DeCrap Craped my PC Software

Yup I did it! I downloaded and "carefully" Decraped my PC using http://www.decrap.org/. It totally messed up my machine in ways to hard to explain all.

I will start with my OS I am running Win7 Pro with IE 10.

After "carefully (so I thought)" deleted what I didn't want it to touch I ran it and did the reboot. OH NO! It removed tons of random programs and crippled others. I did notice it wiped out all of my Ashampoo software and most of my photo editing programs.

Problem one: System Restore has never worked on this machine. I had a tech I trust spend hours trying to correct the problem with no headway except a reinstall which I declined.

Problem two: I found out to late that Win7's System Image B/U isn't working. It is however backing up requested folders and files just fine.

The only real way I can tell what programs are missing is by the shortcuts still being avail "for some programs". When I click on a shortcut this is what I see.





It seems that it also took the original icon and turned it into just a generic box.

It also deleted Malwareware Bytes which I found by a fluke.

Any ideas would be wonderful.

 

The DeCrap program isn't very selective. It seems that if it doesn't have a program in it's whitelist, it just construes it as crap and advises the user to delete it. There really isn't any "fix" for your problem. You're just going to have to reinstall all the stuff that got deleted without your express consent. Creating the disk images was a very good idea, I'm sorry to hear that it wasn't backing up as it should have. There are some really good and very reliable free third party disk imaging programs that you should check out. Probably the easiest to use is AOMEI Backupper. You can download it from the author's homepage:

http://www.backup-utility.com/

Make yourself a boot disk and at least a weekly disk image (program supports automatic backups) and in the future you'll be able to quickly recover from a predicament such as the one you're in now.

I don't know anything off the top of my head that you can do about being unable to create restore points. You should try Restore Point Creator program which you can download from MG site at:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/restore_point_creator.html

It's a program that calls the native Windows process responsible for creating restore points.

Again, sorry that you lost all that data... and good luck.

 

Thanks RustySavage,

I was kinda afraid that was my fate. Thank you for the recommendation of AOMEI I was looking at programs yesterday and read about this program. I hadn't made a decision yet as which to try. Your recommendation of AOMEI will have an impact on my decision.

I didn't know of any System Restore programs out there and to be truthful didn't even think to look into it. I will be giving this one a try today

Thanks for taking the time to help me out.

 

Nice job with this rustysavage! I didn't have the heart to tell Mr. Magoo he needed to start over from scratch. AOMEI Backupper is available from FreewareFiles.com as well. FreewareFiles.com is the only other download site I trust outside of Major Geeks.

 

I guess that makes me a heartless twit :cry (I always suspected that about myself). Thanks for the tip about FreewareFiles.com. One can never get enough good security advice. BTW, I really like your avatar pic, spooky yet inviting.

 

Although it's off topic, thanks. It's my Zodiac sign (Scorpio). I originally wanted a red one with blinking stars but I couldn't get that one to fit and work. So, I "settled" for the one I have.

 

Hi rustysavage, ndomah and all, thanks for your kindness ndomah

I have downloaded AOMEI and see where it did do an upload to the proper external drive but I see no way to verify the contents. Is there a way to do so or do you just keep your fingers crossed?

I also downloaded PBC and see where it also created a restore point but really don't know a way to verify it will work if/when I need to use it.

Thanks for the guidance it is very much appreciated.

 

I'm running Backupper now. I'll get back to this thread in a while with screenshots. The image CAN be verified in Backupper.

 

On the left side of the Backupper window, click the Utilities tab. At the top of the main window, click Check Image (see attachment 1)

On the next screen, click on the Path button and locate the backup image you created, then click on the image title in the main window to select it (see attachment 2). Click Next.

On the next screen, click on the title of the Backup Point to select it (see attachment 3). Click Next.

If the operation completes successfully, it will say so in the main window and you'll know you gave a good backup (see attachment 4).

You may want to create bootable media in case your system drive needs to be re-created from the backup image in the Restore option of the program. Doing that saves time and headaches if the system drive needs to be wiped and formatted. This option is also available under the Utilities tab (see attachment 5).

