How DO I test a system Image made with WIn 8.1

[cybor462]

That is a great response. I have owned Reflect for a number of years. It has current updates to which I always let it auto update.
It does have a verify option which I of course always have turned on. It certainly increases the backup time for good cause but........

As I mentioned to Ztruker I have used it on my XP system, allowed it to verify got an error free backup just to have the backup fail at a later time due to USB compatability issues with the WD external drives. When this happened is when I tried to restore using the Win PE boot disk (dvd) it made and when it tried to find the external drives it never saw them. It saw them from within Win using file explorer but not when using the boot dvd. I had a long standing support ticket with Macrium about it who eventually solved it informing me of the USB issues. It was an issue with the computer/bios and the external drives USB adapter boards.

I now have a different system.

My goal is to find a way of eliminating that failure or possibility of it for whatever reason by restoring my current image to a drive other than my main system drive so I will know when the time comes I can be confident my restore will be successful.
So far unless I want to swap out system drives each time I want to test an image (want to make a new image monthly) there are no other ways to do it at least I have not found any knor has anyone here mentioned one so far. Am I expecting too much? My wife always says I am but what does she know?

 

[TechnoMage]

I've run into similar problems, when trying to access a drive plugged into a PCI card, as opposed to one plugged directly into the motherboard.

My Ghost backup software runs from a DOS boot disk, and can see everything that the bios can see, but the bios doesn't really see things on PCI cards, only what's built into the motherboard itself. Anything on a PCI card, will usually require a driver, in Windows..... a driver that would not usually install from a Restore CD/DVD.

So I have to make sure, that I always plug my external 1TB backup drive, into a port on the motherboard and not into a port on my USB 3.0 add-on card.

Cheers Mates!
TM

 

[cybor462]

Heah TM
My new system is a stock HP. I never looked to see if they use plug in boards on any of the USB ports. My point is that there are a number of things that could cause a restore to fail and you won't know it until you try to restore it. Not only hardware issues but there may be a system issue that may have caused a glitch for whatever reason. I have had too many restores gone bad that I decided to find a way to verify each image I make. So far other than swapping out internal drives I have not found a way. I am not a skilled IT person so I rely on the knowledge of the smart guys. The older I get the dumber I become.