Solved Vista image restore failure - 'too few disks'

[Cadex]

The details below show what the issue is and what I did about it. If anyone can help, it would be great as I have a lot of important information (both business and personal) on the ‘Complete System Backup’ that I can’t get at. At this stage I am getting worried and will do pretty much anything.

Thanks.
=========================
Problem:
Failing to Restore from VISTA ‘Complete System Back-up‘.

Error Message:
‘The Windows Complete PC Restore Operation Failed.
Error Details: There are too few disks on this computer or one or more of the disks is too small. Add or change disks so they match the disks in the backup and try the Restore again. (0x80042401).’

Scenario:
I wanted to move from VISTA (Ultimate 64 bit) to Windows 7 (Home Premium 64bit).

I successfully backed up my VISTA PC (as a ‘Complete System back-up ‘) to an external USB hard drive in order to get it ready for a re-build and installation of Windows 7. I attempted to also do a ‘Files Backup’ but it wouldn’t let me – it kept saying the last ‘Files Backup’ had failed and wouldn’t proceed. As I had the complete one, I thought I’d be OK.

The PC set-up:
The PC has two 500gb (roughly 475gb available) Hitachi drives mirrored (RAID 1) using the Hardware based RAID (ICH9R) from the MSI Platinum P35 motherboard.

This was set up (at the RAID level) as one 50gb partition and one 425gb partition. At the VISTA level the 425gb partition was split as 100gb (97gb roughly), 100 (97gb), and 225gb (217gb).

Because I had been getting a lot of warnings about lack of space on drive C: (50gb), I decided to not use the RAID partitioning anymore and just partition at the OS level when the system was re-built (I hoped it would make it easier in future to re-size).

What I did:
Once the backup was successful, I used the configuration tool of the RAID to remove the partitions and created just one.

I installed Windows 7 and attempted to Restore my backup using the Windows Backup and Restore. At this point I realised that I couldn’t because it was a ‘Complete System Backup’ not a ‘Files Backup’. So I decided to go back to what I had before thinking that I would re-create what I had and copy or otherwise get my files off the drives and then start again. I went through the process like the Restore instructions at the link below (using the Windows Recovery Environment started by booting from an install disc, and selecting ‘Repair Your Computer’)
(Using Windows Vista Complete PC Restore to restore your computer
or also
Restore your computer from a system image backup).
The problem was that it kept giving me the error message listed above (‘..too few disks’).

I then decided to make the PC as much like it was before and try again. So I re-created the physical set up with the RAID (one partition of 50gb, one of 425gb), then using the Command Prompt option of VISTA, running DISKPART, created the 3 partitions as the 100, 100 and 225gb partitions. I restarted and tried again and still got the exact same error.

From browsing at:
Vista's Complete PC Backup
I discovered that I might have to make sure that the partitions had the correct drive letters etc. so in the Windows Recovery Environment, I used DISKPART to make sure the different partitions had the right sizes, drive letters and were quick-formatted as NTFS. It still would not run. I have pics of the volume set up, if that would help. As regards the partitions, I am sure they are roughly the sizes I had them but am wondering if Restore is being fussy about them being exactly the same size which would be pretty much impossible hit and miss guesswork. When I set them up, I intended a 50, 100, 100 and the remainder (225) but what was created would be a little less.

Last night I bought new 2 Tb drives, set one up (not RAID, just SATA) and attempted to restore without setting any partitions – failed as above
Created partitions as 100, 200, 200 and 1375 – failed as above
Installed VISTA to C and then tried restore – failed as above
Thinking that needed to be the same or larger partitions, created 100, 250, 250 and 1275 – failed as above

 

[richc46]

Welcome
I think that Ubuntu Live CD would solve your problem
Use Ubuntu Live CD to Backup Files from Your Dead Windows Computer - How-To Geek

 

[Cadex]

Hi Richc46, thanks for suggestion. I can try it later at home. Just wondering though essentially what I am now trying to do is Restore the image to a New Drive (as if the old one is 'dead' rather than trying to recover the data on the old drive. Surely restore is intended to handle this scenario? I did try recovery tools ('RecoverMyFiles') but only got a jumble of files with no folders so not great. This was probably caused by installing the Windows 7 step? Do you think your suggestion would be able to get me back as it was or is it essentially another recovery method? Thanks.