This last option will require WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit) be installed on your computer. Backupper will give you the option to download WAIK from Microsoft, but you'll have to burn the ISO file to a DVD (it's 1.5GB) and install .Net Framework and MSXML Parser before setting up WAIK. Once that's done, you'll have the option of creating a bootable CD (146MB) or a bootable USB Flash drive.

 

mdonah, WOW. You really go the whole nine yards in order to answer a question ! I don't even know what to say. That's far beyond anything else I've seen on this forum to date (albeit I've never witnessed the works of those saintly malware crusaders) In any case, Kudos. You set the bar pretty high.

I should take a moment to apologize to both of you for leaving out of my previous reply the rather significant details concerning the requirement for downloading the 1.5 GB Windows AIK. I've had it installed on my system for a couple of years and often forget it's even there (I like making Live WinPE boot disks for myself). Unfortunately, the AIK is required for any disk imaging system that boots to WinPE recovery environment. That includes Backupper and NovaSTOR NovaBackup (both of which I use concomitantly because I share Mr. Magoo's mistrust over disk images being valid when you need them). I've also heard good things about Macrium REFLECT (freeware), but I've never used it myself and don't know if it's based on WinPE or Linux. Probably worth looking into if you don't like Backupper or want a program with more options.

I used to use Acronis TrueImage (not freeware) which utilizes a Linux based preinstall environment instead of WinPE. The total download for that is nearly 300 MB, but that pales in comparison to the massive size of the AIK alone. The good news is that you can simply uninstall/delete the AIK once you've created and tested your Backupper boot CD. Actually, burn and test 2 or 3 of the boot CDs if you choose to uninstall the AIK (yes, my paranoia does run deep).

Mr. Magoo, although it's a pain to download that much software, and create ISOs, and burn boot CDs, and test boot CDs.... once you've done it you will be prepared for almost anything that might befall your system short of outright hard disk failure (even then, you would have the opportunity to do a "bare metal" restore of the disk image to a new hard drive). Unlike regular file backup programs that merely copy files from one place to another, these disk imaging + boot CD backup systems copy the entire disk, including MBR, critical system files, partition tables, program data, everything (byte for byte) and can therefore completely restore your hard drive in the event that your computer is rendered unbootable, be that from system corruption or malware or both. And given today's ever more destructive malware that can paralyzes a system in mere seconds while tearing through system files, MBRs and partition tables, the chance of a malware rendering a system non-bootable is already high and rising every day. And if you can't boot your system then you can't run a Windows based file backup program to do restoration (therefore of zero value in such situations).

That would leave you one of two options. 1.) Go through the long tedious and often incomplete process of identifyig and removing malware, repairing the trashed system, and attempting to salvage your data (usually incompletely) OR 2.) Reformat the entire drive and start all over.. Personally, I don't like either of those options. However, with a disk image based backup system you can fix an unbootable system by simply tossing your boot disk into the CD/DVD drive, power off and back on, and go take a nap. An hour later you'll return to a clean functioning system containing all of your precious data, regardless of what trashed it in the first place.

To put it more simply, it's my strong belief that you should just bite the bullet now and take the time and disk space to install a disk imaging program. Armed with that, no unruly programs like that stupid reckless Decrapifier will ever be able to hurt you again.

Ahhh, one last thing. Could you guys help me off of this soap box now?

 

I've used Macrium Reflect (the freeware version). It uses either WAIK 3 — 3.1 or 4 (WDK) for Windows 8 on it's rescue media. It doesn't verify the image until you're restoring it and I don't know how that can be done since there's no source material to compare it to. Macrium free also doesn't offer incremental/differential backups like Backupper does.

I must note however, that I've never had a problem using Macrium to image/restore my system drive.

I, also, always install WAIK — it's there if needed.

MiniTool Partition Wizard and Macrorit Disk Partition Expert also offer disk imaging/restoration and use Linux for their rescue media which makes for a much smaller download/burn. But, Linux doesn't allow for drive letter assignment like the Windows based software does.

You're right. I think we've hijacked MrMagoo's thread and both need to hop off the soap box.

