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Confused by Explore Image

I am a newcomer to this forum and also not very computer-literate so please forgive me if I do something wrong or do not explain my query clearly.
I am on Backupper Standard (now version 6.0.0 ) and my OS is Windows 10 Home 1909.
I have put some Disk Backups onto Seagate external HDDs  and these are accessible by booting up the computer using a bootable USB flash drive produced from an ISO through the Tools program.
I am keen to find out how to restore just parts of the backups and Aomei Support pointed me to a tutorial about 'Explore Image' on the website but unfortunately I don't fully understand it and need some help.
I can go through the explore image procedures successfully including assigning drive letters (see attached images) and onto the end screen which says "The operation has been completed successfully" but the I have no idea what to do next !!
What I want to possibly do is extract and restore just parts of the Disk Backup eg; Documents or pictures folders and any individual items from those folders - if this is possible can some kindly forum member please talk me through it and, bearing in mind my novice status, be gentle with me!!
Regards, Roy.

Comments

  • Hello Daddybear,
    "these are accessible by booting up the computer using a bootable USB flash drive produced from an ISO through the Tools program."---Did you boot the computer from WinPE bootable media to explore the backup image? 
    Could you boot into Windows? Or the system of the computer is damaged?
  • Roy, If your machine boots up and is running then go through Aomei Backupper to explore the image.  Once you have gone through the process of mounting the backup and assigning a drive letter you can access the information by using the Windows explorer and opening the folder that contains the files you want to extract.  Then you simply copy and paste the file(s) that you want to recover into a folder.
  • Vbbritt - thank you for your reply.
    Machine boots up from USB and shows Aomei Backupper on external HDD already plugged in before booting. From there is my problem - I don't understand "the process of mounting the backup " or  "you can access the information by using the Windows explorer "  - can you explain to me how to do those things ?
    Sorry,  I really am not very computer literate.
  • edited September 2020
    I am assuming that your computer is fully functional and that it is booted up and running.  I am also assuming that you have Aomei Backupper 6.0 installed on your machine.  You indicate that you have your backups stored on an external hard drive so to be able to access your backups you need to have the drive with your backups plugged into your computer.  Next you will need to go to the tools menu in Backupper and select Explore Image.  A window should appear that displays your backup.  Select the backup and click on next.  Another windows will appear showing the different snapshots/images in time that are contained in the backup.  Select the snapshot that contains the files that you want to copy or extract and assign a drive letter to that particular partition in the backup and click on finish.  So at this point you have mounted your image and assigned it to a drive letter. 

    Now close Backupper and return to windows.  There are several ways to go to explorer, but I will try to keep it simple so that it will be easy for you to follow.  Press the Windows key followed the E key.  A window should appear similar to the one displayed below.  I mounted a partition from one of my backups and assigned a drive letter "N" to the drive (it is the one that I circled in red).  Position your mouse pointer over that particular drive letter and double click the left mouse button.  What you should see is the contents of the partition that was mounted from your backup.  I have circled in red the folders from my backup.  If I wanted to copy my photos from this backup I would have to step down through several folders (i.e. Users, User Name, and finally pictures).  Then I would look through all of the picture folders and/or files until I found the one I wanted.  Then I would depress the right mouse button and click on copy.  Then I would select an active folder on my machine and press the right mouse button again and click paste.  You should see the file you selected appear in the active folder.  You can select individual files or multiple files depending on what you are wanting to do.  That is how it is done.  I hope this helps.  If not let me know and I will try to give you a more detailed explanation.




  • Daddybear, I forgot to tell you that after you are finished copying your files that you have to unmount the backup.  To do that you have to go back into Aomei Backupper and return to the tools menu and select explore image.  All that should appear is the drive letter or letters.  Select the drive letter and then click on detach to release the mounted drive.


  • Vbbritt - many thanks for such an excellent reply.
    I do understand it now, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be working for me - when I get to the Explorer window there is no reference to an external drive (Seagate) with the letter "N" even though that shows up on the page for assigning it.  I am obviously not doing the assigning properly - I highlight my backup drive and then press 'Next'.  I don't have any partitions, there is only the C drive on that page as well and that has a letter "M" next to it.   So when I get to my Explorer page I only have Seagate E showing and when I double click that it only shows the whole contents of the Seagate drive.
    One point I am not sure of :- You ask if the computer is booted up and running - does this mean normally booted ? If so, then I cannot go through the connected external Seagate drive as it shows the message as per the image I have included here.  The only way I can get into the backups is if I boot through the USB bootable media - is this the correct way to do it ?
    Re. your other query - yes I have Aomei Backupper 6.0 installed (yesterday) but all backupsare from version 5.9 - does that matter ?
    Hope this makes sense - I don't know the correct terms for description I am afraid.
  • Let me start by explaining how I utilize Aomei Backupper to create backups.  I have Backupper installed and operating on my computer.  I store my backups on a secondary drive installed in the same machine.  Backupper knows where my backups are stored so when I go to tools and select explore image the program displays the backups I have  created.  I select the backup and when I click on next my backup displays 3 hidden partitions and the partition for drive C.  In the right side of the screen the new drive letters are displayed and I can select which ever one I want.     

    I assumed that you were normally booting your computer up and were using the copy of Backupper on the machine to make your backups and your USB flash drive is where you were storing the backups that Backupper was creating.  If you were booting up your machine on a bootable USB rescue disk were you creating your backups on the same disk or were you booting off of a USB flash drive (Rescue disk) and then plugging in a second USB external disk to store your backups on?  The way that most people use the program is by running it on their normal functioning computer and storing their backups on an external USB disk.

    If you go to Windows Explorer and you can not see whatever drive letter that you mapped to your backup then you are not successfully mapping the virtual drive letter to the partition on your active computer.  Try the following.
    1.  Boot up your computer normally.
    2.  Plug in the external drive containing your backups.
    3.  Launch Aomei Backupper on your normal computer.
    4.  Go to tools and select explore image.
    5.  Choose the option to browse a path to open the image file and select the location of the disk and backup on the external drive.
    6.  Assign a drive letter to drive C that is stored in the backup and then click on finish. 
    7.  Once Backupper indicates that it was successful then you can attempt the procedure to open the virtual partition in windows explorer.  You should be able to navigate through the folders to see everything that is stored in your backup.  As I said earlier your photos and documents are stored under the user folder and the user id on the machine.

    Let me know if this works for you.

        
  • Thanks Vbbritt - that has solved it !!

    I now realise that I was not assigning a new drive letter to the correct drive - it should have been the C drive, not the Seagate - doh !!  Once I did that correctly everything worked out.

    Your other comment of  "The way that most people use the program is by running it on their normal functioning computer and storing their backups on an external USB disk." was correct for me as that is exactly how I have been using the Aomei program.

    Very many thanks for all your help and patience with me - I really do appreciate it. Sorry to have been such a dummy.

    Regards, Roy.
  • I am glad that I was able to help.  I hope you enjoy using Aomei Backupper.
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