For my nightly backups, I created a custom image, primarily my data files. I backed up from a Windows 7 64-bit computer. I put these backups on an external USB hard drive -- Western Digital My Book 4 Tb.

I want to restore to a second WD My Book 4 Tb drive that I bought today. This would be so much quicker than browsing the image and then trying to copy the folders over one at a time. 

I thought this would be simple, but when I tried to restore my image I got the error message
"Incompatible disk selected. The target disk has an incompatible sector size for this operation. Please choose a different disk"
In reading the help link, I see that the original C: drive was 512 bytes/sector, and the external drives are 4096 bytes/sector

Both external drives are formatted to NTFS, as was the original drive from which the image was made. 

Had I any inkling that restoring the image would be an issue, I would have done file and folder backup or just clone the original C: drive. But, now I am stuck. The original C: drive from which I made the images died. 

I don't want to restore the image to the new hard drive, because I want to pick and choose what goes on the new computer, with the rest archived on one of the external hard drives. I've been working on the new computer. The new computer is still Windows 7.  In addition, from years of backups and copying over, I'm sure I have many, many duplicate files and would like to get them cleaned up on the external drives once and for all. But, I need to have all of the folders and files available before I can attack that problem. 

I can see the folders and files with the "browse image" feature. The problem is that it takes hours to copy one folder at a time -- I feel like I will be here for weeks doing it that way. 

In summary,
I want to restore my data files from my old computer (saved as image) on an external hard drive
Then I will synch my current data folders with the backup data folders and eliminate duplicates
Then I want to choose which data files will go on my new, working computer and which I will archive on an external drive (photos, videos, etc) 

Do I have any other options beside copying one folder at a time? Is there a workaround for the 512/4096 issue? 

Many thanks in advance.

Hello,

Thanks for posting.

Unfortunately, the source disk is a 4k drive, windows 7 does not offer 4k drive support so there is no way around this. This means you will not be able to restore the image you have.

The article below will give you more information.
http://knowledgebase.macrium.com/display/KNOW/Incompatible+Disk+Selected 

The only thing i could suggest is getting hold of a drive enclosure that emulates a 512 sector size but I cannot recommend anything because manufactures do not really disclose any information on which enclosures have a 512 sector size.

Kind Regards,
Macrium Support.

...or beg/steal/borrow/buy a 512 or 512E external device and restore to that for purposes of "reorganization," return drive when finished.  If you can find a bare drive, either THIS USB3 KIT or THIS USB2 KIT or THIS USB2 KIT will allow you to connect it without needing external enclosures to do the connection.  If you go this route, insure that the adapter you buy has its own separate power source (adapter)... it will need that for the larger 3.5" HDD connections.

I use the USB3 Kit all the time...

Since this is an image of a single partition, why don't you just MOUNT the image, go the ROOT of the image, SELECT ALL and copy ALL the files/folders there to the connected external drive.  It may not be the speediest but it should do the whole copy for you.

It sounds like all you need are your DATA structures on that C:\ partition, not any of the OS, etc.

One other minor suggestion, since you mention that you may "synch my current data folders with the backup data folders", would be to acquire one of the many available folder synchronisation utilities.  They're quite handy for many purposes and some are very quick.  The ones that I use myself aren't free, but there are plenty of "freebies" available.

Selective file and folder restoration from backup images is one area where Macrium lags behind the competition IMO.

Regards, Richard V. ("Arvy")