Reinstalling and restoring a backup

[den942]

Please give me a break and no sarcasm. Since this problem occurred in November, I've been in an ER three times, a hospital twice, a nursing home three times, and had two emergency surgeries. So I have not done much on a computer recently. Getting this done right will keep me from losing my daughter's wedding pictures. So it is important
to me.
My desktop running Windows 8.1 had a major crash. The C:\ drive became inaccessible. I think I have a rather current back up on a hard drive that was in the PC at the time.
I bought a new hard drive. As I understand it, I have to reinstall Windows 8.1 to be able to restore the back up.
Should I have only one hard drive installed when I start?
How much do I have to reinstall?
Can the backup be accessed from the installation disk before Windows 8.1 is installed?
After everything is done, is there a reliable, successful way to upgrade to Windows 10?
Any useful help would be greatly appreciated...

 

[TechnoMage]

Well, I'm really sorry for both your personal health problems and your computer problem.
I do need to ask you though, what program did you use for the backup and how much of the C: drive did you back up?
The perfect backup is one that can be used to restore the entire C: drive. And, you should be able to boot up the PC with some removable media, like a CD, Flash Drive or some other media that can be used to boot up your pc and run the Restore of your backup.
If you didn't do that kind of backup, then the process of getting your stuff back, can get real sketchy.

And if your backup is several years old, which so often happens, you could still be in trouble.

Please fill in the blanks.

 

[den942]

Well, I'm really sorry for both your personal health problems and your computer problem.
I do need to ask you though, what program did you use for the backup and how much of the C: drive did you back up?
The perfect backup is one that can be used to restore the entire C: drive. And, you should be able to boot up the PC with some removable media, like a CD, Flash Drive or some other media that can be used to boot up your pc and run the Restore of your backup.
If you didn't do that kind of backup, then the process of getting your stuff back, can get real sketchy.

And if your backup is several years old, which so often happens, you could still be in trouble.

Please fill in the blanks.

The backup was made in October and the crash was in November. Although I am not 100% sure, I think it was a backup of the whole C:\ partition to another hard drive that was in the computer. I had three hard drives installed. One had four partitions and two had two partitions. It was set up to dual boot Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

 

[den942]

The backup was made in October and the crash was in November. Although I am not 100% sure, I think it was a backup of the whole C:\ partition to another hard drive that was in the computer. I had three hard drives installed. One had four partitions and two had two partitions. It was set up to dual boot Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

Forgot to add that the backup was made with Windows 8.1.

 

[TechnoMage]

OMG! I can think of nothing worse, than a Windows backup made from within Windows. Arggg!

I never liked or trusted MS backups, so for 25 years, I've used only the "Ghost" backup/restore program. It only runs in DOS, so it's totally independent from Windows (any version). And, the version I use, only runs from an external media, i.e. CD, Flash Drive, SD Memory Card, thus bypassing Windows all together.
Backing up Windows from Windows is just like hiring the Fox to guard the Hen House. Eh?

I hope that someone with Windows Backup expertise will come along to help you.
Good luck!
TM

 

[den942]

OMG! I can think of nothing worse, than a Windows backup made from within Windows. Arggg!

I never liked or trusted MS backups, so for 25 years, I've used only the "Ghost" backup/restore program. It only runs in DOS, so it's totally independent from Windows (any version).

I hope that someone with Windows Backup expertise will come along to help you.
Good luck!
TM

Thanks….

 

[TechnoMage]

I wish I had your PC here, on my repair bench. I've spent my working years solving problems and fixing things that are broke. But just off hand, I'm not familiar with Windows Backup enough to tell you how to solve your problem, without even seeing it myself.
I'm sorry. Still waiting for a Windows Backup expert to respond.
TM

 

[TechnoMage]

Just for general information:
I've set up Backup systems for Banks, Legal Offices, Dr's Offices and offices in retail firms, and manufacturing companies. And of course, many personal computers, in private homes.
Regardless of where the computer in question is located, and what kind of information is on it, there are just some simple rules that apply everywhere.
A backup should take in to account of the possibility of the computer being totally destroyed, by fire, flood, lightning or even theft.

To begin a backup, the backup program should be on a bootable media, such as CD, Flash Drive or any other media that is capable of booting up a PC. It must be totally independent of the OS on the PC. It may be helpful, to get a backup program that will backup any HD regardless of the OS or information on the HD. (or, even no OS at all, just data)
I have had such a program for the past 25 years, in several different versions. It's simply called "Ghost". It's no longer offered as a retail product, but it's still available for those willing to look for it.

Once the backup program runs, it should put its backup file(s) on a safe drive, or storage media, external to the PC being backed up. (and, NEVER on the PC being backed up, because if that PC has been destroyed, by some natural disaster, or stolen, the data is GONE forever)

A very good type of backup is the CLONE. Where an exact copy is made of the OS drive on the PC, to a second HD of equal or greater size, and then that cloned copy is put in a SAFE, Vault, or taken off premises for secure storage.
Multiple clones can be used, and rotated for additional safety.

When I worked as a Mainframe Operator for the county Data Center, we made a tape backup of all the data every evening, and those tapes were then taken to the court house, and then put in a fireproof vault. Those tapes were held for five days, and then put into rotation.

On my own (Main) PC, I do data file backups to a 1TB Flash Drive, several times a week.
I use a Batch File and XCOPY to copy all my data files to the Flash Drive. That flash drive is then put away for safe keeping.
Then At Least once every week, I make a CLONE copy of my main SSD, to a 1TB Hard Drive.
Just for a bit more safety, I regularly make a "Partition to Image" copy of the C: partition and save that image on an external drive.

So, if, as has happened to me before, my HD just takes a dump, I can put in a new drive, restore my clone or Partition backup and be back in operation with nothing lost, in just minutes.
In 40+ years, I've lost several hard drives, including a PNY SSD, only two months old, but I've never lost any of my valuable data, pictures, etc. Because I follow my own advice: Backup! Backup! Backup!

Cheers Mates!
TM

 

[TechnoMage]

What? No Windows Backup experts handy? That bites!