 

My goodness you guys(? you never know by user names) are great! ndonah, I did as so well described last night and let it run. Everything went just as you had so completely illustrated so I hope to be good to go in that area. I also created and tested a Bootable Disk so that base is covered.

Thank you both for taking the time to be sure I am covered if something like this happens to me again. This is the first time I have gotten caught with me britches down since 1978 and I didn't like it one bit. Now thanks to you good folks It won't happen again.

Thank you both and have Blessed Christmas and New Year!

 

As a long time Acronis user (who has also tested most of the competition, both free and paid for) I thought I would try this out. I was very impressed by the simplicity of the user interface, as that is where Acronis falls down, and was very hopeful that finally I had found an imaging program that did what Acronis essentially does without having to stump up for the latest version every year. Sadly that has not proved to be the case, as images of Win 8.1 created with Aomei, whilst appearing to restore successfully, on my bog standard Medion box do not boot. This is true for both the Linux and WinPE versions of the bootable disk.

As this has never happened before, not with Acronis, Macrium Reflect or with Easeus Todo Backup, I have to reluctantly raise a caution about using this program.

 

After reading your post, I installed Windows 8.1 on my modular bay hard drive once I pulled my internal "C:\" drive. I installed AOMEI Backupper on said drive and imaged the Windows 8.1 drive to an external USB connected drive.

After I verified the image, I formatted the Windows 8.1 drive using AOMEI Partition Assistant from my XP Pro "C:\" drive which I had booted to.

I then restored the Windows 8.1 drive from the image I had created using AOMEI Backupper from the WAIK CD. Backupper detected that it was a System backup and asked if I wanted to do a System Restore. I chose YES.

There is a check box near the bottom on the left for System Restore in the Restore Tab. Perhaps you forgot to place a check mark in that box.

I did the System Restore and let Backupper shut down the computer once the operation completed. I restarted the computer and Windows 8.1 booted right up. In fact, I'm posting this reply from the restored drive in Firefox 26.

 

I know what you mean about Acronis. I finally threw in the towel with that clunky yet finicky piece of bloatware. I wish I could comment on Earthling's bad experience with the program but I don't have Win8 on either of my setups. I can say that in Win7, it has been profoundly reliable for me. I install and uninstall a TON of apps continuously and not surprisingly I render my system unbootable on a regular basis. I've used Backupper 3 times this month already to restore my system disk. Each time I use it, it works flawlessly. As a bonus, it is amazingly fast at creating disk images. On my system, it backs up ~65 GB in 25 minutes, where all other disk imaging software took over one hour.

I've used Macrium Reflect but unless I'm remembering wrong, it doesn't do incremental or differential backups. EaseUS Todo Backup has a limit on the amount of data that it will back up (something stupid like 1 or 2 GB). I've also used NovaSTOR's NovaBackup which was like using Acronis in a foreign language (not at all intuitive). Backup jobs would regularly become corrupt after 3 or 4 disk imaging sessions.

Hey Earthling, which of the backup types did you use when you made the disk image: Disk, Partition, or System? I always use the "Disk" option because it backs up all of my partitions along with the system partition, including MBR, partition tables... the works. You can get in touch with their customer support (e-mail) which I found to be prompt, courteous, and very helpful. They actually sounded kind of eager to help which makes me think they don't get all that many support requests. They might be able to sort that problem out for you.

support@aomeitech.com

Good luck !

 

Thanks for the detailed replies guys. Right from the moment I started Backupper it felt right - everything you would expect to find in this type of program was where you would expect it to be, no confusing choices at all. I chose the one click System Backup for a quick test as this is mostly what I would use it for if I adopted it. I verified the image file (located on my eSATA) and then restored it from the Linux CD. On reboot I got the W8 splash screen but it hung after a while, errored out and rebooted. I restored my system partition with Acronis and tried again with the WinPE disk but hit the same problem. The one thing I didn't see/notice was the System Restore check box that mdonah asked about so as soon as I can find a couple of hours I'll have another go because I would really like this to work, and not just for me but for the many friends who look to me for advice.

