Backup error: problem with the backup catalog (0x810000E3)

Hi mryonas,

This may happen if the backup and restore wizard does not recognize the backup file, try the below steps.

To restore a backup made on another computer

• Open Backup and Restore Center by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking Backup and Restore Center.
• Click Advanced restore.  If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
• Click Files from a backup made on a different computer, and then follow the steps.

Restore files from a backup
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Restore-files-from-a-backup

Back up and restore: frequently asked questions
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Back-up-and-restore-frequently-asked-questions

Hope this helps!

Halima S    - Microsoft Support.
Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

Hi,

I have a similar problem - and I note that 2 months after the last post there has been no answer!

I have lost a 1 Tb hard disk with all my family photos and video on it. However, I have backups of the 2 machines on which most of this had been sitting - up until I consolidated it onto the now failed hard drive. I have easily restored the files from the XP backup, but the rest was on a Vista machine. Unlike the XP restore - in which I could just tell it where the backup was (on another external hard drive), the Vista restore won't let me do this.

If I choose to try to restore the latest backup, I get an error message saying "The disk containing the backup is not accessible. Please make sure it is turned on and connected to the computer" (it is!)

and if I try an "advanced restore" and select "Files from a backup made on a different computer" it finds the drive, but comes up with a window in which the backups are listed but all marked "Backup location is not available".

If I ignore this and continue, it lets me add the files or folders I want to restore (it certainly gets the details from somewhere - and they are all there!), but then it fails to restore them with the message "Restore did not finish successfully. Error code: The backup file could not be found. Check your hardware configuration or restore from a different backup (0x8100001A)"

I've searched a variety of forums where there seem to be many problems in this area, and even more where systems backups have been made.... but NO solutions anywhere!

I can see the backup is in a compressed .zip format, and have even viewed some of the folders, but with 170Gb of backup, I've no idea which .zip folder contain the things I want. Also I read on one forum that big files such as videos are split across multiple folders.

Looking forward to some help on this one... it's pretty discouraging that given the mantra about backups, that when you come to need them, the tools "appear" so poor.