AISBackup Restore Media.

A 64-bit restore environment was introduced with version 7 of AISBackup and the restore media is now made on a USB flash drive. Legacy systems that are 32-bit are still supported with a 32-bit CD, although the menu options only mention USB.

AISBackup makes the bootable restore USB flash drive using a pre-compiled boot image that is downloaded and updated using the Tools / Create AISBackup Restore USB Flash Drive menu option.

The pre-compiled boot image is in a separate download as it is unlikely that this large file will changed when new features are added to AISBackup.

Features and constraints.

Many new PC's have the ability to reset back to factory default; an AISBackup Restore CD and backup is equivalent to the factory reset but will restore your PC back to the same date as when the backup was made rather than possibly several years ago.
The AISBackup Restore media enables restore to new disk drive partitions and will also create and format the disk partitions for you.
The AISBackup Restore media may be used to restore complex PC system's containing multi-boot partitions, data partitions etc in one go.
The restore media may also be based on your installed Windows Recovery Environment, this may be useful if you cannot find and install any drivers required to access the disks on your PC. This was the case with a Dell laptop here, however the disk drivers were found using a search engine. Basically search for disk drivers for the WinPE environment for the brand name of your PC.
Some laptops no longer come with wired Ethernet connections, and the installed wireless will probably not work from AISBackup or Microsoft's recovery environment. The purchase of a USB Ethernet device may be required if your backup is on your network. Many brands re generic and will work with AISBackup, they also come with additional USB ports and possibly HDMI ports which may be useful.

Making the boot Flash Drive using the AISBackup pre-compiled boot image.

To make the bootable CD or USB flash drive choose the menu option Tools / Create AISBackup Restore Flash Drive.

Download the instructions here.

Using the AISBackup Restore Media

The AISBackup Restore media may be used to boot and restore a PC with Windows, the source of the backup can be CD, DVD, Local Drive, External Drive, FTP or STFP Server or a Network Drive. Please test that the Restore CD is compatible with your PC and that you can access the hard drives and network cards (if a network or FTP restore is required). You should be able to install compatible drivers from your hardware manufacturer to enable access to disk drives and network interfaces.

Boot your PC from the AISBackup restore media - Please note you may need to change the boot order on your PC to boot from the USB drive.
AISBackup asked you to confirm the keyboard layout (language), including with the Windows Recovery Environment version.
AISBackup will start automatically, if you close down AISBackup you may restart it by typing AISBackup into the command prompt window and pressing Enter.
Along with AISBackup a command prompt window is displayed, if this window is closed the PC will re-boot. The command prompt window may be used for entering commands, e.g. DiskPart for manual disk partitioning; Net Use * \\Server\Sharename to manually map disk drives; IPConfig to check the network connection; ChkDsk to check hard drives for errors etc.
When making the AISBackup recovery media you will be asked to include any BitLocker keys, this will enable AISBackup to unlock any locked drives, without you having to type in the key.
When AISBackup starts it displays a wizard style dialogue from which you make a selection and then click Next, to close the wizard and work directly with the AISBackup menu options click Cancel. The options are:
- You may elect the backup from a list of backups that were on the PC when you made the backup media.
- Restore From Backup: Choose this option to restore from a backup.
- Disk Maintenance: This option enables you to create disk partitions on new hard disk drives; format existing drives etc.
- Create and run a backup job: If the AISBackup Restore media was made with a registered copy of AISBackup the normal and quick backup options are shown. Using these options you may backup a 'dead' PC prior to running the restore; this option may be useful to preserve documents created since the backup you are about to restore.
- File Viewer: This option shows the disks and files in an explorer style window. Right click options are available for copying and renaming files etc.
- Edit Boot Menu: This option may be used to view and correct errors in the Windows boot menu.
From the options form choose the option Restore From a Backup then click Next. If you closed the wizard then choose the menu option Tools / Open Job From Backup Media instead.
Choose the source of the backup from either:
- Restore from a local drive, CD, DVD, External drive etc: Use this option for all backup media that is not on a network.
- Restore from a networked drive: Select this option if the backup media is on a network drive.
  
  You will be asked to map the network drive that contains the backup media. Please note that the Username and Password are mandatory.
- Restore from a FTP or SFTP Server: Select this option if the backup is on a FTP server.
  
  You will be asked to locate the backup on the FTP Server.
- Restore from backup job <name>: This option is displayed if you have already opened a backup job for restore.

OneDrive

It is highly recommended that you do not restore OneDrive, this folder is managed by Microsoft and not AISBackup. When you login, Windows will display a message that your OneDrive is not in the expected location. Click Retry to re-establish the link to OneDrive. Alternatively, if this restore is for testing purposes then click Choose New Location and then don't choose one. When you are ready to use OneDrive log into your Microsoft account and follow the instructions. Basically, this works the same was as if you had purchased a new PC.

Multiple Drive Recovery

It is okay to restore multiple drives to different drive letters as the drive letter is actually held within Windows and can be corrected using AISBackup’s option Tools / Windows Drive Assignments option. The Windows Drive Assignments option may be used to review and correct drive letters for all installed copies of Windows.

If multiple drives are restored to a new disk, or a disk that has been reset using the DiskPart clean option then there is a chance that the original drive letters will need correcting.

The disk drive containing Windows will be set-up with the correct logical drive letter, which is normally but not necessarily C:\.

Checking the Boot Menu

AISBackup automatically checks and corrects the boot menu, however it is worth checking that this was done correctly by using the Tools / Edit Windows Boot Menu option.

Windows on Dynamic Drive Volumes

If you are restoring Windows to the original Dynamic Volume then there is no problem, and it is also okay to re-format the volume prior to restore. However if you are restoring Windows to a new dynamic volume then there is a high probability that Windows will not boot. To work around this problem restore Windows to a Basic Drive Partition and then convert that to a Dynamic Drive using Disk Manager when you boot the restored Windows.