WD Anywhere Backup can't find older files in my backup

I updated to Windows 7 and cannot now access the files I backed up in Windows Vista.  I can see them on the drive but the software will not see them…  PLEASE HELP!

Have you tried contacting WD’s Technical Support? I would consider giving them a call about this.

To Contact WD for Technical Support
http://support.wdc.com/contact/index.asp?lang=en

I have a very similar problem with my WD MyBook World Edition (Blue Rings) WD10000G032. The answers I got (and questions) were not particularly helpful.  I’d been unable to access the backups in Windows XP before I upgraded, and have to say I hate EMC Retrospect, and Mionet.

Dear Jim,

Thank you for your reply.

I apologize for the inconvenience that you are experiencing, unfortunately this drive is not compatible or supported under Windows 7, this may be the reason why you are not able to access the drive or the data backed up in it. please see my answer to your questions below:

  1. Can I recover my old backups?
  • This may not be possible due to the compatibility problem of this drive with this new operating system, I recommend you to try it on a Windows XP machine to see if you are able to access the drive and recover the data in it.
  1. If not, how do I reset the WD World Book (Blue rings) to its original factory settings so that I can use the full 1TB?
  • Unfortunately this drive cannot be formatted due to its type but, I recommend you just to manually delete everything on it.

Sincerely,
XXXXXXXXXX
Western Digital Service and Support

Hi SnowElf. Since you have made a major change to your operating system, you should create a new backup and not try to reactivate your old one.

If you are needing to restore your data, then you can browse to the backup location and manually copy and paste your data back to your computer. If you are needing to restore your data, that means you may have formatted your computer when you upgraded your OS, and since you have reinstalled Windows and using a different operating system, you probably will not be able to do an automated restore as your Windows paths may now be different. If you try to do an automated restore, you will probably not see most of your data where you would expect to see them.

After you have manually restored your data, you can download the latest version of WD Anywhere Backup from the restricted downloads section of the Western Digital registration page and create a new backup plan.

Link: How can I move or copy files from one hard drive to another in Windows?

Western Digital Product Registration : https://websupport.wdc.com/registration/

Hi Fellwalker. I’m sorry to say that EMC Retrospect Express HD 2.0 is not Windows 7 compatible. I recommend connecting the drive to a Windows 2000, XP, or Vista computer and restore all of your data into a folder on the root of a drive/share. Then, when you access the drive on your Windows 7 computer, you can simply copy and paste your data back to your computer as all of the data will be decompressed. You can use the link below for instructions on rebuilding your Retrospect HD catalog file.

Link: How do I rebuild the catalog file in Retrospect Express HD 2.0?

Link: How can I move or copy files from one hard drive to another in Windows?

Link: Can I use a WD My Book World (blue rings) hard drive without using MioNet?

Sorry snow elf for seeming to hijack your thread - I started by commenting that WD Support would tell you that W7was not compatible.

I am back using windows xp for the day.  This is where Retrospect firsst failed me, about 3 months before I added W7. In your reply you suggest:

I recommend connecting the drive to a Windows 2000, XP, or Vista computer and restore all of your data into a folder on the root of a drive/share.

But I cannot restore anything. That was where the whole thing went wrong, while in XP, Retrospect refused me access to any of my backups. Initially it used to show zero backups, and I was able to recover the backups by running setup again. THen it would mircaulously jump from zero to (I think we reached 83 backups).  One day, that stopped working, and I could not in any way get at my backups.

Along the way, I would sometimes get a message telling me that no backups had been done for 7 days, and that led to me finding that it had again forgotten the previous backups. OK so that does not work.

The first suggested link which is to rebuild catalogs says  as point 3:

Use My Computer or Windows Explorer to browse to the location where a backup was stored. This will normally be on the destination drive at the time of the backup. Open the /Retrospect Restore Points/ folder.

There is no /Retrosepct Restore Points/ folder on the Mybookworld drive in MSHome.  So I am stuck.

There are three folders with IDnnnnnnnn, and a folder called PUBLIC htat I set up later, in an attempt to find a way to use the **bleep** thing in some way.

Retrospect seems such archaic software.  DOing anything seems to take an age. Clicking setup takes a minute or more to react. Choosing folders to backup is quick enough, Choosing a location for the backup seems to take forever.  The “Select the disk to store your backup”  shows locations that no longer exist, but does not show the current IP address for the MyBookWorld. If I untick the placae it is trying to use, that takes 5 minutes to react. It takes 5 minutes to be able to click the underlined message to add a network attached drive. Then it does not give me a browse window like i expect, but askes me for the UNC path…  When I type in the IP address \192.168.1.68\ it says the connection to the network disk could not be established. I’ve added PUBLIC at teh end, and it now wants my restore point file! Doh!

One thing about the My Book World Blue Rings, after you associate the drive with the WD Anywhere Access client powered by MioNet, it will make something like a K: or L: drive in My Computer. In that K: or L: share you will see a Public folder. Retrospect likes putting your backup next to the Public folder opposed to inside of it. Therefore, if you try accessing the drive without using MioNet, you will not see your Retrospect data.

I recommend reinstalling WD Anywhere Access, you will then get a drive letter in My Computer, you should then see the Retrospect Restore Points folder in the K: or L: drive next to the Public share, and you can rebuild your catalog and recover your data. You can redownload WD Anywhere Access from the Western Digital registration page.

Western Digital Product Registration : https://websupport.wdc.com/registration/index.asp?wdc_lang=en

I will give it a go, but I had found Mionet to be even worse than RETROSPECT.  And I got very annoyed when I found that my access over internet from anywhere was dependent on me paying mionet for it.

After you have redundantly restored your data and it has been verified, you can then delete the backup from the My Book World drive to free up the space. You can then optionally continue to use MioNet or uninstall it and use the drive without it (you will still be able to access it when you are remote), and create a new backup using either Retrospect or some other software solution. If you use Retrospect Express HD 2.0 again, do not have MioNet running during the setup of the backup, that way the backup will not be put next to the Public folder opposed to inside of it.

MioNet is completely free for you and everyone you share the drive with when used with the My Book World drive. The only time you may need to pay for the Premium service is if you do things not related to the My Book World drive, like remote controlling you computer, accessing computer resources, web cams, etc.

Link: Can I use a WD My Book World (blue rings) hard drive without using MioNet?