Windows 7 System Restore not working

On Mon, 25 Jun 2012 16:27:39 -0400, rfdjr1 wrote:

Somehow over the weekend, I lost a database I had of phone numbers,
recipes and general information. The program is still there but the
files with the data seem to be missing. So in desperation, I tried a
system restore... four times so far, and it won't work. The first time,
after the system rebooted, it told me that I had to shut down any
anti-virus program I was running. Okay, my bad, I didn't realize that.
So I shit down AVG and tried again. Same nonsense.

So I tried it with an earlier restore point and it still won't restore.
I tried it again just to make sure and still nothing.

I Googled "Windows 7 System Restore won't work" and got a bunch of hits,
but all that I've looked at so far are wanting me to buy some sort of
program to fix System Restore. In fact, the first couple of pages of
search results doesn't even show any answers from Microsoft.

What good is System Restore is it won't work? Or, what Can I be doing
wrong? Thanks.

System Restore only restores system files. That's why it is called
"System Restore". It does not restore other applications, or your data,
photos, images, or anything else you created.

Those you will have to find in your own backups. You *do* do backups,
right?

On Mon, 25 Jun 2012 20:34:04 +0000 (UTC), Sam Hill wrote:

On Mon, 25 Jun 2012 16:27:39 -0400, rfdjr1 wrote:

Somehow over the weekend, I lost a database I had of phone numbers,
recipes and general information. The program is still there but the
files with the data seem to be missing. So in desperation, I tried a
system restore... four times so far, and it won't work. The first time,
after the system rebooted, it told me that I had to shut down any
anti-virus program I was running. Okay, my bad, I didn't realize that.
So I shit down AVG and tried again. Same nonsense.

So I tried it with an earlier restore point and it still won't restore.
I tried it again just to make sure and still nothing.

I Googled "Windows 7 System Restore won't work" and got a bunch of hits,
but all that I've looked at so far are wanting me to buy some sort of
program to fix System Restore. In fact, the first couple of pages of
search results doesn't even show any answers from Microsoft.

What good is System Restore is it won't work? Or, what Can I be doing
wrong? Thanks.

System Restore only restores system files. That's why it is called
"System Restore". It does not restore other applications, or your data,
photos, images, or anything else you created.

Those you will have to find in your own backups. You *do* do backups,
right?

Thanks. Yes, I have backups but for some reason the program (called azzCardfile)
can't see the files and open them up. I had a similar situation some time agao
and a system restore, which DID work at the time, seemed to have corrected it
for some reason.

wrote:

Somehow over the weekend, I lost a database I had of phone numbers, recipes and
general information. The program is still there but the files with the data seem
to be missing. So in desperation, I tried a system restore... four times so far,
and it won't work. The first time, after the system rebooted, it told me that I
had to shut down any anti-virus program I was running. Okay, my bad, I didn't
realize that. So I shit down AVG and tried again. Same nonsense.

So I tried it with an earlier restore point and it still won't restore. I tried
it again just to make sure and still nothing.

I Googled "Windows 7 System Restore won't work" and got a bunch of hits, but all
that I've looked at so far are wanting me to buy some sort of program to fix
System Restore. In fact, the first couple of pages of search results doesn't
even show any answers from Microsoft.

What good is System Restore is it won't work? Or, what Can I be doing wrong?
Thanks.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936212
"The System Restore tool uses restore points to return system files and
settings to an earlier point in time."

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/...d-settings
"... restore your computer's system files ..."

System files. Not application config or data files. While the system
(OS) may revert to a usable or desired state, that doesn't mean apps
installed after that restore point will then continue to function okay.
They may rely on the changed state for them to work but a restore puts
the OS back before the app was installed.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/...-questions
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/...em-Restore

http://lifehacker.com/5466794/the-c...u-remember
"System Restore isn't going to roll back your documents, it's just going
to operate on internal operating system files, program files, and system
settings."

Hence the need for using a backup or imaging program if you want to have
backups of your *data* files along with the ability to restore your
disks back to a complete prior state instead of a mixed before & after
state.

Many users disable System Restore and its disk consumption and just rely
on running periodic image backups to provide a more complete and
reliable restore state. I leave System Restore enabled mostly because
some installers will automatically or offer to save a restore point
before the install proceeds rather than you having to remember to save
an image or snapshot before the install begins (so you can restore to a
prior disk state before the install). I have the disk space to waste on
System Restore.

On Mon, 25 Jun 2012 16:15:20 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

wrote:

Somehow over the weekend, I lost a database I had of phone numbers, recipes and
general information. The program is still there but the files with the data seem
to be missing. So in desperation, I tried a system restore... four times so far,
and it won't work. The first time, after the system rebooted, it told me that I
had to shut down any anti-virus program I was running. Okay, my bad, I didn't
realize that. So I shit down AVG and tried again. Same nonsense.

So I tried it with an earlier restore point and it still won't restore. I tried
it again just to make sure and still nothing.

I Googled "Windows 7 System Restore won't work" and got a bunch of hits, but all
that I've looked at so far are wanting me to buy some sort of program to fix
System Restore. In fact, the first couple of pages of search results doesn't
even show any answers from Microsoft.

What good is System Restore is it won't work? Or, what Can I be doing wrong?
Thanks.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936212
"The System Restore tool uses restore points to return system files and
settings to an earlier point in time."

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/...d-settings
"... restore your computer's system files ..."

System files. Not application config or data files. While the system
(OS) may revert to a usable or desired state, that doesn't mean apps
installed after that restore point will then continue to function okay.
They may rely on the changed state for them to work but a restore puts
the OS back before the app was installed.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/...-questions
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/...em-Restore

http://lifehacker.com/5466794/the-c...u-remember
"System Restore isn't going to roll back your documents, it's just going
to operate on internal operating system files, program files, and system
settings."

Hence the need for using a backup or imaging program if you want to have
backups of your *data* files along with the ability to restore your
disks back to a complete prior state instead of a mixed before & after
state.

Many users disable System Restore and its disk consumption and just rely
on running periodic image backups to provide a more complete and
reliable restore state. I leave System Restore enabled mostly because
some installers will automatically or offer to save a restore point
before the install proceeds rather than you having to remember to save
an image or snapshot before the install begins (so you can restore to a
prior disk state before the install). I have the disk space to waste on
System Restore.

Okay, thanks for both replies. I understand that data isn't restored, but my
original question is still, why won't system restore work?

rfdjr1 wrote:

for some reason the program (called azzCardfile) can't see the files
and open them up. I had a similar situation some time agao and a
system restore, which DID work at the time, seemed to have corrected
it for some reason.

What if you uninstall azzCardfile (but keep the data files in place but
NOT any of its config files) and reinstall it?

Are you loading the azzCardFile application and using its File -> Open
(or whatever similar) menu to load the database file? Or are you
double-clicking on the database file (you didn't mention its filetype)?

"Can't see the files". So that's a problem within some browse dialog
inside the azzCardFile program. Can you see the files if you look using
Windows Explorer? If you can't see them in Windows Explorer (but a
'attrib' command in a command shell shows they are there) then perhaps
they got the hidden file attribute set on them.

If you restored the files from backups, how were the files restored?
Did you use a backup program to save the database files for this app
into some big backup file created by that backup program? Or did you
copy the database file(s) onto optical media (CD, DVD)? If you simply
copied the backup copies of the files from READ-ONLY media then those
files on your hard disk will also have the read-only file attribute set
on them. Remove the read-only file attribute, if present, on the
database file(s) and then see if the app can find those files. It's
likely the app demands its data files be openable in write mode.