I wanted to try out Vista on my laptop, just to see how it would run compared to XP. I used HP's Backup and Recovery Manager, bundled with my laptop, to make a full disk image backup of my hard drive, so I could revert to it if I wanted. I tried out Vista and decided to go back to XP, so I went into the Recovery Manager and restored my backup. It gets about 5% completed, then the system restarts and I can't boot to any OS (it leaves the computer in an unbootable state).

I called HP about this problem and the conversation went something like this: "Yes, we have had problems reported using that software and our engineers are working on it." "What about my data?" "Well, you can use the software to create an OS restore disk to reinstall the operating system." "But, what about my data?" "Unfortunately we have had problems with this software and our engineers are working on it." So, yeah, don't use that if given the chance.

Here's the fun part: this disk image they made is in some custom format. I'm wondering if it's a bitwise copy of the disk at all, and if it is, how I can restore it. The backup format looks something like this: In the folder I created is a file called OS.DAT and a folder called PRELOAD. Inside the PRELOAD folder are a small collection of files including a series of BASE_XX.INP files, each exactly 620 MB, numbering 1 to 57. Based on the sum of the file sizes, this isn't a bitwise copy or the image is compressed. I've attached the small files, plus a snippet of the larger ones.

What I'm looking for is some kind soul to point me at some software that can restore this disk image, or some kind soul who wants to reverse engineer it. I've also attached the first 4KB of the first BASE_XX.INP file (called BASE.INP.HEAD). The ZIP file contains all of the files in the backup with the exception of the BASE_XX.INP files (which have been replaced with the snippet BASE.INP.HEAD file) and the ALL.CRC file (which has been replaced with the snippet ALL.CRC.PART file). The ALL.CRC file seems to have an inventory of all the files on the disk along with some extra information, so for reference here is the file referenced in ALL.CRC.PART.

Any help in this matter is greatly appreciated.

Once again, the "What!??! You didn't back up your files?" argument pwns the lazy... I have to admit, I haven't burned my latest stuff to any DVDs for two months

[EDIT]
the puckered mouth smiley doesn't work without a preceding space

What are you talking about. I did back up my files. The HP Backup software didn't come with a sign that says Warning: this doesn't work.

I've made a little bit of headway: the files mention "SoftThinks", which is a company that produces "PC Angel", a recovery software suite. So, if you know of software to recover PC Angel images (such as the PC Angel software), help me out!

I meant store your files on a DVD that would only require an OS that could read DVD's, store the actual data as *.tar.gz if necessary. Use third party programs to untar/uncompress as necessary. In other words, to restore the files anywhere/anywhen!

What would you do if your hdd spindle took a crap?

I use a program called Allway Sync to keep my important files (school stuff and FL projects directory, all others are expendable) syncronised with a network directory (on my laptop) and USB memory stick. IIRC it can be configured to stash incremental backups somewhere, too.

Hmmm... Curious.

Has the partition information on the drive changed?

[PART0001]
Starting_Offset=32256
Used_Space=0
Files=0
Partition_Size=54399066624
Partition_Type=07
Primary=yes
Win_Type=NT
Mounted_Volume=yes
SystemID=
VolumeName=
FS_Type=NTFS
Windows_Version=5
Version=5.1.2600.5512
[General]
Disk_Size=60011642880
Chk=0
Recovery_Partition_Size=5612544000
Recovery_Partition_Start=54399098880
Date=2009/04/13 16:55:16

[edit] Arg... Damn long edits... I'll start over... Read whole thing before trying...

I think it might have to do with the data spanning different files... The large amount of data split into the smaller files might be causing it...

***** Backup the backups before trying this
If you have another computer to work with and enough disk space...

Combine BASE_XX.INP files 1 and 2 into BASE_01.INP and then 3 and 4 into BASE_02.INP etc, etc, until you have 29 BASE_XX.INP files with the last one just needing a name change... Then try the restore again... If that doesn't work start again combining files until you have 15 BASE_XX.INP files... Or just go down to 15...

Or better yet... Just combine 1-6 into one file, 7-12 etc... And then you'll have files that fit on single layer data DVDs

No.

I'm curious why you think this. The backup program in question created the files at that size, and when I select the restore, it automatically locates the backup set, presenting it as one list entry (it doesn't require me to locate the path or anything).

That is exactly why I chose not to use the "Recovery Solution" that came with my Samsung laptop.
Using a different partition on the same hdd is just not safe enough - the only safe place for your backup data is on something that can be physically detached from the live system - a DVD, a USB hard disk, a network share on another computer. Anything else is just too fragile - what if you decide to move some partitions and things go wrong? What if the entire HDD dies?

If it is, Linux should be able to mount the file^[1] as a partition and allow you to copy the data to a (non-damaged) file system. You could have a go at that with a live CD.

However, I doubt they simply stored a bit-wise copy of the disk. That sounds like an extremely wasteful way to backup data.

Here's why I'm so upset about this problem: I didn't do anything wrong. I used the backup software that HP provided me to perform a full system backup. I stored the backup on a removable hard drive. The drive functions properly. I used HP's provided software to restore the partition. HP's software crashes.

Yeah, I hopped over to a live CD and tried it. You can see what I saw though: file identifies the INP files as "assembler source". It really looks like the backup is a backup of the sectors of the disk that hold the file system table and the files themselves, which are then compressed. I lack the expertise needed to reverse engineer this format.

You allowed the fuzzy good-feeling marketing drivel of a profit driven corporation to override your extensive experience and good sense. Admit it! You knew better!

