Windows 10: Use Recovery Image or User Data Corrupted backup of Windows 10

Upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7 . System started with error messages but a restart usually resolved.
Performed backup using the Windows 7 backup , system image and user data
System running extremely slow again, could not resolve it. Took 30 minutes to boot.
Repair shop found hard disk was failed, replaced it and did a clean install of Windows .


I am ready to do a restore of either the system image or user data from my backup. The backup is on an external USB drive, created using the backup and recovery program from Windows 7 available in Windows 10. There is a very strong possibility that my only backup has errors on it because the hard drive was failing when the backup was done. So, I am looking for the easiest way to repair any Windows files that are corrupted while keeping the user accounts and data in place should I use system image restore? Had many non Windows programs installed like Nero 2013, Mozilla Thunderbird email etc.


I know a reset with keep user apps will fix the corrupted Windows files but I would have to reinstall all non Microsoft programs and data. That is a lot of work...
What is the sequence to restore back the user data ? Do I create the user accounts first and then reinstall the non Windows programs and finally restore the user data??.??
If I restore the system image the only thing I have to correct is any possibly corrupted Windows files? I would not have to reinstall non Windows 10 programs and data.


Do I have to download Windows 10 as an iOS file , place it on a USB or on my desktop so if there are corrupted Windows 10 files. Do I have all the media already available??


Or, should I create the user accounts, then download and install all previously installed non Windows programs like Nero 2013 or Windows live mail and then restore the user data ? A lot of work indeed


In summary, I have a clean install of Windows 10 , a system image and user data from a backup taken while I had a failing hard drive. What is the best thing to do to restore my user data and what order do I do things in and what media do I need to have before I start i.e. An iOS copy of Windows 10 on my desktop or on a USB drive?
I would appreciate your help

:)

 

Recover with corrupted backup to Windows 10 hard drive failure

Upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7 . System started with error messages but a restart usually resolved.

Performed backup using the Windows 7 backup , system image and user data

System running extremely slow again, could not resolve it. Took 30 minutes to boot.

Repair shop found hard disk was failed, replaced it and did a clean install of Windows .

I am ready to do a restore of either the system image or user data from my backup. There is a very strong possibility that my only backup has errors on it because the hard drive was failing when the backup was done. So, I am looking for the easiest way
to repair any Windows files that are corrupted while keeping the user accounts and data in place should I use system image restore? Had many non Windows programs installed like Nero 2013, Mozilla Thunderbird email etc.

I know a reset with keep user apps will fix the corrupted Windows files but I would have to reinstall all non Microsoft programs and data. That is a lot of work...

What is the sequence to restore back the user data ? Do I create the user accounts first and then reinstall the non Windows programs and finally restore the user data??.??

If I restore the system image the only thing I have to correct is any possibly corrupted Windows files? I would not have to reinstall non Windows 10 programs and data.

Do I have to download Windows 10 as an iOS file , place it on a USB or on my desktop so if there are corrupted Windows 10 files. Do I have all the media already available??

Or, should I create the user accounts, then download and install all previously installed non Windows programs like Nero 2013 or Windows live mail and then restore the user data ? A lot of work indeed

In summary, I have a clean install of Windows 10 , a system image and user data from a backup taken while I had a failing hard drive. What is the best thing to do to restore my user data and what order do I do things in and what media do I need to have
before I start i.e. An iOS copy of Windows 10 on my desktop or on a USB drive?

I would appreciate your help

 

Is My Understanding of Windows Bare Metal System / Images Backups vs. File Backups ... and Restores Correct?

So my understanding of it is like this, there are two types of backups, and they are Image Backups and Data / User File backups...

• Image Backups (System Backups / System State /Disaster Recovery Backups)
  • The Creation Process
    • Can be created with wbadim system state backup
      
    • Then if the Data / User File Backups are included in it, they can be removed by mounting the Image Backup, and removing the Data / User Files from it to save on space (see
      this)
  • What it Includes / Excludes
    • Excludes the Data / User File Back
    • Includes installed programs and OS system files.
    • On Windows, you'll probably also want to remove any temp files from the image such as:
      • pagefile.sys
      • hiberfil.sys
      • swapfile.sys
  • When?
    • It's best to make this after you have the machine setup the way that you want with the programs already installed on it, and after updates are installed, you'll want to back it up again...this isn't always possible, but it's likely the best time to do this.
• Data / User File Backups (User File Backups)
  • The Creation Process
    • Usually a full backup is created and then incrementals or differentials after that (and of course use a strategy like GFS)
  • When?
    • Run more frequently than image backups, these backups are scheduled and run when few people are using the system...
  • What it Includes / Excludes
    • Only includes the data /user files, and it does not include any of the system files and program files like the Image Backup.

Then when you need to do disaster recovery, you restore the Image Backup first, and then when it's been recovered you add back in the
Data / User File Backups to the system.

I know that the Data / User File Backups (User File Backups)
can be removed from the xvhd file back created in the system state backup to decrease it's size by mounting it and deleting said files. But I'd like to know if I first restore the
Image Backups (System Backups / System State /Disaster Recovery Backups), and then restore my Data / User File Backups will I still be able to use the machine as it was when I did the backups?

Is my understanding of this correct? Is there anything I missed?

Thank you,

Andrew J. Leer

 

I am responding to this post asking users to please review my post and offer suggestions. I need to het this machine up and running yesterday and I can only turn to fellow users, like you or help.

 

Did an sfc and dism commands to find and repair Windows 10 files