 

Let us know how it goes because I regularly recommend this program and feel responsible when something I recommended doesn't work. This is in fact the second app I've recommended to you personally that didin't work:-o on Win8.1 (remember Cobian?). I'll either have to install Win8.1 or add caveats about Win8.1 to my recommendations, so that I don't end up being responsible for someone else's waste of time and effort. As I suggested earlier, please do send an e-mail to AOMEI at:

support@aomeitech.com

They were very helpful when I had some questions about their other product, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition. They shot back an e-mail within an hour, apologized profusely for any troubles I might be having, and then answered my questions intelligently. Their English is a bit rough as they are a Chinese company, but altogether understandable. They expressly state that the program is compatible with Windows 8 so there's a good chance that they can help with this issue.

Again, best of luck

 

Let us know how it goes because I regularly recommend this program and feel responsible when something I recommended doesn't work. This is in fact the second app I've recommended to you personally that didin't work:-o on Win8.1 (remember Cobian?). I'll either have to install Win8.1 or add caveats about Win8.1 to my recommendations, so that I don't end up being responsible for someone else's waste of time and effort. As I suggested earlier, please do send an e-mail to AOMEI at:

support@aomeitech.com

They were very helpful when I had some questions about their other freeware product, AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition. They shot back an e-mail within an hour, apologized profusely for any troubles I might be having, and then answered my questions intelligently. Their English is a bit rough as they are a Chinese company, but altogether understandable. They expressly state that the Backupper program is compatible with Windows 8 so there's a good chance that they can help with this issue.

Again, best of luck

Sorry about the double post everyone... stupid mistake and I don't know how to delete this duplicate post. Can anybody tell me how to do that?

 

I will be back with my results rusty but first I want to see what happens when I try the same test on Win 7 Ult on the same Medion box. I'm half suspecting that the problem may turn out to be my boot manager, EasyBCD, as mdonah has already run it successfully on 8.1. so that isn't the issue here. However as we use a KVM switch here to work two systems on one keyboard and monitor I need my wife to finish her session first.

Please don't feel bad about recommendations not working. I'm forever trying new things on this PC and, like you, fairly regularly having to restore an image to get back to a working system. And I guess that's why I've stuck with Acronis all these years as it has never, ever failed me. But I despair at that interface, littered with all sorts of extras no one uses and half of which aren't reliable. I don't even do diffs or incs with it, just full partition or disk backups.

Don't know whether you have ever tried Rollback RX, or its lookalike Wondershare Time Shuttle. Fantastic for tinkerers as you can rewind to any of hundreds of system snapshots in just a few seconds plus a reboot. But I digress - back later.

 

ATM it does look as if my boot manager, EasyBCD, may be confusing AOMEI. When I tried a System Backup from Win 7 it insisted on including both Win 7 and Win 8 in the backup, which suggests AOMEI thinks that Win 7's boot files are in Win 8. That's a bit odd as Win 7 was installed before Win 8 so you would assume the dependency to be the other way around, with Win 8 dependant on Win 7. Either way, when I restored the image to both systems (no choice available there), Win 8 would not subsequently boot. I didn't check Win 7 - no point.

So atm it seems AOMEI may possibly have issues in dual boot situations, perhaps depending on how the dual boot was created. Acronis seems not to mind as the precautionary images I took of both systems before this test have both restored without problems.

I may pass this info on to AOMEI but in the meantime, for my own safety, I need to stay with Acronis.

 

No, I hadn't ever heard about either of those programs so I checked out their websites and WOW, Rollback RX looks like a program that was written expressly for someone like me who is always tinkering, tweaking, experimenting, installing, uninstalling, "hey I wonder what this does" type of computer user. Sounds almost too good to be true but I just went ahead and bought it. Thanks mate!

I too never used the incremental or differential options in any of the backup apps that I use or have used. It just makes it all the more likely that one of those dependent backups is going to come up corrupted and force me to use an image that's a week old at best. Acronis TrueImage 2014 has a time machine like option but I couldn't get it to work. I'll probably reinstall TI because it was good at making disk images and restoration was very dependable and I like to have two disk images from two different programs, in case an image gets corrupted or a boot disk won't boot.

