VHDMounting Vista Backups
When I upgraded from Vista Pre-RC1 to RC1 I used the built in backup program to backup my files. It worked very well for me so when I was upgrading from the Sept CTP to RC2 I decided to use it again. I also put a little more confidence in it and didn't do a completely thorough job of backing up my files (besides the full backup that is). So when I realized that I forgot to back something up I fired up the backup program and pointed it to my Sept CTP backup. However, the tool complained that there were no backup sets on the drive. Hmmmm.
I wasn't able to get the restore to ever recognize the backup set, but I did find that Microsoft is storing the backup as a VHD file. Those of you familiar with virtualization will know that that is a Virtual Hard Disk. So with some help from the Virtual PC Guy I was able to mount the VHD using Virtual Server R2 SP1 Beta 2's VHDMount utility (yes that really is the product's name). So I now have a drive on my Vista RC2 machine that contains all the files from my Sept CTP machine and I can browse them and restore them at my leisure. Whoever made the call to backup to VHD, I owe you a beer. Great choice!
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