Win7 Pro- System Restore does not work 2

[raygg]

thread1726-1678773
On my Lenovo T430U laptop with 4gb ram and win7Pro - system restore is deactivated and I cannot go back to my last restore point of 4-5 weeks ago. No clue how this happened. I maintain an active Webroot license and have not experienced any virus issues. I bought this as a refurb laptop 7 months ago and have an active warranty w Lenovo and the Lenovo recovery Q:\ drive is still there.

 

[raygg]

FYI - this is a 64bit install of win7 pro

 

[rclarke250]

Is there a question here? You say system restore is deactivated, and you can't go back to a restore point 4-5 weeks ago, but fail to say why, is there an error if you try? Why are you trying to go back to a restore point in the first place? have you tried running the lenovo toolbox and the get to green application? have you run any diagnostics on the hardware? the Q: drive has nothing to do with system restore, do you have a backup? Or more simply, what's wrong, and what are you trying to do?

 

[raygg]

Is there a question here?

​

How do I reactivate System Restore?

you can't go back to a restore point 4-5 weeks ago, but fail to say why, is there an error if you try?
THe "why" of why I cannot go back to a prior restore point is the OS gives me the message that Restore Point is deactivated - it will not allow me to reactivate Restore Point. THAT is the problem. I have used Restore point on XP, Vista and WIn7 and never saw this problem before.

Why are you trying to go back to a restore point in the first place?
HM-m-m-m. An important function - System Restore - has for no reason been deactivated. I am concerned - it has to be fixed. It is my laptop. I want it to perform properly. Past experience is that judicious use of regular restore points often save a lot of time to overcome annoying response issues with the OS often caused by unwanted adware and malware, which I would not be surprised is the case this time too.

have you tried running the lenovo toolbox and the get to green application? have you run any diagnostics on the hardware? System scan runs monthly on the 9th. Hardware scan results from lenovo Solution Center (LSC) (where there is a picture of a toolbox)states "No problems were detected in the last scan". THe LSC for Devices says "no defective or disabled devices were found". I do not know what you mean by the 'get to green' application. Explanation?

do you have a backup? Yes - several restore points over the last few months - also many critical files were copied to another device at vaious times. I also have the Full set of system recovery disks from Lenovo.

what's wrong, and what are you trying to do?
what can you tell me about reactivating the System Restore? Any assistance will be appreciated.

BTW I have been posting here for about 3 years longer than you have and we have a similar number of posts - that is to say we are both familiar with the etiquette of this website - so I am intrigued at your opening line "Is there a question here?" Since I clearly stated the problem - System Restore deactivated - Was that meant to be a statement of wonder or of sarcasm?

 

[cdogg]

Do any of these help?

1. Enabling/Disabling System Restore in Windows 7
[tab]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/turn-system-restore-on-off#1TC=windows-7

2. How to enable System Restore in Windows 7 (screenshots)
[tab]

http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/windows-7-enable-system-restore/

If you can't enable System Restore, please post the exact error messsage word for word that you are seeing.



-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

[tab][navy]For this site's posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[rclarke250]

Not trying to be a smart a$$, there is never a question mark. I asked questions, because we need more information to find out what you have tried, what errors are you seeing. Restore points are NOT backups. System recovery disks, or partition is NOT a backup. Restore points only backup system critical files for the OS. When I say backup, I mean something like a system image stored on another machine or external drive, with something like ghost or true image done every week, or month.

As for Lenovo Thinkvantage Toolbox, looks like it was discontinued and replaced with the solution center. In the old software, there was a system check and if an indicator was at yellow or red, it would search the web for an update or inform you of what steps to take to "get the system to green".

 

[goombawaho]

rclarke250 is correct. There was NO question posed in your opening salvo, just statements. Not sure why you got sore at him.

With system restore deactivated, of course you wouldn't be able to go back unless you had another form of backup. Image backup preferred.

Webroot license status doesn't seem to play into this issue at all

Doubt the PC would have shipped with system restore turned off, unless it was returned by a customer and not re-imaged to factory state before you got it.

Lenovo restore partition is pretty limiting. It will put you back to original factory settings but not all that helpful since you have to reinstall programs and put data back.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[raygg]

I followed the first link from cdogg and - so I went to start > Configuration > Properties > System Protection > Protection Settings > Configuration and found there were 4 options in the Protection Settings window
SYSTEM_DRV
Windows7_OS C:System
LenovoRecoveryQ:
Windows7_OS (C) (missing)
All of these were set to the OFF position. I tried to reset these to ON but none would reset. I backed out a and came back in a couple of times and then I was able to reset these to on. At this point the last setting "Windows7_OS (C) (missing)" had disappeared and only 3 settings were left. In the midst of my backing out and in and futzing around I actually saw a reference to a restore point from Oct 1 2014 but I could not reference it or use it to restore. After the reset I was able to establish a restore point but there was a message that there were no existing restore points. This is not true as I had set restore points at least two times with this computer since I got it.

The error messages that I got with the respect to the restore point being inactivated read something like this:

There was an unexpected error in the Property Page - the filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect (0x8007007B). Please close the Property Page and try again.