Again, thanks for the tip

 

Yea, the one big drawback to AOMEI Backupper is that it's a young program and they probably haven't worked out all the kinks and bugs yet. I shot them an email yesterday and asked about future versions and they said yes they are hard at work on the next version which they expect to release early in the new year. Maybe you could give it another try then. I don't blame you for sticking with Acronis especially given the great track record it's had for you. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Ha :-D I just realized that I probably wouldn't need all the disk images if I followed that advice. My past actions suggest that my motto should be: If it ain't broke, then by all means find a way to break it.

 

You've probably already twigged the catch with Rollback RX - no restoring of disk images and no booting to boot disks or you will end up with an unbootable system. I've never figured what you are supposed to do short of a full reinstall if the system goes belly up while using such a program but I chickened out and, reluctantly I admit, quit using them.

 

OK Folks, U have my head spinning in so many directions right now I think that I am coming and going both at the same time:confused.

I have downloaded AOMIE and did a Image Backup. Now here is the deal: Exactly 10 days after my 2 year HP warranty was up my 1TB HD started to fail. Luckily I know those OH SNAP signs and cloned my drive to the only new drive I had a 500GB, downer. Anyway yesterday I got a killer deal on a 2TB External Drive "which will soon be disassembled and become my new Internal drive". Anyway, I did a new Image BU and I am currently cloning my 0 Drive = my OS C: drive to my new drive. I know TMI.

Here is where I am very confused when I check my C: I see I have 190GGB used memory. When I check my AOMIE Clone status it tells me it is cloning only 85.16GB. WHAT? What am I missing here? It also seems to be cloning very slowly using USB 3.0 only 38% in 5 hours.

Any insight sure would be apprecited:banghead

 

Yea, I wish I could have tried a demo first but they wouldn't supply a link to a demo version until after I ponied up cash for a registered copy. WTF? Before purchasing it I got in touch with them by phone and asked specifically if it would cause a problem with creating disk images (I was told emphatically "no") So now I've left an email with their support department to ask whether I can configure the program to back up it's files to an external NTFS drive or even a separate internal HDD but something tells me that's not going to be possible. No biggy, if it doesn't do what they says it does (and they say on their website that it does everything short of grilling cheese sandwiches) then I'll just write a letter to my CC company telling them of false advertising and they'll credit the payment back to my account.:major

 

OK, I'm a bit confused. You cloned your failing disk0 to a 500 GB drive. Is that 500 GB drive an internal or external drive? Did you remove the failing drive and replace it with this new drive?

I'm not sure about this but I'll check it on my next boot. I believe BackUpper is showing you the compressed size of the clone that it's making. Like I said, I'll get back with you on this. The slow operation is definitely surprising. On my system, a 65 GB (compressed to 40 GB) disk image takes BackUpper only 25 minutes and that's through a USB 2.0 port. You have about 3x more data, which would predict a total backup time of only 75 minutes, and that's on my slower system. 38% in 5 hours is profoundly slower than predicted even going through a slower USB 2.0 port. I wish I was more hardware savvy but unfortunately I am not, and therefore have no recommendations for you on this matter. All I can say, as I've said to Earthling, is contact tech support and ask them about it. They were very prompt and helpful when I contacted them. Their email is support@aomeitech.com

Good luck and keep us posted on any progress.

 

Hi rusty,

When I had the failure a year ago I used the clone disc provided with the "Barracuda" drive to clone my to the new drive. I use a USB adopter cable to do so then switched drives w/o a hitch at all. And at the time if I remember correctly it only took minutes not hours using USB 2.0.

I am now doing the clone via the new external drives USB 3.0 cable. I will then disassemble the external drive an install it in "Bear" my machine. Staples wanted $119.00 for a 1TB WD internal drive. I looked into the external drives and they had a WD 2TB drive for $99.00 easy choice. Knowing that I can disassemble the external drive and remove the SATA drive and install it in Bear it was a no brainer.

With all that said using USB 3.0 now 18 hours later the cloning is at 44%.

I though that it may have been because the files were compressed but wanted to confirm it. I hate to assume anything "like I did thinking I had a daily image backup being done via Win7's system. That still leaves me wondering why it is taking so darned long to clone a lousy 85GB.