 

[richc46]

If I understand you correctly, System Restore is not inteded to handle that situation. I am using Windows Seven and it has two separate features one is System Restore for restoring the OS and System Image, which is the back up of the entire hard drive.
We cant change the past, but in the future use http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx and keep it current weekly just for this type of situation.

 

[Cadex]

Hi Richc46 - No, I see what you mean but I am selecting the 'Windows Complete PC Restore', on the 'System Recovery Options' menu and the backup was a 'Complete PC Backup'.
I really appreciate all suggestions and if anyone hits the right one I'd be over the moon - maybe a reward or charity donation??). At this stage, it is essentially a restore to a new physical drive as if my old one was dead or I wanted to upgrade to a bigger hard disk which must be the point of taking backups....
Thanks lads.

 

[richc46]

If the restore Disc was the one that came with the computer what you are trying cannot be done. The factory restore disc is not the same as a store bought Vista DVD

 

[Cadex]

Hi - thanks for quick reply. What I am doing is using a USB stick that has been built using the DVD that I used to build the PC in the first place. It is Vista Ultimate 64bit OEM. Not sure why that would not work as it appears to be trying to do the job and failing rather than just not giving me the option (if it was in some way a restricted version).

 

[SIW2]

The gui is useless.

Did you try using the command line to restore each volume?

Boot to system recovery command console and type wbadmin /?

 

[Cadex]

OK This is fixed! (Vista image restore failure - 'too few disks' (0x80042401) error). I used the command line options, after a week of trying using the GUI. Thanks for all suggestions.

I found guidance to the solution near the bottom of the following link:
A "Windows Complete PC Restore" always fails.

The commands are slightly different so I will put in the commands I used.

Steps:
Firstly from what I read, the destination physical disks size has to be the same or larger than the original backup disk. In my case, I had bought a new (bigger) hard drive.

Boot the PC with the Vista DVD in the drive - or a 'VISTA install' USB stick created from the build DVD, which I had to do as it would not boot from my DVD when my PC was set up with RAID.
(Create USB VISTA install:
Install Windows 7 Or Windows 8 From USB Drive/Pen Drive)

This brings up the screen which gives the install language options.

Select the appropriate language, click 'NEXT'.
Select 'Repair your computer'.
Select the operating system you want to repair (if it is there, won't be if new disk), and then click 'Next'.
On the System Recovery Options menu, click 'COMMAND PROMPT'.
In the Command Prompt window type in 'DISKPART'.
Within DISKPART you can type HELP for commands.
e.g.'LIST DISK' lists the available' physical' drives that are available.
'SELECT DISK 0' selects disk 0 so you can work on it.
'LIST PARTITION' lists the available partitions.

If the disk is new there won't be any partitions. As I had 4 partitions ('drives') backed up, I wanted to create 4 to which I could restore my data.
I decided to create bigger partitions than in the original backup (50Gb,100,100,225), so I entered:
SELECT DISK 0
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY SIZE=100000
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY SIZE=300000
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY SIZE=300000
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
This created 4 partitions of (100Gb,300, 300 and the remainder of the drive capacity).

The 'LIST VOLUME' command lists the available volumes and it shows the volume numbers, drive letters and the partition sizes.
As the system was booted from the USB, the drive letters were 'mixed up' and C was used by the USB.
To fix this,
SELECT VOLUME 1 (or whatever volume is 'holding' C:
ASSIGN LETTER=z
This freed up the letter C: I did the same with the other volumes until I had the right letters assigned to each Volume/ Partition.
I'm not certain if I needed to but I also formatted each partition using:
SELECT VOLUME 2
FORMAT FS=NTFS QUICK
I did this for the other volumes until I had my C,D,E and F set up with the right partitions.

To get a list of the available backup versions (shown as dates and times) and volume info type in:
wbadmin get versions -backuptarget:G:

Where G: is the drive letter of my USB HDD where the backup was located.

The restore command is below, with C: as the recoverytarget and G: as the backuptarget (my USB backup).
wbadmin start recovery -version:09/17/2011-13:22 -itemtype:volume -items:C: -backuptarget:G: -recoverytarget:C:

This brought up a warning about recovering volumes and a Y or N to proceed.
I selected Y and it began, giving a % of progress.
It completed successfully and I was able to do the same for the other volumes.
In my case the restore worked but the system would not boot. I really only wanted the data (images etc.) so that was OK. I'll probably do a clean install of windows 7 to c: now. If I wanted to get the system to boot, I suppose Bootrec.exe would do it (again from the Command Prompt window). For Bootrec see How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows.
Thanks.