I disconnected my Reflect external backup (drive G "Elements") then wiped the computer with Windows System Reset, which performed a clean Windows 10 install, but without user data. I then installed Reflect 7.2 and connected the backup external drive (USB cable), but I can't find a way to cause the backup drive to be connected to Reflect so I can selectively restore individual folders. I believe I had been running Reflect v 7.2 to back up my system images and files.
Note: I won't be restoring complete images as I want to restore only certain files, and to different drive letters than when these were backed up.

Go to the Restore tab, click the "Folders to search" link, and make sure the folder that contains the backup files you want to restore data from are in that list.  Once that's done, the backups should be listed underneath, although you'll need to select the Image or File & Folder subtabs to see the desired backup type.  You can restore selectively from either type of backup.  For an image file, you'd click "Browse Image" for the backup you want to restore from, then select the desired partition(s), and mount them.  At that point you can copy data from the mounted backup to your desired location(s) using whatever mechanism you like.  For a File & Folder backup, you should click Restore and follow the wizard, because mounted F&F backups don't handle files larger than 4GB properly even though the restore wizard does.

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jphughan - 11 December 2018 11:59 PM

Go to the Restore tab, click the "Folders to search" link, and make sure the folder that contains the backup files you want to restore data from are in that list.  Once that's done, the backups should be listed underneath, although you'll need to select the Image or File & Folder subtabs to see the desired backup type.  You can restore selectively from either type of backup.  For an image file, you'd click "Browse Image" for the backup you want to restore from, then select the desired partition(s), and mount them.  At that point you can copy data from the mounted backup to your desired location(s) using whatever mechanism you like.  For a File & Folder backup, you should click Restore and follow the wizard, because mounted F&F backups don't handle files larger than 4GB properly even though the restore wizard does.

Thanks for your reply; but I'd already found and followed these instructions in the User Guide. Somehow the "Folders to search" link fails to list any backup files; instead the list files window is blank, except for the message "There are no items to show".

Is there some way to force my new v 7.2 installation to connect to the active external backup drive? Windows shows some files I'd written there, but none of the existing backup generation files (which I'd confirmed do exist before running Windows system reset.

When I've tried opening "Browse for an image file" I entered Drive G (where the backups are stored) in the pop-up window for files having the *.mrimg extension, but none are present.

You don't have to have Reflect "connect" to your external hard drive.  Reflect just maintains the "Folders to search" list and lists any backups it finds in any of those locations.  It doesn't have a concept of maintaining a persistent connection to a backup destination, nor is there a concept of an "active" external hard drive, since you can have multiple external hard drives and Reflect will be happy to work with any or all of them.

When you say that Windows shows some files, but none of the existing "backup generation files", what does that mean?  Are you referring to your backup files (MRIMG/MRBAK) or your backup definition files (XML)?  If you browse to your external hard drive folder just in regular Windows Explorer, completely outside of Reflect, do you see your MRIMG/MRBAK files?  If not, then they're not there, in which case I'm not sure what might have happened to them, but if Windows doesn't see your files, then Reflect isn't going to see them either.

If you CAN see your backup files in Windows Explorer but you still can't see them in Reflect, please post a screenshot that shows a) a Windows Explorer window open to the folder that contains your backup files, b) your Folders to Search list, and c) Reflect's Restore tab view.

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mauryp - 12 December 2018 12:32 AM

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jphughan - 11 December 2018 11:59 PM

Go to the Restore tab, click the "Folders to search" link, and make sure the folder that contains the backup files you want to restore data from are in that list.  Once that's done, the backups should be listed underneath, although you'll need to select the Image or File & Folder subtabs to see the desired backup type.  You can restore selectively from either type of backup.  For an image file, you'd click "Browse Image" for the backup you want to restore from, then select the desired partition(s), and mount them.  At that point you can copy data from the mounted backup to your desired location(s) using whatever mechanism you like.  For a File & Folder backup, you should click Restore and follow the wizard, because mounted F&F backups don't handle files larger than 4GB properly even though the restore wizard does.

Thanks for your reply; but I'd already found and followed these instructions in the User Guide. Somehow the "Folders to search" link fails to list any backup files; instead the list files window is blank, except for the message "There are no items to show".

Is there some way to force my new v 7.2 installation to connect to the active external backup drive? Windows shows some files I'd written there, but none of the existing backup generation files (which I'd confirmed do exist before running Windows system reset.

When I've tried opening "Browse for an image file" I entered Drive G (where the backups are stored) in the pop-up window for files having the *.mrimg extension, but none are present.

 "If not, then they're not there, in which case I'm not sure what might have happened to them, but if Windows doesn't see your files, then Reflect isn't going to see them either." Thanks for the clarification. As it happens there was a backup subfolder placed under one of the ordinary folders by accident this past April, which I happened to discover and open successfully yesterday. So indeed the more recent backups are lost.

I'll be a believer in verifying backups going forward!