As always thanks for all of everyone's help

 

Hi Magoo, I didn't even know one could convert an external HDD into an internal HDD. Pretty neat. Unless customer support at AOMEI is able to solve your problem, I think it's time to throw in the towel on Backupper program. There's another freeware program that I've used in the past to make and restore disk images and that's Macrium Reflect

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/macrium_reflect_free_edition.html

It's since been updated to include differential and incremental backups. Best of all, I've never heard any complaints about the program.

Best of luck and keep me informed as to how it all turns out.

 

That's not the only thing wrong with the program. It advertises that it can create "virtually unlimited" system "snapshots", which is a bold-faced lie. I have a 1 TB system drive with 65 GB used for data. Rollback Rx created a "baseline" snapshot of 40 GB which I thought was legit, and assumed that subsequent snapshots would consist of incremental backups. So I created a couple of manual snapshots, and then a couple more (before and after installing new software). When I opened the Rollback Rx GUI, I found that ALL of the snapshots were 40+ GB !! Are they out of their minds? I'd be able to take only 25 snapshots before my 1 TB disk would be 100% full. 25 snapshots is not nearly "a virtually infinite number of snapshots". Using the program would nix my ability to create disk images (even without the boot dilemma). Can you imagine creating a disk image of a full 1TB disk. The "time machine" concept is a good one but I've yet to find a program that can effectively and reasonably implement it.

Needless to say, their refunding my money.:clap

 

Well right now I am totaly screwed. I accidently hit the x instead of - and closed the cloning job. When I went to start it again it told me it was still running and must do a restart to continue. After the restart the machine would go as far as the sign in page then stop working completely. I installed the Boot Disc I created and it opened directly to AOMEI. I had it do a image install and after it showed doing so I rebooted to the same problem.

I have been fighting with this problem since my last post. I have an email into support but have heard nothing back from them this is such a downer I can't even begin to tell you.

 

Do you recall which type of backup you used in creating the image? Was it:

BUtype.JPG

1. Disk Backup
2. Partition Backup
3. System Backup

I just want to make sure that you included the system partition in you disk image. With options 1 and 3, the system partition is included by default. Option 2 allows you to create a partition image without the system partition included. Or, did you not create a disk image but instead clone your drive to another?

Clonetyp.JPG

Now I'm getting confused

 

The freeware version of Macrium now allows incremental/differential backups?

 

Hi rusty, I made the system backup. I used the clone syetem image to the new HDD. But I accidently stopped the process which caused all kinds of hate and diccontent. So I ended up having to use the boot disc I made with the program to get windows to run but it would only open to AOMEI not to windows. So I proceded to do an image restore which changed nothing. I can still not get Win 7 to continue to boot all the way. I can only use F9 nothing else works. I can't even open in Safe Mode. I reformed my new drive and I am trying a clone opp again. I can only hope when I swap it out things will be back to the norm.

Just another note: The clone job has only been operating around 40 minutes now and is 42% complete. So I have no idea what was going on with the clone opp last night. This whole thing is really putting me over the edge. As you can imagine with 190GB of used HD I have a lot packed into this machine. I do however have all of my docs, photo's programs, est downloaded in multiple places including the cloud. Who want the hazzle of putting this all back together though.

I use Zoolz for my cloud server I have home premium for$20.00 a year. I can put 100GB of storgage there for 20 bucks a year, I'll take it
mdohan, yes it is a pretty quiet secret that an external HD is just an HD with the extra hardware to run it exteraly. Pretty much like buying a HD case to make an intenal HD an external HD only reversed. I will reformat the 500GB drive and put it in the external case and have an extra 500GB external drive. They put the external drives on such rediculous specials you can't go wrong to snag them instead of the internal drives for more money.

 

I answered my own question — it doesn't support incremental/differential backups. Only the paid version does. The freeware version isn't even entitled to support and this time, Macrium encountered a serious error immediately after imaging my "C" drive. I don't believe the image was corrupted, but I still wouldn't use the image to restore my "C" drive.

