Back up your Win7 image!

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CZ Eddie

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Back up your Win7 image!

#1

Post by CZ Eddie » Tue Jan 02, 2018 2:52 pm

I had to reinstall my OS yesterday.
All my hardware remained identical.
But I guess the new playready install killed my ability to view my old protected content recordings.
Even though my computer name and username remained the same!

So this time I made sure to use Acronis to back up my image after I set it up the way I liked.
It's very simple to do.
My backups take about 10-15 minutes.
And the full restore takes about the same time.

Acronis backup ISO is free and you don't need the $50 software they offer for this.
http://www.techno360.in/acronis-true-im ... otcd-free/

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Scallica

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#2

Post by Scallica » Tue Jan 02, 2018 8:20 pm

Reinstalling Windows will wipe out your Playready DRM keys.

Acronis is nice, but you can take system snapshots without additional software.

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/4241/ho ... windows-7/
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Space

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#3

Post by Space » Tue Jan 02, 2018 11:14 pm

Scallica wrote:Reinstalling Windows will wipe out your Playready DRM keys.

Acronis is nice, but you can take system snapshots without additional software.

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/4241/ho ... windows-7/
Perhaps I am wrong, but it's my understanding that it does more than just wipe out the DRM keys.

If you make an image backup of your initial WMC machine boot drive and then record some DRM protected videos. Then you restore the image, you will not be able to play back the DRM protected videos because the image does not include the licenses (DRM keys) that were created at the time the videos were recorded.

However, if you restore that same image and have made a copy of the "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\PlayReady\mspr.hds" file (containing the licenses/DRM keys) which was saved after you recorded the protected videos, and restore that as well, the videos will play fine.

If instead of restoring the original image, you re-install windows, and then restore the most recent mspr.hsd file, the videos will not play. So it is more than just "wiping out the DRM keys" that causes videos to not be playable after an OS reinstall. The reinstall must trigger Playready to create a new identity that makes it look like a different machine so that DRM protected videos from the old install will not play.

Paul Anderegg

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#4

Post by Paul Anderegg » Tue Jul 17, 2018 11:28 pm

When I installed Acronis and tested restoring with it, I found I lost playback ability of any DRM file recorded between the time of backup image, and restore date. Only a day for the test, but enough to scare me.

I have Acronis do a full system backup every weekend, but if I have a major failure and need to backup and lose a week worth of DRM content, is there a way to use my FreeFileSync software to daily backup a specific DRM file that can then be used to restore any Acronis backup that lost a few days worth of DRM keys?

I also live with the nightmare of having installed Windows 7 on an NVME, but that is a whole nother restore topic! :-O

Paul

cwinfield

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#5

Post by cwinfield » Wed Jul 18, 2018 2:39 am

The big secret is making an image that has the same partition data and C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\PlayReady\mspr.hds
So make images weekly or monthly but backup mspr.hds daily. You could probably create a scheduled task to do so in computer management.

Space

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#6

Post by Space » Wed Jul 18, 2018 4:00 am

cwinfield wrote:The big secret is making an image that has the same partition data and C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\PlayReady\mspr.hds
So make images weekly or monthly but backup mspr.hds daily. You could probably create a scheduled task to do so in computer management.
Yes. Also, in addition to making an image of the system partition (Windows partition), you also need to make an image of the special partitions on the system disk. On my system they are:

1. NO NAME (None) FAT 32 (LBA) Primary
2. (None) - Unformatted Primary
3. (C:) NTFS Primary (Windows partition)

I also have a 4th partition on this disk that is used for the recordings, but I don't back that up.

I believe all these partition must be backed up together (and restored together) in order for the system to boot properly as well as DRM to work properly.

You can see these partitions in Macrium reflect (what I use to do image backups) here.

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DavidinCT

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#7

Post by DavidinCT » Wed Jul 18, 2018 7:05 pm

I do a weekly backup...and I do a 2nd backup that keeps on my WMC fies (installs, settings, and 3rd party programs)… and I keep a copy of them with me where ever I am...( I carry a USB drive with server backups with me where ever I go)
-Dave
Twitter @TheCoolDave

Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

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