[EDIT]
Experience is directly proportional to the amount of equipment (and now data) ruined

You did do something wrong... You used HP software... I agree that you should be able to trust their software to work. I just know from experience that HP software usually does NOT work so I know better than to trust it... Unfortunately, now you do too.

There is a bright side: if they ever fix their software, you'll still have the backup to restore from.

File isn't necessarily going to recognise a raw partition dump as a partition dump, I think.

Do you know for a fact that they are compressed? Look at the beginning of the file for the byte signature of a partition.
Assuming you're correct, the only real problem should be decompressing the files (because you need to know what the compression algorithm is). If you have the decompressed images, Linux' mount command will be able to mount the file as a partition.
I'm not necessarily much help in figuring out how to decompress it (have you tried to find out if anyone has hacked HP's backup format?), but I'd try running it through zlib's decompression function. It's a long shot though.

Without reading much of this thread, I'd thought I would give a recommendation: I use Jungle disk for all my backup. It works through Amazon S3 which means it's fairly fast, quite cheap (http://aws.amazon.com/s3/#pricing) and very reliable.

Evert: the first few bytes of the file are something like "!XSSSSX!". Some sort of magic number they use, I suppose. Past that, I don't have a clue how I would identify where the data began, or anything like that.

It probably only stores information about used sectors... I don't think it would need the whole boot sector so that's probably only there in part if at all...

What was the total size of the partition and maybe an estimate of the bytes used?

I don't think that bodes well for the propspect of getting at the data easily.

Do you know how to use hexdump (in particular hexdump -C; any other tool for producing hexdumps works too)? It's a rather useful tool if you need to investigate a filetype and look for anything familiar.

Yeah, that's how I got those first few bytes. But I'm not familiar with any of that sort of data, so none of it looks familiar Like, I don't know how I could identify a zlib header, or a partition header or an NTFS header or anything like that.

The total size of the partition was something like 50 GB and change, and the estimated usage at the time of backup would probably be somewhere around 48GB.

These things happen all the time It's happened to me with Nero BackItUp and HP and Compaq... I like to test them first and they always seem to fail some how. Now I just bite the bullet and make an exact copy someplace like another hard disc or USB drive...

Does about 37,056,675,840 bytes or 34.5 GB sound about right for the amount of used space?

620*1024*1024*57 = 37,056,675,840

[edit] Was there a recovery partition on the drive as well?

On Linux, it's easy:

dd if=/dev/hda<whatever> | gzip >backup.gz

or even:

rsync src/ dest/
tar cjf backup.tar.bz2 dest/ 

be a lot faster than a full partition copy, and smaller. Especially if you keep the last "dest" arround after the last backup, it'll only need to copy files that have changed.

No, used space was around 48 GB; although I may have removed some games before hand which would have freed up between 12 and 13 GB, so the lower bound on the estimate might be 35 GB. That makes the compression ratio seem reasonable. I should point out that the last INP file is not 620 MB, it is only 133,958 KB, and also that there are 58 INP files (on is named only BASE.INP, it is also 620 MB). So adding all of the data together and assuming that I did delete those games beforehand does come out pretty accurately to the total size of the disk images.

I am capable of doing some basic extraction from the backup files, but I haven't because I didn't actually lose any data from the process (well, maybe a few hours worth, but nothing tangible): I lost all of the time invested in installing and configuring applications.

And thats why I waste hours and hours trying to fix windows rather than reinstall. Many times its quicker to waste all that time, than to reinstall and configure all your programs. But sometimes its not worth the hassle, so I reinstall anyhow.

All of this goes to show you that the only reliable backup of data is an exact uncompressed copy...

I have devloped the habit of changing the configuration only enough to be bearable, and leave the rest the default settings. This way I avoid a lot of overhead when re-installing, at the cost of having to work with, well, the defaults.
Another benefit is that my settings at home are almost identical to the ones of any machine I use at work.

I also let go of a full-image backup; when the system goes down, I re-install and restore my data (but not the system) from a backup (two machines that mirror each other plus an external backup drive).

I heavily customize my desktop, it gives me a valid excuse to keep using X. The other options don't even let you do what I do.

I do incremental backups of "important" stuff daily, and burn a full backup to DVDR every week (when the damn thing works).

This is exactly why I keep a spare hard drive around, so when I wanna play with a new os I just pop out the drive currently in my lappy and put in the spare.

I bought a new hard drive for my lappy last week, a nice 160 gigger to replace the 50 gigs in it now. I receive the drive, and open my lappy up to discover that my lappy uses 1.8" drives So yeah, I have to send back this lovely 2.5" 160 GB drive

What machine are you using that requires a 1.8" drive?

I only know of about three machines that use a 1.8":

Dell D480
Acer Aspire One (Linux Variants)
Macbook Air

Or get a case for it. Would make a pretty small portable drive

Yeah, I could use a case for it, and I believe that I have several floating around, but I wanted the space for the lappy itself, and anything else is a use of money I don't really want to spend

The machine is a Compaq nc2400.

You actually have several 2.5" drive cases just laying around?

You never know, I have 2 extra enclosures of my own just sitting on a shelf.

But 2.5" enclosures? Not 3.5"?

actually I've got a 5.25" IDE enclosures and a 2.5" IDE/SATA enclusure.

Yep, cause they don't need A/C power, so I have one with a broken drive in it and I think at my parent's house I have 3 more that I bought just empty.