I'm liking AOMEI Backupper more and more for my purposes. It may not be suitable for Earthling's use because of his dual computer set-up ( when both of my drives were connected at the same time, Backupper DID image the XP drive first even though it wasn't even selected and then started to image the 8.1 drive. It also seemed to be creating one image file for both drives instead of separate images. I cancelled the job, disconnected the "C:\Windows XP" drive and only worked from the 8.1 drive and successfullt booted to the restored 8.1 image. )

@MrMagoo,

It was rustysavage that didn't know that internal/external drives could be swapped. My two additional external EIDE/PATA drives I've swapped out with my internal one on more than one occasion — mostly to see if I could get an increase in read/write speeds. I couldn't, so the original internal drive is back in the computer and the external drives are back in their enclosures.

 

mdonah, I can't for the life of me remember where I got that information. I typically don't just dream up "facts" like that, yet, I've searched my entire computer and can't find any reference to Macrium having incremental/differential capabilities in the free version. Since I'm responsible for most of the mess that's occurred in this thread I will at least download Macrium Reflect free edition, install it, and then get back to you about whether it's true or not. If I sound a little scattered it's because my brain got scrambled with a closed head injury 20 years ago and my memory has never been the same since. I'll have an answer for you within the hour.

 

mdonah, I was wrong. Incremental and differential backups are NOT available in the free version of Macrium Reflect. Sorry for the bad info :-o

I see that you have your answer already. Hope I didn't cause you any extra grief. I don't know what is going on with poor Mr. Magoo's computer. This thread has pulled me into deep water, way over my head. Any help from you for Magoo would be greatly appreciated.

 

Magoo, I am SO sorry for ever bringing up the whole disk imaging thing in the first place. I more or less hijacked your thread right from the start for purposes of proselytizing for a little known program that happens to work very well for me on my standard one-OS single booting system. I had no idea it might cause problems for someone running an unconventional setup like yours. I'm relieve to hear that you at least have cloud backup of your important files. I know what a major hassle it is to have to reinstall and reconfigure dozens of program in order to get things back to how they were. After doing that 2 or 3 times I happened upon the concept of disk imaging and it's saved my hide at least a dozen times. In any case, I hope you can forgive me for coaxing you into the mess you now face.

It looks like this thread is about burnt out. Perhaps you can start a new thread in the Software forum by hashing out your current predicament. Maybe it'll catch the eye of someone with experience in this sort of thing. Good luck my friend

 

Thanks follks,

The clone seemed to work to the extenal drive correctly. I still can not boot from my Win OS via the original drive and that has me very nervous. I had to go out for a while "Red Cross blood drive". When I returned home the clone was done I am not sure how long it took but it sure wasn't the 18 hours of 44% of last night. I have disassembled the external drive and will install it in Bear in the AM and hopefully be back in business. I will let you know how I make out :cry.

 

Operation Failure! The cloned drive fails to start just as the original drive as I feared it would.

I am now at a total loss.

 

Don't "brow beat" yourself. You didn't cause me any grief. I'm like you — I experiment — it's the only way I can learn. It's caused my computer to hiccup and barf but with what I've learned on this forum from people like you, I've been able to recover on numerous occasions and I've added a considerable amount to my knowledge base.

 

I wish I had chimed in at the very beginning.

Because you had closed out instead of minimizing Backupper during the imaging process, the image was corrupted. I, unfortunately, don't know how or what you did to the drive you were imaging to cause it to become unuseable.

At this point, if you have re-installation media for your OS and apps, it looks like you're going to have to blank the drive then re-install everything including your OS. — Before you do that though, if the drive is accessible, get all of your important documents and files backed up to an external drive.

Once you've reconstructed your setup, by all means, image/clone the drive as rustysavage recommended using Backupper or any other backup/image/clone software of your choosing so you won't have to go through this again.

And, oh yeah, don't use "Decrap" any more. Use CCleaner from Major Geeks instead leaving it's settings at their defaults.

 

Well, I have been racking my "little left" brain cells and seemed to remember a similar problem once before. The only option I had on both the original drive and the cloned drive was F10. So I went in and chose F5 to Setup Default and did so. PTL this corrected the problem on the original drive.

