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Expanding a System Image

When you create a system image to back up your computer, you have the option to write the image to a set of writable Blu-ray discs (BD-R, BD-RE), or to a set of DVD discs (DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW), or to a FAT-32 formatted external USB drive or SD card.

The compressed image cannot be viewed directly.

You can use U-Recover to expand the compressed image to a temporary .VHD file so you can view or recover the files contained within it. (Only U-Recover has this unique capability.)

How to Expand a Compressed Backup Image

To expand a compressed image, use the following procedure.

1. Click or tap on the tab Expand (top).
2. Insert the USB device, the SD card, the first BD disc, or the first DVD disc.
3. Click or tap on the button Expand Backup Image.
4. Select the drive letter for storage device.
5. Select the local disk volume to receive the expanded backup image (for example, C:). The disk volume must have enough empty space to hold the data from the expanded image.
6. Click or tap on the button Expand. U-Recover will expand the disc to the folder \WindowsBackup on the selected hard disk.
7. When the expansion is complete, U-Recover will offer to mount the expanded image as a disk letter. Proceed to mount the system image as a disk letter. Select the disk volume that contains the image (C:).
8. When you are finished viewing or recovering files from the expanded image, click or tap on the tab Dismount and dismount the drive letter.

How to Delete the Expanded Backup Image

To delete the expanded image use the following procedure.

1. Click or tap on the tab Mount (top).
2. Select the hard disk that contains the expanded image (for example, C:).
3. Click or tap Next.
4. Click or tap on the description of the expanded backup image so it is highlighted. Make sure that no other choices are highlighted.
5. Click or tap on the button Delete. You will be asked for confirmation. Click or tap on Yes.

This will delete the expanded backup image from C:.