Bottom line it appears that I have established at least one restore point but what really bothers me is how all these settings were turned off. I have no idea how this happened and I hope it does not happen again.

 

[goombawaho]

You should check it periodically until you feel better about it.
Some malware turns S.R. off, but you didn't mention having had anything, so still a mystery.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[cdogg]

In addition, I would suggest implementing a solid backup solution - a point rclarke250 touched on above. Relying solely on System Restore is not the best solution for a number of reasons. It doesn't hurt to leave it turned on, because there's always a chance it's going to resolve your issue. But when it doesn't, having access to a reliable "full" backup is a smart solution to have in place. It may save you a time or two down the road.



-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

[tab][navy]For this site's posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[rclarke250]

I harp about backups so much because there is nothing like going on vacation and leaving your nas running and it taking a lightning strike, And your wife asking you, can you recover all of her mp3's from the dead unit. I now run a raid 1 nas system, redundant backups across several machines,and cloud backups of critical data. Like anything my wife says, " I better not loose this" data. I got back about 95% of it, but I never want to go through that again, wife's can be mean.

 

[goombawaho]

Just had a customer get CryptoLocker v3.0 with NO free decrypting service available and then the PC started to encrypt files on their server. Lucky I had implemented online backup with versioning, so the files will be back very soon. Otherwise, it would be gun-to-head moment.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[raygg]

I bought a terabyte size external hard drive with the Buffalo brand name. I was using it for backup using its proprietary software and then one day for no reason I could no longer read/write the disk - and it gave me error msgs from the proprietary software - I was never able to get anything off that disk. Presently I am considering buying a multi drive enclosure and fill it with identical hard-drives - probably either a 4 disk or 6 disk unit.

when your HD crashes and you replace the HD in the laptop with a different new HD, what happens with the backup? What I mean is does the restore software have a problem with putting the backed up files onto a new drive with possibly a different operating system? Does one backup software handle this differently than another? Does the software allow picking and choosing files amd applications you want to restore? Will entire apps be restored or do you have to restore the app software from the original disks and then just use the resotre software to get the data back on?

But having had the experience with the single drive Buffalo external HD, I do not trust an external HD with its own proprietary software. So I wonder how the Lenovo backup/restore software compares to Microsoft backup restore or is there some other I should consider? I have a licensed Nero 10 suite and I know that has a backup restore piece. Has anyone compared that to the Lenovo or MS Backup?restore software?

Comments?

 

[ChrisHirst]

I bought a terabyte size external hard drive with the Buffalo brand name. I was using it for backup using its proprietary software and then one day for no reason I could no longer read/write the disk

I've gone through three of them, all have failed for one reason or another in less than two years.

You might be able to recover the data from the drive (Western Digital Caviar Green) by forgetting about any warranty, breaking the case open, extracting the drive and plugging it in to a machine.



Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Time flies like an arrow, however, fruit flies like a banana.
Webmaster Forum

 

[goombawaho]

when your HD crashes and you replace the HD in the laptop with a different new HD, what happens with the backup?

Depends on the type of backup you have - data backup vs. image backup. You can either do that manually OR if you are using an image backup software (Acronis, Macrium, etc.) it can put the entire PC back (OS, apps, data) to the last full image backup.

What I mean is does the restore software have a problem with putting the backed up files onto a new drive with possibly a different operating system?

Data backup only - no problem with a different OS. Image restore - you have no option, you get what you had, exactly.

Does one backup software handle this differently than another?

Yes, they all handle things differently in terms of of HOW TO RESTORE but it boils down to data only backups vs. image backups in all of them.

Does the software allow picking and choosing files amd applications you want to restore?

A data backup won't give you any apps back or an operating system. You will need to install the OS and then all the apps you want from disk and then put your files back. An image backup gives you EVERYTHING and no choice of choosing which apps or data to restore. You get them all.

Will entire apps be restored or do you have to restore the app software from the original disks and then just use the resotre software to get the data back on?

An app is separate from its data, so either you are installing OS, installing the app from disk and then restoring the data OR you're getting the whole wad via an image restore.

I should have included that some programs let you browse a mounted image backup and pull individual files/folders out of it, so it's not quite as absolute - image backup vs. data backup.

Do some reading:
Macrium - Link
Acronis - Link

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[rclarke250]

I will say that ghost and trueimage and easeus todo backup all work great. I have used all of them, If I had to pick at this time, I would recommend trueimage because it has the ability to restore to a machine with different hardware, and you just add the drivers. They all can use network drives, or NAS box. You will have to make a boot media, either a cd,dvd,or thumb drive to boot from to do the restore, then it will restore the machine back to the day the image was created, boot it up and everything is as it was the day the image was created, just did this to a machine I wanted to raid 0 ssd drives as C: drive, going from a single ssd on a marvell controller to an intel controller and raid 0. Worked like a champ. Microsoft restore works ok, I used it, but never had to restore from it, but a friend did, and it worked for him. Never used the Lenovo backup program.