Can I move a Windows System Image Backup to another drive location ans still be able to use it to restore?

You can move your images anywhere you want but, to restore from them, the WindowsImageBackup folder needs to be moved to the root of a drive so you can move it to

J:\WindowsImageBackup

for example.  J: does not need to be the drive that the image was first made on. 

I found puzzling indications that Windows could cope with images being elsewhere as the image list during restoration would identify the correct date & time for the latest image on the drive concerned.  However, it would then only work with an image that I'd put back in X:\WindowsImageBackup as explained above.

I manage my images by using a subfolder of H:\ or J:\ or O:\ called ImagesWin7 that itself has subfolders 20120205 1126 etc.  I put any descriptive info I want in the relevant subfolder so I can see key info easily if I want to restore.  Then I create the image & move WindowsImageBackup into that folder so I end up with O:\ImagesWin7\20120205 1126\WindowsImageBackup and I also have a text file O:\ImagesWin7\20120205 1126\Explanation.txt that contains my notes about what I'd just been doing or was about to do on the system.

Does that resolve matters for you?  If not please let me know your remaining questions.

 

This IS a big help (since it is exactly what I was trying to accomplish).

The path statement for my system images includes a machine name

(i.e. J:\WindowsImageBackup\MachineName\Backup 2010-12-03 170453\)

I may have added the word "Backup" myself as a descriptor I can't recall.

I may also have added the "MachineName" subfolder/directory myself. Can't recall.

Will have to start from scratch and create another WindowsImage backup (without any editorial assistance) and see what the path statement for that image is. Then attempt to restore etc. and if that works then attempt again restore one of my older backups.

It may be I rendered the backup images unuseable (even if they are visible to the restore program) by modifying the path and//or folder names. Although it seems that you have also done that with your "imagesWin" directory. DO you have to move the backup image back to the root directory then to restore it?

The only reason for all of this is to be able to achive and (if necessary access and restore from) one of the early backup images when the machine was new and pristine before ay software installed etc. Easier to do a bare metal restore than to install Win7 from scratch, load drivers and configure etc.

As mentioned above, I now use ShadowProtect Desktop 4 for system image backups (including incremental images) and have found it to be superb (and images can be moved to any directoyr and the bootable recovery environment will restore to bare metal from any location, USB, DVD, even network etc.

Better documentation from Windows certainly would have been helpful,

Thanksfor your insights