recover backup

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Peter2

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A friend has an Acer and wants to put the information that was backed up to an external drive from another pc a while ago.
I asked him a lot of questions but that is about all I could get. He did not know if it was imaged or backed up in packets.

Could we connect a usb cable from the pc to the external drive, go to My Pc in win 8/8.1 and copy from the external drive to the pc?

If not do you have any ideas. I told him in the future to image but he needs to get a fresh start and needs those notes.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro x 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8300, Dell Inspiron 15 R N5010
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GE force 420
    Hard Drives
    1TB
    Browser
    Edge, Chrome
    Antivirus
    Defender, MBAM, Router
Depends on the type of backup that was done and the tool used to do that.

For example, using Macrium Reflect (the tool I use), when you create an image backup, you have a choice of saving that backup as a single large file, or breaking it into chunks. The latter is generally done to save the backup in pieces that will individually fit on a DVD.

Later, you can use MR to either restore the machine from the image backups, or if you only want to retrieve certain files/folders, you have the option to "mount" the saved image as a "drive", which you can then browse using any standard file manager.

You can certainly copy any saved image file (or files) to the current PC's drive, but what you can then do with those image files depends on how they were created and with what tool.
 

My Computer

System One

Third party programs and games may or may not work depending what they require as far as registry entries.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer V3 771G-6443
    CPU
    i5-3230m
    Motherboard
    Acer VA70_HC (U3E1)
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 PC3-12800 (800 MHz)
    Graphics Card(s)
    HD4000 + GeForce GT 730M
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" Generic PnP Display on Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Screen Resolution
    1600x900 pixels
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250 GB
    ADATA SSD SP900 128GB
    PSU
    90 watt brick
    Mouse
    Bluetooth
    Antivirus
    Comodo
    Other Info
    Asus RT-AC56R dual-band WRT router (Merlin firmware). Intel 7260.HMWWB.R dual-band ac wireless adapter.
recover

If it works I can either recover am image with Macrium or mount the image and copy and paste the contents to the other C: drive.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro x 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8300, Dell Inspiron 15 R N5010
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GE force 420
    Hard Drives
    1TB
    Browser
    Edge, Chrome
    Antivirus
    Defender, MBAM, Router
Peter2 said:
If it works I can either recover am image with Macrium or mount the image and copy and paste the contents to the other C: drive.
Click to expand...

Well ... yes and no ...

If the backup is a "C:" drive from another machine, you would be able to copy the saved image file(s) to a different machine and then use MR "mount" that image as a "drive", access the files and folders, and copy them -- so in that case, the answer is yes.

But ... if you're asking can you migrate the previous installation to a new machine by using the backup, the answer is NO -- because an image backup will contain the drivers for the old machine, and since the new machine is (likely) different, those drivers will not work.
 

My Computer

System One

recover

Is it ok to copy and paste but not recover the image due to the driver issue?
Or did I miss the point?
What would you try?
It would be a life saver for him as the old company shut down all the pcs but he backed them up just before this happened. Now he needs the spreadsheets etc. but is even less tech savvy than I am. I am a long time Macrium user and it has never failed me but I understand about the drivers.
He needs the files from the old pc, put them on his own pc then return the old one. Then he could continue on with his new job having all the software he needs.
From now on he will use Macrium or a similar imaging program, even the one in windows as limited as it is.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro x 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8300, Dell Inspiron 15 R N5010
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GE force 420
    Hard Drives
    1TB
    Browser
    Edge, Chrome
    Antivirus
    Defender, MBAM, Router
All you can do is connect it and see what's there.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro X64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo IdeaCenter K450
    CPU
    Intel Quad Core i7-4770 @ 3.4Ghz
    Motherboard
    Lenovo
    Memory
    16.0GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Integrated HD Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP h2207
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050@59Hz
    Hard Drives
    250GB Samsung EVO SATA-3 SSD;
    2TB Seagate ST2000DM001 SATA-2;
    1.5TB Seagate ST3150041AS SATA
    PSU
    500W
    Keyboard
    Wired USB
    Mouse
    Wired USB
    Internet Speed
    3GB Up, 30GB Down
    Browser
    SeaMonkey
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender; MBAM Pro
    Other Info
    UEFI/GPT
    PLDS DVD-RW DH16AERSH
Yes, I think I will connect to a his good pc from the external drive to see.
I was thinking of using a 16 GB flash drive to recover and then install from there but I guess drag and drop or copy and paste will do the same. I assume I do not have to mount.
As usual I will let you know.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro x 64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8300, Dell Inspiron 15 R N5010
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GE force 420
    Hard Drives
    1TB
    Browser
    Edge, Chrome
    Antivirus
    Defender, MBAM, Router
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