all the resources (memory, processor, etc.) of the physical computer. In the IT industry right now, this has become huge! By consolidating servers this way, companies are savings millions – less hardware they need to buy, which also means much less electricity being used (another savings). I could go on about this with tons of other advantages to this, but that’s not the point of this blog entry.

So why am I talking about virtualization at all then? Let’s get back to Microsoft doing something pretty smart – the key is that Microsoft creates and stores the "Complete PC Backup" of each drive in a file with a VHD extension. VHD is short for "Virtual Hard Disk" and that's exactly what is is - a virtual drive where all contents of the drive are stored in a single file. In other words, to come full circle, if you have a "Complete PC Backup," you open up that file and move what you need over to your actual physical computer.

Here's a couple of ways you can get the files you need from the "Complete PC Backup" VHD file (the virtual drive)...

1) Use vhdmount.exe to mount the VHD file as another drive on your computer. You can then browse that drive and then copy the files you need and paste them where you want on your physical computer. Although not horribly complicated, it will take some time to get this rolling. I'm not going to reinvent this process... I'll leave that to an excellent resource in the Microsoft arena - Petri IT. More information on this can be found on his site in the following article:

Mounting VHD files with VHDMount

...or Option 2 (a quicker method and the one we'll discuss)...

2) Use a software program that can open the VHD file. An excellent program that can do this is called WinImage from Gilles Vollant Software. If you've ever opened a ZIP file using the built in Windows Extraction program or software such as Winzip, then WinImage should be very easy for you to use. So here's how to do it:

• Go to http://www.winimage.com/ and download and install the latest version of WinImage. It's a trial version and free for the first 30 days.


• Run WinImage by going to Programs/All Programs and launching the program from the WinImage program group.


• In WinImage, click File and then Open.


• In the Open dialog, change the Files of Type dropdown box to be Virtual Hard Disks (*.vhd, *vud). Then browse to the location where the "Complete PC Backup" VHD file(s) are stored. If you have more than one partition or drive on your computer, you will have more than one VHD file (one for each drive letter). You will probably have to go through trial and error to see which one you need. Select one and then click Open.

• It may take a little bit for the volume to mount, but once it does, you can browse the tree structure to find the file(s) you want. Once you find the file(s) or folder you want, right-click on it and select Extract.

• In the "Extract" dialog box, click Browse and select the location to save the file(s)/folder to and then click OK.

• Depending on the size of the file(s)/folder to be extracted, it may be instant or it may take a little bit, but that's it... you're done!

Congratulations!! You've hopefully been able to successfully rescue what you needed from your "Complete PC Backup." Keep in mind what a lifesaver the WinImage program was and how much time, effort, and possibly money it saved you and consider supporting the program by purchasing a license from them at http://www.winimage.com/order.htm.

Remember, there are much easier ways to get files back - Previous Versions, Back Up Files, etc. Check out Just the Computer Essentials for more information.

Good luck!!

-- Jim
Author of Just the Computer Essentials
http://www.booksbyjim.com/

Why Backups Are ALWAYS Critical…

Well, it just about happened this morning… I was able to show that walking the walk is just as important as talking the talk. In my book Just the Computer Essentials, I talk about the importance of backups and testing your backups. I also discuss some of the online backup services that are now available and some of the pros and cons of each. And today I was well on my way to proving things…

I turned on my laptop this morning at work, logged in, and was waiting for all the fun services to load in the background. Then suddenly the screen went blank. I looked and the hard drive activity light was solid green (not even a flicker). I just thought Windows was being Windows and figured I'd give it a little bit to do what it needed to do. Well, after about 10 minutes with the screen still blank and the hard drive still a constant green, I thought "uh-oh."

As I powered off the laptop and then powered it on, I started to think about how if the hard drive was dead, the process of restoring data back onto my laptop after I got a replacement drive… but I wasn't worried about it. Here's why…

On my laptop, I am running Windows Vista and probably just about every application known to mankind. I am also running Mozy, an excellent online backup service (not the only game in town, but a definite, proven winner in my book). Once you've installed and configure it, Mozy sits there and keeps an eye on things for you. If I step away for a little bit (like to go to lunch), when I get back, Mozy usually says something like "Hey, I noticed you weren't using you computer for a little bit there, so I took that as an opportunity to back up the new and changed files out there for you." Alright, it doesn't actually say that, but you get the point. Once again, this is a great service.

However, like I discuss in Just the Computer Essentials, backups lie. I've seen it happen too many times to count. The log files for the backup programs show that your files have been backed up. Then disaster does strike and you find out that the backups are actually no good. The only way to know you have a good backup is to do a test restore – PERIOD. And that will only tell you if that particular backup is good and only those files that you test.

In my case, I had just done a test restore of several important random files and they all restored fine. So, getting back to my story, this possible hard drive dying meant I would have a little extra work to do, but all my data was protected. THAT is why I wasn't worried.

When I powered it on that second time, the laptop wouldn't even POST, much less get to Windows. It turned out to be a bad system board, which I'll have by Monday. Everything worked out OK. And if it had been a bad hard drive, I still would have been OK.

The question is, if your hard drive dies today on your computer, are YOU going to be worried?!

Just the Computer Essentials is probably one of the least expensive investments you can get that feeling of confidence that you're doing the right thing in protecting the data on your computer. Head on over to http://www.booksbyjim.com/ and get yourself a copy today. You can also go to Amazon.com where you can browse through some of the book to see what a great deal you're really getting!

Have a great weekend!

-- Jim