EMERGENCY:Restoring backup:HELP.

First i apologise if this has been asked somewhere else..i did search this forum and found nothing partaining to this. If its somewhere on this forum please give me the link or title...
To make a long story short, i've been forced to recover my HP pc back to factory settings. during the process i was prompted to make a back-up which i did. Now i cant restore the 4.2gigs(.fbw) backup even thought it sits right there on my pc. the files are ''backup.001 and backup.002.fbw''.
This is what i've done so far.

1-run the backup.001 application-it created some files on c-drive which are word files, dont know what to do with it.

2-burn the backup files onto DVD and try to run using windows restore? windows cant find any backupfiles on on dvd. but its there.

3.I did some reseach online and it was suggested to add one more 0 to the double 0's if the backup file is 010, 011,012 etc. did not help in case since mine is 001 and 002 only.(less than 010)

4- from what am finding online, it appears the problem is coming from HP. i beleive someone will have a solution.

PLEASE HELP. mine final exams depends on it, plus all my picture and stuff..
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE...

 

You will be much better off asking this in the HP section here.

Gary

 

ok will that too.
thanks

 

Someone please HELP

 

Did you get any recovery CDs with your PC?

 

i made burned the recovery CD from the computer when i bought it. That's how Hp makes it.

 

Can't you use the burned CDs to restore the system then? Surely booting from the CDs (or DVDs) should cause the system to enter recovery or reinstallation mode?

 

No. You dont understand. I have the recovery CD, have recoverd the computer to factory settings and the computer is OK just like it was when i bought it.. the problem now is to run the backup program and get my files and programs back. The computer backed up my files before recovering to factory settings and though i can see the backup files(4.3gigs) windows and Hp's recovery programs claims it doesn't exist. What should i do??

 

This thread REALLY belongs in an HP forum.

Gary

 

It is n the HP forum or was it moved already?

 

Sorry Guys. I posted here first, then ScuderiaConchiglia suggested that i should post at the Hp forum. So i made another post there too.

 

I found the solution! If you read the small print on the recovery disk instructions, you are supposed to back up your data on a CD or DVD. I didn't read this and backed mine up on an external hard drive. Bad move. I wasn't able to restore my files.

Now I have the fix. After you use the "backup" option when you run recovery, your backup files are stored in a folder called MINWINPC. They will be labeled "Backup.00i.exe, Backup.002.fbw, Backup.003.fbw, etc.

First, copy EACH of the files onto its own DVD. (don't try to fit 2 onto a DL dvd--it won't work--I tried that). Copying these huge backup files (~3.5GB each) is very time-consuming, but it's the only way to get your files restored. So now you have one disk for each of the files in your backup folder (I had nine disks-my files ranged from backup.001.fbw to .009)

Next, reboot your computer in Safe Mode (continually click on the f8 key until the menu appears so you can make that selection as your computer is rebooting). Once Windows has started in Safe Mode, put in the DVD containing the first file--the one called backup.001.exe. Open "my computer" and double click on the file to start it. This opens the Recovery program and the recovery manager panel appears. First, your DVD is ejected. You're then asked to put in your last disk. (mine was backup.009.fbw. Yours may be different.) The "NEXT" button on the recovery manager panel will activate. Click it, and you're on your way! The program will walk you through the rest of the process. You'll be prompted for each of your disks in ascending order.

I spent about 6 hours total with HP support, and no one was able to help me. I figured this out on my own, I hope it works for you! I contacted HP support to let them know, so hopefully they'll be able to help others with the same problem

 

Hey there thanks alot for this post, but i have a bit different problem with my backup. Basically my computer froze and I had to shut it down by force (5-sec power button) and then when i turned it on back, it turned out that i've made a bad sector on my hard drive and it was making noice. I was still able to load vista, but it took a long time. So what my friends told me to do is to back up the stuff and format the hard drive. My back up took 20 DVD disks yea lot's of music but now I can't recover them. this is what happens when you put in your 1 disk and run the back up, it starts, tells me to insert the last disk which is 20 in my case and then it says insert 1. Now when i insert the 1st one it never does anything. All the screen says is insert #1 disk. Is there a way to extract the .fbw files or what? or is it nessasery to run in safe mode? will be a great if somebody replyes! i need my files

 

never mind guys, i don't know why, but for some reason it began restoring it after like 10 minutes of the cd sitting in the rom, anyways thanks anyways

 

stupid vista....