I am running Windows 7 Professional 64 bit Service Pack 1 connecting to Western Digital portable drive: 2 terabyte slim drive model WDBPDZ0020BAL-NESN. I am hoping to use Windows Backup and Restore to create a System Image on the portable drive for data recovery purposes. I am able to create System Image backup successfully on the portable drive.
However when I start Windows in Recovery mode and connect the portable drive it is unable to recognize the portable drive. I noticed a folder ‘WD SES Device Driver’ on the portable drive and copied that over to a CD to load the drivers in Recovery mode. I went through the Windows Recovery console dialogue boxes to load ‘wdcsam’ drivers; and also tried loading the ‘usbport’ and other usb drivers from the windows system32 drivers directory but despite all attempts the Windows Recovery console does not recognize the portable drive.
Any assistance is appreciated. I would really like to be able to use the portable drive to do a full system restore in case of a system failure.
Hi it is hard to tell the way you worded your question but. First plug the USB drive in let windows find it then go to the recovery center. From the way it was worded it seems you started recovery then plugged the drive in.
Control Panel / Windows Recovery / Advanced recovery options / Use System Image you created earlier to recover your computer. Restart your computer and continue the recovery.
(the WD Portable drive is connected and recognized by system)
System restarted in Recovery mode (the WD Portable drive is still connected) / System recovery options / Select location of backup / Advanced / Load drivers / Insert the installation media /and select okay to select drivers.
The only visible drives in this mode as the ‘Boot drive X:’ and CD/DVD drive. No connected USB drive (or USB memory stick) including the WD Portable drive are visible. I have tried loading USB and other drivers (see my earlier post) but keep on hitting the ‘…hardware not recognized…’ error message.
It can be important to have a System Image available on portable drive to restore from but so far no success !