I removed that and installed the new cloned drive and did the same. No dice it still will not open. The odd thing is when I open the system with the old drive and use the external drive as an external drive it shows as a second OS (0 drive. It also show as if it is only 500GB instead of 2TB. This really has me confused. The worst part is it will not let me reformat it telling me it is the current OS drive. I am currently running both Check Disc options to see if it finds anything.

If this doesn't correct the problem I plan to try to reformat it on another system to see if that will work. If/when it does I plan to use my tried and true Seagate Cloning Tool to Clone the new drive :hammer.

Again I will keep you posted on the next outcome. So far I am not real happy with AOMEI. I must admit though it could all be due to my accidental stopping of the Cloning procedure.

The good news is I was able to get my old system back up and running .

 

Thanks for putting a good "spin" on the debacle and glad to hear that you learned something from it. I find that I don't understand 90% of the hardware related talk that goes on in these forums. I mentioned my deficiency to my wife so I'm quite sure that I'll be getting a "Hardware for Dummies" book for Christmas (we both really like that series). Again, thank you for your understanding.

 

Whew, dodged at least one bullet. And I don't fault your suspicion of AOMEI products, given what you've gone through. Despite being a firm believer in disk imaging backup strategies I'm going to be less enthusiastic about wholeheartedly recommending their products in the future.

That's a novel approach you've outlined above and I hope it works for you.

 

Decrap My Computer is some dangerous BS. I let it go ahead and do it's thing and it deleted ALL of my iTunes, my browser Chrome, etc.....but left the crappy IE (Internet Explorer) untouched.
WTF is the point / reason for deleting music?????? Since when is music Bloatware?
Decrap deletes all my music but leaves the empty music folders, WHY??? What's the F'n point! The F'
n Nerds have way to much power now. Get back in the F'n corner of the cafeteria with your Start Wars lunchboxes and stay there until you are told SPECIFICALLY what to do, please stop your independent geek nerd thinking because this is what it results in.....then you can return to correcting people on their typos, Continuity issues in movies, etc....you know, all the irrelevant BS you obsess about.
Sorry to vent but I'm (rightly) soooooooooo F'n PO'd at Decrap. Lost so much $$ on all the songs I bought that decrap deleted. And iTunes will NOT remember / credit me w/music I downloaded 6 yrs ago that is now deleted for good, thanks to F'n Decrap.
Aaaaaarrgghhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Always pay attention to what software does.

You don't EVER decrapify a used computer. You ONLY use these programs when you first get it. Otherwise you are at risk.

 

who said anything about a "used" computer?

 

What Adrynalyne meant is you would run DeCrap on a brand new machine to get rid of the Microsoft and manufacturer's bloatware before you installed anything else. It really does "clean house".

 

Indeed it is a dangerous program thus the beginning of this thread. I still never recovered dozens of programs it deleted. I know I never will and just have to deal with the fact that I messed up "bad".

I feel your pain believe me I do but to blast this forum isn't going to help you nor anyone else. My only suggestion to you is Back Up, Back Up, Back Up. I was able to recover 90% of the deleted programs because I BU.

The programs I lost were GOTD programs that you have 24 hours to download and use the key. If you loose them they are gone because the key is only good for 24 hours.

Please do yourself a favor and start a BU plan. I highly recommend Macrium Reflect. They have a free version but I chose to purchase the full program because of the added features. Win 7 has it's own built in BU system also. There are many free BU programs out there for you to choose from. Some of them are mentioned on the thread if you care to read back to them.

Again I am sorry you were bit by DeCrap as I was. If nothing else look into doing BUs. I use three different programs "daily" to BU my machine. One is cloud based which I feel is the safest of all. Three different BUs daily may be a bit anal but better safe than sorry. And yes I do an Image BU "daily' also, yup anal.

Please also be careful of what programs you download and where you download them from. When in doubt come here and ask about it BEFORE using it like I should have done. A hard lesson for us both which I hope helps someone else in the future.

 

I just received an email from Macrium Reflect for 25% off for the first 200 customers for 7days I thought was great timing. So here it is for anyone on the fence about a great BU program: Code = BFR-4EF-T69 at: http://www.macrium.com/personal.aspx?x-ca=uf046

Enjoy